Behrang Safari

Behrang Safari (, ; born 9 February 1985) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a defender.

Starting off his professional career with Malmö FF in 2004, he went on to represent FC Basel and RSC Anderlecht before retiring at Malmö in 2020.

Safari came through the ranks at Malmö FF and played his first game in the Allsvenskan in July 2004 when he came on as a substitute.

He made his UEFA debut in the 2004 UEFA Intertoto Cup on 19 June 2004 against Cork City F.C. He won the Allsvenskan in his first season and became a first-team regular the following season.

A full international between 2008 and 2013, he won 31 caps for the Sweden national team and was named in their UEFA Euro 2012 squad.

Behrang Safari emigrated to Sweden as a two-year-old from Tehran, Iran, with his family.

They settled in the small town of Höganäs, and later moved to Lund when he was five.

On 15 June 2008, Malmö announced that Safari had been sold to FC Basel in Switzerland.

This was confirmed one day later by FCB Online and they stated that he signed a three-year contract..

He joined Basel's first team for their 2008–09 season under head coach Christian Gross.

To the beginning of the season Safari was member of the Basel team that won the Uhrencup.

They beat Legia Warsaw 6–1 and played a 2–2 draw with Borussia Dortmund to end the table on top slot above Dortmund and Luzern.

After playing in seven test games, Safari played his domestic league debut for the club in the home game in the St. Jakob-Park on 23 July 2008 as Basel won 1–0 against Grasshopper Club Zürich.

Basel joined the 2008–09 UEFA Champions League in the second qualifying round.

Safari played his first European game in a Basel shirt on 30 July 2008 in a 1–1 Champions League qualifying match draw against IFK Göteborg at Ullevi.

With an aggregate score of 5–3 they eliminated Göteborg.

In the next round they played against Vitória de Guimarães.

The first leg ended in a goalless draw, but with a 2–1 win in the second leg they eliminated Vitória and advanced to the group stage.

Here Basel were matched with Barcelona, Sporting CP and Shakhtar Donetsk, but ended the group in last position winning just one point after a 1–1 draw in Camp Nou.

At the end of the 2008–09 Super League season Basel were third in the table, seven points behind new champions Zürich and one adrift of runners-up Young Boys.

In the 2008–09 Swiss Cup Basel advanced via Schötz, Bulle, Thun and Zurich to the semi-finals.

But here they were stopped by Young Boys.

After a goalless 90 minutes and extra time YB decided the penalty shoot-out 3–2 and advanced to the final to become runners-up, as Sion became cup winners.

For their 2009–10 season Basel appointed Thorsten Fink as their new head coach.

Basel joined the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League in the second qualifying round.

Basel advanced to the group stage, in which despite winning three of the six games the ended in third position and were eliminated.

They finished four points behind group winners Roma and one behind Fulham, against whom they lost 3–2 in the last game of the stage.

At the end of the 2009–10 season he won the Double with his club.

They won the League Championship title with 3 points advantage over second placed Young Boys.

The team won the Swiss Cup, winning the final 6–0 against Lausanne-Sport.

Safari scored his first goal for the club on 7 February 2010 in the home game in the St. Jakob-Park as Basel won 4–0 against BSC Young Boys.

Basel started in the 2010–11 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round and advanced to the group stage, but ended the group in third position.

Therefore they dropped to the 2010–11 Europa League knockout phase, but here they were eliminated by Spartak Moscow due to a last minute goal against them.

Safari played in all 12 matches.

With Basel, Safari won the Swiss Championship for the second time at the end of the 2010–11 season, topping the table just one point clear of rivals Zürich.

On 30 May 2011 it was announced that Safari would leave the club.

Safari played 94 league games for Basel during his three-year contract.

On 30 May 2011, Behrang signed a contract for the Belgian club Anderlecht.

He had his debut for Anderlecht on 29 July 2011 in the 2–1 away defeat against Oud-Heverlee Leuven.

He played his first European game for the team in the Europa League qualifying away win against Bursaspor in the Bursa Atatürk Stadium on 18 August 2011.