Ludwig Augustinsson

Hans Carl Ludwig Augustinsson (born 21 April 1994) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Belgian Pro League club Anderlecht, on loan from La Liga club Sevilla, and the Sweden national team.

Ekstra Bladet described it as "the dream debut" and manager Ståle Solbakken said it was the best debut since his own debut for Copenhagen against rivals Brøndby back in the year 2000.

He came to play 15 league games during the spring season, helping the team reach the second place in the league.

After advancing through the youth ranks, he earned a spot in the first team as a 16-year-old in 2011 and made his debut in Superettan later that year.

With four appearances in his debut season, including his senior debut in the domestic cup, he came to play almost every game the following year, ending up with two goals and four assists.

He won one domestic cup title with IFK Göteborg 2012–13 and three consecutive domestic cup titles with Copenhagen in 2014–15, 2015–16 and 2016–17.

A product of Brommapojkarna's academy, he played two senior seasons with the club before leaving for IFK Göteborg in 2013.

With two senior seasons and 30 league games for Brommapojkarna, Augustinsson moved to IFK Göteborg in January 2013, turning down offers from several other professional clubs.

The move to top team IFK Göteborg went well and Augustinsson played most of the games during the pre-season.

When Svenska Cupen began in March, he was first-choice as left-back and played two games in the group stage.

IFK Göteborg later won the cup against Djurgården in the final.

Just a couple of weeks before the start of 2013 Allsvenskan, he picked up a knee injury while playing for Sweden under-21s, which kept him out of action for five months.

On his Allsvenskan debut on 25 August 2013 in an away match against Malmö FF he suffered another injury, which meant that he would be out for the rest of the season.

With an injury-filled first year, his breakthrough had to wait until the 2014 season, in which he was named the best left back of the campaign.

Augustinsson came back from his second injury in time for the first competitive match in 2014, against Värnamo in Svenska Cupen in early March.

He scored his first goal in Allsvenskan on 24 September in the 2014 season, when IFK Göteborg won away against Örebro SK by 4–3.

He played 28 league games that season, without being substituted, and assisted for three goals.

He later earned a spot in Allsvenskan's Team of the Year 2014 – voted by supporters of the SvenskaFans.com website.

The deal was made so he could be the replacement for Pierre Bengtsson at the left-back position when Bengtsson's contract ended with Copenhagen on 31 December 2014.

The transfer fee was estimated at 13 million SEK (approximately €1.4 million), which made him the most expensive wing-back ever bought from Sweden.

Having played every exhibition game during the winter break for Copenhagen, Augustinsson made his Superliga-debut against Vestsjælland when the season restarted in February.

He assisted the first goal of the game and scored later himself, playing a key role in the team's 2–0 victory.

He was noted for six assists, which placed him third in the assist-table and which made him the defender with the most assists of the 2014–15 season – despite playing less than half of the games.

Defensively Copenhagen only conceded goals in six games, with many experts claiming that he was one of the best players of the spring season.

Augustinsson played regularly in the Danish Cup as well throughout the spring, and scored a match winning 1–0 goal from a free kick against Esbjerg in the second game of the semifinals.

Copenhagen later won the final in May against Vestsjælland, with him providing an assist in the team's 3–2 win.

The cup win was his second title of his career and his first for the club.

A move to Copenhagen followed in January 2015 for an estimated record fee of €1.4 million.

He has ended up being club champion twice, with Copenhagen in the 2015–16 season and 2016–17 season, and runner-up three times with his teams; in Superettan 2012, Allsvenskan 2014 and in the 2014–15 Danish Superliga.

Augustinsson was part of the Sweden under-21 squad that qualified and later won the European U21 Championship in 2015, playing all five games in the main tournament and scoring in the penalty shoot-out against Portugal in the final.

He made his first appearance for the senior national team in January 2015, and was part of Sweden's Euro 2016, 2018 FIFA World Cup, and Euro 2020 squads.

Augustinsson started his football career at age six with Stockholm side IF Brommapojkarna.

He was notable throughout his youth years, being the captain for the team's U17 squad and having trials with clubs such as Borussia Mönchengladbach and Sampdoria.

Augustinsson transferred to F.C. Copenhagen on 5 January 2015 after signing a 4.5-year contract on 6 June 2014.

The 2015–16 season was Augustinsson's most successful season in his career, winning his first domestic league title and securing his third domestic cup victory.

Being rumored with moves to top teams, such as Liverpool, after winning the 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, Augustinsson stayed in Denmark and played his first complete season for Copenhagen.

In the league, Augustinsson played every minute of the first 30 games, until he was rested for the final two away games when the trophy was already secured in the middle of May.

He assisted to nine goals throughout the campaign, placing him as tied leader with Nicolaj Thomsen and Rasmus Falk.

Ekstra Bladet ranked him as one of the five best players for Copenhagen, awarding 5 of 6 stars for his performance, citing an improvement compared to the spring part of the season.

He joined Bundesliga side Werder Bremen in summer 2017, spending four seasons with the German club before moving to La Liga club Sevilla.