Petter Andersson

Lars Petter Andersson (born 20 February 1985) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.

He represented Hammarby IF, captained FC Groningen, and won the Danish Superliga with FC Midtjylland during his career.

After joining Hammarby halfway through the 2003 season, the 18-year-old Andersson made two competitive appearances for his new side the same year.

His debut in Allsvenskan came against Örebro SK on 20 October in a 1–1 draw, coming on as a second half-substitute replacing veteran midfielder Christer Fursth, who coincidentally played the last game in his professional career.

Ahead of the 2004 season, Hammarby and manager Anders Linderoth promoted several other youngsters to the senior squad on permanent basis; Björn Runström, Fredrik Stoor and Erkan Zengin.

Among the newcomers, Andersson made the biggest impact for Hammarby during the same season, establishing himself as a regular.

He scored a brace, his first ever goals for Hammarby, on 2 May 2004 in a 2–1 win against Örebro SK on away turf.

Weeks later, Andersson scored the lone goal in a 1–0 derby win against fierce rivals AIK on Råsunda.

Andersson was mostly used as an offensive central midfielder during the season, as Hammarby finished sixth in the table.

He also won two caps for the Sweden national team in 2005.

Andersson grew up in the village of Ljusvattnet, outside the city of Skellefteå.

During his early teens, he competed in cross-country skiing and golf as well as playing ice hockey.

He was selected to represent the county of Västerbotten in the TV-pucken at age 15, but turned down the offer in order to concentrate on playing football.

He started his football career at the local club Ljusvattnets IF, before moving on to Sunnanå SK where he made his senior debut in Division 5, the seventh highest tier, aged 14.

In his later youth years, Andersson played with Skellefteå FF in Division 2, the Swedish fourth tier.

Several top clubs in Allsvenskan soon got interested in securing Andersson's signature.

Among these were GIF Sundsvall, IFK Göteborg, Malmö FF and Djurgårdens IF, who all failed their attempts.

Ultimately, Andersson opted to move to Hammarby IF after several trials with the club.

He turned down a move to the fellow Stockholm-based side AIK at a late stage, since the club's luxurious presentation of itself caused a culture crash and scared Andersson off.

In 2005, Andersson was mainly used as a forward.

He scored six goals in 25 appearances as Hammarby finished fourth in the league, just missing out on a medal place.

Notably, Andersson scored a brace in a 4–0 home win against Landskrona BoIS on 17 July.

Halfway through the 2006 season, Hammarby was placed first in Allsvenskan.

When the new signing Paulinho Guará claimed the striker position, Andersson returned to the midfield mostly being used as a winger.

However, Hammarby dropped of in the table after the summer break and ultimately finished third in the league.

Andersson's season was also cut short in July the same year, since he attracted a serious groin injury.

He also renewed his contract with the club, lasting until the end of 2007.

Andersson made his comeback on the pitch on match day 4 of the 2007 Allsvenskan.

He scored a brace, both shots being from long range, as Hammarby defeated Brommapojkarna in a 4–0 home win on 29 April.

Throughout the season, Andersson once again found himself playing as a forward, due to the impressive performances of newly signed Sebastián Eguren on the central midfield.

During the summer, Hammarby participated in the 2007 UEFA Intertoto Cup.

Andersson played a huge part in the campaign, under the reign of new manager Tony Gustavsson, where the club finished as one of the eleven joint winners of the tournament.

As a result, Hammarby took part in the 2007–08 UEFA Cup qualification.

After knocking out the Norwegian side Fredrikstad in the second qualifying round, Hammarby faced S.C. Braga from Portugal in the next round.

On 20 September, Andersson scored a brace as Hammarby won 2–1 on home turf in the first leg.

However, Hammarby failed to qualify for the group stage in the tournament as Braga won 6–2 on aggregate.

In the domestic league, Hammarby finished in sixth place the same year.

Petter Andersson retained his excellent form into the 2008 season, now once again playing in his natural role as an offensive midfielder.

Notably, Andersson scored a brace in a 4–3 win against IFK Norrköping on home turf in July.

Andersson also opted to renew his contract with the club up until the end of 2009.