Pontus Jansson

Pontus Sven Gustav Jansson (born 13 February 1991) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Malmö FF.

Jansson started his career with local club Malmö FF before moving to Italy to join Torino.

He failed to impress at the Turin-based club and was sent out on loan to Leeds United, before making the move permanent.

In 2006 at age 15 he transferred to Malmö FF.

He played in youth teams until he made his first team debut in 2009.

Jansson played in a variety of positions in the early stages of his career until deciding on centre back in the start of the 2010 season.

He had made his first team debut as forward the year before.

When teammate Jasmin Sudić was long term injured in the beginning of the year the manager decided that Jansson would take Sudić's place at centre-back despite mostly playing as a striker.

Jansson played in 18 games in the 2010 league winning season for Malmö.

He missed the latter part of the season due to injury problems.

Starting out the 2011 season on the bench, Jansson gained new manager Rikard Norling's trust and once again took a spot in the starting eleven.

Jansson finished the season with 15 league matches and nine matches in Europe played.

Many considered Jansson to be the club's best player of 2011 even though he only played for half of the season.

A full international between 2012 and 2021, Jansson won 27 caps for the Sweden national team and represented his country at UEFA Euro 2016, the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and UEFA Euro 2020.

Jansson started his career at local club Arlövs BI.

Jansson was also mentioned as a potential candidate for becoming the club's new captain as Daniel Andersson announced that he would step down during the 2012 season.

The 2012 season was Jansson's big breakthrough season as he played all 30 league matches for Malmö FF, playing the first part of the season with Daniel Andersson and the latter part with newcomer Filip Helander by his side in the defensive line.

Jansson continued to be one of the club's most important players during the league title winning 2013 season where he played 24 matches and scored one goal.

The goal was an important equalizer against title contender IFK Göteborg in the home fixture on 25 August 2013, Malmö FF went on to win the match 3–1.

He was nominated as defender of the year for the 2013 Allsvenskan for his overall performance during the season.

Jansson also played all of Malmö FF's matches in the qualification stage for the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League.

He also played all of the matches for the club in the 2013–14 Svenska Cupen campaign where the club progressed to the semi-finals.

During the 2014 season Jansson played nine out of 12 possible matches before his transfer to Torino.

He started the 2014 season in the starting eleven but was replaced by Erik Johansson when it was clear that Jansson would leave the club during the summer transfer window.

On 24 April 2014, Torino announced they had signed Jansson on a free transfer.

He officially joined the Italian side on 1 July 2014.

He made 16 appearances in all competitions during his first season, with nine coming in the league, one in Coppa Italia and six in the UEFA Europa League.

During the 2015-16 season, he played seven league games and two Coppa Italia matches.

On 30 April 2016 he scored his first goal in Serie A, opening the score in a 5–1 defeat of Udinese.

On 18 August 2016, Jansson joined English side Leeds United on a season-long loan, where he was handed the number 18 shirt.

Torino also revealed that as part of the deal Leeds had a clause to make the deal a permanent move.

He made his debut for Leeds on 23 August 2016, starting in an EFL Cup fixture against Luton Town.

His league debut came on 10 September 2016 in a 1–0 defeat against Huddersfield Town in a West Yorkshire derby.

On 17 September, Jansson received the man of the match award in a 2–0 victory against Cardiff City.

He scored his first goal for Leeds on 5 November 2016 — a headed goal in a 3–2 victory against Norwich City at Carrow Road — and won the Championship Player of the Month Award for December 2016.

After returning to the side following a two-match suspension for accumulating 10 yellow cards, on 25 January 2017 Jansson made his 22nd appearance for Leeds in a 2–0 win over Nottingham Forest.

On 2 February 2017, Jansson signed a permanent deal with Leeds worth £3.5 million which would officially take place when his loan expired at the end of the 2016–17 season.

Jansson subsequently went on to sign a three-year contract at the club.

On 11 March, Jansson was named in the EFL Team of the Season.

After three years in Leeds, he signed for fellow Championship side Brentford in 2019, becoming captain shortly after.