Henrik Larsson
Henrik Larsson (born September 20, 1971) is a Swedish international football player.
Having completed seven very successful years with Celtic in Glasgow, Scotland, at the end of the 2003/4 season he has signed a 1 year contract with an option for a second year for Spanish giants FC Barcelona.
He started his professional career playing for Hogaborg at the age of 17. He subsequently played for Högaborg, Helsingsborgs IF and Feyenoord. He was signed by Celtic in July 1997 for a fee of £650,000. His debut, playing Hibernian at Easter Road, was less than spectacular; he inadvertantly passed the ball to the other side, resulting in a 0-1 loss for Celtic.
Larsson scored 242 goals for Celtic, in 315 matches, and in 2001 he won the "Golden Shoe" award for being Europe's top goal scorer. In 2003 Sweden nominated Larsson as the greatest Swedish football player of the last 50 years. [1]
His decision to retire from international football met with much dismay in his homeland and there was much clamouring for him to return to the team for their campaign at the European Championships of 2004 in Portugal. Despite initially maintaining his decision to retire, turning down overtures from Lennart Johannsen the President of UEFA and the Swedish Prime Minister in the process, he eventually returned to the national side to great effect scoring 3 goals in the 4 matches and leading Sweden to the Quarter Finals until they were defeated in a penalty shoot-out by the Dutch.
Larssons international record is impressive with 27 goals in 77 games, many of which he played in midfield or as a winger .He has always made his mark on the big occasions and has scored at 2 World Cups in 1994 (at which Sweden came 3rd), 2002 and 2 European Championships in 2000 and 2004. For Celtic his finest moment (if not his happiest) came in the UEFA Cup final of 2003 in which he scored two goals in a 3-2 extra time defeat to Porto of Portugal. His goalscoring feats on the contintent for Celtic mean he holds the record for number of European Goals scored for a British club. He is married, and has two children, Jordan (born 1997) and Janine (born 2002).
See also: List of Swedes in sports