Ludwig Augustinsson

IF Brommapojkarna

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. 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. 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.

IFK Göteborg

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 U21 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.

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.

Copenhagen

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

2014–15 season

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. 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. 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.

2015–16 season

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.

2016–17 season

During the Copenhagen derby at Brøndby on 17 April 2017, Augustinsson had dead rats thrown at him by home supporters as he prepared to take a corner kick. Play was stopped and Copenhagen players attempted to kick the rats off the pitch before stewards arrived to pick up the rodents.

Werder Bremen

On 30 January 2017, Werder Bremen announced the signing of Augustinsson for the forthcoming 2017–2018 season.

Youth national teams

Augustinsson represented Sweden U17 and Sweden U19 21 times between 2009–2013. He has made 19 caps for Sweden U21 since 2012 and is still eligible to play for the team. His biggest success came for the U21-team, when they manage to qualify to the 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship and later win the tournament, whilst being a key player in Håkan Ericson's squad.

In 2016, Augustinsson was denied joining Sweden U23 squad for the 2016 Olympics in August by his club Copenhagen.

European U21 Championship

Sweden managed to qualify to the European U21 Championship in Czech Republic for the first time since 2004 after a successful qualification. In an exhibition game against Portugal U21 in early 2013, Augustinsson injured his knee and was later out for the rest of the year, which meant he missed most of the qualification games. He was however Håkan Ericson's first choice at the left-back position when he was available and was part of the squad in the games of 2014.

Augustinsson played every game in the group stage of the main tournament. Before the second game against England, in which Sweden lost, his claim that English players were 'overrated' received a lot of attention in English media at a time when interest from Liverpool was reported.

Sweden however managed to advance from the group, thanks to winning against Italy and drawing against Portugal. After knocking out Denmark in the semi-final by 4–1, Sweden were to play Portugal again in the final. In a goalless match, the first kept clean sheet of Sweden in the tournament, the final had to be decided by a penalty shootout. Augustinsson scored his penalty and Sweden won by 4–3. He received international praise for his final performance, described as "outstanding". He earned a spot in The Guardian's 'Team of the Tournament'.

Senior national team

Augustinsson debuted with Sweden in January 2015, when he started both games in their friendlies against the Ivory Coast and Finland. Sportbladet rated him as the best Swedish player of those two games.

He received his second call-up in March 2016, playing 90 minutes in Sweden's 2–1 loss against Turkey. On May 11, Erik Hamrén announced that Augustinsson was going to feature the Euro 2016 squad.

2016–present

He remained as unused substitute, behind Martin Olsson, throughout Sweden's disappointing group stage at Euro 2016. Following Hamréns resignation and Janne Andersson's arrival later that summer, Augustinsson got bigger competition when Oscar Wendt re-joined the squad after conflicts with the former head coach. With Andersson's experimenting of the two veterans at the left-back position in the beginning of the World Cup qualification, Augustinsson opened possibilities to join the Sweden U21 squad, for which he still was eligible to play. Andersson however kept him in the senior squad and Augstinsson came to play the final 30 minutes against Bulgaria in the qualifier in October.

Style of play

Augustinsson is often referred as a modern wing-back, whose qualities is in his offense, possession, pace and a good left foot. He started out as a central midfielder, but changed position to left-back at age eleven due to tough competition in the midfield. He has always been a specialist in set pieces and takes a lot of corners and freekicks. His role models on the football pitch is former left back Gareth Bale and David Alaba.

Personal life

Ludwig is the firstborn and grew up in a sports-oriented family in the central parts of Stockholm. His father Hans played football in Swedish Division 1 and his mother Elisabeth played volleyball on an international level for Sweden. His younger brother Jonathan Augustinsson currently plays for Djurgårdens IF in Swedish top flight Allsvenskan, also as a left-back.

The family was part of a national-wide debate in the summer of 2015, about more Swedish national players coming from well-educated families in wealthier neighborhoods. Critics have stated that players like Augustinsson are successful today because of the amount of money the families invest in private training sessions.

Together with his good friends and former teammates from his time in Brommapojkarna, John Guidetti and Simon Tibbling, he is a teetotaler and has never been drunk. Ludwig attended primary schools Aspuddens skola and Nybohovsskolan, both with focus on football.

Although he has been playing football his entire life, he tried out ice hockey in his youth and was part of AIK IF. He is a lifelong supporter of Manchester United and dreams of playing for the club one day.

Modeling

In December 2015, Augustinsson featured in NLY Man's Christmas campaign "The Next Generation".

Club

International

Club

International

Sweden U21