On 23 May 2008, Ekdal signed a four-year contract with Juventus of Italy's Serie A. He made his Serie A and club debut on 18 October in a 2–1 away defeat to Napoli, coming on as a substitute in the 75th minute for Christian Poulsen. On 15 July 2009, fellow Italian top-flight club Siena signed Ekdal on loan for a season. He made 27 appearances for the Tuscans, who were ultimately relegated at the end of the season, and scored once, in a 4–3 loss away to eventual treble winners Inter Milan on 9 January 2010. On 28 June 2010, Juventus sold 50% of their ownership rights of Ekdal to Bologna. As per the deal, the two clubs would agree at the start of each season who would have him as a player. He played 23 total games for the Rossoblu and scored on the anniversary of his last goal, to open a 2–0 win at Bari.
Cagliari
On 23 August 2011, Ekdal was sold to fellow Serie A team Cagliari on a three-year deal for €3 million. On 28 September 2014, Ekdal scored a hat-trick as Cagliari won 4–1 at Inter Milan.
Hamburger SV
On 18 July 2015, German club Hamburger SV signed Ekdal from Cagliari on a four-year deal for €4.5 million with wages of €600,000 per season. He was given the number 20 shirt. He played 57 games for the side in total, who struggled against relegation in each of his three years with the team, ending with their ultimate descent into the 2. Bundesliga in 2018. He scored once for the team from Hamburg, the only goal of a home win against Hertha BSC on 5 March 2017. On 21 January 2017, Ekdal received the first red card of his career, after 33 minutes of a 1–0 loss at VfL Wolfsburg.
Sampdoria
On 14 August 2018, following Hamburg's relegation from the Bundesliga, Ekdal returned to Serie A by signing for Sampdoria.
International career
Ekdal made his debut for Sweden on 10 August 2011 in a friendly game away to Ukraine in Kharkiv. He came on as a 60th-minute substitute for Sebastian Larsson in a 1–0 win. Ekdal was named in Sweden's 23-man squad for UEFA Euro2016 in France, despite a deep cut in his back from celebrating Hamburg's recent Bundesliga survival putting his involvement at risk. He played each match as the Swedes came bottom of their group. In June 2018 Ekdal was named in Sweden's 23-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. He played all five games of a run to the quarter-finals.
Personal life
He is the son of Lennart Ekdal, an award-winning Swedish journalist, TV personality and newscaster known for his work for the newspaper Dagens Nyheter and the financial magazine Veckans Affärer, as well as hosting TV shows such as Kalla fakta, Halvtid för Reinfeldt, Kvällsöppet med Ekdal & Hakelius and Hetluft. Ekdal's younger brother, Hjalmar Ekdal, is also a professional footballer who plays for Swedish first tier club Hammarby IF. On 13 March 2020, Ekdal tested positive for COVID-19, amid its pandemic in Italy.
