Tomas Antonelius


Tomas Emil Rune Antonelius is a Swedish former footballer who played as a defender.
He played professionally in Sweden, Canada, England, and Denmark, before injuries cut his career short. He won 8 caps for the Sweden national team, representing his country at Euro 2000 and the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

Club career

Early career

Antonelius had a brief stint with Canadian side Winnipeg Fury, during a year in college in North America. Whilst at AIK, he played against Arsenal in the 1999–2000 UEFA Champions League. At the time, Arsenal were playing their home European games at Wembley Stadium, giving Antonelius a run out at the famous ground.

Coventry City

In December 1999, Antonelius joined Coventry City for an undisclosed fee, signing a three-and-a-half-year contract. He made his debut against Arsenal, coming on as a late substitute for Youssef Chippo, as Coventry won 3–2.

Copenhagen

In February 2002, he joined Danish Superliga side Copenhagen. However, he suffered a serious knee injury, 1,5 years after joining the club and never played football again. He announced his retirement in September 2003, due to this failure to recover from the injury.

International career

He was part of the Swedish squad at Euro 2000 and the 2002 World Cup.

Honours

AIK

Antonelius began his career playing as "Tomas Gustafsson", before changing his name in 2001. The reason for this change was that "Gustafsson" is a very common name in Sweden, and he chose "Antonelius" as it was the married name of his older sister.