{"id":352483,"date":"2026-06-17T22:12:33","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T16:42:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=352483"},"modified":"2026-06-17T22:12:33","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T16:42:33","slug":"sweden-world-cup-defender-is-not-your-typical-football-player","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/06\/17\/sweden-world-cup-defender-is-not-your-typical-football-player\/","title":{"rendered":"Sweden World Cup defender is not your typical football player"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Sweden\u2019s Gustaf Lagerbielke (2) reacts following the World Cup Group F soccer match win over Tunisia in Guadalupe, near Monterrey, Mexico, Sunday, June 14, 2026. (AP Photo\/Matias Delacroix)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

MONTERREY, Mexico \u2014 Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are among the many football royalty gracing the World Cup in North America.<\/p>\n

If you happen to want real-life aristocracy, head to Sweden\u2019s squad.<\/p>\n

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Gustaf Lagerbielke, a 26-year-old defender who played your complete match in Sweden\u2019s 5-1 defeat of Tunisia on Sunday, is a baron from a noble family in Sweden. His father and grandfather are counts.<\/p>\n

World Cup what to know: Cristiano Ronaldo looks to make history<\/h4>\n

Football players typically come from modest backgrounds \u2014 take Messi and Ronaldo, for instance.<\/p>\n

Not Lagerbielke.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, it\u2019s rare,\u201d he said in an interview ahead of the World Cup.<\/p>\n

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Lagerbielke grew up in Djursholm, a wealthy suburb within the Swedish capital, Stockholm. When he played soccer as a child, he says he had the family\u2019s coat of arms on his shin pads.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce I was kid, I desired to change into an expert footballer,\u201d Lagerbielke said after Sunday\u2019s match in Monterrey. \u201cThey’ve taught me goals. They’re very comfortable for me and really proud.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ: Messi has his first World Cup hat trick as Argentina routs Algeria<\/h4>\n

Lagerbielke\u2019s heritage has been a talking point throughout a profession that has taken him from Sweden (AIK, Sollentuna, V\u00e4ster\u00e5s, Elfsborg and Degerfors) to Scotland (Celtic) and now Portugal.<\/p>\n

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Sections of the British media reported he was 254th in line to the Swedish throne, though Lagerbielke said \u201cI don\u2019t know if it\u2019s true.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I feel for it to occur,\u201d he added, \u201cnumerous people must go away. And I don\u2019t want that to occur.\u201d<\/p>\n

For now, Lagerbielke just desires to help Sweden change into the king of football on the World Cup.<\/p>\n

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\u201cTo have one in all the largest wins in Swedish history on the World Cup, it\u2019s amazing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Sweden\u2019s Gustaf Lagerbielke (2) reacts following the World Cup Group F soccer match win over Tunisia in Guadalupe, near Monterrey, Mexico, Sunday, June 14, 2026. (AP Photo\/Matias Delacroix) MONTERREY, Mexico \u2014 Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are among the many football royalty gracing the World Cup in North America. If you happen to want real-life […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":352484,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20686],"tags":[1060,13814,5479,6299,792,13554,11868,813],"class_list":["post-352483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","tag-cup","tag-defender","tag-football","tag-isnt","tag-player","tag-sweden","tag-typical","tag-world"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=352483"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352483\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":352486,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352483\/revisions\/352486"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/352484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}