Alexander Farnerud

Alexander Hans Christian Farnerud (born 1 May 1984) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as attacking midfielder. Starting out at Landskrona BoIS in the early 2000s, he went on to represent clubs in France, Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, and Italy before retiring at FC Chiasso in 2022. A full international between 2003 and 2010, he won eight caps and scored two goals for the Sweden national team.

Born in Landskrona, Farnerud made his professional debut with Landskrona BoIS. He scored in one of his first Allsvenskan matches, a 2–1 home win against reigning champions Hammarby.

On 15 November 2003, Farnerud was bought by France's Strasbourg, being an automatic first-choice in his two-and-a-half-year spell. In his first and third seasons in Ligue 1, he played alongside older brother Pontus who was first loaned by Monaco, then acquired.

Upon Strasbourg's 2006 relegation, Farnerud moved to VfB Stuttgart in Germany, on a four-year deal. He was used sporadically over the course of two Bundesliga campaigns, appearing nine times for the 2007 champions.

On 8 July 2008, Farnerud signed with the Danish Superliga club Brøndby.

On 18 January 2011, Farnerud changed clubs and countries again, joining Young Boys from Switzerland for an undisclosed fee until 2014. He made his Super League debut on 13 February in the 4–2 victory over Zürich, and on 16 April he also netted twice for the hosts against Bellinzona (4–0).

On 18 June 2013, Farnerud was signed by Italian side Torino for €1.8 million on a three-year contract. He made his official debut on 17 August, in a Coppa Italia tie against Pescara which ended in a 1–2 loss. On 20 October he scored his first goal in Serie A, opening the scoreline in an eventual 3–3 home draw to Inter Milan.

After a difficult start to the season, in which he was often benched, Farnerud became a regular and consistent performer for Toro, netting again in the 14th round against Genoa and two days later against Udinese.