Hedvig Lindahl is a veteran goalkeeper who has established herself as one of the finest in the sport. She is the goalie for the Swedish women’s national team as well as Atlético Madrid Femenino in the Primera Division Currently 41 years old, she started her career back in 1996 when she was only 13 years old.
If you wish to unravel more details about Hedvig’s career, net worth, family background, and others then this is your best bet.
Hedvig Lindahl Biography, Family
Hedvig Lindahl was born in Katrineholm Sweden on April 29 1983. Her full name is Rut Hedvig Lindahl. She was brought up together with an older sister, Frida Lindahl by her father Håkan “Råing” Larsson, and a mother whose names has not been revealed.
According to reports, the footballer was a tomboy from a young age and naturally exhibited more male behaviors from her childhood. Thus, she became so attached to football following other young boys to learn the ABC of the game.
By the time she was 13 years old, she had made up her mind to be a professional footballer and she was initially playing between the forward wing and goalkeeping, before finally deciding to focus on being a goalkeeper which turned out to be the best decision she had ever taken.
Hedvig Lindahl Professional Career
The legendary goalkeeper started her youth career playing for Gropptorps IF from 1987 to 1994 when she moved to another youth team, Baggetorps IF until 1996.
In 1996 when she was only 13 years old, she started her professional career when she was signed by DFK Värmbol for which she played until 1998 when she joined Tunafors SK until 2000. Next, she played for Malmö FF from 2001 to 2003.
The next three clubs she played for were all in Sweden; Linköpings FC from 2004 to 2008, Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC from 2009 to 2010, and then Kristianstads DFF from 2011 to 2014.
In 2014, Hedvig Lindahl’s performance drew the attention of the English club, Chelsea and she was signed. She remained with the club until 2019 when she was briefly signed by Wolfsburg. Next, she moved to Atlético Madrid in 2020 and it is for the club that she still plays.
She has recorded the following successes with her clubs:
- Linköpings FC
- Svenska Cupen (2006, 2008)
- Chelsea Ladies
- FA Women’s Super League (2015, 2018)
- Women’s FA Cup (2015, 2018)
- WfL Wolfsburg
- Bundesliga (2020)
- DFB-Pokal (2020)
International Career
Speaking on her international exploits Lindahl had represented her country and is still representing it passionately. She has featured in the U21 national team in 1998 and subsequently advanced into the Swedish women’s national team. in 2002 she made her first appearance for the senior women’s national team with a clean sheet of 5-0 win against England and she helped the team to win a silver medal in the 2003 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Lindahl was also featured in the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup and 2008 Olympics in China as well as the UEFA Women’s Euro 2009 in Finland. Maintaining her spot as Sweden’s number one goalkeeper, she also took part in the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Germany, helping Sweden finish third, in the 2012 London Olympics.
Sadly. Lindahl stumbled into an anterior cruciate ligament injury in 2012 which kept her off the pitch for a while and her absence led Sweden to suffer a defeat to Germany during the semi-finals.
In September 2014 Lindahl had double hip surgery for an impingement that she had been suffering from since late 2013. And despite being in pain she was determined in her career with her national team and she featured in the 2015 Algarve Cup as well as the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, and she even got the title of the Diamantbollen, the award for Sweden’s female player of the year in November 2015.
She has over 170 caps for the national team, and She has also won the Swedish women’s goalkeeper of the year four times in 2004, 2005, 2009, and 2014 respectively, little wonder that she has been selected amongst the best female goalkeepers in the world.
Net worth, salary
Lindahl is no doubt one of the best female goalkeepers in her current form, thus, one should expect that she should be among the highest-paid.
According to her, it is hard to live on football for a woman, most especially when one is not playing in the major leagues. After her move to England, she claimed that she had to borrow money from the club chairman to buy a car.
Nonetheless, Hedvig Lindahl now has a net worth that is estimated at $1 million. She made her fortune thanks to the big clubs she has played for and also from her various endorsement deals including with Coca-Cola.
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5 Ultimate Facts About Her
1. Is Hedvig Lindahl Married?
The Swedish goalkeeper is a happily married woman with two kids. However, it is no news that Lindahl is bi-sexual. She married her wife Sabine Willms in 2011, and the union produced two lovely kids, the first was born in 2014 and the second came in 2017.
2. Her father was a footballer
Lindahl’s father also plays footballer for IFK Norrköping in the 1970s. and her exposure helped her to be fluent in English despite her Swedish tongue.
3. Hedvig Lindahl is one of the most capped goalkeepers in the world
With 172 caps for the Swedish national team, she is currently the most capped goalkeeper in the history of the country’s women’s football and one of the most capped goalies in the world. More so, she is the gift most capped female player in the history of Swedish football, as set trails former star Lotta Schelin who has 185 appearances.
4. Retirement is not something she is considering
Already heading for 40 years, Lindahl has since made it very clear that she is not yet ready to retire. According to her, she will continue playing and she is even open to playing for a men’s team.
5. She hopes she can carry their next child
Hedvig Lindahl and Sabine have two children together, as stated. Both the kids were born by Sabine and so Hedvig reveals that although she is not looking at retiring anytime soon, she hopes that she will be able to become pregnant and take their next child.
6. Lindahl has a skin condition
When she was 5 years old, the legendary goalkeeper realized that some parts of her skin were becoming abnormally white. It was later realized that she had a skin condition known as Vitiligo. The condition causes one’s skin to go white because of lost pigmentation.
Hedvig Lindahl revealed that when she was between 5 and 18, she still had some parts of her skin that were still a little brown but by the time she reached 20, it was all gone. More so, she is also starting to lose the pigmentation of her hair. The condition used to make her very uncomfortable but she has since adjusted and is now educating people on it.
5. Height, weight, body measurement
Lindahl is a tall woman who stands at a massive height of 5 ft. 10 inches (1.79 m). She also has a body weight of 163 lbs which does not limit her flexibility.
Women’s FA Cup: 2014–15, 2017–18
DFB-Pokal: 2019–20
FIFA Women’s World Cup: runner-up 2003, third place 2011, 2019
Algarve Cup: 2009, 2018, third place 2006, 2010
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