Behrang Safari

Behrang Safari (Persian: بهرنگ صفری, born February 9, 1985 in Tehran, Iran) is a Sweden-Iran Football (soccer) midfielder currently playing for FC Basel in the Swiss Super League. He came to Sweden as a two-year-old from Iran with his family. They settled in the small town Höganäs, and later moved to Lund when he was five. He is a very fast player, and is considered to be one of the biggest Swedish talents of his time.

Career

Club

Safari came through the ranks at Malmö FF and played his first game in Allsvenskan in July 2004 when he came on as a substitute. He won the Allsvenskan in his first season and the following season he became a first-team regular and helped Malmö win the Efes Pilsen Cup in Turkey.

On June 15, 2008, Malmö FF announced that Safari has been sold to Swiss team FC Basel. He made his Basel debut on 23 July 2008, in a 1-0 win over Grasshopper-Club Zürich at St. Jakob-Park. He played his first European game in a Basel shirt on July 30 2008 in a 1-1 UEFA Champions League 2008–09 match draw against IFK Göteborg at Ullevi.

International

An offensive left winger, Behrang Safari was called up to the Sweden national football team for their friendly match tour in January 2008. He played in all of the matches, which were a 1-0 win over Costa Rica national football team, a 2-0 defeat to United States men's national soccer team and a 0-0 draw with Turkey national football team. During his debut game against Costa Rica, Safari set up the only goal of the game with a cross to Samuel Holmén who volleyed the ball into the back of the net.