Kraft, Emil

Pupil of the amateur club "Lagan" ^[3] . Both parents of Emil were children's coaches at this club, and the elder brother Gustav played for Lagan in the position of central defender ^[1] . From the age of 13, Emil played for the first Lagan team in the 6th division level ^[1] . In the summer of 2010 he moved to Esther ^[4] . He made his debut on March 30, 2011 in the match of the first round of the Swedish Cup against the amateur club “Hessleholm”, played the match completely ^[5] . In the league, Superettan made his debut on April 9, 2011 in the first round match against Sundsvall , and also played the match completely ^[6] . In Superettan, 2011 spent 24 matches (all in the starting lineup), gave 2 assists and (which is rare for a defender) did not receive a single card ^[7] . "Esther" took 4th place ^[8] .

On January 10, 2012, he moved to Helsingborg ^[3] , the transfer amount was about 2 million kroner ^[9] , the contract was for 3 years ^[10] . In Helsingborg, Kraft had to fight for a place in the lineup with experienced Erik Walstedt and Kristoffer Andersson ^[3] . The 2012 season Helsingborg started with a victory in the match for the Swedish Super Cup , Kraft spent the game on the bench ^[11] . Kraft made his debut for Helsingborg on April 27, 2012 in a match of the 6th round of the championship against Mielby ^[12] . On November 22, 2012, he made his debut in European competitions: in the 25th minute of the Europa League match against the Spanish club Levante , Kraft came on as a substitute for Kristoffer Andersson ^[13] . In the 2012 championship, he went 7 times in the starting lineup and 2 times for a replacement, gave 1 goal assist ^[7] . Helsingborg took 6th place ^[14] .

After the 2012 season, the two extreme defenders of Helsingborg (Walstedt and Eric Edman ) ended their careers, so Kraft became the main right back. June 28, 2013 Kraft scored the first goal in his career, at the gate of AIK Stockholm , winning the fight after a corner. ^[15] In the 2013 championship, spent 27 matches (all in the starting lineup), scored 1 goal, gave 4 assists, got 2 yellow cards ^[7] . Helsingborg took 5th place ^[16] . Helped Helsingborg reach the 2013/14 Swedish Cup final by playing in all 7 games ^{[17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23]} .

April 11, 2014 extended the contract with Helsingborg until mid-2016 ^[24] . In the 2014 championship, spent 28 matches (all in the starting lineup), scored 1 goal, gave 1 goal assist, received 3 yellow cards ^[7] . Helsingborg took 9th place ^[25] . On June 30, 2014, Helsingborg head coach Ruar Hansen appointed Kraft 19-year-old team vice-captain , explaining his choice as follows: “Emil, despite his young age, is a guy who takes responsibility and who the rest they listen to the team ” ^[26] . Henrik Larsson , who headed Helsingborg at the end of the season, appointed Vice-Captain Johan Martensson ^[27] .

Youth teams

He played for youth teams from 16 years. He was first called up to the national team under 16 at the end of 2010 ^[28] . The first match for the youthful (under 17) national team was held on May 19, 2011, it was a friendly match with peers from Switzerland ^{[29] [30]} . The second match for the national team of his year of birth was held only on August 14, 2012, it was a friendly match with Finland ^[31] , scored a goal in this match, and the ball touched the goal post ^[32] . He played in the qualifying tournament for the youth (under 19) European Championship 2013 , gave 2 assists ^[33] .

Youth team

On May 28, 2012, Tommy Söderberg and Hokan Erickson challenged Kraft and Robin Quison to the youth (under 21 years old) national team for 3 qualifying matches for the youth (under 21 years old) European Championship 2013 instead of the injured Niklas Hult and Oscar Levikki ^[34] . Kraft made his debut in the youth team on June 6, 2012 in the qualifying match against Malta , replacing Miiko Albornoz in the 80th minute of the game ^[35] . In the next match, June 13 against Finland , a similar substitution was made in the 60th minute of the game ^[36] . On September 8, 2012, Kraft and Kristoffer Nyman were called to the youth team instead of the disqualified Iloan Hamad and the ill Alexander Kachaniklich ^[37] . August 14, 2013 Kraft first came out in the starting lineup of the youth national team, in a friendly match with Norway ^[38] . In the second half of 2013, Håkan Erikson used Kraft in an unaccustomed position of the left back ^[39] , instead of the injured Ludwig Augustinsson , and the right back was played by Matthias Johansson . He helped Sweden get into the final part of the youth (under 21) European Championship 2015 . In the qualifying tournament, spent 7 matches in which he received 4 yellow cards, did not score goals, did not give assists ^[40] .

National Team

On December 12, 2013, Eric Hamrén included Kraft into the national team for the annual January tour, in which only Scandinavian club players participate, and Kraft was the youngest in the line-up ^[41] . The first match of this tour, January 17, 2014 with Moldova , was Kraft's debut in the national team, Kraft came on as a substitute at the 85th minute of the game instead of Oscar Levikki ^[42] . In the second and final match of the tour, on January 21 with Iceland , Kraft first appeared in the starting lineup of the national team and played the match completely ^[43] .

On February 20, 2014, Erik Hamren first summoned Kraft to a “real” team for a friendly match with the Turkish team , which took place on March 5 in Ankara ^[44] . Craft held this match on the bench, Sebastian Larsson played the right back position ^[45] .

On November 16, 2014, Erik Hamrén called Kraft to a friendly match with France , instead of the injured Michael Lustig ^[46] . Kraft played the match in its entirety ^[47] . The newspaper Aftonbladet rated Kraft with a rating of “2” on a 5-point scale with a comment: “It was suddenly called for viewing. I missed the first attack, but then I played steadily and calmly ^[48] .

On the January 2015 tour, he played 56 minutes in a match with the national team of Côte d'Ivoire , won with a score of 2: 0 on January 15, 2015 ^[49] . The match with Finland was missed on January 19, 2015 due to problems with the lower back ^[50] .

In March 2015, Eric Hamren regarded Kraft as a candidate for the national team, but Emil was injured; in the absence of an injured Kraft, Anton Tinnerholm received a call to the national team ^[51] .

• Winner of the Super Cup Sweden 2012

As of May 2, 2015