Celtic centre-back Carl Starfelt has capped off an amazing season with back-to-back Sweden call-ups for the first time in just under 14 months.
Starfelt has been a rock for the Hoops after signing in the summer for £4m [Scottish Sun]. The former Rubin Kazan star has played a total of 49 games for the club and been part of the best defence in Scottish football [Transfermarkt].
And his form has seen him recalled back into the international scene after being on the bench for Sweden’s World Cup qualification matches back in March. Boss Janne Andersson has officially announced his full squad, which you can see below:
Starfelt didn’t manage to feature in either of their World Cup qualifiers in the last camp as they failed to make the finals in Qatar. However, March’s call-up came after being ousted from the 2 previous squads which signalled some progress for him.
Indeed, the last time he was called up to consecutive camps came back in March 2021. Starfelt has made 4 appearances for his country in total but has yet to play a competitive minute.
Sweden will travel to Slovenia on June 2nd before hosting Norway 3 days later. The camp will then be rounded off with a home clash against Serbia on June 9th followed by Norway away on June 12th.
Carl Starfelt’s Sweden career receives another boost after Celtic campaign
Starfelt’s call-up will hardly be one of the main talking points in Sweden. He’s now entering his 6th squad with the senior side. Indeed, Zlatan Ibrahimovic is out of the current squad due to injury – meaning his potential replacement will likely take the headlines.
Even so, Starfelt will still be itching for an opportunity in one of the 4 games. At 26, he’s become something of a late bloomer when it comes to international football. But the truth is that he’s made it impossible for Andersson to ignore him for any longer.
Starfelt is now a UEFA Champions League centre-back. He’ll be competing in Europe’s premier club competition next term and has shown he can more than deal with life at the top level.
Andersson has tended to go with the likes of Victor Lindelof and Joakim Nilsson of those in the current squad. But given what Starfelt has achieved this season with his double-winning campaign, you would like to think he’ll be in contention for one of the games.
Sweden will have to play 4 games in the space of 11 days. That leaves room for rotation in all positions. So the Celtic man has a right to feel confident heading into next month’s camp that he’ll be able to gain some competitive minutes.
He certainly deserves it. He simply couldn’t have done any more this year.
In other news, Report: Gavin Strachan won’t be leaving Celtic for Dundee
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
