Jansson: Pontus Sven Gustav (Pontus)
2016-Current
(Leeds Player Details)
(Player Details)
Central Defender
Born: Arlov, Sweden: 13-02-1991
Debut: Luton Town (a): 23-08-2016
6' 5" 14st 4lb (2016)
Born and brought up in Arlov, Sweden, Jansson started his career with his local club. In 2006, at the age of
fifteen, he moved to Malmo FF, where he played in the youth teams. He played thirteen times for the Swedish
Under-Seventeen team. He was loaned to IFK Malmo of the Swedish Second Division, South Gotaland, on the
understanding that Malmo FF had the right to recall him as they saw fit. There he played seven times, mostly as
a striker, and scored twice in the period from April 2009. He made his first team debut for Malmo FF in the 2009
season, making his first appearance as a substitute in a 2-1 away win at Djurgardens IF, on 14th September 2009,
coming on as a seventy-eighth minute for striker Edward Ofere for the final twelve minutes. A week later he was a
late substitute in the eighty-second minute of the 5-0 home win over IF Elfsborg Boras, when he replaced striker
Daniel Larsson for the final eight minutes. He was also on the bench on 19th October 2009 for the 0-1 home defeat
by IFK Goteborg but was not used. He gained eight caps for the Sweden Under-Nineteen team and scored three
times. Two of those came in one game at the Harjun Stadion in Jyvaskyla, Finland on 11th August 2009 in a 3-2 win
over Finland, when he played in central defence but managed to score the opening goal in the third minute and the
final one in the eighty-fourth minute to secure the victory for Sweden. He came on as a final minute substitute for
defender Jasmin Sudic in a 0-0 away draw with GAIS Goteborg in the opening game of the season on 15th March
2010 followed by nineteen minutes playing time in the 3-1 away win at Gefle IF after he replaced defender Daniel
Andersson in the seventy-first minute. He made his starting debut in a 1-2 away defeat at Helsingborgs IF on 20th
April 2010 for the injured Jasmin Sudic, he then started the following ten games, playing the full ninety minutes in all.
During that time he scored his first goal for the club, on 15th May 2010, in a 2-4 defeat at Mjallby AIF, when he headed
his side's second goal in the fifty-seventh minute to make the score 2-3. Roland Nilssen then brought in Yago
Fernandez and Jansson then missed the next five fixtures but in the reverse home game with Helsingborgs IF, on 15th
September 2010, which was won 2-0, he replaced Yago Fernandez after thirty-nine minutes, only to be replaced by
Miljan Mutavdzic in the final minute. After that he started the next three, playing a full game in each, before Yago
Fernandez returned. He did replace him as a seventy-fifth minute substitute in a 0-1 home defeat by Kalmar FF, on
18th October 2010, but that, apart from one further game as an unused substitute in the final game of the season in a
2-0 win over Mjallby AIF, was his final game of the season which saw Malmo FF crowned champions of the
Allsvenskan and Jansson had scored once in fourteen starts and four more from the bench and also started two
Svenska Cup games. He was involved with the first team squad for the whole of the 2011 season. He was an unused
substitute for his first ten of a possible eleven appearances, but missed few after that as he started fifteen of the
remaining nineteen as he gained the respect of new coach Rikard Norling. He scored twice, when he got the second
goal in the fifty-eighth minute of a 2-0 home win over Kalmar FF on 20th June 2011 and an eighty-second minute
equaliser to get Malmo back in the game that they eventually won 2-1 at Orebro SK on 23rd October 2011 in the final
game of the season. He also started one game in the Svenska Cup, came on as an eighty-sixth minute substitute for
Dardan Rexhepi, playing thirty-four minutes as the game finished 1-1 at full time and at the end of extra time, before
Malmo were eliminated 3-4 on penalties. Malmo finished fourth in the Allsvenskan, and Jansson picked up seven
Sweden Under-Twenty-One caps. His first four came in Friendlies, starting on 24th March 2011 when he started in the
1-3 defeat by Italy at the Mapei Stadium - Citta del Tricolore in Reggio Emilia, Italy, when he was replaced at Half-Time
by Tim Bjorkstrom. He then played a full game in the 4-1 away over Norway on 2nd June 2011 at Briskeby Gressbane
in Hamar, Norway, where he opened the scoring in the twenty-fourth minute. His third cap came four days later in a 2-1
home win over Serbia at the Falkenbergs IP, in which he played all but ten minutes as he was replaced by Marcus
Tornstrand in the eightieth minute. His fourth cap, on 10th August 2011, was in a 3-0 win over the Netherlands at
Landskrona Idrottsplats in which he played all but thirteen minutes as he was replaced by Richard Magyar after seventy
-seven minutes. He was then involved in the Group Two UEFA European Under-Twenty-One qualification games, the
first being on 1st September 2011 in a 1-0 away win over Lithuania, at the Suduva Stadium, or ARVI Futbolo Arena, in
Marijampole, Lithuania, in which, as with the next two qualifiers, he played a full game. Four days later, in the return
fixture at the Guldfageln Arena in Kalmar, Sweden, Sweden won 4-0. On 15th November he gained his seventh cap in
a 1-0 win Gozo Stadium in Xewkija, Malta, in the third of the UEFA Qualifiers. At the beginning of the 2012 season
Daniel Andersson announced he would be stepping down during that season, which would leave a vacancy for the
captaincy and a place in central defence to fill. The season proved to be Jansson's oppurtunity to establish himself
firmly in the team. He was an ever-present in the League, playing all thirty games as Malmo finished third and his only
League goal of the season came in the sixty-eighth minute when he got the winner in a 3-2 away win at GAIS Goteborg
on 23rd July 2012. He did also score another goal in the UEFA Championship qualifiers on 23rd August 2011 in the
2-0 home win over GNK Dinamo Zagreb, when he scored the second goal four minutes from time. He was an ever-
present in that Tournament playing full games in all six games. There were full games too, in five of the six Europa
League games and two more in the Svenska Cup. He took his total Under-Twenty-One Caps to fourteen as he gained
seven more in the season. He was a full-time member of the squad and completed ninety minutes in each game. The
first was in a Friendly on 29th February 2012 with Russia at the Estadio Municipal de Marbella, Spain in which they
were defeated 1-4. The other six all came in the UEFA European Under-Twenty-One Championship qualification
games, comprised of four Group Two games followed by two qualification round games. In Group Two games, on 6th
June 2012 at the Orjans Vall Stadium in Halmstad, Sweden, he played in a 4-0 win. A week later at the Guldfageln
Arena in Kalmar, Sweden were again at home to Finland and won 3-0. On 6th September 2012 there was a 1-2 loss
to Slovenia at Ljudski vrt Stadium in Maribor, Slovenia and four days later they were back at the Guldfageln Arena
where they defeated Ukraine 2-1. The qualification round was a two legged affair which saw a 0-1 defeat at the Stadio
Adriatico – Giovanni Cornacchia Stadium in Pescara, Italy on 12th October 2012 and a 2-3 loss in the return leg at the
Guldfageln Arena, four days later. He had also been called up into the full Swedish International side and made his
debut for them in a 2-0 win over the hosts at the Bahrain National Stadium, in Riffa, Bahrain, n 18th January 2012, in
which he started and almost played the full game before coming off for Mikael Dyrestam in the eighty-sixth minute.
Five days later he sat unused on the bench as Sweden beat Qatar away before, on 14th November 2012 at the
Friends Arena Stadium in Solna, Sweden, he came on in the eighty-fifth minute as a substitute for Sebastian Larsson
as Sweden defeated England 4-2. He gained his third cap, again as a substitute, on 26th January 2013 at the 700th
Anniversary Stadium in Chiang Mai, Thailand, when they defeated Finland 3-0 and he replaced Daniel Majstorovic at
Half-Time. Rikard Norling played just three defenders in the first five games of the season before switching back to
his 4-4-2 formation. In those games Jansson did not make the squad, but he played a full game in the all the final
twenty-five games as Malmo finished as champions of the Allsvenskan. He scored one goal in the 3-1 home win over
IFK Goteberg, on 25th August 2013, who were at that time in fourth place in the competition. It was important as
Goteborg had opened the scoring in the eighteenth minute, so his goal which levelled the score just three minutes
later set up the win for Malmo. He also played five full games in the Svenska Cupen in which they reached the Semi-
Finals before being beaten 2-0 by Helsingborgs IF at the Swedbank Stadion on 1st May 2014. In July and August of
2013 Malmo took part in the Europa League qualifiers and progressed through the first two rounds of those two
legged ties, eliminating Drogheda United of Ireland and Hibernian of Scotland, but in the Third Round they drew at
home with Swansea City 0-0 but had been defeated in the away leg by 0-4 and were eliminated, Jansson having
played a full game in each of the matches. In the Allsvenskan 2014 season he had started seven, come on as a
substitute twice and sat unused twice, on the bench, before the January transfer window. He scored one goal which
came in the sixty-third minute, to make the score 2-0 in a 2-1 win at Orebro SK on 16th April 2014. He signed for
Torino on 24th April 2014 on a free transfer on a four year contract, but stayed at Malmo until the end of the season
playing his final game for them in a 1-0 away win at IF Elfsborg on 1st June 2014, when he came on as a sixty-third
minute substitute for Markus Rosenberg, and commenced as a Torino player on 1st July 2014. At Malmo he had
made eighty-nine starts in the Allsvenskan, together with ten games from the bench and also was an unused
substitute on fourteen occasions and scored six goals. He also started eleven games in the Svenska Cup together
with one game from the bench and was unused on the bench once. He had European Cup experience too, starting
six games in the Europa League Qualifiers, five in the Europa League and six in the UEFA Champions League
Qualifiers, in which he scored one goal. At Torino he was seen more as cover in defence but was given his chance
in games with little relevance. On 31st July 2014 he was on the bench for the Europa League Qualifiers in the away
leg with IF Brommapojkarna, but was unused. the next day in the home leg he made his club debut as an eighty-first
minute substitute for Kamil Glik as Torino won 4-0 and 7-0 on aggregate to go into the Europa League Competition.
There was a further two legged qualification round, at RNK Split on 31st July 2014 which ended 0-0, but a week
later Torino won 1-0 to go to the group stages and Jansson was an unused substitute in both games. The Serie A
season started on 31st August 2014 and he was an unused substitute on the bench for the first six games. So he
made his club starting debut on 18th September 2014 in the first Group B game in the Europa League in a 0-0 draw
with Club Brugge KV at the Jan Breydel Stadium in Bruges, Belgium where he played the full game. He sat unused
on the bench in the 1-0 win over FC Copenhagen on 2nd October 2014, but played a full game in the next three ties.
In the two legs with HJK Helsinki, which produce a 2-0 win at home and a 1-2 defeat away, and then the reverse leg
at home to Club Brugge KV which ended 0-0. He was a sixtieth minute substitute for Nikola Maksimovic at Telia
Parken, Copenhagen in a 5-1 win over FC Copenhagen, but his only other connections were as an unused substitute
in the 3-2 away win over Athletico Bilbao in the intermediate stage second leg, which took them through on aggregate,
and in the legs of the last sixteen he was unused in the 1-0 home win over Zenit St. Petersburg, which was not
sufficient for them to progress further on aggregate. So he started four, came on a substitute twice and was an unused
substitute six times in European games. He made his Serie A debut when he started in a 1-0 home win over Udinese
Calcio on 19th October 2014, playing a full game. He started seven, came on twice as a substitute but was unused on
the bench on twenty-six occasions as Torino finished ninth in Serie A. In the Coppa Italia they reached the last sixteen
before they were beaten 3-1 at the Stadio Grande Torino by SS Lazio and he was a sixty-first minute substitute for
Alexander Farnerud in that game. On the International scene he was still on the fringes, making the squad for the away
game with the Republic of Ireland in the Group C World Cup Qualifiers on 6th September 2013, but was again content
to be an unused substitute. He brought his caps to five as he firstly came on as a seventy-sixth minute substitute for
Niklas Blackman in a friendly 2-1 victory over Moldova at the Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi, United Arab
Emirates, on 17th January 2014 and four days later he started in the 2-0 victory over Iceland at the Zayed Sports City
Stadium in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, but he came off seven minutes before time as Niklas Blackman took
over. In the 2014-15 season he added one more to make his tally six. First he sat once more unused in a 1-1 away
draw with Montenegro in the Group G European Qualifiers on 15th November 2014 and three days later he played a
full game in a 0-1 Friendly defeat by France at the Stade Velodrome in Marseille, France. He also was once more an
unused substitute in the 2-0 away win over Moldova in a Group G European Qualifier on 27th March 2015. He had to
wait for more than a year to take his tally to seven. This came in a 0-0 home draw in a Friendly against Slovenia at the
Swedbank Stadion in Malmo on 30th May 2016, when he came on as an Half-Time substitute for Mikael Lustig. There
were four more games as an unused substitute. The first in a 3-0 home win over Wales in a Friendly on 5th June 2016,
the other three came in the Group E of the Euro 2016 Championship in France which came in June 2016, with a 1-1
draw on the 13th with the Republic of Ireland, a 0-1 loss to Italy on 17th and a 0-1 defeat by Belgium on the 22nd. In all
he had started three, came on as a substitute in four, and had been an unused substitute in eight for seven caps. For
Torino, the 2015-16 season saw him start six, come on as a substute in one, but spent nineteen unused on the bench,
but was also out in another eleven due to injury. He scored one goal in the season, it came on 30th April 2016 at
Dacia Arena, Udine, home of Udinese Calcio in a 5-1 win, in which Jansson opened the scoring in the twelfth minute.
In the Coppa Italia, he started one, came on as a substitute in one and was unused on the bench in one. When he
went on a one season loan to Leeds on 18th August 2016, he had scored once in Serie A and started thirteen, come
from the bench on three occasions and had forty-five games as an unused substitute. In the Coppa Italia he had
started two and been a substitute once and unused on the bench once, while in Europe he had started four times,
been a substitute twice and sat unused on the bench five times. In the loan agreement there was provision for Leeds
to buy him at the end of his loan period. Jansson was given the #18 jersey by Leeds. He was called up to the Swedish
squad for their game with the Netherlands on 6th September 2016 after he arrived at Leeds, but he was to remain
unused on the bench as was also the case with the two other games he was selected for in the Qualifiers in
Luxembourg on 7th October 2016 and at home to Bulgaria on 10th October 2016 but he did get three minutes in 11th
November 2016 encounter with France at the Stade de France when he replaced Jimmy Durmaz as France
triumphed 2-1. There were, however, three consecutive games to take his caps to ten, as he started and played a full
game as Sweden beat Hungary 2-0 in the home of Ferencvaros, the Groupama Arena, in Budapest in a Friendly on
15th November 2016 and then repeated that as they overwhelmed Belarus in a 4-0 home win, at the Friends Arena,
in a Group A World Cup Qualifier on 25th March 2017 and then he replaced Andreas Granqvist at half time three
days later as Sweden beat Portugal 3-2 in a Friendly at the Estadio dos Barreiros, home of CF Maratimo, in
Madiera. He was on the bench on 9th June 2017 as France were defeated 2-1 in a Group A World Cup Qualifier. He
advanced his caps to eleven when he started on 13th June 2017 in a Friendly 1-1 with Norway at the Ulleval Stadium,
Oslo, when he started but was replaced by Jakob Johansson after seventy minutes and he was again on the bench
on 31st August 2017 as they lost 2-3 to Bulgaria in a Group A Qualifier. He made his debut for Leeds when he started
in the League Cup win at Luton Town on 23rd August 2016. He was an unused substitute in the next League game at
Nottingham Forest before playing a full game in a 0-1 home defeat by Huddersfield Town on 10th September 2016.
From thereon he became a regular in the League side, missing onlt when injured or suspended. He scored the first
League goal in a 3-2 win at Carrow Road over Norwich City on 5th November 2016. There were two others, in a 1-1
draw at Villa Park with Aston Villa on 29th December 2016 and in a 2-1 win at Ewood Park over Blackburn Rovers
on 1st February 2017. Two days later he was signed on a permant basis, having initially been loaned by Torino until
the end of the 2016-17 season. Leeds duly paid the 3.5 million transfer fee, dismissed rumours that Southampton
would give them a quick profit if he signed for them, and the big Swede signed a three year contract that had been
agreed in February and was a Leeds player long before the start of the 2017-18 season but he missed the first two
games at Bolton in the League and at home to Port Vale in the League Cup. By September 2018 he had taken his
International caps to eighteen with four full games which included three as captain and two as a substitute. He was
also unused on the bench a further nine times, which meant he had started ten, been a substitute eight times and an
unused substitute twenty-one times. He was on the bench twice in European World Cup Qualifiers on 31st August
2017in a 3-2 defeat by Bulgaria at Vasil Levski National Stadium in Sofia and then on 3rd September 2017 as they
triumphed 4-0 over Belarus, at the Borisov Arena in Barysaw, Belarus. He was then twice more on the bench in the
World Cup Qualification Play-offs as they eliminated Italy with a 1-0 home win in the first leg at the Friends Arena in
Solna, Stockholm on 10th November 2017 and held them 0-0 at the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium, San Siro, Milan
three days later. Sweden then played four friendlies in preparation for the 2018 World Cup Finals. The first saw
Jansson once more unused on the bench on 24th March 2018 as Chile defeated Sweden 1-2 at the Friends Arena,
followed , three days later by a 0-1 defeat by Romania at the Ion Oblemenco stadium in Craiova, Romania, which
saw Jansson captain his country for the first time and also played a full ninety minutes at Centre Back. On 2nd June
2018, he came on as a half-time replacement for Andreas Granqvist in a 0-0 draw with Denmark at the Friends
Arena and a week later, he again sat unused on the bench as Sweden was again held goaless by Peru at the Gamla
Ullevi in Gothenberg. Sweden took part in five World Cup games, three in Group F and two elimination games which
saw them reach the quarter finals before being eliminated 0-2 by England. He played a full game in Sweden's 1-0
victory over South Korea on 18th June 2018 at the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium in Russia. He was then unused in the
next three games as he remained on the bench, five days later in the 2-1 win over Germany at the Fisht Olympic
Stadium in Sochi, Russia and then in the final Group F game on 27th June 2018 Central Stadium in Yekaterinburg,
Russia, as Mexico were beaten 3-0. He was again unused as Switzerland were eliminated 1-0 om 3rd July 2018
at the Saint-Petersburg Arena, Russia. He came on for the final five minutes at the Kosmos-Arena in Samara,
Russia as an eighty-fifth minute replacement for Emil Krafth as Sweden were beaten 0-0 by England on 7th July
2018. His final two intermational were as Captain and for a full game as Austria defeated Sweden in a Friendly at
Generali Arena or Letna Stadium, Prague on 6th September 2018 and in a UEFA Nations League B, Group 2 game
at the Friends Arena, Turkey were 2-3 winners four days later. In 2016-17 he and Kyle Bartley had provided the solid
rock in Central Defence upon which the Leeds team had been based. After Bartley's loan from Swansea City had
expired and he had returned to his parent club and Manager Garry Monk had moved to Middlesbrough, he again
formed the solid mainstay of the Leeds defence along with Club captain Liam Cooper, who had returned to full
fitness, under new Manager Thomas Christiansen. He started forty-one League games, was a substitute once and
sat unused on the bench once in the League and also started once in the League Cup He added three goals to his
tally as he game United the lead in the nineteenth minute of a 1-1 draw with Aston Villa at Elland Road on 1st
December 2017, then similarly scored four minutes before half-time in a 1-0 home win over Norwich City fifteen
days later and then had to wait until he got United's first equaliser, two minutes before half-time in a 2-2 draw at
Reading on 10th March 2018. Due to the World Cup, he was late gaining match fitness at the start of the 2018-19
season and had to be contend with a place on the bench in United's first two games of the new season, but had
soon chalked up seven starts and two games from the bench in the League and two full games in the League Cup.
He also scored the equaliser two minutes from time in the home game with Brentford on 6th October 2018. It took
his League goals to seven from eighty-two starts and three from the bench and one start in the F.A. Cup and four in
the League Cup.