In July 2015 John Guidetti left Manchester City on a free transfer, after seven years of loan spells, and signed a five-year deal with Celta de Vigo. That move settled the career of a striker born on 15 April 1992 in Stockholm, who grew up playing football in both Sweden and Kenya. Until then he had moved from loan to loan in England, the Netherlands and Scotland. In Spain he played for Celta and Alavés, and with Sweden he went to Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup.
A childhood between Stockholm and Nairobi
Guidetti started playing at IF Brommapojkarna in 1998. In 2002 his family moved to Kenya for his father's work. In Nairobi he played for Impala BrommaBoys, the Mathare United academy and Ligi Ndogo, and he played in neighbourhoods such as Kibera and Mathare. Years later he founded an organisation that helps children in those areas. When he came back to Sweden he rejoined Brommapojkarna and made his Superettan debut for them in 2008. On his father's side his roots are Italian: his grandfather was Italian.
Seven years with Manchester City
In April 2008, while still a youth player, he signed his first contract with Manchester City. His competitive debut came on 22 September 2010 in a League Cup tie against West Bromwich Albion, where he set up City's only goal. That year City loaned him back to Brommapojkarna, and he scored 3 goals in 8 Allsvenskan games. In November he joined Championship side Burnley, until City recalled him on 31 December 2010. In July 2011 City gave him a new three-year deal, and in August they loaned him to Feyenoord.
Feyenoord, Stoke and Celtic
Rotterdam brought the best numbers of his loan years: 20 goals in 23 Eredivisie games in 2011-12. They included three hat-tricks in two months: against Twente on 18 December 2011, against Ajax in De Klassieker on 29 January 2012 and against Vitesse on 12 February. A nerve infection that took away the feeling in his right leg then stopped his progress. He missed the end of the league season and Euro 2012, and spent most of 2012-13 recovering. A knee injury followed in 2013. In January 2014 he joined Stoke City on loan and made six Premier League appearances, all off the bench, without scoring. In September 2014 he moved to Celtic, also on loan. In Glasgow he scored 15 goals in 35 games and was named Scottish Premiership Player of the Month for October 2014. In the Europa League he scored a stoppage-time equaliser in a 3-3 draw with Inter Milan. He won the Scottish league title and the 2015 League Cup; the cup final, on 15 March, ended in a 2-0 win over Dundee United.
Celta de Vigo
He made his Celta debut on 23 August 2015. A month later, on 23 September, he scored against FC Barcelona at Balaídos. In the 2015-16 Copa del Rey he hit a volley from about 25 metres against Atlético Madrid and finished as the tournament's joint top scorer with five goals, level with four other players. In 2016-17 he scored four goals in 13 Europa League games, the season Celta reached the semi-finals. In the second leg against Manchester United he had a last-minute chance that would have sent Celta to the final, but he did not score. He finished his time in Vigo with 22 goals in 95 games.
Alavés and Hannover 96
In January 2018 he joined Alavés on loan until the end of the 2017-18 season and scored 3 goals in 17 LaLiga games. In late May that year Alavés signed him permanently on a four-year deal. In 2018-19 he lost his starting place and scored twice. On 17 January 2020 he joined Hannover 96 in the German second division on loan, scoring 3 goals in 14 games before he went back to Alavés. His time with the club ended in 2022.
Sweden national team
In Sweden's youth teams he scored 8 goals in 11 games for the under-17s and 12 in 23 for the under-21s. With the under-21s he won the 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship in Prague. He scored the equaliser in the opening 2-1 win over Italy, scored Sweden's first penalty in the final's shootout against Portugal and won the Bronze Boot. The same year the Swedish group Badpojken released a song about him that went to number one in the Swedish charts. He made his senior debut on 29 February 2012 in a friendly away to Croatia. His first goal came on 5 June 2016 in a 3-0 win over Wales. He was in Sweden's squads for Euro 2016 and for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. He later scored against Slovakia in 2018 and the Faroe Islands in 2019. By September 2020 he had 29 caps and 3 goals for Sweden.
Return to Sweden
In May 2022 he went back to Sweden to join AIK in Solna. He spent three and a half seasons in the Allsvenskan and played his last game for the club in November 2025, against Halmstad, after AIK decided not to keep him. In April 2026 he signed for Rinkeby United, who play in the Swedish Division 4.
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