[2] He made his Serie A and club debut on 18 October in a 2–1 away defeat to Napoli, coming on as a substitute in the 75th minute for Christian Poulsen.

[4] He made 27 appearances for the Tuscans, who were ultimately relegated at the end of the season, and scored once, in a 4–3 loss away to eventual treble winners Inter Milan on 9 January 2010.

[9] On 18 July 2015, German club Hamburger SV signed Ekdal from Cagliari on a four-year deal for €4.5 million with wages of €600,000 per season.

[14] On 30 December 2023, Ekdal moved back to Sweden and Stockholm after 16 years abroad, he signed for Djurgårdens IF, the club he supported as a child.

Ekdal was named in Sweden's 23-man squad for UEFA Euro 2016 in France, despite a deep cut in his back from celebrating Hamburg's recent Bundesliga survival putting his involvement at risk.

On 20 November 2023, he made his final appearance in Sweden's qualifier against Estonia in Stockholm, captaining the team and playing 72 minutes before being substituted to a standing ovation from the Friends Arena crowd.

He is the son of Lennart Ekdal, an award-winning Swedish journalist, TV personality and newscaster known for his work for the newspaper Dagens Nyheter and the financial magazine Veckans Affärer, as well as hosting TV shows such as Kalla fakta, Halvtid för Reinfeldt (with Fredrik Reinfeldt), Kvällsöppet med Ekdal & Hakelius and Hetluft.