POLICE in Sweden have arrested a 25-year-old man over the brutal stabbing murder of Australian man Kai Foley, who was killed in the lead up to Christmas.

Kai Foley, 30, was found near Odins Square, a public space in the middle of the Swedish city of Gothenburg, early on the morning of December 20, but police believe he may have been attacked several hundred metres away.

He was suffering severe spinal and abdominal injuries and later died in hospital.

Swedish News Agency TT reports a man is now being detained over the attack after being arrested on Friday.

Local prosecutors say he was not known to Mr Foley. Local newspapers in Sweden reported at the time that it was a random attack.

Mr Foley, who was believed to have been working in the restaurant industry, spent part of his youth growing up in Alice Springs before he moved to Melbourne.

He moved to Gothenburg last year to be with his Swedish girlfriend.