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Sweden

Nickname(s)	Blågult (The Blue-Yellow)
Association	Svenska Fotbollförbundet (SvFF)
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Head coach	Janne Andersson
Captain	Andreas Granqvist
Most caps	Anders Svensson (148)
Top scorer	Zlatan Ibrahimović (62)
Home stadium	Friends Arena
FIFA code	SWE
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	14 3 (29 November 2018)[1]
Highest	2 (November 1994)
Lowest	45 (March 2015, October–November 2015, March 2017)
Elo ranking
Current	17 3 (2 December 2018)[2]
Highest	2 (May–June 1949, October 1949, July 1950)
Lowest	48 (September 1980, May 1981)
First international
Sweden 11–3 Norway  (Gothenburg, Sweden; 12 July 1908)
Biggest win
Sweden 12–0 Latvia  (Stockholm, Sweden; 29 May 1927)  Sweden 12–0 South Korea  (London, England; 5 August 1948)
Biggest defeat
Great Britain 12–1 Sweden  (London, England; 20 October 1908)
World Cup
Appearances	12 (first in 1934)
Best result	Runners-up (1958)
European Championship
Appearances	6 (first in 1992)
Best result	Semi-finals (1992)
Medal record Olympic Games 1948 London Team 1924 Paris Team 1952 Helsinki Team World Cup 1958 Sweden {{{3}}} 1950 Brazil {{{3}}} 1994 United States {{{3}}}

The Sweden national football team (Swedish: svenska fotbollslandslaget) represents Sweden in association football and is controlled by the Swedish Football Association, the governing body for football in Sweden. Sweden's home ground is Friends Arena in Stockholm and the team is coached by Janne Andersson. From 1945 to late 1950s, they were considered one of the greatest teams in Europe.^[3]

Sweden made their first World Cup appearance in 1934. Sweden has made twelve World Cup appearances and six appearances in the European Championships. They finished second in the 1958 FIFA World Cup, and third in both 1950 and 1994. Sweden's accomplishments also include a gold medal in the 1948 Summer Olympics, and bronze medals in 1924 and 1952. They also reached the semi-finals in UEFA Euro 1992.

History

Sweden has traditionally been a strong team in international football, with 11 World Cup appearances and 3 medals in the Olympics. The Swedish team finished second in the 1958 World Cup, when it was the host team, being beaten by Brazil 5–2 in the final. Sweden has also finished third twice, in 1950 and 1994. In 1938, they finished fourth.

Early history

Sweden played its first international game against Norway on 12 July 1908, an 11–3 victory. Other matches in 1908 were played against England, Great Britain, the Netherlands (twice) and Belgium; Sweden lost all five matches. In the same year, Sweden competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics for the first time. Sweden, however, lost a game in the Olympics against the Great Britain 1–12, the biggest loss in the Swedish national team's history.

In 1916, Sweden defeated Denmark for the first time.

Sweden played in the 1912 Olympics (as hosts), the 1920 Olympics, and in the 1924 Olympics, where Sweden took the bronze and their first medal ever.

1938 World Cup

The 1938 World Cup was Sweden's second qualification for the World Cup. In the first round, they were scheduled to play against Austria, but after Germany's occupation of Austria, the Austrian team could not continue playing in the tournament. Instead, Sweden went straight to the quarter-finals match against Cuba. They beat Cuba 8–0 with both Harry Andersson (on his debut) and Gustav Wetterström scoring hat-tricks. In the semi-final match against Hungary, Sweden lost 1–5. Sweden's next match was the third-place match against Brazil. In that game the Swedes lost 2–4, and ended in fourth place for the first and only time in Swedish football history.

1948 Summer Olympics

In the first round, Sweden played against Austria. The Austrian team had qualified without their professional players, which was a surprise since the Austrian league had many professional players who were allowed to play in the tournament. The match was played at White Hart Lane in London and Sweden won 3–0. In the second game, Sweden played against Korea and won 12–0, one of the two largest margin wins Sweden has ever had. In the semi-final Sweden met their archrivals from Denmark beating them 4–2.

The final was played at legendary Wembley Stadium in London. The attendance was around 40,000 people which was high for a football game in those days. Sweden took on Yugoslavia in the final and won 3–1, with goals by Gunnar Gren (24', 67'), Stjepan Bobek (42') and Gunnar Nordahl (48'). This was Sweden's first championship win in any international football tournament.

1950 World Cup

In the 1950 World Cup, the Swedish football association did not allow any professional Swedish football players to take part. Consequently, Sweden only fielded amateur players during the tournament.

Qualifying for the tournament as one of six European national teams, Sweden played in the same group as Italy and Paraguay. (India withdrew from the group.)

In the first match, Sweden beat Italy 3–2 in São Paulo. The second match was a 2–2 draw against Paraguay. With the most points in the group, Sweden advanced to the next round.

Their first game in the second stage – also a group format – was against the hosts Brazil. It was played at the Maracanã Stadium with a total attendance of more than 138,000, to this day the record attendance for the Swedish national team. The game ended 7–1 to Brazil and it is rumored that almost everyone in the Brazilian audience waved the Swedes goodbye with their scarfs.

The next game was against Uruguay, who Sweden played against for the first time in World Cup history. Played in São Paulo, Uruguay won the game 3–2, which meant Sweden were unable to play for the gold.

The final game for Sweden in the tournament was played in São Paulo, against Spain. Sweden won 3–1 with goals by Stig Sundqvist (15'), Bror Mellberg (34') and Karl-Erik Palmér (79'). Sweden finished 3rd in the group and took their first World Cup medal. As Sweden was the best placed European team, Sweden was, as the time, regarded "unofficial European champions".

At the Summer Olympics in 1952 in Helsinki, Sweden continued to achieve success and won an Olympic bronze. The following year, the Football Association decided not to allow foreign professionals to play in the national team and the team failed to qualify for the World Championships in Switzerland in 1954 when Sweden only came second in their qualifying group behind Belgium.

1958 World Cup

In 1956, the Swedish football federation allowed the professional footballers to play for the national team again, giving Swedish football fans hope for the 1958 FIFA World Cup. Sweden, the host nation, were in the same group as Mexico, Hungary and Wales.

The first game, Sweden vs Mexico, was played at Sweden's national stadium, Råsunda Stadium, Solna, and was attended by around 32,000 people. Sweden won the game 3–0, taking the lead in Group 3. The next match was against Hungary, who had finished 2nd in the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland and were also the 1952 Olympic Champions. Also played at Råsunda, this game ended 2–1 to Sweden, with both goals scored by Kurt Hamrin. In the next match, against Wales, Sweden drew 0–0.

Making it through to the quarter-finals, playing at Råsunda for the fourth time in this tournament, Sweden were up against the USSR and won 2–0.

The semifinal at Ullevi, Gothenburg, was the only game in the tournament which Sweden did not play at Råsunda. The crowd of around 50,000 people attended one of the best games Sweden played in the tournament. West Germany led by 1–0 when Erich Juskowiak was sent off in the 59th minute. Sweden won 3–1.

The final was played at Råsunda between host nation Sweden and the 1950 FIFA World Cup runners-up, Brazil. The total attendance was approximately 52,000 people. Brazil ended up winning the World Cup for the first time ever after beating Sweden by 5–2. Sweden consequently became runners-up, the best result for Sweden in any World Cup. After the final match the Brazilian players honoured the host nation by sprinting around the pitch holding a Swedish flag.

1960s

After the successful 1958 World Cup, Sweden's fortunes diminished. In the qualification round of the 1962 World Cup, Sweden won its group in impressive fashion (scoring 10 goals and only having 3 goals scored against it), but it still had to win a play-off game against Switzerland to qualify. The game was played in West Berlin, and the Swiss won, 2–1.

Sweden almost got to the UEFA European Championship 1964. They started their play-off against Norway and won the first game and drew in the last game. In the second round, Sweden beat Yugoslavia, 3–2, but they lost the first game. In the quarter-finals, Sweden played against the defending champions, the Soviet Union. Sweden tied the first game but lost the second.

During the 1966 World Cup qualification, Sweden was in the UEFA Qualification group 2. Sweden started the qualification with a draw against West Germany and then a 3–0 victory over Cyprus. But only the winner of the group advanced and Sweden was eliminated with a loss in its next game against West Germany.

Sweden successfully entered the UEFA European Championship in 1968, but they finished in the Qualification group 2.

Sweden's only major success in the '60s was to qualify for the 1970 World Cup, after winning UEFA Group 5 ahead of Norway and France. Sweden finished third in its group, losing a tie-breaker with eventual #4 Uruguay, and did not advance to the elimination round, however. The winner of Sweden's group was eventual world runner-up Italy.

1974 World Cup

In the qualification of the 1974 FIFA World Cup, Sweden was in the same group as Austria, Hungary and Malta. Sweden clinched a narrow win via a classic play off-match against Austria in a snowy Gelsenkirchen, and advanced to the World Cup finals in Germany.

The group Sweden drew into included Uruguay, Netherlands and Bulgaria. The first game against Bulgaria ended in a draw. In the second game against the Netherlands, Sweden drew another tie. The last game of the round was played against Uruguay. That game was the first victory Sweden had in the tournament, when they beat Uruguay 3–0 with goals by Roland Sandberg (74') and Ralf Edström (46', 77'). Sweden finished 2nd in the group and advanced to the second group stage.

In the second group stage, Sweden was defeated in the first game against Poland 0–1. The situation after the defeat against Poland was that if Sweden lost against West Germany with a single goal difference and Yugoslavia defeated Poland, Sweden would be second in the group and play for the bronze medal. But since Poland beat Yugoslavia 2–1, Sweden had to win the game against the host nation, West Germany, in order to finish second in the group.

The game against West Germany was played in Düsseldorf with an attendance of 66,500 people. The Swedish striker Ralf Edström gave the Scandinavian the lead with 1–0 after 29 minutes. But in the second half West Germany took control of the game, even after Roland Sandberg's equalizer after 52 minutes. Germany won 4–2. After the tournament, the German players commented that the game against Sweden was their best game in that tournament. The last game for Sweden was played in Düsseldorf against Yugoslavia. Sweden won that game 2–1. They finished the tournament as the 5th place team. The Swedish team had profiles that Ronnie Hellström, Bo Larsson and Björn Nordqvist.

Sweden did not qualify for the European Championship quarter-finals game in 1976. On 11 May 1976, Sweden lost for the first time since 1937 at home to Denmark.

1978 World Cup

1978 took Sweden for the third consecutive World Cup. Sweden made it from the qualifiers in a three team group with Switzerland and Norway as opponents. The qualifying session was played in 1976 and 1977 in the World Cup 1978 in Argentina, Sweden played the first match with a draw (1–1) against Brazil. Swedish scorer was Thomas Sjöberg. 1–1 was Sweden's best result so far in the World Cup against Brazil context (the result was repeated between the two countries at the World Cup finals in 1994). The team then lost against Austria (0–1) and Spain (0–1). The Swedish team finished last in the group with 1 point and goal difference 1–3. Several of the profiles from 1974, still with (Larsson, Edström, Nordqvist) but also new players such as Anders Linderoth, Hasse Borg and Torbjörn Nilsson.

1979–1990

After the successful 1970s, reaching all three World Cups, Sweden changed their coach from Georg "Åby" Ericson to Lars "Laban" Arnesson. Arnesson had been a successful coach for Östers IF before becoming national team coach. They failed to qualify to the 1982 FIFA World Cup, ending third to Scotland and Northern Ireland. In 1983, Sweden met Brazil in Gothenburg to play a friendly, the match ended 3–3. They failed to qualify for the UEFA Euro 1984, despite defeating the then-reigning world champions Italy 3–0 in Naples, including two goals by Glenn Strömberg, due to losing against Romania both away and at home. The Swedish setbacks continued. After the failed qualification for the 1986 World Cup, Olle Nordin took over the team. Sweden lost their match against Czechoslovakia with 1-2 in the final qualifying round, while Portugal unexpectedly won 1–0 away against West Germany and took second place in the group. It was West Germany's first ever loss in a World Cup qualifier.

Sweden also failed to qualify to the UEFA Euro 1988 in West Germany. They won their qualification group for the 1990 World Cup ahead of England and went on to their first World Cup in 12 years. However, the World Cup campaign ended quickly after three 1–2 defeats in the group stage matches, against Brazil, Scotland and Costa Rica. As of May 2018, it is the only time that Sweden has failed to score points in a World Cup tournament. After the World Cup, Olle Nordin resigned and Nisse Andersson became a temporary coach until Tommy Svensson took over in 1991.

1992 European Championship

As the host of the UEFA Euro 1992, Sweden played in their first ever European Championship tournament. They were drawn in group A with Denmark, France and England. Sweden managed to advance as group winners ahead of the eventual champions Denmark. In the semi-finals following the group stage, Sweden were eliminated by Germany with 2–3. As of July 2016, the semi-final place remains Sweden's best result ever in a European Championship.

1994 World Cup

Sweden qualified for the 1994 World Cup in the United States at the top of their qualifying group ahead of Bulgaria and France. Sweden was placed in Group B with Brazil, Cameroon and Russia. The first game against Cameroon in Los Angeles looked to be yet another 1–2 loss, (after the 1990 World Cup fiasco with losses of 1–2 in all three games) but in the 75th minute, Martin Dahlin scored the equalizer from a rebound shot off of Henrik Larsson and the match finished 2–2. In the next game against Russia in Detroit, Russia was handed an early penalty and made it 1–0. Sweden managed to come back, with a penalty goal from Tomas Brolin and two goals from Martin Dahlin, with the final result being 3–1. In the last group stage match, against Brazil (also in Detroit), they tied 1–1 after goals by Kennet Andersson ('23) and Romário ('47).

In the first knockout-stage match, Sweden faced Saudi Arabia in the extreme heat and humidity of Dallas, where the game started at the hottest time of day- 4:30 p.m. where temperatures went past 40C (104F) in an outdoor stadium. Sweden won 3–1 after two goals from Kennet Andersson and one from Martin Dahlin. Sweden's quarter-final match in San Francisco against Romania has become a memorable match for Swedish football fans. After Sweden had scored late in the second half, Romania managed to equalize in the dying minutes of the match, sending it into extra time. Romania's Florin Răducioiu, who scored the first goal for Romania, scored his second of the day to take Romania ahead at the 101st minute. But with five minutes left, Kennet Andersson scored with a header to make it level at 2–2. The penalty shoot-out began with a miss from Håkan Mild of Sweden, but Thomas Ravelli managed to save two penalties from Daniel Prodan and Miodrag Belodedici, giving Sweden the win and making himself a hero. Sweden advanced to the semi-finals, where they were to face Brazil in Los Angeles. They had managed to score in the group stage against Brazil but couldn't do it a second time. After Jonas Thern had been sent off with a red card, Romário scored the only goal of the game in the 80th minute.

In the third-place match, Sweden played against a Bulgaria side that had lost to Italy in their semi-final match in New York City. Sweden scored 4 goals in the first half, but the second half went goal-less. Sweden finished 3rd and won the bronze medal, the best placing for the national team in a World Cup since the 1958 silver medal. This led Sweden to a second-place in the FIFA World Rankings for one month, in November 1994.

They finished as the top scorers of the tournament, with 15 goals scored in total.

1995–1997

After the World Cup in 1994, Sweden had difficulty reaching up to the same level. The national team was knocked out in qualifying for the 1996 European Championships in England and the World Cup in France in 1998. The qualification for the Euro 96 had started with a win for Sweden 1–0 away against Iceland in September 1994, but then lost against Switzerland away from home. In November 1994, Tomas Brolin broke his foot in a win against Hungary. In the spring of 1995 continued failure in the European Championship qualifiers. Sweden lost the away games against Turkey and played 1–1 draw at home to Iceland. When Sweden drew 0–0 against Switzerland in Gothenburg in September 1995, it was clear that the team would miss the European Championship finals.

The qualifying game for the France 98 was not better. In October 1996, Austria won 1–0 in Stockholm and the month after the Swedes lost against Scotland on away ground. Admittedly, Sweden won against Scotland in the return match in Gothenburg on Walpurgis Night in 1997, but in September 1997 won Austria 1–0 in Vienna. In October 1997, Tommy Svensson quit as head coach and Tommy Söderberg took over.

2000 European Championship

Sweden qualified impressively for this tournament, winning all games except the away game against England (0–0) and conceding only one goal. The finals however, were a great disappointment. Sweden lost their opening game against the host Belgium 1–2. Johan Mjällby scored the goal for Sweden in the 53rd minute after an error by Belgian goalkeeper Filip De Wilde, while Belgium won via goals from Bart Goor in the 43rd minute and Émile Mpenza in the 46th. Then Sweden played 0–0 against Turkey and lost 2–1 to Italy. The goal was scored by Henrik Larsson while Italy won via goals from Luigi Di Biagio and Alessandro Del Piero. Sweden finished the group last behind Belgium with only 1 point. Italy finished first and Turkey second.

2002 World Cup

In the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Sweden was drawn in the "group of death", Group F, which also featured big favourites Argentina, England and Nigeria. The first match was against England. Sol Campbell gave England the lead in the first half by heading in a left-side corner from David Beckham. The equalizing goal was scored by midfielder Niclas Alexandersson, a powerful left-foot shot from outside the box past David Seaman. The match ended 1–1. In the next game, Sweden played Nigeria. Julius Aghahowa gave Nigeria the lead by heading in a cross from the right. Sweden managed to equalize with a fine goal by Henrik Larsson. Later in the game, Larsson was fouled in the penalty area and Sweden were awarded with a penalty which Larsson himself put in the goal. Sweden won 2–1.

In the final group match, Sweden played Argentina, who needed to win after losing 0–1 to England in the previous game. Sweden midfielder Anders Svensson scored a freekick goal from 30 meters. Andreas Andersson had a shot off the crossbar and out in an attempt to extend the lead. Mattias Jonson committed a foul in the penalty area and Argentina was awarded a penalty. Ariel Ortega shot straight on Magnus Hedman, the Swedish keeper, but Hernán Crespo rushed into the box and shot the rebound from Hedman between the keeper's legs. The goal was controversial because Crespo began running into the box at the same time as Ortega stepped up to shoot. However, the match ended 1–1 and Sweden won the group, England on second place, Argentina third and Nigeria last.

In the round of 16, Sweden played Senegal. Henrik Larsson gave Sweden an early lead by heading in a corner from Anders Svensson. Senegal equalized through Henri Camara. They also had a goal disallowed for offside. The game came to sudden death golden goal. Rising star Zlatan Ibrahimović came on and nearly won Sweden the game. He made a terrific run on the right wing past several Senegal players, and shot with his weaker left foot from a tight angle straight at Senegal's keeper Tony Sylva. Ibrahimović had Larsson and Svensson in excellent positions for a pass, but shot instead. Then Svensson made a great spin past a defender and hit the post with a powerful shot, which Sylva would have had no chance of saving, had it gone inside the posts. Camara then took a weak shot which went past Hedman, off the post and into the goal. Consequently, Sweden were eliminated.

UEFA Euro 2004

Sweden came into the tournament in Portugal with low expectations. But after a dazzling 5–0 win against Bulgaria they became one of the favorites. Fredrik Ljungberg began the goal-fest after a well done pass by Zlatan Ibrahimović. Henrik Larsson scored 2–0 and 3–0 in the second half. His first goal was done by a nice header after that he received a perfectly taken crossball by Erik Edman. 4–0 was scored by Zlatan Ibrahimović on a penalty and the substitute Marcus Allbäck scored the last goal of the game. After the 5–0 victory, Sweden became a feared team in the tournament and many were surprised by Sweden's offensive play since they were known to mostly play a defensive form of football.

In the next game they were set up against Italy, who would prove themselves as a very hard opponent. After 36 minutes Antonio Cassano scored the first goal of the game for Italy after a cross by Christian Panucci. A great game by Swedish goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson made Sweden survive the rest of the game and after 84 minutes Sweden finally managed to score a goal. Ibrahimović made a backheel shot which found the back of the net.

Sweden's last game of the group was held against Denmark. It was said before the game that if Sweden and Denmark played 2–2, Italy would be eliminated from the tournament. This is exactly what happened. Denmark led the game by 2–1 for a long time. But at the end of the game, Mattias Jonson scored the equalizer after numerous rebounds. Italy was eliminated and both Denmark and Sweden was qualified for the quarter-finals.

In the quarter-finals, Sweden had to face Holland. The game became goalless after full-time, but not without a lot of chances. The closest Sweden came to scoring was through Fredrik Ljungberg but he hit the post with a well taken shot. But the game ended goalless in normal time and went to a penalty shootout. After a long run of penalties were taken, it was Olof Mellberg's turn to take a shot. The Dutch goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar saved Mellberg's shot and Holland won the game. Sweden was eliminated and Holland was through to the next round.

2006 World Cup

Sweden competed in Group B at the 2006 World Cup. Their squad for the tournament featured players who played club football in eleven different nations.
Sweden started the World Cup slowly, recording a goal-less draw against unheralded Trinidad and Tobago, despite playing with a one-man advantage for most of the game. The second game, against Paraguay, looked to be another goal-less draw until Fredrik Ljungberg scored in the 89th minute to give Sweden a 1–0 victory. Sweden then rallied to tie England, 2–2, to finish group play with five points – enough to finish second in its group and advance to the second round. There, the team's World Cup run came to an end with a 2–0 defeat to the host team, Germany.

2008 European Championship and 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers

Sweden finished second in Group F behind Spain, thus qualifying for the finals. The campaign included an abandoned match away to Denmark, for which Sweden were awarded a 3–0 win by UEFA.

In their first match in Euro 2008, they beat the reigning European champions, Greece, by a score of 2–0 with goals from Zlatan Ibrahimović and Petter Hansson. Their next game was against Spain, who they played in qualifying. The game looked like a draw until a 92nd-minute strike from David Villa, which put the Spaniards ahead. In the final group match, the Swedes went on to lose 2–0 to the Russians, eliminating them from the tournament.

The 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification ended disastrously for Sweden. In the first game in Tirana, they were only able to tie 0–0 with an Albanian side that they were expected to defeat easily. Four days later, Sweden beat Hungary, 2–1, with goals from Kim Källström and Samuel Holmén. They would go on to tie with Portugal twice, both in Stockholm and in Porto. Both games ended 0–0. Sweden would lose to Denmark on home ground with an early strike from Thomas Kahlenberg after a defensive mistake. Sweden had defeated Denmark, 3–0, 2 years earlier. Sweden recovered with a 4–0 hammering of Malta. Against Hungary and Malta, both of the winning goals for Sweden were scored late. They would lose to Denmark again at Parken Stadium in Copenhagen after a late goal from Jakob Poulsen. Meanwhile, Portugal defeated Hungary, 3–0, putting the Portuguese team ahead in the standings. Sweden would defeat Albania, 4–1; however, Sweden was eliminated by Portugal's 4–0 defeat of Malta. Lars Lagerbäck resigned and Erik Hamrén was appointed the next head coach.

2012 European Championship and 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers

Sweden's Euro 2012 campaign with their new coach, Erik Hamrén, started well with two consecutive wins in Group E against Hungary and San Marino. After that Sweden lost to the Netherlands in Amsterdam with 1–4, but then won against Moldova first in Stockholm with 2–1 and later in Chișinău with 4–1. After the battle against Moldova Sweden beat their neighbor Finland with 5–0. The following game was a defeat when Hungary through Rudolf scored 2–1 home at Stadium Puskás Ferenc at the last minute of full-time. After that Sweden defeated San Marino with 5–0 away including two goals from Christian Wilhelmsson, who before the two games against San Marino and Hungary hadn't been a regular in the starting eleven during Hamréns tenure as head coach. The Swedish team then proceeded to beat Finland with 2–1 and in the final game beat the Netherlands with 3–2 to end their streak of 17 consecutive qualification-game wins. On 2 December 2011, Sweden were drawn into Group D alongside England, Ukraine and France in the Euro 2012 competition.^[4][5]

In their Euro 2012 opening match Sweden lost against host nation Ukraine with 2–1.^[6]
In their second group match Sweden lost to England with 3–2, thus eliminating them from the tournament.^[7] In the third game, a Swedish team with nothing to lose or gain outplayed France in a 2–0 victory.

Playing in Group C of the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, Sweden finished second behind Germany, and was one of eight teams to move on to the second round of qualification. A notable result during group play was their match in Germany on 16 October 2012 where they fought back from 4–0 down with 30 minutes remaining to draw the game 4–4 at the Olympiastadion, and was widely regarded as one of the most memorable comebacks in the history.^[8]

A key win in their group was the home game against Austria on 11 October 2013, as Martin Olsson and Zlatan Ibrahimović both scored in the second half to secure the win at the Friends Arena.^[9]

Using the October 2013 FIFA World Rankings, Sweden was ranked 25th overall and would face one of the four highest ranked teams in the second round of qualification. They were drawn to face Portugal, the team that beat Sweden for a qualification spot in the 2010 World Cup qualifiers. After a 1–0 loss in Lisbon and a 3–2 loss in Solna, Portugal won 4–2 on aggregate and Sweden once again failed to qualify for the World Cup.^[10]

UEFA Euro 2016

Competing in Group G of the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifiers, Sweden picked up their first point on the road in Austria with a 1–1 draw on 8 September 2014.^[11] After a 1–1 draw against Russia at the Friends Arena, Sweden then picked up their first win in their next match with a 2–0 result against Liechtenstein.^[12] Sweden then went unbeaten for another three matches before suffering two consecutive defeats, a 1–0 loss to Russia in Moscow and a crushing 4–1 home defeat to group leaders Austria. This caused Sweden to move down to third place in their group, just one point above fourth-placed Montenegro. Sweden then bounced back to win their final two group games against Liechtenstein and Moldova with the scoreline being 2–0 on both occasions. They finished their group in third position behind Austria and Russia and qualified for the playoffs. Sweden were drawn against big rivals Denmark and won 4–3 on aggregate, qualifying for the UEFA Euro 2016. They were, however, eliminated from the group stage, losing to Italy and Belgium, drawing with the Republic of Ireland and scoring no goals of their own (their only goal was an own goal by Ciaran Clark).

2018 World Cup

On 25 July 2015, Sweden were drawn in Group A of 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification. The team scored six wins, a draw and three losses. As a result, they tied with the Netherlands in points, and claimed second place on goal difference.

On 13 November 2017, Sweden qualified for the 2018 World Cup after a 0–0 draw away to Italy at the San Siro during the second leg of their qualification play-off match. As Sweden had won the first match 1–0, this resulted in a Swedish win on aggregate, making their return to the World Cup for the first time in 12 years.

At the 2018 World Cup, Sweden started its campaign by a 1–0 win over South Korea in the first match on 18 June, through a penalty goal decided by the new VAR technology.^[13] In their second match on 23 June they continued with a loss against Germany, after Sweden attained 1–0 in the first half Germany got 1–1 early on in the second half and won with a goal in the last 15 seconds in the 95th minute.^[14] Despite this loss, Sweden advanced to the knockout stage top of the group with a 3–0 win over Mexico, while Germany were knocked out bottom of the group with a 2–0 loss to South Korea.^[15]

On 3 July 2018, Sweden played Switzerland in the round of 16, beating them 1-0, and advancing to the quarter finals for the first time since 1994.^[16] In the quarter-finals, Sweden suffered a 2–0 defeat to England and was thus knocked out.

2018–19 UEFA Nations League

Sweden were drawn with Turkey and Russia in the League B. Sweden started their campaign on 10 September with a 2–3 defeat against Turkey in Solna. A month later, Sweden earned a point in a 0–0 draw against Russia in Kaliningrad. With two matches remaining, Sweden had to win both to top the group and promoted to the 2020–21 UEFA Nations League A. Sweden later beat Turkey 0–1 in Konya and had a 2–0 victory over Russia in Solna, earning them promotion to League A and a guaranteed play-off spot for the UEFA Euro 2020, should they do not qualify directly via the regular qualifier.

UEFA Euro 2020

The draw for the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying was held on December 2, 2018. Sweden were seeded in pot 2 and drawn in Group F together with Spain, Norway, Romania, Faroe Islands and Malta.

Supporters

Swedish supporters showed up first during the 1912 Summer Olympics, where they chanted "Heja Sverige / friskt humör / det är det som susen gör" (roughly meaning "Come on, Sweden / being in good spirits is what does the trick") during the football games.

The traveling supporters for Sweden's away games showed up for the first time in the 1974 FIFA World Cup in West Germany, and since then Sweden has always had supporters in large tournaments. In the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, Sweden had one of the largest group of supporters during a tournament, especially during the group stage match against Paraguay with around 50,000 Swedish supporters in attendance, plus an additional 50,000 fans watching the game outside the stadium. The Swedish fans were also voted the best fans during the 2006 World Cup, due to their massive numbers, friendly attitude and love for the game.^{[citation needed]}

Rivalry

Sweden's historical rival is Denmark. The countries have played against each other 107 times, of which Sweden have won 47, drawn 20 and lost 40. The first match between the teams was an 8–0 Denmark win in May 1913. Sweden lost their first five matches against Denmark before their first win in October 1916 by the score 4–0. The first competitive match between the countries was as 1–0 win for Sweden in the group stage of UEFA Euro 1992. Both teams advanced from the group stage and Denmark went on to win the tournament. In UEFA Euro 2004 the teams drew 2–2 in the last group stage match, ensuring that both teams advanced at the expense of Italy. In the qualification for UEFA Euro 2008, Sweden were awarded a 3–0 win away against Denmark after a Danish fan invaded the pitch and attacked the referee. The reverse fixture ended in a goalless draw and Sweden qualified for the final tournament. In the qualification for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Sweden lost both matches against Denmark by 1–0 and failed to qualify for the World Cup. In the play-offs round of the qualification for UEFA Euro 2016, Sweden defeated Denmark by 4–3 on aggregate to qualify for the final tournament. The most recent match between the countries was a goalless draw in June 2018.^[17]

Kits and crest

Kit sponsorship

Kit supplier	Period
Umbro	1970 FIFA World Cup
Adidas	1974–2003
Umbro	2003–2013
Adidas	2013–present

Stadium

Since 2012, the Swedish national stadium is Friends Arena, replacing Råsunda Fotbollsstadion which was demolished.
According to FIFA, Råsunda Stadion was a classic stadium, one of only two stadiums in the world, the other one being the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, California, USA, which hosted both the men's and women's World Cup final (1958 FIFA World Cup final and the 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup).
Råsunda stadium was opened 18 September 1910, and had a capacity of only 2.000, mostly standing. It was Råsunda stadium and Valhalla stadium in Gothenburg that were the first football fields with grass used for Swedish football.
The stadium was expanded during 1937, to a capacity of 40,000 people.
The stadium was used for the football tournament in the 1912 Summer Olympics held in Stockholm, and hosted 8 games during the FIFA World Cup 1958. In the UEFA European Championship in 1992, the stadium hosted 4 games and in the 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup it hosted only the final game. But Råsunda stadium is still the only stadium in Scandinavia that has hosted four big tournaments.
Ullevi in Gothenburg is used for some games which Sweden plays, such as the centennial game of the Swedish football association, against England in 2004.
Even other stadiums, such as Stadion in Malmö, are used for the national team.

Competitive record

FIFA World Cup

FIFA World Cup record										FIFA World Cup qualification record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D *	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1930	Did not enter									No qualification
1934	Quarter-finals	8th	2	1	0	1	4	4		2	2	0	0	8	2
1938	Fourth place	4th	3	1	0	2	11	9		3	2	0	1	11	7
1950	Third place	3rd	5	2	1	2	11	15		2	2	0	0	6	2
1954	Did not qualify									4	1	1	2	9	8
1958	Runners-up	2nd	6	4	1	1	12	7		Qualified as hosts
1962	Did not qualify									5	3	0	2	11	5
1966										4	2	1	1	10	3
1970	Group stage	9th	3	1	1	1	2	2		4	3	0	1	12	5
1974	Second round	5th	6	2	2	2	7	6		7	4	2	1	17	9
1978	Group stage	13th	3	0	1	2	1	3		4	3	0	1	7	4
1982	Did not qualify									8	3	2	3	7	8
1986										8	4	1	3	14	9
1990	Group stage	21st	3	0	0	3	3	6		6	4	2	0	9	3
1994	Third place	3rd	7	3	3	1	15	8		10	6	3	1	19	8
1998	Did not qualify									10	7	0	3	16	9
2002	Round of 16	13th	4	1	2	1	5	5		10	8	2	0	20	3
2006	Round of 16	14th	4	1	2	1	3	4		10	8	0	2	30	4
2010	Did not qualify									10	5	3	2	13	5
2014										12	6	2	4	21	18
2018	Quarter-finals	7th	5	3	0	2	6	4		12	7	2	3	27	9
2022	To be determined
2026
Total	Best: Runners-up	12/21	51	19	13	19	80	73		131	80	21	30	263	121

*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

**Gold background color indicates that the tournament was won.

***Red border color indicates tournament was held on home soil.

UEFA European Championship

UEFA European Championship record										UEFA European Championship qualification record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D *	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1960	Did not enter									Did not enter
1964	Did not qualify									6	2	3	1	8	7
1968										6	2	1	3	9	12
1972										6	2	2	2	3	5
1976										6	3	0	3	8	9
1980										6	1	2	3	9	13
1984										8	5	1	2	14	5
1988										8	4	2	2	12	5
1992	Semi-finals	3rd	4	2	1	1	6	5		Qualified as hosts
1996	Did not qualify									8	2	3	3	9	10
2000	Group stage	14th	3	0	1	2	2	4		8	7	1	0	10	1
2004	Quarter-finals	7th	4	1	3	0	8	3		8	5	2	1	19	3
2008	Group stage	10th	3	1	0	2	3	4		12	8	2	2	23	9
2012	Group stage	11th	3	1	0	2	5	5		10	8	0	2	31	11
2016	Group stage	20th	3	0	1	2	1	3		12	6	4	2	19	12
2020	To be determined
2024
Total	Best: Semi-finals	6/15	20	5	6	9	25	24		105	56	23	26	178	102

*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

**Gold background color indicates that the tournament was won.

***Red border color indicates tournament was held on home soil.

UEFA Nations League

UEFA Nations League record
Year	Division	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
2018–19	B	Promoted	16th	4	2	1	1	5	3
2020–21	A	To be determined		0	0	0	0	0	0
Total		—		4	2	1	1	5	3

Olympic Games

Football at the Summer Olympics was first played officially in 1908. The Olympiads between 1896 and 1980 were only open for amateur players. The 1984 and 1988 tournaments were open to players with no appearances in the FIFA World Cup. After the 1988 Olympics, the football event was changed into a tournament for U23 teams with a maximum of three older players. See Sweden national under-23 football team for competition record from 1992 until present day.

Olympic Games record										Olympic Games qualification record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D *	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1908	Fourth place	4th	2	0	0	2	1	14		No qualification
1912	Round of 16	9th	2	0	0	2	3	5		No qualification
1920	Quarter-finals	6th	3	1	0	2	14	7
1924	Third place	3rd	5	3	1	1	18	5		No qualification
1928	Did not enter									No qualification
1936	Round of 16	9th	1	0	0	1	2	3
1948	Champions	1st	4	4	0	0	22	3		No qualification
1952	Third place	3rd	4	3	0	1	9	8		No qualification
1956	Did not enter									Did not enter
1960
1964	Did not qualify									2	0	1	1	2	6
1968	Did not enter									Did not enter
1972
1976
1980
Total	1 title	7/15	21	11	1	9	69	45		2	0	1	1	2	6

*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

**Gold background color indicates that the tournament was won.

***Red border color indicates tournament was held on home soil.

Nordic Football Championship

Nordic Football Championship record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D *	L	GF	GA
1924–28	Runners-up	2nd	10	6	1	3	31	19
1929–32	Runners-up	2nd	12	6	1	5	35	31
1933–36	Champions	1st	12	7	2	3	31	22
1937–47	Champions	1st	12	9	0	3	41	16
1948–51	Champions	1st	12	7	2	3	36	22
1952–55	Champions	1st	12	8	4	0	44	14
1956–59	Champions	1st	12	9	2	1	45	17
1960–63	Champions	1st	12	7	3	2	24	10
1964–67	Champions	1st	12	5	4	3	22	14
1968–71	Champions	1st	12	10	2	0	32	10
1972–77	Champions	1st	12	8	2	2	24	9
1978–80	Runners-up	2nd	6	3	0	3	7	6
1981–85	Runners-up	2nd	6	3	1	2	7	4
2000–01	Fifth place	5th	5	1	2	2	3	4
Total	9 titles	14/14	147	89	26	32	382	198

*Gold background color indicates that the tournament was won.

Minor tournaments

Minor tournaments record
Tournament	Round	Position	Pld	W	D *	L	GF	GA
1939 DBU 50 years	Semi-final	3rd	1	0	0	1	0	1
1947 FBF 40 years	Winners	1st	2	2	0	0	11	2
1952 NFF 50 years	Runners-up	2nd	2	1	0	1	3	3
1954 SvFF 50 years	Winners	1st	2	2	0	0	9	0
1957 FBF 50 years	Winners	1st	2	1	1	0	5	1
1981 Lahti Cup	Runners-up	2nd	2	1	0	1	5	4
1988 Maspalomas	Winners	1st	2	2	0	0	5	1
1988 West Berlin	Winners	1st	2	1	1	0	3	1
1989 DBU 100 years	Runners-up	2nd	2	1	0	1	2	7
1991 Scania 100	Third place	3rd	2	1	0	1	6	3
1994 Joe Robbie Cup	Winners	1st	2	1	1	0	3	1
1994 Nordic Cup	Winners	1st	2	1	0	1	2	1
1995 Umbro Cup	Third place	3rd	3	0	2	1	5	6
1996 Carlsberg Cup	Winners	1st	2	1	1	0	2	1
1997 King's Cup	Winners	1st	4	3	1	0	6	1
2001 King's Cup	Winners	1st	4	2	2	0	9	3
2003 King's Cup	Winners	1st	4	3	1	0	12	4
2004 Carlsberg Cup	Third place	3rd	2	1	0	1	3	3
2011 Cyprus Cup	Runners-up	2nd	2	1	1	0	3	1
2013 King's Cup	Winners	1st	2	1	1	0	4	1
Total	12 titles		46	26	12	8	98	45

*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

**Gold background color indicates that the tournament was won.

***Red border color indicates tournament was held on home soil.

Titles

Competition				Total
World Cup	0	1	2	3
European Championship	0	0	1	1
Olympic Games	1	0	2	3
Total	1	1	5	7

Major titles

• 
  FIFA World Cup
  
  
  
  • Runner-up (1): 1958
    
  
  
  • Third place (2): 1950, 1994
    
  
  
  • Fourth place (1): 1938
    
  
  
  
  


• 
  UEFA European Championship
  
  • Semi-final (1): 1992
    
  
  


• 
  Olympic football tournament
  
  
  
  • Gold Medal (1): 1948
    
  
  
  • Bronze Medal (2): 1924, 1952
    
  
  
  
  

Minor titles

• 
  Nordic Football Championship
  
  • Winners (9): 1933–36, 1937–47, 1948–51, 1952–55, 1956–59, 1960–63, 1964–67, 1968–71, 1972–77
    
  
  

All-time record

The following table shows Sweden's all-time international record.^[18] The abandoned match against Denmark on 2 June 2007 here counts as a draw.

Statistics updated as of 20 November 2018.

Against	Played	Won	Drawn *	Lost	GF	GA	GD	Win %
Albania	5	3	1	1	10	5	+5	60%
Algeria	4	3	1	0	9	1	+8	75%
Argentina	3	1	1	1	6	6	0	33.33%
Australia	5	1	2	2	2	2	0	20%
Austria	37	13	6	18	55	57	−2	35.14%
Azerbaijan	2	2	0	0	4	0	+4	100%
Bahrain	1	1	0	0	2	0	+2	100%
Barbados	1	1	0	0	4	0	+4	100%
Belarus	5	5	0	0	16	2	+14	100%
Belgium	15	5	2	8	30	23	+7	33.33%
Bosnia and Herzegovina	1	1	0	0	4	2	+2	100%
Botswana	1	1	0	0	2	1	+1	100%
Brazil	15	2	3	10	17	35	−18	13.33%
Bulgaria	16	11	2	3	31	11	+20	68.75%
Cameroon	1	0	1	0	2	2	0	0%
Chile	2	0	1	1	2	3	−1	0%
China PR	3	2	1	0	6	2	+4	66.67%
Colombia	2	0	2	0	2	2	0	0%
Costa Rica	2	1	0	1	2	2	0	50%
Croatia	4	1	0	3	4	5	−1	25%
Cuba	1	1	0	0	8	0	+8	100%
Cyprus	6	5	1	0	19	3	+16	83.33%
Czech Republic	3	1	2	0	6	5	+1	33.33%
Czechoslovakia	16	3	4	9	21	36	−15	18.75%
Denmark	108	47	21	40	188	175	+13	43.52%
East Germany	6	2	1	3	8	9	−1	33.33%
Ecuador	2	0	1	1	2	3	−1	0%
Egypt	4	2	0	2	10	3	+7	50%
England	24	7	9	8	31	37	−6	29.17%
England Amateurs	3	0	0	3	2	18	−16	0%
Estonia	17	14	3	0	54	17	+37	82.35%
Faroe Islands	3	2	1	0	4	1	+3	66.67%
Finland	88	67	11	10	295	95	+200	76.14%
France	21	6	5	10	21	29	−8	28.57%
Germany	25	9	5	11	45	51	−6	36%
Great Britain	1	0	0	1	1	12	−11	0%
Greece	7	2	3	2	17	8	+9	28.57%
Hungary	46	17	11	18	79	91	−12	36.96%
Iceland	15	11	2	2	35	15	+20	73.33%
Iran	1	1	0	0	3	1	+2	100%
Israel	12	7	4	1	26	9	+17	58.33%
Italy	25	7	7	11	25	28	−3	28%
Ivory Coast	3	1	0	2	3	3	0	33.33%
Jamaica	2	1	1	0	2	1	+1	50%
Japan	5	1	3	1	7	7	0	20%
Jordan	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0%
Kazakhstan	2	2	0	0	3	0	+3	100%
Latvia	17	11	4	2	54	12	+42	64.71%
Liechtenstein	4	4	0	0	10	1	+9	100%
Lithuania	5	5	0	0	22	3	+19	100%
Luxembourg	6	5	1	0	16	1	+15	83.33%
Macedonia	3	3	0	0	4	1	+3	100%
Malaysia	1	1	0	0	3	1	+2	100%
Malta	11	11	0	0	42	2	+40	100%
Mexico	10	5	3	2	11	5	+6	50%
Moldova	7	7	0	0	20	3	+17	100%
Montenegro	3	2	1	0	6	3	+3	66.67%
Netherlands	25	8	6	11	48	47	+1	32%
Nigeria	2	2	0	0	5	2	+3	100%
North Korea	3	1	2	0	6	2	+4	33.33%
Northern Ireland	7	3	1	3	7	10	−3	42.86%
Norway	107	60	23	24	277	146	+131	56.07%
Oman	1	1	0	0	1	0	+1	100%
Paraguay	3	1	1	1	4	4	0	33.33%
Peru	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0%
Poland	26	14	4	8	56	37	+19	53.85%
Portugal	18	7	6	5	29	20	+9	38.89%
Qatar	2	1	1	0	3	2	+1	50%
Qatar U23	1	1	0	0	5	0	+5	100%
Republic of Ireland	11	5	3	3	17	14	+3	45.45%
Romania	10	4	3	3	20	11	+9	40%
Russia	10	4	4	2	14	9	+5	40%
San Marino	4	4	0	0	22	0	+22	100%
Saudi Arabia	3	2	1	0	6	3	+3	66.67%
Scotland	12	6	1	5	19	14	+5	50%
Senegal	1	0	0	1	1	2	−1	0%
Serbia	2	1	0	1	2	3	−1	50%
Singapore	1	1	0	0	5	0	+5	100%
Slovakia	6	3	3	0	11	2	+9	50%
Slovenia	2	1	1	0	1	0	+1	50%
South Africa	2	1	0	1	3	1	+2	50%
South Africa Development	1	0	1	0	1	1	0	0%
South Korea	5	3	2	0	18	3	+15	60%
Soviet Union	18	5	6	7	21	37	−16	27.78%
Spain	13	3	4	6	15	21	−6	23.08%
Switzerland	29	11	7	11	47	42	+5	37.93%
Syria	1	0	1	0	1	1	0	0%
Thailand	5	4	1	0	13	4	+9	80%
Trinidad and Tobago	2	1	1	0	5	0	+5	50%
Tunisia	4	2	1	1	3	2	+1	50%
Turkey	12	3	4	5	14	15	−1	25%
Ukraine	4	1	1	2	3	4	−1	25%
United Arab Emirates	2	1	0	1	3	2	+1	50%
United States	8	4	0	4	13	10	+3	50%
Uruguay	3	2	0	1	6	3	+3	66.67%
Venezuela	1	0	0	1	0	2	−2	0%
Wales	7	6	1	0	16	3	+13	85.71%
West Germany	13	4	4	5	18	21	−3	30.77%
Yugoslavia	11	4	2	5	17	19	−2	36.36%
Total	1038	509	225	304	2089	1369	+720	49.04%

*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty shoot-out.

Matches not counted as international matches by FIFA

This is a list of matches that the Swedish FA counts as official international matches, but not FIFA.^[19] All these matches are included in the table above.

• Sweden 1–6 England Amateurs (Gothenburg, Sweden; 8 September 1908)


• 
  England Amateurs 7–0 Sweden (Kingston upon Hull, England; 6 November 1909)


• Sweden 1–5 England Amateurs (Solna, Sweden; 10 June 1914)


• Sweden 4–1 Norway (Tampere, Finland; 21 July 1952)


• Sweden 3–1 Austria (Helsinki, Finland; 23 July 1952)


• 
  Hungary 6–0 Sweden (Helsinki, Finland; 28 July 1952)


• Sweden 2–0 Germany (Helsinki, Finland; 1 August 1952)


• 
  Hungary 4–0 Sweden (Budapest, Hungary; 4 May 1963)


• Sweden 2–2 Hungary (Gothenburg, Sweden; 27 October 1963)


• Sweden 4–2 Norway (Lahti, Finland; 28 February 1981)


• Sweden 4–0 United States (Jönköping, Sweden; 23 February 1984)


• 
  Romania 0–2 Sweden (Bangkok, Thailand; 9 February 1997)


• Sweden 1–0 Denmark (La Manga, Spain; 31 January 2000)


• 
  South Africa Development 1–1 Sweden (Nelspruit, South Africa; 22 January 2011)


• 
  Cyprus 0–2 Sweden (Nicosia, Cyprus; 8 February 2011)


• 
  Qatar U23 0–5 Sweden (Doha, Qatar; 23 January 2012)


• Sweden 1–1 (4–1 p) North Korea (Chiang Mai, Thailand; 23 January 2013)


• Sweden 3–0 Finland (Chiang Mai, Thailand; 26 January 2013)


• Sweden 0–1 Finland (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; 19 January 2015)


• Sweden 1–1 Estonia (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; 6 January 2016)


• 
  Finland 0–3 Sweden (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; 10 January 2016)


• Sweden 1–2 Ivory Coast (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; 8 January 2017)


• Sweden 6–0 Slovakia (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; 12 January 2017)


• Sweden 1–1 Estonia (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; 7 January 2018)


• Sweden 1–0 Denmark (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; 11 January 2018)

Results and fixtures

2017

2018

2019

Players

Current squad

The following 26 players have been called up for the friendly match against Finland on 8 January 2019.^[20]

Caps and goals updated as of 20 November 2018 after the match against Russia.

.mw-parser-output .nat-fs-player th{background-color:inherit;border:0}.mw-parser-output .nat-fs-player td{text-align:center;border:0}

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
	1GK	Jacob Rinne	(1993-06-20) 20 June 1993 (age 25)	2	0	AaB
	1GK	Oscar Linnér	(1997-02-23) 23 February 1997 (age 21)	0	0	AIK
	1GK	Isak Pettersson	(1997-06-06) 6 June 1997 (age 21)	0	0	IFK Norrköping
	2DF	Johan Larsson	(1990-05-05) 5 May 1990 (age 28)	6	0	Brøndby IF
	2DF	Alexander Milošević	(1992-01-30) 30 January 1992 (age 26)	5	0	AIK
	2DF	Sotirios Papagiannopoulos	(1990-09-05) 5 September 1990 (age 28)	3	0	Copenhagen
	2DF	Joel Andersson	(1996-11-11) 11 November 1996 (age 22)	1	0	FC Midtjylland
	2DF	Filip Dagerstål	(1997-02-01) 1 February 1997 (age 21)	1	0	IFK Norrköping
	2DF	Adam Andersson	(1996-11-11) 11 November 1996 (age 22)	0	0	BK Häcken
	2DF	Jonathan Augustinsson	(1996-03-30) 30 March 1996 (age 22)	0	0	Djurgårdens IF
	2DF	Robin Jansson	(1991-11-15) 15 November 1991 (age 27)	0	0	AIK
	3MF	Alexander Fransson	(1994-04-02) 2 April 1994 (age 24)	6	0	IFK Norrköping
	3MF	Kristoffer Olsson	(1995-06-30) 30 June 1995 (age 23)	5	0	AIK
	3MF	Kerim Mrabti	(1994-05-20) 20 May 1994 (age 24)	3	0	Djurgårdens IF
	3MF	Melker Hallberg	(1995-10-20) 20 October 1995 (age 23)	2	1	Vejle BK
	3MF	Simon Thern	(1992-09-18) 18 September 1992 (age 26)	2	1	IFK Norrköping
	3MF	Hosam Aiesh	(1995-04-14) 14 April 1995 (age 23)	0	0	Östersunds FK
	3MF	Daleho Irandust	(1998-06-04) 4 June 1998 (age 20)	0	0	BK Häcken
	3MF	Jonathan Levi	(1996-01-23) 23 January 1996 (age 22)	0	0	Rosenborg BK
	3MF	Tesfaldet Tekie	(1997-07-04) 4 July 1997 (age 21)	0	0	Östersunds FK
	3MF	Simon Tibbling	(1994-09-07) 7 September 1994 (age 24)	0	0	Brøndby IF
	4FW	Kalle Holmberg	(1993-03-03) 3 March 1993 (age 25)	2	1	IFK Norrköping
	4FW	Alexander Isak	(1999-09-21) 21 September 1999 (age 19)	2	1	Borussia Dortmund
	4FW	Muamer Tanković	(1995-02-22) 22 February 1995 (age 23)	1	0	Hammarby IF
	4FW	Viktor Gyökeres	(1998-06-04) 4 June 1998 (age 20)	0	0	Brighton & Hove Albion
	4FW	Alexander Jeremejeff	(1993-10-12) 12 October 1993 (age 25)	0	0	BK Häcken

Recent call-ups

The following 52 players have also been called up to the Sweden squad within the last twelve months.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Robin Olsen	(1990-01-08) 8 January 1990 (age 28)	27	0	Roma	v.  Russia, 20 November 2018
GK	Kristoffer Nordfeldt	(1989-06-23) 23 June 1989 (age 29)	10	0	Swansea City	v.  Russia, 20 November 2018
GK	Karl-Johan Johnsson	(1990-01-28) 28 January 1990 (age 28)	7	0	Guingamp	v.  Russia, 20 November 2018
GK	Peter Abrahamsson	(1988-07-18) 18 July 1988 (age 30)	1	0	BK Häcken	v.  Denmark, 11 January 2018
GK	Pontus Dahlberg	(1999-01-21) 21 January 1999 (age 19)	1	0	Watford	v.  Denmark, 11 January 2018
GK	Andreas Linde	(1993-07-24) 24 July 1993 (age 25)	1	0	Molde FK	v.  Denmark, 11 January 2018 WD
DF	Andreas Granqvist (captain)	(1985-04-16) 16 April 1985 (age 33)	81	9	Helsingborgs IF	v.  Russia, 20 November 2018
DF	Mikael Lustig	(1986-12-13) 13 December 1986 (age 31)	74	6	Celtic	v.  Russia, 20 November 2018
DF	Martin Olsson	(1988-05-17) 17 May 1988 (age 30)	48	5	Swansea City	v.  Russia, 20 November 2018
DF	Victor Lindelöf	(1994-07-17) 17 July 1994 (age 24)	29	2	Manchester United	v.  Russia, 20 November 2018
DF	Ludwig Augustinsson	(1994-04-21) 21 April 1994 (age 24)	24	1	Werder Bremen	v.  Russia, 20 November 2018
DF	Pontus Jansson	(1991-02-13) 13 February 1991 (age 27)	20	0	Leeds United	v.  Russia, 20 November 2018 WD
DF	Emil Krafth	(1994-08-02) 2 August 1994 (age 24)	18	0	Amiens	v.  Russia, 20 November 2018
DF	Filip Helander	(1993-04-22) 22 April 1993 (age 25)	6	0	Bologna	v.  Russia, 20 November 2018
DF	Niklas Hult	(1990-02-13) 13 February 1990 (age 28)	8	0	AEK Athens	v.  Turkey, 10 September 2018
DF	Anton Tinnerholm	(1991-02-26) 26 February 1991 (age 27)	9	0	New York City	v.  Denmark, 11 January 2018
DF	Linus Wahlqvist	(1996-11-11) 11 November 1996 (age 22)	6	0	Dynamo Dresden	v.  Denmark, 11 January 2018
DF	Joakim Nilsson	(1994-02-06) 6 February 1994 (age 24)	4	0	IF Elfsborg	v.  Denmark, 11 January 2018
DF	Franz Brorsson	(1996-01-30) 30 January 1996 (age 22)	2	0	Malmö FF	v.  Denmark, 11 January 2018
DF	Jacob Une Larsson	(1994-04-08) 8 April 1994 (age 24)	2	0	Djurgårdens IF	v.  Denmark, 11 January 2018
DF	Rasmus Lindkvist	(1990-05-16) 16 May 1990 (age 28)	1	0	AIK	v.  Denmark, 11 January 2018
MF	Sebastian Larsson (vice captain)	(1985-06-06) 6 June 1985 (age 33)	109	6	AIK	v.  Russia, 20 November 2018
MF	Jimmy Durmaz	(1989-03-22) 22 March 1989 (age 29)	48	3	Toulouse	v.  Russia, 20 November 2018
MF	Albin Ekdal	(1989-07-28) 28 July 1989 (age 29)	42	0	Sampdoria	v.  Russia, 20 November 2018
MF	Oscar Hiljemark	(1992-06-28) 28 June 1992 (age 26)	27	2	Genoa	v.  Russia, 20 November 2018
MF	Gustav Svensson	(1987-02-07) 7 February 1987 (age 31)	20	0	Seattle Sounders	v.  Russia, 20 November 2018
MF	Jakob Johansson	(1990-06-21) 21 June 1990 (age 28)	17	1	Rennes	v.  Russia, 20 November 2018
MF	Marcus Rohdén	(1991-05-11) 11 May 1991 (age 27)	15	1	Crotone	v.  Russia, 20 November 2018
MF	Mattias Svanberg	(1999-01-05) 5 January 1999 (age 19)	0	0	Bologna	v.  Russia, 20 November 2018
MF	Emil Forsberg	(1991-10-23) 23 October 1991 (age 27)	42	7	RB Leipzig	v.  Slovakia, 16 October 2018
MF	Kristoffer Peterson	(1994-11-28) 28 November 1994 (age 24)	1	0	Heracles Almelo	v.  Slovakia, 16 October 2018
MF	Ken Sema	(1993-09-30) 30 September 1993 (age 25)	6	0	Watford	v.  Turkey, 10 September 2018
MF	Sam Larsson	(1993-04-10) 10 April 1993 (age 25)	4	1	Feyenoord	v.  Turkey, 10 September 2018
MF	Oscar Lewicki	(1992-07-14) 14 July 1992 (age 26)	15	0	Malmö FF	v.  Denmark, 11 January 2018
MF	Jiloan Hamad	(1990-11-06) 6 November 1990 (age 28)	8	0	Hammarby IF	v.  Denmark, 11 January 2018
MF	Magnus Eriksson	(1990-04-08) 8 April 1990 (age 28)	1	0	San Jose Earthquakes	v.  Denmark, 11 January 2018 WD
MF	Robert Gojani	(1992-10-19) 19 October 1992 (age 26)	1	0	IF Elfsborg	v.  Denmark, 11 January 2018
MF	Jesper Karlström	(1995-06-21) 21 June 1995 (age 23)	1	0	Djurgårdens IF	v.  Denmark, 11 January 2018
MF	Erdal Rakip	(1996-02-13) 13 February 1996 (age 22)	0	0	Benfica	v.  Denmark, 11 January 2018 WD
FW	Marcus Berg	(1986-08-17) 17 August 1986 (age 32)	67	19	Al Ain	v.  Russia, 20 November 2018
FW	Viktor Claesson	(1992-01-02) 2 January 1992 (age 26)	33	4	Krasnodar	v.  Russia, 20 November 2018
FW	Isaac Kiese Thelin	(1992-06-24) 24 June 1992 (age 26)	29	3	Bayer Leverkusen	v.  Russia, 20 November 2018
FW	John Guidetti	(1992-04-15) 15 April 1992 (age 26)	26	2	Alavés	v.  Russia, 20 November 2018
FW	Robin Quaison	(1993-10-09) 9 October 1993 (age 25)	6	2	Mainz 05	v.  Russia, 20 November 2018
FW	Sebastian Andersson	(1991-07-15) 15 July 1991 (age 27)	4	2	Union Berlin	v.  Slovakia, 16 October 2018
FW	Mikael Ishak	(1993-03-31) 31 March 1993 (age 25)	4	1	1. FC Nürnberg	v.  Slovakia, 16 October 2018 WD
FW	Ola Toivonen RET	(1986-07-03) 3 July 1986 (age 32)	64	14	Melbourne Victory	2018 FIFA World Cup
FW	Christoffer Nyman	(1992-10-05) 5 October 1992 (age 26)	10	1	Eintracht Braunschweig	v.  Romania, 27 March 2018 WD
FW	David Moberg Karlsson	(1994-03-20) 20 March 1994 (age 24)	3	1	IFK Norrköping	v.  Denmark, 11 January 2018
FW	Gustaf Nilsson	(1997-05-23) 23 May 1997 (age 21)	2	1	Vejle BK	v.  Denmark, 11 January 2018
FW	Jordan Larsson	(1997-06-20) 20 June 1997 (age 21)	2	0	IFK Norrköping	v.  Denmark, 11 January 2018
FW	Carlos Strandberg	(1996-04-14) 14 April 1996 (age 22)	0	0	Malmö FF	v.  Denmark, 11 January 2018 WD

Previous squads

Coaching staff

As of 7 July 2018^[21]

Name Role Janne Andersson Manager Peter Wettergren Assistant manager Maths Elfvendal Goalkeeping coach Paul Balsom Performance manager Fredrik Larsson Physiotherapist Lars Jacobsson Scout Tom Prahl Roger Sandberg Stefan Pettersson Team manager

Players with most caps and goals

Updated as of 20 November 2018.

Top 10 most capped players

Players in bold text are still active in the national team.

#	Player	Career	Caps	Goals
1	Anders Svensson	1999–2013	148	21
2	Thomas Ravelli	1981–1997	143	0
3	Andreas Isaksson	2002–2016	133	0
4	Kim Källström	2001–2016	131	16
5	Olof Mellberg	2000–2012	117	8
6	Zlatan Ibrahimović	2001–2016	116	62
	Roland Nilsson	1986–2000	116	1
8	Björn Nordqvist	1963–1978	115	0
9	Niclas Alexandersson	1993–2008	109	7
	Sebastian Larsson	2008–0000	109	6

Top 10 goalscorers

#	Player	Career	Goals	Caps
1	Zlatan Ibrahimović (list)	2001–2016	62	116
2	Sven Rydell	1923–1932	49	43
3	Gunnar Nordahl	1942–1948	43	33
4	Henrik Larsson	1993–2009	37	106
5	Gunnar Gren	1940–1958	32	57
6	Kennet Andersson	1990–2000	31	83
7	Marcus Allbäck	1999–2008	30	74
8	Martin Dahlin	1991–1997	29	60
9	Tomas Brolin	1990–1995	27	47
	Agne Simonsson	1957–1967	27	51

Records

All records updated as of 12 January 2017.

Age-related records

Age-related records of the Swedish national football team.^[22]

Oldest player

38 years, 1 month and 29 days – Thomas Ravelli (1–0 against Latvia on 11 October 1997)

Oldest outfield player

38 years and 20 days – Henrik Larsson (0–1 against Denmark on 10 October 2009)

Youngest debutante

17 years, 2 months and 11 days  – Gunnar Pleijel (5–2 against Finland on 22 October 1911)

Oldest debutante

34 years, 9 months and 1 day – Stendy Appeltoft (3–0 against Finland on 28 August 1955)

Longest national career

18 years, 1 month and 27 days – Gunnar Gren (from 29 August 1940 until 26 October 1958)

Oldest goalscorer

37 years, 11 months and 26 days – Gunnar Gren (two goals in a 4–4 draw against Denmark on 26 October 1958)

Youngest goalscorer

17 years, 3 months and 22 days – Alexander Isak (one goal in a 6–0 win against Slovakia on 12 January 2017)

Managers

Chairmen of the Selection Committee

Head coaches

Notable captains

This is a list of captains who either have played 30 or more matches as team captain or have played a match as team captain in a major tournament (FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro and Olympic Games). Note that only players who started the match as captain are included in the statistics.^[23][24]

The order for this list is by most appearances as captain, then chronological order of first captaincy.

Updated as of 7 July 2018.

Player	First to last captaincy	Matches as captain	Major tournament(s)
Björn Nordqvist	1967–1978	92	2 matches in 1970 FIFA World Cup 1 match in 1974 FIFA World Cup 3 matches in 1978 FIFA World Cup
Zlatan Ibrahimović	2008–2016	58	3 matches in UEFA Euro 2012 3 matches in UEFA Euro 2016
Jonas Thern	1989–1997	55	1 match in 1990 FIFA World Cup 4 matches in UEFA Euro 1992 5 matches in 1994 FIFA World Cup
Ingemar Erlandsson	1981–1985	47	—
Patrik Andersson	1995–2002	41	2 matches in UEFA Euro 2000
Orvar Bergmark	1959–1965	38	—
Erik Nilsson	1947–1952	37	5 matches in 1950 FIFA World Cup 4 matches in 1952 Summer Olympics
Olof Mellberg	2002–2006	36	4 matches in UEFA Euro 2004 4 matches in 2006 FIFA World Cup
Sven Friberg	1920–1928	30	4 matches in 1924 Summer Olympics
Bengt Gustavsson	1953–1962	29	1 match in 1958 FIFA World Cup
Glenn Hysén	1987–1990	23	2 matches in 1990 FIFA World Cup
Roland Nilsson	1989–2000	22	2 matches in 1994 FIFA World Cup
Andreas Granqvist	2016–2018	22	5 matches in 2018 FIFA World Cup
Johan Mjällby	1998–2004	17	1 match in UEFA Euro 2000 4 matches in 2002 FIFA World Cup
Sven Jonasson	1935–1940	13	1 match in 1938 FIFA World Cup
Fredrik Ljungberg	2006–2008	13	3 matches in UEFA Euro 2008
Bo Larsson	1973–1974	10	5 matches in 1974 FIFA World Cup
Ragnar Wicksell	1914–1921	9	1 match in 1920 Summer Olympics
Birger Rosengren	1945–1948	9	4 matches in 1948 Summer Olympics
Hans Lindman	1908–1911	6	2 matches in 1908 Summer Olympics
Herman Myhrberg	1911–1912	6	2 matches in 1912 Summer Olympics
Bertil Nordenskjöld	1915–1920	6	2 matches in 1920 Summer Olympics
Victor Carlund	1933–1936	6	1 match in 1936 Summer Olympics
Nils Rosén	1934	6	2 matches in 1934 FIFA World Cup
Nils Liedholm	1958	5	5 matches in 1958 FIFA World Cup
Tore Keller	1934–1938	4	2 matches in 1938 FIFA World Cup
Tommy Svensson	1970	2	1 match in 1970 FIFA World Cup
Gustaf Carlson	1924	1	1 match in 1924 Summer Olympics

See also

• Football in Sweden


• Sweden women's national football team


• Sweden national under-23 football team


• Sweden national under-21 football team


• Sweden national under-20 football team


• Sweden national under-19 football team


• 
  Sweden national under-18 football team (defunct)


• Sweden national under-17 football team


• 
  Sweden national under-16 football team (defunct)


• 
  Sweden national football B team (defunct)


• Sápmi football team


• Gotland official football team


• Denmark–Sweden football rivalry

References

External links

Media related to Sweden men's national association football team at Wikimedia Commons

• 
  Official website by SvFF
  


• 
  Sweden at FIFA
  


• 
  National team statistics by SvFF
  


• 
  National team statistics by SFS-Bolletinen


• 
  International results by RSSSF
  


• 
  Most capped players and top goalscorers by RSSSF
  

Preceded by Torgny Mogren

Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal 1994

Succeeded by Annika Sörenstam