Sweden national football team

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Sweden

Nickname

Blågult ("blue-yellow")

Association

Svenska Fotbollförbundet

Head coach

Lars Lagerbäck, 2000-

Captain

Fredrik Ljungberg

Most caps

Thomas Ravelli (143)

Top scorer

Sven Rydell (49)

FIFA code

SWE

FIFA ranking

Highest FIFA ranking

2 (November 1994)

Lowest FIFA ranking

31 (August 1998)

Elo ranking

Highest Elo ranking

2 (June 1950)

Lowest Elo ranking

49 (Sept 1980)





Home kit





Away kit

First international

Sweden 11 - 3 Norway

(Gothenburg, Sweden; 12 July 1908)

Largest win

Sweden 12 - 0 Latvia

(Stockholm, Sweden; 29 May 1927)

Worst defeat

England Amateur 12 - 1 Sweden

(London, England; 20 October 1908)

World Cup

Appearances

11 (First in 1934)

Best result

Runners-up, 1958

European Championship

Appearances

3 (First in 1992)

Best result

Semi-finals, 1992

Olympic medal record
Men's Football
Bronze	1924 Paris	Team
Gold	1948 London	Team
Bronze	1952 Helsinki	Team

The Sweden national football team is the national football team of Sweden and is controlled by the Swedish Football Association.

1 History
2 Swedish national team 2006
3 Famous past players
4 Sweden managers
5 Past squads and campaigns
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] History

After qualifying for World Cup 2006, Sweden has now reached four major championship finals in a row.

Sweden competed in Group B at the 2006 World Cup. Their squad for the tournament features players who play club football in eleven different nations. In Euro 2008 qualifying they are competing in Group F.

[edit] World Cup record

Sweden has traditionally been a strong team in world football, with eleven World Cup appearances and three medals. The Swedish team finished second in 1958, when it was the host team, being beaten by Brazil 5-2 in the final (Brazil's first finals success). Sweden has also finished third twice, in 1950 and 1994. In 1938, they finished fourth.

Year	Finish	Matches	Wins	Draws*	Losses	Goals Scored	Goals Against
1930	Did not enter
1934	Quarterfinals	2	1	0	1	4	4
1938	Fourth place	3	1	0	2	11	9
1950	Third place	5	2	1	2	11	15
1954	Did not qualify
1958	Runners-up	6	4	1	1	12	7
1962	Did not qualify
1966	Did not qualify
1970	Round 1	3	1	1	1	2	2
1974	Round 2	6	2	2	2	7	6
1978	Round 1	3	0	1	2	1	3
1982	Did not qualify
1986	Did not qualify
1990	Round 1	3	0	0	3	3	6
1994	Third place	7	3	3	1	15	8
1998	Did not qualify
2002	Round 2	4	1	2	1	5	5
2006	Round 2	4	1	2	1	3	4
Total		46	16	13	17	74	69

Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

[edit] European Championship record

Sweden's best performance in the European Championships was reaching the semi-finals as hosts at Euro 92.

Year	Finish	Matches	Wins	Draws*	Losses	Goals Scored	Goals Against
1960	Did not enter
1964	Did not qualify
1968	Did not qualify
1972	Did not qualify
1976	Did not qualify
1980	Did not qualify
1984	Did not qualify
1988	Did not qualify
1992	Semi-Finals	4	2	1	1	6	5
1996	Did not qualify
2000	Round 1	3	0	1	2	2	4
2004	Quarter-finals	4	1	3	0	8	3
Total		11	3	5	3	16	12

[edit] Other achievements

Sweden won the Olympic Soccer gold at the 1948 Summer Olympics.

[edit] Swedish national team 2006

[edit] Current Squad

Head coach: Lars Lagerbäck

No.	Pos.	Player	DoB/Age	Caps	Club
1	GK	Andreas Isaksson	3 October 1981	38	Manchester City
2	DF	Mikael Nilsson	24 June 1978	25	Panathinaikos
3	DF	Olof Mellberg	3 September 1977	62	Aston Villa
5	DF	Erik Edman	11 November 1978	35	Rennes
6	MF	Tobias Linderoth	21 April 1979	56	FC København
7	MF	Niclas Alexandersson	29 December 1971	85	Göteborg
8	MF	Anders Svensson	17 July 1976	65	Elfsborg
9	MF	Fredrik Ljungberg (c)	16 April 1977	56	Arsenal
10	FW	Zlatan Ibrahimović	3 October 1981	37	Internazionale
12	MF	Pontus Farnerud	June 4, 1981	13	Sporting Lisbon
13	DF	Petter Hansson	14 December 1976	12	Heerenveen
14	DF	Fredrik Stenman	2 June 1983	1	Bayer Leverkusen
15	DF	Karl Svensson	21 March 1984	1	Rangers
16	MF	Kim Källström	24 August 1982	32	Lyon
17	FW	Johan Elmander	27 May 1981	17	Toulouse FC
19	MF	Daniel Andersson	28 August 1977	46	Malmö
20	FW	Marcus Allbäck	5 July 1973	55	FC København
21	MF	Christian Wilhelmsson	8 December 1979	27	Nantes
22	FW	Markus Rosenberg	27 September 1982	7	Ajax
23	GK	Rami Shaaban	30 June 1975	2	Fredrikstad

[edit] 2006 World Cup

Sweden started the World Cup slowly, recording a scoreless tie against unheralded Trinidad and Tobago, despite playing with a one-man advantage for much of the game. Wilhelmsson and Alexandersson were later referred to as "The unsung heroes of the match" by American newscasters. The second game, against Paraguay, threatened to produce the same result 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 2-0 defeat to the host team, Germany.

[edit] 2008 European Championship Qualifying

Sweden was drawn into a qualifying group with fellow Scandinavian rivals Denmark and Iceland, both of which are currently represented by, arguably, one of their best squads in ever. Also drawn into the group was the squads of Northern Ireland, Spain, Latvia, and Liechtenstein. In the first qualification game, Sweden squared off against Latvia in Riga on September 2, 2006, walking away with a 1-0 victory. Next Sweden welcomed visitors Leichtenstein to Gothenburg on September 6, 2006. Sweden managed to secure a 3-1 victory thanks to two late goals via Marcus Allbäck. A hard match against Spain awaited at Råsunda, Solna in October 7. Though most people believed in a horrible defeat, Sweden made success with a 2-0 victory. At October 11, Sweden played Iceland in Reykjavík winning 2-1. At the moment, Sweden is the team with most points in the whole qualifying (12 points), through victory in all played matches.

[edit] Famous past players

See also: List of Sweden international footballers

Gunnar Nordahl
Thomas Ravelli
Sven Rydell
Lennart Skoglund
Glenn Strömberg
Jonas Thern
Pär Zetterberg
Zlatan Ibrahimović (Likely to return to the side)

[edit] Sweden managers

See also: List of Sweden national football team managers

1908 Ludvig Kornerup
1909–11 Wilhelm Friberg
1912 John Ohlson
1912–13 Ruben 'Massa' Gelbord
1914–15 Hugo Levin
1916 Frey Svenson
1917–20 Anton Johanson
1921–36 John 'Bill' Pettersson

1937 Carl 'Ceve' Linde
1938–42 Gustaf 'Gurra' Carlson
1942 Selection Committee
1943–56 Rudolf 'Putte' Kock
1957–61 Eric Person
1962–65 Lennart Nyman
1966–70 Orvar Bergmark
1971–79 Georg 'Jojje' 'Åby' Ericson

1980–85 Lars 'Laban' Arnesson
1986–90 Olle Nordin
1990 Nils Andersson
1991–97 Tommy Svensson
1998–99 Tommy Söderberg
2000–04 T. Söderberg & L. Lagerbäck
2004– Lars Lagerbäck

[edit] Past squads and campaigns

Sweden's first national football team, 1908. Thor Eriksson, Gustaf Bergström, Karl Gustafsson, Nils Andersson, Ove Erickson, Thodde Malm, Erik Börjesson, Kalle Ansén, Sven Olsson, Erik Bergström and Hans Lindman.