THE OTHER NATIONAL TEAM · SWEDEN
During the men’s World Cup, FemGol will trace the history of some of the women’s national teams from the countries taking to the pitch. Because a country’s football doesn’t fit in a single team.
Tonight, Sweden face France at New York New Jersey Stadium with a place in the World Cup round of 16 at stake. Graham Potter’s side reached the knockout stage as one of the best third-placed teams after a draw against Japan secured qualification — a result some of their own players did not immediately realise was enough to send them through. France, winners of their group and among the tournament favourites, go into the match as the stronger side.
For Sweden’s other national team, reaching the decisive stages has rarely been a surprise.
Sweden have competed in all nine editions of the Women’s World Cup. They finished as runners-up in 2003, came third in 1991, 2011, 2019 and 2023, and reached two consecutive Olympic finals. For more than three decades, the yellow shirts have appeared again and again whenever the biggest tournaments reached the point where there was no room left for error.
The paradox is that Europe’s first champions have now spent 42 years searching for a second major title. And before they can try to win one again, they must first make sure they reach the next World Cup.
Before being a powerhouse felt normal
Swedish women’s football did not begin with a decision imposed from above. It grew through clubs, small communities and regional competitions.
Öxabäck, a small community in the west of the country, became one of its earliest centres. Its women’s team began playing in 1966, the section was formally established the following year and, in 1968, it entered the Västergötland league, at a time when much of Europe was still debating whether women should play football at all.
That local development produced teams, role models and a competitive structure before the national federation had fully recognised what was already happening.
The national team played its first official match on 25 August 1973. It was a goalless draw against Finland in Mariehamn, in the Åland Islands. That same year, Öxabäck became Sweden’s first official women’s champions.
The captain on that international debut was Ebba Andersson. She was 37, had helped establish Öxabäck’s women’s section and played only that one match for Sweden. Her international career lasted 90 minutes. Her work to ensure that others could have a career lasted far longer.
Eleven years after that draw against Finland, Sweden were already European champions.
The title that began in Gothenburg and ended in the mud
The competition Sweden won in 1984 was not yet officially called the European Championship. It was the first European competition for women’s national teams organised by UEFA, and the final was played over two legs.
Sweden hosted England in Gothenburg on 12 May. Pia Sundhage scored the only goal with a header. Fifteen days later, England levelled the tie in Luton and forced extra time on a pitch turned to mud by the rain.
There were no more goals. The first European women’s title was decided by a penalty shoot-out.
Sundhage converted Sweden’s final kick. Sweden won 4-3 and became the first women’s European champions. A country that had fielded its first official women’s national team only eleven years earlier was already at the top of the continent.
That trophy remains the only major title won by Sweden’s women.
Not because they disappeared from the elite, but because they never stopped coming close.
Six finals and one last step
Sweden returned to the European Championship final in 1987, 1995 and 2001. They lost all three. Then came the 2003 World Cup final and the Olympic finals at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.
Six finals after 1984. Six defeats.
The 2003 final was decided by a rule that no longer exists. Sweden took the lead against Germany through Hanna Ljungberg, conceded an equaliser early in the second half and went into extra time. In the 98th minute, Nia Künzer headed in from a free kick and scored the last golden goal in Women’s World Cup history. The match ended the instant the ball crossed the line.
Eighteen years later, Sweden once again had gold within reach from twelve yards.
In the Olympic final in Tokyo, Caroline Seger stepped up to take a penalty that would have given her country the title. She sent it over the bar. Canada survived, won the shoot-out and left Sweden with silver once again.
Seger made 240 international appearances and became Sweden’s most-capped player, but that moment has remained inseparable from her career.
Sweden responded as they so often have: by coming back.
Two years later, they eliminated the United States and Japan at the 2023 World Cup, lost to Spain in the semi-finals and beat Australia to claim their fourth bronze medal. They did not win the tournament, but once again finished among the three best teams in the world.
Consistency had become their own particular form of greatness.
A major force that does not depend on one generation
Between the team that won in 1984 and the one that stood on the podium in 2023 came Pia Sundhage, Lena Videkull, Hanna Ljungberg, Victoria Sandell Svensson, Lotta Schelin, Caroline Seger, Kosovare Asllani, Magdalena Eriksson, Fridolina Rolfö and Stina Blackstenius.
The players changed. The national team remained.
So did the structure supporting it. A national championship has existed since 1973, while the Damallsvenskan became one of the world’s leading leagues and a destination for some of the game’s best players.
In 2026, Häcken and Hammarby contested an all-Swedish final in the inaugural UEFA Women’s Europa Cup. Häcken won the title, with the young Felicia Schröder scoring four goals across the tie.
That does not mean Swedish women’s football is without problems. Its clubs compete financially against leagues with increasingly large budgets, and many of the country’s best players now pursue their careers abroad.
But there is still a recognisable chain connecting local pitches, the domestic competition and a national team accustomed to taking on anyone. In 2025, more than 110,000 women over the age of twelve were registered as players with the Swedish federation.
That helps explain why Sweden almost never disappear. It does not explain why, lately, they still cannot quite win.
A two-goal lead that slipped away again
Women’s Euro 2025 captured that contradiction.
Sweden completed an excellent group stage and reached the quarter-finals against England. Kosovare Asllani scored in the second minute. Stina Blackstenius doubled the lead before the half-hour mark. No team had ever recovered from two goals down in a Women’s European Championship knockout match.
England did.
Lucy Bronze and Michelle Agyemang equalised within the space of two minutes late in the game. Goalkeeper Jennifer Falk saved four penalties in the shoot-out, and Sweden twice had a kick that would have sent them through. They converted neither.
England eventually won 3-2 and went on to claim a second consecutive European title.
It was Peter Gerhardsson’s final tournament as head coach. Tony Gustavsson took over afterwards, having previously managed Australia and served as an assistant with the United States during two World Cup victories. His contract runs until Euro 2029.
The rebuild began while the calendar was already demanding results.
A World Cup place that is no longer guaranteed
Sweden began their qualifying campaign for Brazil 2027 with a win in Italy, but then drew 0-0 in Serbia and lost both matches against Denmark.
A later victory over Serbia and a final draw against Italy were not enough. Sweden finished third in the group with eight points, behind the Italians and a Denmark side that secured the automatic World Cup place.
For the first time, the continuation of one of the great records in Swedish women’s football will depend on two play-off rounds.
In October, Sweden will face Lithuania, first away and then at home. Should they advance, they will meet the winners of the tie between Czechia and Scotland between late November and early December. Only then can they secure their place in Brazil.
Sweden have never missed a Women’s World Cup. They took part in the first edition in 1991 and have appeared in every tournament since. They have won medals, lost finals and produced generations capable of replacing those that came before them.
For decades, qualification was where the story began.
This time, it may become the story itself.
Tonight, the men’s team will try to survive against France and extend their World Cup run. In a few months, the women’s team will have to protect a much longer tradition.
Europe’s first champions are still chasing their second title. But before they can do that, they must once again prove that their place among the best does not belong to the past.
