Sweden has traditionally been a strong team in international football, with 12
World Cup appearances and 3 medals in the
Olympics. Sweden national 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 at
Idrottsplatsen in
Gothenburg. 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 largest loss in the Sweden national team's history. 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 FIFA 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 Sweden national team 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
South 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 FIFA 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 Sweden 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 FIFA World Cup success 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 semi-final at
Ullevi,
Gothenburg against the reigning World Champions from 1954, West Germany, 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 and the only Nordic country to achieve this so far. After the final match the Brazilian players honoured the host nation by sprinting around the pitch holding a Swedish flag.
1960s ,
Torbjörn Jonsson,
Åke Johansson,
Agne Simonsson,
Rune Börjesson and Lennart Backman; front row from left:
Olle Hellström,
Orvar Bergmark,
Bengt Nyholm,
Lennart Wing and
Gösta Sandberg 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.
1970s 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 No. 4 Uruguay, and did not advance to the elimination round, however. The winner of Sweden's group was eventual world runner-up Italy. 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. During the World Cup, the team released
Vi är svenska fotbollsgrabbar, a fight song written by
Georg Ericson. 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, to finish second in the group. The game against West Germany was played in
Düsseldorf with an attendance of 66,500 people. The Sweden nantional team 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 equaliser 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 Sweden national 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 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
1978 FIFA World Cup 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 Sweden national 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.
1980s 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. Sweden failed to qualify for the
UEFA Euro 1980 after only managing to win against
Luxembourg in qualifying in a group that also included
Czechoslovakia and
France, and 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, but were unable to prevail against Romania in the battle for the top spot, losing both away and at home against the
Tricolours. The Sweden 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.
1990s 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 an interim coach until
Tommy Svensson took over in 1991. 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. 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 equaliser 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 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 Sweden national team football fans. After Sweden had scored late in the second half, Romania managed to equalise 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 Men's World Rankings for one month, in November 1994. They finished as the top scorers of the tournament, with 15 goals scored in total. 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.
2000s 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 on 10 June 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 on 15 June Sweden played 0–0 against
Turkey. On 19 June, Sweden lost 2–1 to eventual runners-up
Italy in the last group stage match.
Luigi Di Biagio scored with a header on a corner kick in the first half to give Italy the lead. Late in the second half,
Henrik Larsson equalised to 1–1. But after
Daniel Andersson lost control of the ball,
Alessandro Del Piero shot it into the top corner. Sweden finished the group last behind Belgium with only 1 point. Italy finished first and Turkey second. Sweden qualified undefeated for the
2002 FIFA World Cup, ahead of eventual third placed Turkey. 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 on 2 June.
Sol Campbell gave England the lead in the first half by heading in a left-side corner from
David Beckham. The equalising 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 on 7 June, Sweden played Nigeria.
Julius Aghahowa gave Nigeria the lead by heading in a cross from the right. Sweden managed to equalise with a 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 on 12 June, 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 Sweden national team 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 on 16 June, Sweden played
Senegal. Henrik Larsson gave Sweden an early lead by heading in a corner from Anders Svensson. Senegal equalised 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. Henrik Larsson announced his retirement from the national team after the tournament. taking a free kick against
the Netherlands in the
UEFA Euro 2004 quarter-finals Despite another impressive qualifying campaign and the unexpected return of Henrik Larsson, Sweden came into the tournament in Portugal with low expectations. But after a dazzling 5–0 win against
Bulgaria on 14 June, they became one of the favorites.
Freddie 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 a diving header after a perfectly taken crossball from the left 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 on 18 June, 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 Sweden national team goalkeeper
Andreas Isaksson made Sweden survive the rest of the game and after 84 minutes, Zlatan Ibrahimović scored a backheel goal to make it 1–1, which became the final score. 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 equaliser after numerous rebounds. Italy was eliminated and both Denmark and Sweden was qualified for the quarter-finals. In the quarter-finals on 26 June, Sweden played against Holland. The game became goalless after full-time, but not without a lot of chances. The closest Sweden came to scoring was through Freddie Ljungberg but he hit the post with a well taken shot. Henrik Larsson also hit the cross bar from close range. After a goalless extra time, the game 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 Sweden lost the penalty shoot out after
Arjen Robben converted the following penalty. Sweden qualified for the World Cup as the best runner-up, behind
Croatia, who won their qualifying group. At the World Cup draw in December 2005, Sweden were drawn in
Group B together with England,
Paraguay and
Trinidad and Tobago. 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 on 10 June in Dortmund against unheralded Trinidad and Tobago, despite playing with a one-man advantage for most of the game. The second game, against Paraguay on 15 June in Berlin, looked to be another goal-less draw until Freddie Ljungberg scored with a header in the 89th minute to give Sweden a 1–0 victory. On 20 June, Sweden played their last group stage match against England in Cologne.
Joe Cole scored 1–0 for England with a spectacular long range shot in the 34th minute. Marcus Allbäck equalised to 1–1 with a header in the 51st minute. When
Steven Gerrard scored with a header in the 85th minute, it looked like England would win the game. However, Henrik Larsson made it 2–2 from close range in the 90th minute. The draw was enough for Sweden to go through to the round of 16. On 24 June, Sweden's World Cup run came to an end with a 2–0 defeat to the host nation,
Germany in Munich, after two early goals by
Lukas Podolski. Defender
Teddy Lučić was controversely sent off by referee
Carlos Simon, who was captured laughing while holding up a questionable red card. Henrik Larsson missed a penalty kick early in the second half. After the tournament, Mattias Jonson and Teddy Lučić announced they had retired from the national team. On 17 July, Henrik Larsson retired for a second time from the national team. meet in
UEFA Euro 2008 Group D Sweden finished second in
Group F behind
Spain, and qualified for the
Euro 2008 finals as the best runner up. The qualifying campaign included an
abandoned match away to Denmark, for which Sweden were awarded a 3–0 win by UEFA. Prior to the final tournament, Henrik Larsson made another sensational return to the national team, nearly aged 37. Sweden were drawn in Group D together with Spain, Greece and Russia. In their first match in Euro 2008 on 10 June, 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 on 14 June. The game looked like a draw until a 92nd-minute strike from
David Villa, which put the Spaniards ahead. In the final group match on 18 June, the Swedes went on to lose 2–0 to the Russians, eliminating them from the tournament. Freddie Ljungberg, Marcus Allbäck and Niclas Alexandersson all chose to retire from the national team after Sweden was eliminated.
2010s 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
Albania 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 by
Mikael Nilsson. Kim Källström had a penalty kick saved early in the first half, which proved to be decisive. 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. Several veteran players chose to retire after Sweden failed to reach the World Cup, including
Daniel Andersson, Mikael Nilsson and
Henrik Larsson, his third and final retirement. Zlatan Ibrahimović took a break from the national team due to Sweden missing the World Cup. He returned almost a year later, in August 2010, and was named Sweden captain by the new coach Hamrén. in 2013 during the
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 Sweden national 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. Sweden played their opening match on 11 June against Ukraine. Zlatan Ibrahimović scored from close range after a pass from Kim Källström in the 52nd minute.
Andriy Shevchenko equalised by heading in a corner just three minutes later, and in the 62nd minute, he scored another header. Sweden were unable to respond to this and lost the match 1–2. Sweden played their second group stage match against England on 15 June.
Andy Carroll scored 1–0 for England with a powerful header in the 23rd minute. Sweden equalised through an own goal by
Glen Johnson and took the lead when Olof Mellberg scored 2–1 in the 59th minute. However, England turned the game around with goals by
Theo Walcott and
Danny Welbeck. The two losses meant that Sweden were already eliminated from the next stage. In the third group stage game on 19 June, Sweden played against France. Zlatan Ibrahimović scored a spectacular flying volley early in the second half and
Sebastian Larsson sealed a meaningless 2–0 win during stoppage time. After Sweden's early exit from the tournament, the veteran Olof Mellberg announced his retirement from the national team. 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 football history. Sweden's new national stadium
Friends Arena in Solna was opened on 14 November 2012 with a friendly match against England, which Sweden won 4–2. Zlatan Ibrahimović scored four goals in a world class performance. His fourth goal was an extraordinary overhead bicycle kick from 35 yards, which later won the
FIFA Puskás Award for goal of the year. 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. 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.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored the only goal in a 1–0 win for Portugal the first match in
Lisbon on 15 November. The return match was played on 19 November at Friends Arena in
Solna. After Ronaldo scored 1–0 for Portugal, Zlatan Ibrahimović scored two quick goals to make it 2–2 on aggregate. Sweden still needed to score a third goal because of Portugal's away goal. However, Ronaldo scored two more counter-attack goals and Portugal won the game 3–2 and 4–2 on aggregate. This meant that Sweden once again failed to qualify for the
World Cup. Due to this, Sweden's most capped player of all time
Anders Svensson decided to end his international career. in 2015 during the
Euro 2016 qualifiers Competing in
Group G of the
UEFA Euro 2016 qualifiers, Sweden picked up their first point on the road against Austria with a 1–1 draw on 8 September 2014. 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. Their second match on 23 June was against Germany.
Ola Toivonen scored 1–0 for Sweden by lobbing the ball over the German goalkeeper
Manuel Neuer in the first half. However,
Marco Reus equalised to 1–1 early on in the second half. With 15 seconds remaining on the five stoppage time minutes,
Toni Kroos won the game for Germany by scoring a free kick from just outside the penalty area, after a foul by
Jimmy Durmaz. 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. On 3 July 2018, Sweden played
Switzerland in the round of 16, beating them
1–0 with a goal by
Emil Forsberg, and advancing to the quarter finals for the first time since 1994. In the quarter-finals, Sweden suffered a 2–0 defeat to England and was thus knocked out. 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, after leading 2–1 with only a few minutes remaining. 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 to be promoted to the
2020–21 UEFA Nations League A. On 17 November, Sweden beat Turkey with 1–0 in Konya after a penalty goal from captain Andreas Granqvist. Three days later, they achieved a 2–0 victory over Russia in Solna. The two wins meant promotion for Sweden to League A and a guaranteed play-off spot for the
UEFA Euro 2020, should they not qualify directly via the regular qualification process.
2020s The draw for the
UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying saw Sweden placed in Group F with
Spain,
Norway,
Romania,
Faroe Islands and
Malta. On 15 November, Sweden defeated Romania 2–0 in
Bucharest. The win meant that Sweden had secured second place in the group and a spot at UEFA Euro 2020, their sixth consecutive European championship. For
UEFA Euro 2020, Sweden were drawn in Group E together with Spain,
Poland, and
Slovakia. At the delayed final tournament, held in 2021, Sweden opened their campaign with an impressive 0–0 draw with Spain in
Seville. Four days later, Sweden would face off against Slovakia in
Saint Petersburg. The match provided no goals until the 77th minute where Emil Forsberg slotted home the winning penalty after Slovak goalkeeper,
Martin Dúbravka, took out Robin Quaison in the box, this win confirmed Sweden's path to the knockout stages. On 23 June, Sweden finished their group campaign with a 3–2 win against Poland. Sweden would face off against
Ukraine in the round of 16 on 29 June in
Glasgow. The match finished 1–1 in normal time. Late in extra time, a header from
Artem Dovbyk in the 120th-minute would eliminate the Swedes. Promoted to League A, Sweden were drawn in Group A3 with Portugal, France and Croatia. Despite a 2–1 home win against Croatia, Sweden would be relegated to League B due to an inferior goal difference. For the
2022 FIFA World Cup qualification, Sweden were drawn in Group B along with Spain,
Greece,
Georgia and
Kosovo. On 16 March 2021, Zlatan Ibrahimović was included in the squad for the first time in almost five years, following his retirement from the national team after Euro 2016. On 25 March 2021, Sweden beat Georgia 1–0 at Friends Arena after a goal by Viktor Claesson, with Ibrahimović providing the assist. With his 117th appearance, Ibrahimović officially became Sweden's oldest player of all time at the age of 39 years, five months and 22 days, taking over Thomas Ravelli's record from 11 October 1997. On 2 September, Sweden beat Spain 2–1 in Solna. This was the first time Spain had been beaten in a World Cup qualifier since 1993. On 11 November, Sweden suffered a shock 2–0 loss against Georgia, the lowest ranked team to have ever defeated Sweden. On 14 November, Sweden played the return fixture against Spain in Seville where they have to win. Despite creating the best chances to score, Sweden lost the match 1–0 after
Álvaro Morata scored on a rebound in the 86th minute. This meant that Sweden finished second place in the group, and entered the play-off round as one of six seeded teams in late March 2022. On 24 March, Sweden played against
Czech Republic in the play-off semi-final in Solna. The game was scoreless after 90 minutes and went into extra time, where Robin Quaison scored the winning goal. On 29 March, Sweden lost 2–0 to Poland at the
Stadion Śląski due to goals from Robert Lewandowski and
Piotr Zieliński and thus failed to qualify for the World Cup. Sweden competed in League B of the Nations League against Norway, Serbia, and Slovenia. Their campaign started in a promising way with a 2–0 away win against Slovenia. However, they subsequently suffered four straight losses before only managing a draw at home to Slovenia. This meant that Sweden suffered back-to-back relegations as finished last in their group and were relegated to League C for the
2024–25 UEFA Nations League. Their terrible Nations League form meant that Sweden realistically must qualify directly for
UEFA Euro 2024 by finishing in the top two. They were drawn in Group F with Belgium, Austria,
Azerbaijan, and
Estonia for
UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying. However, Sweden performed poorly throughout their qualifying campaign – notably suffering a shocking 3–0 loss to Azerbaijan. Furthermore, one draw and a loss against Belgium and two losses to Austria severely damaged their chances of qualification, leading to Sweden failing to qualify for Euro 2024 after Austria beat Azerbaijan 1–0 in Baku, marking their first failure to qualify for the European Championship since
1996. As a result, Janne Andersson announced he would resign as Sweden's head coach, doing so after the final match against Estonia. On 26 February 2024, the Swedish FA announced that former Danish player
Jon Dahl Tomasson has been appointed as manager of the Sweden national team, effective from 1 March 2024. Tomasson's contract includes the
2026 FIFA World Cup qualification and will be extended if Sweden qualifies for the World Cup. Tomasson is Sweden's first foreign manager since
George Raynor who led Sweden in the 1950 and 1958 World Cups. Tomasson led Sweden to victory in Group 1 of the 2024–25 UEFA Nations League C. However, after taking only 1 point in four matches in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying, Tomasson was sacked by the Swedish FA on 14 October 2025, following a 1–0 home defeat to Kosovo. This marked the first time that a manager for Sweden had been sacked. On 20 October,
Graham Potter was appointed as Tomasson's replacement. Despite finishing at the bottom at the qualifiers, Sweden still advanced to the
play-offs via
Nations League position. On 26 March 2026, Sweden beat Ukraine 3–1 in the 2026 World Cup play-off semi-finals in Valencia, Spain. They then faced Poland in the final, and beat them 3–2 in
Solna, qualifying for the World Cup. == Team image ==