Swedish National Football Team / World Championships

Sweden
Sverige

World Cup record goalscorer:	Kennet Andersson Henrik Larsson (5 each)
World Cup record players:	Henrik Larsson (13)
Rank :	10
Organizer:	1958
Balance sheet
51 World Cup games 19 wins 13 draws 19 defeats 80:73 goals
statistics
First World Cup game Sweden 3-2 Argentina Bologna ( ITA ); May 27, 1934
Biggest World Cup victory Sweden 8-0 Cuba Antibes ( FRA ); June 12, 1938
Biggest World Cup defeat Sweden 7-1 Brazil Rio de Janeiro ( BRA ); July 7, 1950
successes
World Championship
Participation in the finals	12 ( first : 1934 )
Best results	Vice World Champion (1958)
Best placements in the countries that host the FIFA World Cup
(As of July 7, 2018 )

The article contains a detailed description of the Swedish national soccer team at soccer world championships . The Swedish national team first took part in the second World Cup, the finals of which were held in Italy in 1934, and took part for the twelfth time in 2018. The best placement is second at the home European championships in 1958. The Swedish association is the first association whose women's and men's national team became vice world champions without any of them being able to become world champions.

Overview

year	Host country	Participation until ...	Last opponent	Result	Trainer	Comments and special features
1930	Uruguay	not participated
1934	Italy	Quarter finals	Germany	8th.	József Nagy	( Squad )
1938	France	3rd place match	Brazil	Fourth	József Nagy	( Squad )
1950	Brazil	Final round	Brazil , Uruguay , Spain	Third	George Raynor	( Squad )
1954	Switzerland	not qualified		-		In the qualification of Belgium failed
1958	Sweden	final	Brazil	Vice world champion	George Raynor	Only loss of an organizer in the final ( squad )
1962	Chile	not qualified		-		In qualifying at the Switzerland failed
1966	England	not qualified		-		In the qualification of Germany failed
1970	Mexico	Preliminary round	Uruguay , Italy , Israel	9.	Orvar Bergmark	( Squad )
1974	Germany	Intermediate round	Poland , Germany , Yugoslavia	5.	Georg Ericson	( Squad )
1978	Argentina	Preliminary round	Brazil , Spain , Austria	13.	Georg Ericson	( Squad )
1982	Spain	not qualified		-		In the qualification of Scotland and Northern Ireland failed
1986	Mexico	not qualified		-		In the qualification to Germany and Portugal failed
1990	Italy	Preliminary round	Brazil , Costa Rica , Scotland	21st	Olle Nordin	( Squad )
1994	United States	3rd place match	Bulgaria	Third	Tommy Svensson	( Squad )
1998	France	not qualified				In the qualification of Scotland and Austria failed
2002	South Korea / Japan	Round of 16	Senegal	13.	Lars Lagerbäck / Tommy Söderberg	Out in extra time by Golden Goal ( squad )
2006	Germany	Round of 16	Germany	14th	Lars Lagerbäck	( Squad )
2010	South Africa	not qualified				In the qualification of Denmark and Portugal failed
2014	Brazil	not qualified				Failed in the playoff games of the qualification to Portugal .
2018	Russia	Quarter finals	England	7th	Janne Andersson	In the qualification , Sweden finished second in a group with France , the Netherlands , Bulgaria , Belarus and Luxembourg and prevailed in the playoffs of the group runners up against former world champions Italy . ( Squad )

Statistics (data including 2018: 21 World Championships; percentages are rounded)

• Participation waiver: 1 × (5%; 1930)
• Unqualified: 8 × (38%; 1954, 1962, 1966, 1982, 1986, 1998, 2010 and 2014)
• Athletic qualification: 11 times (52% or 58% of the attempts)
• Participation without qualification (as host): 1 × (5%; 1958)
  • Preliminary round: 3 × (14%; 1970, 1978, 1990)
  • Round of 16: 2 × (10%; 2002, 2006)
  • Quarter-finals and 2nd final round with 8 teams: 3 × (14%; 1934, 1974)
  • 3rd place match:
    • Fourth: 1 × (5%; 1938)
    • Third: 2 × (10%; 1950, 1994)
  • Final:
    • Vice World Champion: 1 × (5%; 1958)

World Cup tournaments

1930 in Uruguay

Like most European teams, the Swedish did not take part in the first World Cup.

1934 in Italy

For the first World Cup in Europe , the Swedes had to go through two games against Lithuania and Estonia qualify , the other games did not take place and were treated with 2: scored for Sweden 0th In Italy, Sweden met runners-up Argentina in the round of 16 and won 3-2. In the quarterfinals they lost 2-1 to Germany .

1938 in France

For the first World Cup in France , Sweden was able to qualify together with Germany against Estonia and Finland again . Germany, Finland and Sweden each had two home games and one away game, while Estonia had to play three times away. They won against Estonia and Finland at home and lost in Germany, but the defeat was tolerated. In the round of 16 Sweden would have met Austria, but after the annexation to the German Reich, they no longer had their own team. Sweden made it to the quarter-finals without a fight and met Cuba , which surprisingly eliminated Romania in two games. The 8-0 win against the Cubans is still Sweden's highest World Cup victory and was only outbid by Hungary 16 years later in a 9-0 win over South Korea . In the semifinals the Hungarians were too strong and Sweden lost 1: 5. The game for third place against Brazil was also lost and after the 2: 4 Sweden returned home in fourth place.

1950 in Brazil

The team at the 1950 World Cup

To qualify for the second World Cup in South America , Sweden should play against Finland and Ireland. Against Ireland they won 3-1 twice and beat Finland 8-1 in the first game. Since Finland did not play for the last game against Sweden, all games of the Finns were taken out of the rating. Sweden traveled to Brazil as the winner against Ireland, where they met defending champions Italy and Paraguay. After a 3-2 win against Italy, which was weakened by the Superga plane crash , and a 2-2 win against the South Americans, Sweden reached the final round of the four best teams, which was only held at this World Cup. Sweden lost their first game there against South American champions and hosts Brazil 7-1 and they also lost 3-2 against Uruguay . The last game against Spain , which was almost a game for third place, was won 3-1, so that Sweden finished the World Cup in third.

1954 in Switzerland

For the first time, Sweden was unable to qualify for the 1954 World Cup. In the group with Belgium and again Finland, only the home game against Finland could be won. The second leg ended in a draw and both games against Belgium were lost. Belgium qualified for the World Cup and was eliminated in the preliminary round.

1958 in Sweden

Liedholm scored the 2-0 in the opening game against Mexico

The Swedish team after the semi-finals against Germany

Sweden did not have to qualify for the 1958 World Cup, as they were automatically qualified as hosts. In the preliminary round Mexico (3: 0), vice world champions Hungary (2: 1) and World Cup newcomers Wales (0: 0) were the opponents. In the quarter-finals, Sweden then benefited from the mode, because the team of the newcomer to the World Cup, the Soviet Union, against whom Sweden had lost 7-0 and 6-0 in friendlies in 1954 and 1955, had to play an additional play-off against England in order to reach the quarter-finals. and Sweden won 2-0. In the semifinals, defending champion Germany was the opponent and was defeated 3-1, so that the final was reached for the first time. In this, Brazil was too strong and the hosts lost a World Cup final for the only time to date. The 5: 2 is also the highest final result. Second place is the Swedish team's best finish to date. The team was led by five players active in Italy , of which Nils Liedholm and Gunnar Gren, who was still playing in Sweden, were already in the team when they won the Olympic Games in 1948 . With George Raynor , a foreign coach had led a team to the final for the first time, which the Austrians Rudolf Vytlačil and Ernst Happel succeeded again 4 years and 20 years later with the Czechoslovak and Dutch teams.

1962 in Chile

To qualify for the third World Cup in South America , the Swedish team was drawn into a group with Switzerland and Belgium . Sweden and Switzerland won both games against Belgium and the home games against each other, so that both had 6-2 points in the end. Since the Swedes' better goal difference was not taken into account, there was a playoff in West Berlin , which Switzerland won 2-1 and was able to go to the World Cup.

1966 in England

Even four years later, the qualification failed . This time Germany was too strong. Although the away game in West Berlin scored 1-1 and both games against the other group opponent Cyprus could be won, but since the home game against Germany with the first-time Franz Beckenbauer was lost, the Germans traveled to England and Lennart Nyman was from Orvar Bergmark replaced as national coach.

1970 in Mexico

After two missed qualifications, the Swedes were able to qualify again. In a group with France and Norway , the neighbor was defeated twice and France once. The defeat in France could be tolerated as the French lost their first home game against Norway. At the finals in Mexico , Sweden met European champions Italy in the opening game and lost 1-0. With this one goal Italy became group winners. Since Sweden also won 1-0 against South American champions Uruguay at the end , but only scored 1-1 against World Cup newcomers Israel, they only reached third place in the table and did not survive the preliminary round for the first time. National coach Orvar Bergmark then gave up his post.

1974 in the Federal Republic of Germany

Scene from the first group game against Bulgaria

For the first World Cup in Germany , Sweden was able to qualify in a group with Austria , Hungary and Malta , but this time needed a playoff against Austria, after both games against Hungary ended in a draw and one game was won and lost against Austria and Hungary and Austria drew twice, all three teams had 8-4 points, but Sweden and Austria had the same goal difference of +7 while Hungary had a goal difference of only +5. Sweden won the playoff in Gelsenkirchen 2-1.

For the first final round of the World Cup, Sweden was drawn into a group with the Netherlands, Bulgaria and Uruguay. After a goalless draw against the two European teams, a 3-0 win against former world champions Uruguay was enough to move into the second final round as second in the group. Here the first game against the surprise team from Poland was lost 0: 1. In a rain game in Düsseldorf , the hosts then lost 4-2. The final 2: 1 against Yugoslavia only had statistical value.

1978 in Argentina

For the fourth World Cup in South America to Sweden had in a group with Norway and Switzerland deal. After the first three games were won, the qualification was threatened again after the final defeat in Norway. But since Norway lost the last game in Switzerland, for which this was the only point to win, Sweden had qualified. In Argentina, Brazil (1: 1), Austria (0: 1) and Spain (0: 1) were the opponents and with fourth place the entry into the second final round was missed and left the World Cup stage for 12 years.

1982 in Spain

Even if it was theoretically easier to qualify for the final round by increasing the field of participants to 24 teams, the Swedes failed. In a very even group with Scotland , Northern Ireland , Portugal and Israel , only the third place was taken. For Sweden, qualifying began with two draws against Israel, one home loss to Scotland and one loss in Northern Ireland. After that, all games were won with the exception of the second leg in Scotland, but the two British teams had more points in the end and went to the World Cup in Spain.

1986 in Mexico

Sweden failed again in the qualification . This time Germany and Portugal were stronger and only Czechoslovakia and Malta could be relegated to the lower places. Although the home defeat against Portugal could be made up in the second leg, they lost in Germany and Czechoslovakia and only played a draw at home against Germany. In the end, one point was missing to finish second in the group instead of Portugal, which gave the already qualified German team their first defeat in a World Cup qualifier.

1990 in Italy

For the second World Cup in Italy to Sweden could, together with England , against the twice 0: 0 was played, qualify , while Poland and Albania off. In Italy, Sweden met South American champions Brazil again in the opening game and lost 2-1. The same result was lost to Scotland and World Cup newcomer Costa Rica , so that Sweden was eliminated for the first time without winning a point. National coach Olle Nordin then gave up his post.

1994 in the United States

For the World Cup in the USA , the Swedes under Tommy Svensson qualified in a group of six together with Bulgaria before France , Austria , Finland and Israel . In the USA, the Swedes first met Cameroon (2: 2), then World Cup newcomer Russia (3: 1) and finally again to permanent World Cup opponents Brazil (1: 1). In the second round, the newcomer to the World Cup, Saudi Arabia , was defeated 3-1 and in the quarterfinals, after the match against Romania was 2-2 after 120 minutes, the penalty shoot-out had to be tried. Sweden prevailed 5: 4 and met Brazil again in the semifinals, where they lost 0: 1. In the small final, the surprise team from Bulgaria was defeated 4-0 and the highest goal difference in the game for third place to date.

1998 in France

The Swedes could not qualify for the second World Cup in France and had to let Austria and Scotland go first. Only Latvia , Estonia and Belarus were weaker. The decisive factor was that both games were lost 0-1 against Austria.

2002 in Japan and South Korea

Four years later, however, they qualified for the first World Cup in Asia . Together with Turkey, which prevailed against Austria in the playoffs, Slovakia , Macedonia , Moldova and Azerbaijan were eliminated and only conceded three goals in 10 games.

When the final groups were drawn, the Swedes were drawn into a so-called “ death group ” with England , Argentina and Nigeria . After a 1-1 draw in the opening game against England, a 2-1 win against Nigeria and with the final 1-1 draw against Argentina, which eliminated them, the Swedes were even group winners. In the round of 16, the newcomer to the World Cup, Senegal, was the opponent who had surprisingly eliminated defending champions France in his group . After the score was 1: 1 after 90 minutes, the Senegalese won with a golden goal and Sweden were eliminated for the first time in the round of 16.

2006 in Germany

The Swedish team before the game against Trinidad & Tobago

Fans from Sweden and Trinidad & Tobago

For the second World Cup in Germany , the Swedes could be one of the two best runners-up qualify . In the group, they were tied for second place with Croatia despite the better goal difference, as both games were lost against Croatia. All other games against Bulgaria , Hungary , Iceland and Malta were won.

In Germany the World Cup started unhappy. Goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson injured himself during the warm-up for the opening game against newcomer Trinidad & Tobago and had to be replaced by substitute goalkeeper Rami Shaaban . Although he did not concede a goal, his teammates did not score against the opponent's substitute goalkeeper - whose regular goalkeeper had also injured himself during the warm-up - neither. In the second game - Isaksson was operational again - Paraguay was defeated 1-0 in front of 72,000 spectators - including around 50,000 Swedes - so that in the final game against the Englishmen trained by Swede Sven-Göran Eriksson a 2-2 was enough to win as Group runner-up to move into the round of 16. Hosts Germany were the opponents there and a German team that played unleashed from the start quickly took a 2-0 lead with two goals from Lukas Podolski . In the middle of the first half Teddy Lučić was sent into the dressing room with a yellow-red card , so that Sweden had to play 55 minutes with 10 players. After Henrik Larsson missed a penalty at the beginning of the second half, hopes faded, especially as the German team continued to pressure and only goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson was able to prevent a major defeat. With this defeat, Sweden said goodbye to the World Cup for at least 12 years.

2010 in South Africa

Sweden could not qualify for the first World Cup in Africa . In a group with Denmark , Portugal , Hungary and Albania and Malta only the third place was taken. The qualification was gambled away in the first game with a 0-0 win in Albania. Two more goalless games against Portugal followed and both games against Denmark were lost 1-0. Although the other teams also took points from each other, the victories against Hungary, Malta and Albania were not even enough for the relegation place. After missing the qualification, Lars Lagerbäck resigned as national coach, Erik Hamrén became his successor .

2014 in Brazil

The Swedish team before the World Cup qualifier against Austria on June 7, 2013.

Sweden also failed to qualify for the second World Cup in Brazil . In the qualification, the second place behind the eventual world champions Germany was taken - secured by a 2: 1 against Austria - and seven goals were scored against Germany in two games - once even four goals after 0: 4 deficit , but none of them won. Ireland , Kazakhstan and the Faroe Islands had little to do with the decision. In the relegation, the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo eliminated the Swedes almost single-handedly by scoring four goals in both games, while the Swedish captain Zlatan Ibrahimović only scored two goals.

2018 in Russia

In the qualification , which began in September 2016, the Swedes met third place in the World Cup, Netherlands , European runner-up, France , Bulgaria , Belarus and Luxembourg . The Swedes had to pass in the qualification without Ibrahimović, who had resigned after the qualifying round at the Euro 2016, as did national coach Erik Hamrén . After half of the games with three wins, a draw against the Dutch and a defeat in France, the Swedes, now coached by Janne Andersson , were in second place. In the second half of the season they started with a 2-1 home win against France, which was achieved by a goal in the third minute of stoppage time. Thanks to the better goal difference, they were in first place ahead of the tied French. In the next away game, however, they lost 3-2 in Bulgaria and gave the lead back to the French, who then maintained it until the end despite a goalless draw against Luxembourg. However, Sweden was able to increase the goal difference by beating Luxembourg 8-0 in the penultimate game so that, despite a 2-0 defeat in the last game in the Netherlands, they maintained second place in front of the then tied Dutch and moved into the playoffs of the group runners-up. There they met Italy. After a 1-0 home win by the first international goal of Jakob Johansson , who had been substituted four minutes earlier , a goalless draw in the second leg was enough to reach the finals.

As in the playoff games against Italy, the Swedes also relied on their stable defense in Russia. In the opening game, captain Andreas Granqvist made sure that South Korea won 1-0 with a converted penalty. Against defending champions Germany Ola Toivonen gave Sweden the lead in the 32nd minute. In the 48th minute they had to equalize and in the fifth minute of stoppage time, despite the majority, they had to accept the 1: 2. Sweden won the group with a 3-0 win after a goalless first half against Mexico, as Germany lost to South Korea in a parallel game. So they avoided meeting record world champions Brazil in the round of 16, the opponent then was Switzerland, which they won 1-0. In the quarter-finals against ex-world champions England, the defense held the 0-0 for only 30 minutes, then they had to accept the first goal, after another goal in the second half, the quarter-final was sealed.

player

Ranking of the Swedish World Cup players with the most appearances

01. Henrik Larsson : 13 appearances in 3 tournaments

02. Bo Larsson , Kalle Svensson : 11 appearances in 2 or 3 (Larsson) tournaments

04. Tomas Brolin , Ronnie Hellström , Klas Ingesson , Roland Nilsson , Björn Nordqvist , Thomas Ravelli : 10 appearances in 2 or 3 (Hellström, Nordqvist) tournaments

Ranking of the Swedish World Cup players with the most goals

01. Kennet Andersson and Henrik Larsson - 5 goals each

03. Tomas Brolin, Martin Dahlin , Ralf Edström , Kurt Hamrin and Agne Simonsson - 4 goals each

World Cup captains

• 1934: Nils Rosén
• 1938: Tore Keller , Kurt Svanström (game for 3rd place)
• 1950: Erik Nilsson
• 1958: Nils Liedholm , Bengt Gustavsson (3rd game)
• 1970: Björn Nordqvist , Tommy Svensson (2nd game)
• 1974: Bo Larsson , Björn Nordqvist (last game)
• 1978: Björn Nordqvist
• 1990: Glenn Hysén
• 1994: Jonas Thern
• 2002: Johan Mjällby
• 2006: Olof Mellberg
• 2018: Andreas Granqvist

Players banned from World Championships

• 1994: Martin Dahlin received the second yellow card in the second group game against Russia and was suspended for the last group game against Brazil. Stefan Schwarz received the yellow-red card in the quarter-finals against Romania and was banned from the semi-finals. Jonas Thern received the red card and was banned from the game for third place.
• 2006: Teddy Lučić received the second yellow card and then the yellow-red card in the round of 16 against Germany . Since Sweden were eliminated, like the second yellow card for Marcus Allbäck, it had no further effect.
• 2018: Sebastian Larsson was suspended for the round of 16 against Switzerland after receiving the second yellow card in the third group match. Mikael Lustig is blocked for the quarter-finals after the second yellow card he received in the round of 16.

Share of players playing abroad in the World Cup squad

Sweden used legionnaires for the first time at the home World Cup in 1958 , which was particularly criticized in the German media before and after the semi-final match against Germany. In the 1990s the number of legionnaires rose sharply, so that they made up the majority in the squad at the last time and came from a large number of countries. In 2018 Sweden was one of the two teams without players from the domestic league. Players from twelve leagues were taken into account.

Year (games)	Number (countries)	Players (stakes)
1934 to 1950	0
1958	5 (Italy)	Bengt Gustavsson (6), Kurt Hamrin (5), Nils Liedholm (5), Arne Selmosson (1), Lennart Skoglund (6)
1970 (3)	3 (1 in Belgium, 1 in the Netherlands, 1 in Switzerland)	Kurt Axelsson (3); Ove Kindvall (3); Ove Grahn (2)
1974 (6)	7 (4 in Germany, 2 in the Netherlands, 1 in Switzerland)	Ronnie Hellström (6), Benno Magnusson (4), Roland Sandberg (6), Conny Torstensson (5); Ralf Edström (6), Björn Nordqvist (5); Ove Grahn (6)
1978 (3)	6 (4 in Germany, 1 in France, 1 in Switzerland)	Hans Borg (3), Ronnie Hellström (3), Lennart Larsson (3), Benny Wendt (3); Anders Linderoth (3); Conny Torstensson (1)
1990 (3)	11 (2 in England, 1 in France, 2 in Italy, 2 in the Netherlands, 2 in Portugal, 2 in Switzerland)	Glenn Hysén (2), Roland Nilsson (3); Johnny Ekström (2); Anders Limpar (2), Glenn Strömberg (3); Peter Larsson (3), Stefan Pettersson (3); Mats Magnusson (1), Jonas Thern (2); Mats Gren (1), Roger Ljung (1)
1994 (7)	12 (2 in Germany, 2 in England, 1 in France, 2 in Italy, 2 in the Netherlands, 1 in Portugal, 1 in Switzerland, 1 in Turkey)	Patrik Andersson (7), Martin Dahlin (5); Anders Limpar (1), Roland Nilsson (7); Kennet Andersson (7); Tomas Brolin (7), Jonas Thern (5); Henrik Larsson (5), Stefan Schwarz (6); Klas Ingesson (7); Håkan Mild (5); Roger Ljung (6)
2002 (4)	20 (4 in Denmark, 1 in Germany, 6 in England, 2 in France, 1 in Italy, 3 in the Netherlands, 2 in Scotland, 1 in Spain)	Tomas Antonelius (0), Mattias Jonson (2), Magnus Kihlstedt (0), Magnus Svensson (4); Andreas Jakobsson (4); Niclas Alexandersson (4), Magnus Hedman (4), Tobias Linderoth (4), Freddie Ljungberg (2), Olof Mellberg (4), Anders Svensson (4); Pontus Farnerud (0), Michael Svensson (0); Daniel Andersson (0); Marcus Allbäck (4), Erik Edman (0), Zlatan Ibrahimović (2); Henrik Larsson (4), Johan Mjallby (4); Patrik Andersson (0)
2006 (4)	17 (1 in Belgium, 4 in Denmark, 1 in Germany, 2 in England, 3 in France, 1 in Greece, 1 in Italy, 2 in the Netherlands, 1 in Norway, 1 in Spain)	Christian Wilhelmsson (4); Marcus Allbäck (4), John Alvbåge (0), Johan Elmander (2), Tobias Linderoth (4); Fredrik Stenman (0); Freddie Ljungberg (4), Olof Mellberg (4); Erik Edman (0), Andreas Isaksson (3), Kim Källström (4); Mikael Nilsson (0); Zlatan Ibrahimovic (3); Petter Hansson (1), Markus Rosenberg (0); Rami Shaaban (1); Henrik Larsson (4)
2018 (5)	23 (1 in Belgium, 1 in Denmark, 3 in Germany, 5 in England, 3 in France, 4 in Italy, 2 Russia, 1 in Scotland, 1 in Spain, 1 in the United Arab Emirates, 1 in the United States)	Isaac Kiese Thelin (4); Robin Olsen (5); Ludwig Augustinsson (5), Albin Ekdal (5), Emil Forsberg (5); Pontus Jansson (2), Sebastian Larsson (4), Victor Lindelöf (4), Kristoffer Nordfeldt , Martin Olsson (2); Jimmy Durmaz (1), Karl-Johan Johnsson , Ola Toivonen (5); Filip Helander , Oscar Hiljemark (2), Emil Krafth (2), Marcus Rohdén ; Viktor Claesson (5), Andreas Granqvist (5); Mikael Lustig (4); John Guidetti (2); Marcus Berg (5); Gustav Svensson (3)

Games

Sweden has played 51 World Cup games so far. 19 won and 19 lost, 13 ended in a draw. Twice draw games had to be extended because a winner had to be determined. One game in extra time was lost to golden goal and one game was won on penalties.

Sweden once played host to the opening game in 1958. Sweden had six home games so far and had to face the hosts three times: 1950 in the final round, 1974 in the second final round, and 2006 in the second round.

Sweden lost four times (1950, 1958, 1974, 1994) to the eventual world champions, and in 1994 they scored 1-1 against the eventual world champions in the preliminary round.

So far, the Swedes have played twice against the defending champions, in 1950 and 2018 in the preliminary round.

The Swedes met newcomers to the World Cup ten times: 1934 (when you were a newcomer yourself) / Germany, 1938 / Cuba, 1958 / Wales and the Soviet Union, 1970 / Israel , 1990 / Costa Rica , 1994 / Russia and Saudi Arabia , 2002 / Senegal , 2006 / Trinidad and Tobago .

Most frequent last opponents: Brazil, Germany and Spain - twice each

Sweden has played in 35 World Cup cities so far, most often in Solna (5 ×) and Düsseldorf (4 ×).

Only at the home World Cup in 1958 (2 ×) and 2018, the Swedes were able to win two consecutive World Cup games.

All World Cup games
No.	date	Result	opponent		venue	occasion	comment
1	May 27, 1934	3: 2	Argentina	*	Bologna ( ITA )	Round of 16	First international match against Argentina. First international match against a South American team
2	05/31/1934	1: 2	German Empire	*	Milan ( ITA )	Quarter finals
3	06/12/1938	8-0	Cuba	*	Antibes ( FRA )	Quarter finals	First international match against Cuba
4th	06/16/1938	1: 5	Hungary	*	Paris ( FRA )	Semifinals
5	06/19/1938	2: 4	Brazil	*	Bordeaux	3rd place match	First international match against Brazil
6th	06/25/1950	3: 2	Italy (TV)	*	Sao Paulo ( BRA )	Preliminary round
7th	06/29/1950	2: 2	Paraguay	*	Curitiba ( BRA )	Preliminary round	First international match against Paraguay
8th	07/09/1950	1: 7	Brazil	A.	Rio de Janeiro ( BRA )	Final round	Biggest defeat against Brazil
9	07/13/1950	2: 3	Uruguay	*	Sao Paulo ( BRA )	Final round	First international match against Uruguay
10	07/16/1950	3: 1	Spain	*	Sao Paulo ( BRA )	Final round
11	06/08/1958	3-0	Mexico	H	Solna	Preliminary round	First international game against Mexico. Highest win against Mexico
12	06/12/1958	2: 1	Hungary	H	Solna	Preliminary round
13	06/15/1958	0-0	Wales	H	Solna	Preliminary round	First international match against Wales
14th	06/19/1958	2-0	Soviet Union	H	Solna	Quarter finals
15th	06/24/1958	3: 1	BR Germany	H	Gothenburg	Semifinals	Battle of Gothenburg
16	06/29/1958	2: 5	Brazil	H	Solna	final
17th	06/03/1970	0: 1	Italy	*	Toluca ( MEX )	Preliminary round
18th	06/07/1970	1: 1	Israel	*	Toluca ( MEX )	Preliminary round
19th	06/10/1970	1-0	Uruguay	*	Puebla ( MEX )	Preliminary round
20th	06/15/1974	0-0	Bulgaria	*	Dusseldorf ( Germany )	1. Final round
21st	06/19/1974	0-0	Netherlands	*	Dortmund ( Germany )	1. Final round
22nd	06/23/1974	3-0	Uruguay	*	Dusseldorf ( Germany )	1. Final round	Biggest win against Uruguay
23	06/26/1974	0: 1	Poland	*	Stuttgart ( FRG )	2nd final round
24	06/30/1974	2: 4	BR Germany	A.	Dusseldorf ( Germany )	2nd final round
25th	07/03/1974	2: 1	Yugoslavia	*	Dusseldorf ( Germany )	2nd final round
26th	06/03/1978	1: 1	Brazil	*	Mar del Plata ( ARG )	1. Final round
27	06/07/1978	0: 1	Austria	*	Buenos Aires ( ARG )	1. Final round
28	06/11/1978	0: 1	Spain	*	Buenos Aires ( ARG )	1. Final round
29	06/10/1990	1: 2	Brazil	*	Turin ( ITA )	Preliminary round
30th	06/16/1990	1: 2	Scotland	*	Genoa ( ITA )	Preliminary round
31	06/20/1990	1: 2	Costa Rica	*	Genoa ( ITA )	Preliminary round	First international match against Costa Rica
32	06/19/1994	2: 2	Cameroon	*	Los Angeles ( USA )	Preliminary round	First international match against Cameroon
33	06/24/1994	3: 1	Russia	*	Detroit ( USA )	Preliminary round
34	06/28/1994	1: 1	Brazil	*	Detroit ( USA )	Preliminary round
35	07/03/1994	3: 1	Saudi Arabia	*	Dallas ( USA )	Round of 16	Biggest win against Saudi Arabia
36	07/10/1994	2: 2 n.v. 5: 4 i. E.	Romania	*	San Francisco ( USA )	Quarter finals
37	07/13/1994	0: 1	Brazil	*	Los Angeles ( USA )	Semifinals
38	07/16/1994	4-0	Bulgaria	*	Los Angeles ( USA )	3rd place match
39	06/02/2002	1: 1	England	*	Saitama ( JPN )	Preliminary round
40	06/07/2002	2: 1	Nigeria	*	Kobe ( JPN )	Preliminary round
41	06/12/2002	1: 1	Argentina	*	Miyagi ( JPN )	Preliminary round
42	06/16/2002	1: 2 a.d.	Senegal	*	Ōita ( JPN )	Round of 16	First international match against Senegal. Golden Goal defeat
43	06/10/2006	0-0	Trinidad and Tobago	*	Dortmund ( DEU )	Group game
44	06/15/2006	1-0	Paraguay	*	Berlin ( DEU )	Group game
45	06/20/2006	2: 2	England	*	Cologne ( DEU )	Group game
46	06/24/2006	0: 2	Germany	A.	Munich ( DEU )	Round of 16
47	06/18/2018	1-0	South Korea	*	Nizhny Novgorod ( RUS )	Group game
48	06/23/2006	1: 2	Germany (TV)	*	Sochi ( RUS )	Group game
49	06/27/2018	3-0	Mexico	*	Yekaterinburg ( RUS )	Group game
50	07/03/2018	1-0	Switzerland	*	Saint Petersburg ( RUS )	Round of 16
51	07/07/2018	0: 2	England	*	Samara ( RUS )	Quarter finals

Highest victories and defeats

The Swedish team achieved their highest victories against the following countries in World Cup tournaments:

•  Argentina : Round of 16 1934 3-2 (only win against Argentina)
•  Cuba : quarter-finals 1938 8-0 (only game against Cuba)
•  Mexico : Preliminary round 1958 and 2018 3-0 each
•  Paraguay : 2006 preliminary round 1-0 (only win against Paraguay)
•  Saudi Arabia : Round of 16 1994 3-1
•  Spain : Final round 1950 3-1 (also a 3-1 in a friendly match and a 2-0 in the European Championship qualification)
•  Uruguay : 1st final round 1974 3-0

The Swedish team suffered their biggest defeats in World Cup tournaments against the following countries:

•  Brazil : Final round 1950 1-7
•  Costa Rica : Preliminary round 1990 1: 2 (only loss to Costa Rica)
•  Senegal : Round of 16 2002 1-2 n.V. (only game against Senegal)
•  Uruguay : Finals 1950 2-3 (only loss to Uruguay)

Records

(As of July 7, 2018)

team

• Most tournament goals in one tournament: 1994 - 15 in 7 games
• The most common pairings in the finals: Sweden - Brazil (7 games: 5 wins for Brazil, 2 draws) and Germany - Argentina
• The most scoring final: Sweden 2-5 Brazil on June 29, 1958
• Biggest win in a quarter-finals: Sweden 8-0 Cuba - 1938
• Biggest win in a match for 3rd place: Sweden 4-0 Bulgaria - 1994
• First win against a defending champion: 1950 Sweden 3-2 Italy
• First World Cup qualifier: Sweden 6-2 Estonia on June 11, 1933

player

• The Swede Erik Nilsson and the Swiss Alfred Bickel are the only players who played World Cup games before (1938) and after (1950) World War II.
• Three Swedish players scored World Cup anniversary goals:
  • 0200th goal: Harry Andersson - the 8-0 final score in the quarter-final against Cuba on June 12, 1938
  • 1400. Goal: Johnny Ekström - the 1-0 in the 1: 2 preliminary round defeat against Costa Rica on June 20, 1990
  • 2000. Goal: Marcus Allbäck - the 1: 1 in the 2: 2 in the preliminary round against England on June 20, 2006

Trainer

• Sweden was the first team to reach the final with a foreign coach: the Englishman George Raynor coached Sweden in 1958.

Negative records

• Most goals conceded in a tournament: 1950-15 in 5 games
• Biggest defeat in the final round of the top four (only 1950): Sweden - Brazil 1: 7 - also biggest defeat against a host
• Biggest defeat in the final: 1958, Sweden 2-5 Brazil
• The only host who lost a final.
• The only European team to have lost a final against a South American team in Europe

See also

• Swedish national football team / European championships
• Swedish National Football Team / Olympic Games
• Swedish Women's National Football Team / World Championships

Web links

• Football World - Statistics - Sweden on fifa.com
• fifa.com: "Statistical overview: records and milestones"

References and footnotes

1. ↑ Won one game on penalties
2. ↑ Brazil's men's national team was both world champion and runner-up, the Brazilian women only runner-up. The men and women of the German Football Association were both world champions and vice world champions. In the meantime, the Dutch association has also become vice world champion for men (1974, 1978 and 2010) and women (2019).
3. ↑ The placements from 5th place onwards were determined by FIFA without any placement games. See: All-time FIFA World Cup Ranking 1930-2010 (PDF; 200 kB)
4. ↑ Sweden - France 2-1
5. ↑ fifa.com: Italy against Sweden, Switzerland against Northern Ireland
6. ↑ Thereof 2 in the 2nd division and 2 with the Welsh club Swansea City , relegated from the Premier League