Swedish Women's National Football Team / Olympic Games

Sweden
Sverige

OS record goal scorer :	Lotta Schelin (6)
OS record player:	Lotta Schelin (17)
Rank :	6th
Balance sheet
25 OS games 7 wins 6 draws 12 defeats 24:32 goals
statistics
First OS game Sweden 0-2 PR China Miami ( USA ); July 21, 1996
Biggest OS win Sweden 4: 1 South Africa Coventry ( GBR ); July 25, 2012
Biggest OS defeat Sweden 1: 5 Brazil Rio de Janeiro ( BRA ); August 6, 2016
successes
Olympic games:
Participation in the finals	5 ( first : 1996 )
Best results	Silver medal ( 2016 )
(As of August 20, 2016 )

The article provides a detailed account of the Swedish national soccer team for women at the Summer Olympics . Sweden was the only European team to have taken part in all previous women's tournaments at the Olympic Games, but only won a silver medal in 2016.

The national team at the Olympic Games

Overview

Olympic Games in	Participation until ...	opponent	Result	Trainer	Comments and special features
Atlanta 1996	Preliminary round	PR China , Denmark , USA	-	Bengt Simonsson	Retired as third party
Sydney 2000	Preliminary round	Australia , Brazil , Germany	-	Marika Domanski Lyfors	Retired as third party
Athens 2004	3rd place match	Germany	Fourth	Marika Domanski Lyfors
Beijing 2008	Quarter finals	Germany	-	Thomas Dennerby	Defeat in extra time
London 2012	Quarter finals	France	-	Thomas Dennerby
Rio de Janeiro 2016	final	Germany	Second	Pia Sundhage	Sweden met the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland in the qualification for the last European starting position and prevailed with 2 wins and one draw. Opponents in the group stage were Brazil , China and South Africa . The Swedes made it to the quarter-finals as the second-best group third and prevailed there against defending champions USA as well as in the semi-finals against hosts Brazil on penalties. In the final they lost to Germany 1: 2.
Tokyo 2020	qualified				By winning the quarter-finals at the 2019 World Cup against Germany, Sweden became one of the three best European teams in the World Cup and qualified for the Olympic Games.

The tournaments

Olympia 1996 in Atlanta

By reaching the World Cup quarter-finals in 1995, the Swedes qualified for the first ever women's Olympic football tournament. They started with a 2-0 draw against the People's Republic of China , then lost 2-1 against the USA and could only win the last game against Denmark 3-1, which, however, had no influence on the rest of the tournament for either of them. Förbundskapten Bengt Simonsson remained in office for a European Championship qualifier against Denmark, through which Sweden qualified for the European Championship 1997 . Then Marika Domanski Lyfors took over the post of national coach.

Olympia 2000 in Sydney

For the second Olympic tournament, the Swedes qualified as the third best European team at the 1999 World Cup. In the first game they met Brazil and lost 2-0. In the second game against Australia it was only enough to make a 1-1 draw. This meant that the Swedes had to win their last group game against Germany and Australia against Brazil at the same time, but didn’t get better than the Swedes in terms of goal difference in order for them to reach the semi-finals. But both the Swedes and the Australians lost their game, so both were eliminated.

Olympia 2004 in Athens

Stockholm had also applied for the 2004 games , but failed to vote in the second round. For the third Olympic women's football tournament, however, the Swedes qualified second in the 2003 World Cup. In one of two groups of three they lost their opening game against Japan 1-0. In the second game, Nigeria were defeated 2-1, which in turn had previously defeated Japan 1-0. The three teams each had three points, Sweden and Nigeria but 2-2 goals and since Sweden had won against the Africans, Sweden were group winners. But all three reached the quarter-finals, which were held for the first time. Sweden met Australia, third in the only group of four, and won 2-1. In the semi-finals, Brazil was the opponent and the South Americans prevailed 1-0. In the game for the bronze medal there was revenge for the lost World Cup final against world champions Germany. But this game was also lost with 0: 1.

2008 Olympics in Beijing

After the semi-finals at the 2005 European Championships, Thomas Dennerby took over the post of Förbundskapten and managed to lead Sweden to the 2007 World Cup . There the team failed in the preliminary round. Thus, the Swedes had to qualify for the tournament in Beijing in two playoff games against Denmark, as both were eliminated in the preliminary round of the 2007 World Cup and the third best European team, England, is not eligible to start at the Olympic Games. With 4: 2 and 3: 1 the Swedes prevailed against the Danes.

At the start of the tournament they lost 2-1 against hosts China, then won 1-0 against Argentina and secured second place in the group with a 2-1 against Canada . In the quarter-finals, world champions Germany were the opponents again and after 90 goalless minutes they lost 2-0 in extra time.

Olympia 2012 in London

The Swedes secured their participation in the tournament in London by reaching the semi-finals at the 2011 World Cup . At the start of the tournament, they then won against South Africa 4-1. This was followed by two draws: first a 0-0 win against world champions Japan and then a 2-2 win against Canada. But this was enough to win the group. In the quarter-finals there was revenge for the game for 3rd place at the World Cup against France , this time with the better end for the French even though the Swedes took the lead 1-0. After the games, Thomas Dennerby ended his tenure as national coach, followed by Pia Sundhage , who had won the gold medal with the USA.

Olympia 2016 in Rio de Janeiro

The three best European teams from the 2015 World Cup qualified for the tournament in Rio de Janeiro . Because Sweden lost 4-1 to Germany in the round of 16, the direct qualification was missed. But since England , the best European team in the World Cup, is not allowed to start at the Olympic Games , one of the four European teams eliminated in the round of 16, including the Swedes , was able to qualify in addition to the second and third best European teams from Germany and France . The scheduled tournament took place at the beginning of March in the Netherlands . Opponents of the Swedes were, besides the hosts , Norway and Switzerland , who won the first two games 1-0. With a draw in the last game, the qualification was made perfect.

Opponents in the group stage were the hosts Brazil , China and South Africa , against which they played the opening game like in 2012. The Swedes started the tournament with a 1-0 win against the Africans, then conceded one of their biggest defeats against Brazil with 1: 5 and reached the quarter-finals with a goalless draw against China as the second best group third. Here they met defending champions USA and were able to win on penalties after a 1-1 draw after extra time. In the semifinals, they met Brazil again and prevailed here on penalties. For the first time they had a medal, but then lost in the final against Germany with 1: 2.

Olympia 2020 in Tokyo

The three best European teams from the 2019 World Cup qualified for the tournament in Tokyo . With a 2-1 victory in the quarter-finals against the German team, the Swedes were one of three European teams to reach the semi-finals and thus qualified for Tokyo.

statistics

Record against the Olympic champions at the Olympic Games

• Germany : 4 games - 4 defeats - 1: 6 goals
• USA : 2 games - 1 draw (won on penalties), 1 defeat - 2: 3 goals
• Norway : 0 games

Games

The Swedes have played 25 games at the Olympic Games so far. Seven were won, twelve lost (record) and six ended in a draw. Three games went into overtime as a winner had to be determined. One of them was lost to goals and two won on penalties . The Swedes played five times against the hosts, twice against the eventual Olympic champion (1996 in the preliminary round and 2016 in the final), once against the defending champion. The Swedes played most often against Brazil and Germany (4 times each), which was always the last opponent in the four games. Two games were the first against the respective opponents.

So far Sweden has played against teams from all six confederations and also against their champions (14 times), most often against the South American champions (5 times). Sweden met the reigning world champion four times (2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016), with two draws.

Most of the games played Lotta Schelin , who appeared in 17 games and also scored the most goals: six in four appearances.

No.	date	Result	venue	opponent	occasion	comment
1	07/21/1996	0: 2	Miami ( USA )	People's Republic of China	Preliminary round
2	07/23/1996	1: 2	Orlando ( USA )	United States	Preliminary round
3	07/25/1996	3: 1	Orlando ( USA )	Denmark	Preliminary round
4th	13.09.2000	0: 2	Melbourne ( AUS )	Brazil	Preliminary round
5	09/16/2000	1: 1	Sydney ( AUS )	Australia	Preliminary round
6th	09/19/2000	0: 1	Melbourne ( AUS )	Germany	Preliminary round
7th	08/11/2004	0: 1	Volos ( GRE )	Japan	Preliminary round
8th	08/17/2004	2: 1	Volos ( GRE )	Nigeria	Preliminary round
9	08/20/2004	2: 1	Volos ( GRE )	Australia	Quarter finals
10	08/23/2004	0: 1	Patras ( GRE )	Brazil	Semifinals
11	08/26/2004	0: 1	Piraeus ( GRE )	Germany *	3rd place match
12	08/06/2008	1: 2	Tianjin ( CHN )	People's Republic of China	Preliminary round
13	08/09/2008	1-0	Tianjin ( CHN )	Argentina	Preliminary round	Only game against Argentina so far
14th	08/12/2008	2: 1	Beijing ( CHN )	Canada	Preliminary round
15th	08/15/2008	0: 2 a.d.	Shenyang ( CHN )	Germany *	Quarter finals
16	July 25, 2012	4: 1	Coventry ( GBR )	South Africa	Preliminary round	First game against South Africa
17th	07/28/2012	0-0	Coventry ( GBR )	Japan *	Preliminary round
18th	July 31, 2012	2: 2	Newcastle ( GBR )	Canada	Preliminary round
19th	08/03/2012	1: 2	Glasgow ( GBR )	France	Quarter finals
20th	08/03/2016	1-0	Rio de Janeiro ( BRA )	South Africa	Preliminary round
21st	08/06/2016	1: 5	Rio de Janeiro ( BRA )	Brazil	Preliminary round
22nd	08/09/2016	0-0	Brasília ( BRA )	People's Republic of China	Preliminary round
23	08/12/2016	1: 1 n.V .; 4: 3 i. E.	Brasília ( BRA )	United States *	Quarter finals
24	08/16/2016	0: 0 a.d., 4: 3 in E.	Rio de Janeiro ( BRA )	Brazil	Semifinals
25th	08/19/2016	1: 2	Rio de Janeiro ( BRA )	Germany	final

Note: Teams marked in bold were continental champions at the time of the game, teams marked with "*" were world champions.

Records

• The only European team that has always participated
• Oldest goalscorer: Lena Videkull at 33 years and 7 months on July 25, 1996 against Denmark
• Most draws: Brazil and Sweden 6 each
• Most penalty shoot-outs: Brazil and Sweden 2 each
• Most penalties won: Sweden - 2

• Oldest referee: Jenny Palmqvist at the age of 42 years and 9 months on August 9, 2012 in the third place match between Canada and France
• Most of the game directors as referee: Jenny Palmqvist - 7 (2004: 2, 2008: 2, 2012: 3, including the 2004 final)
• Most coaching games: Pia Sundhage (12 for the USA and 6 for Sweden) - 18

The Swedish team achieved their highest victories against these teams at the Olympic Games:

•  Argentina 1-0 (2008, preliminary round) - only game against Argentina
•  South Africa 4: 1 (2012, preliminary round) - first game against South Africa

Sweden conceded their biggest defeat against only one team at the Olympic Games:

•  Brazil 1: 5 preliminary round 2016 (one of the biggest defeats, also seven 0: 4 against various opponents)

Negative records

• First yellow-red card (first expulsion): Anna Pohjanen on July 21, 1996 during the game against the People's Republic of China
• Most defeats: 12

Web links

• Women's Olympic Football Tournament - Statistical Kit - Statistics, Facts & Figures 1996 - 2012