Euro 2025: Sweden team guide – can Gerhardsson bow out with the final they crave?

New York Times

5 hours ago

The winners of the first European Championship in 1984 remain arguably the continent's most consistent side, reaching the semi-finals at the World Cup in 2019, the Euros in 2022, the World Cup in 2023, and finishing runners-up in the 2021 Olympics.
Once the strongest league in European football, the Damallsvenskan can no longer compete with the top divisions in England, Spain and Germany, but Swedish players have adjusted and moved abroad increasingly early in their careers. This squad features players from clubs among the European elite — Arsenal, Chelsea, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Wolfsburg.
Peter Gerhardsson will take charge of his final tournament this summer, ending an eight-year reign that has included third-placed finishes at the past two World Cups. A good-humoured manager who is popular with players and public alike, he has overseen a period of great squad harmony. He was previously in charge of Swedish club Hacken's men's side for seven years, ending that stint by winning their domestic cup, and will hope to finish this lengthy tenure with another trophy. His replacement will be compatriot Tony Gustavsson, whose Australia side were defeated 2-0 by the Swedes in the third-place play-off at the 2023 World Cup.
Gerhardsson has always placed a big emphasis on pressing, with Stina Blackstenius and Kosovare Asllani, his typical front two, often praised for cutting off passing angles and boxing opponents in towards the flank. Swedish media tend to depict the side as playing a 4-3-3, but it is surely a 4-2-3-1.
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Asllani, the captain, is 36 next month and has spent the season playing in the English second tier with London City Lionesses, however, which could prompt a change of approach.
Filippa Angeldahl has generally been used as a deep midfielder, but has been pushed forward to play as the No 10 in recent months. Although she lacks the flair of a proper playmaker, she is good at pressing and efficient with powerful low finishes from the edge of the box.
Defensively, Sweden are solid, partly due to the combination of Magdalena Eriksson and Nathalie Bjorn, Chelsea centre-backs past and present. Both can also play full-back in the case of injury to others.
Blackstenius blows hot and cold but comes into the tournament on a high following her Champions League final winner for Arsenal last month, as well as an excellent hat-trick in the 6-1 Nations League thrashing of Denmark just over a week later. She is always a threat with her runs in-behind.
Out wide, Fridolina Rolfo is one of the most powerful players in this competition, although probably less explosive now that she has become accustomed to playing left-back for Barcelona. Over on the right, Johanna Rytting Kaneryd had a brilliant first half of last season for Chelsea and is excellent at carrying the ball upfield.
Sweden's inswinging corners were crucial at World Cup 2023, with Jonna Andersson's left-footed deliveries proving particularly dangerous. It meant centre-back Amanda Ilestedt scored four goals in the tournament, one away from a share of the Golden Boot. This has continued to be a major aspect of their game in recent months. Asllani or Hanna Bennison generally take their corners from the left, although neither of them is guaranteed a starting place.
Against top-class opponents, Sweden can struggle to compete in the centre of midfield. Although they adjusted well to the loss of Caroline Seger, who retired in the wake of the 2023 World Cup after amassing 240 caps over 18 years, this was largely because of the form of Elin Rubensson, who was perhaps the second-best midfielder at that tournament behind Aitana Bonmati of Spain. She has had a couple of years of injury problems and is absent from this squad, while 22-year-old Bennison is still trying to blossom into the world-class midfielder we expected in her teens.
Sweden sometimes play the functional Julia Zigiotti Olme alongside Bennison, with Angeldahl pushed forward into her new role, which feels a bit like adjusting for a lack of quality by providing extra quantity.
Zecira Musovic was the star of Sweden's last-16 penalty shootout victory over holders the United States at the 2023 World Cup, but she announced her pregnancy in February and will miss this tournament. However, Hacken's Jennifer Falk was sometimes getting selected over her anyway, and while the 32-year-old lacks the physical presence of Musovic, it is not too much of a downgrade.
It is vital Falk stays fit, though — neither of her backups have played in a senior international.
Sweden narrowly failed to qualify for this tournament automatically, finishing behind Olympic silver medallists France and defending European champions England in a tough group. They were only beaten by France 1-0 at home and 2-1 away, and held England to two draws. They came close to a winner in the 0-0 with Sarina Wiegman's Lionesses in Gothenburg last July, which would have taken them through.
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They then breezed through the play-offs against Luxembourg and Serbia, 12-0 and 8-0 on aggregate, at the end of 2024, before recently finishing top of a Nations League group featuring three Euro 2025 sides in Denmark, Italy and Wales.
The 6-1 thrashing of the Danes three weeks ago is particularly promising given the local rivals meet again in both sides' Euros opener on July 4, but Sweden's failure to defeat Wales in two attempts (both matches finished 1-1) points to their problems in breaking down deep defences.
Sweden have high standards to maintain.
A group-stage exit would be a major shock, quarter-final elimination would be disappointing, and getting to the final four would be, on recent evidence, about par. They will be favourites in that group-opener derby against Denmark and should defeat Poland, too. The final match against Germany will be the biggest test.
They will give anyone a game, but it remains to be seen whether the Swedes still offer the technical quality to outplay top-class sides, and whether previous defeats play on their mind in the latter stages of tournaments.
Sweden have progressed to the knockout phase in each of the seven European Championships played since the introduction of a group stage in 1997. They are as reliable as you get.