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How Sweden became a progressive powerhouse of women's football

How Sweden became a progressive powerhouse of women's football

The Guardian16-07-2025
For a nation with a population of 10 million, with a men's national side that failed to quality for three of the past four World Cups, Sweden have a track record in women's football that belongs to a sporting superpower.
Sweden finished third at three of the past four Women's World Cups and are five-time World Cup semi-finalists. They also claimed the silver medal at the Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo Olympics. In Europe, their success is even more consistent and they stand one win from a 10th European semi-final when they meet England in Zurich on Thursday. Their men's national side has not reached a world or European semi-final for more than 30 years.
This unrelenting strength in women's football stems from way before even their triumph in the inaugural Women's European Championship in 1984; it goes back to the 1960s, at a time when the women's game was banned in England.
Jonny Hjelm, a professor in the department of historical, philosophical and religious studies at Umeå university, has co-authored papers on women's football including A Breakthrough: Women's Football in Sweden, which assessed its development between 1965 and 1980. He says: 'In 1968, the local football authorities in western Sweden accepted football for women and had pioneers who could start a league. This league developed icons.
'Denmark was actually a couple of years ahead of Sweden in the development of serious women's football in the 1960s – they had a league in the beginning of the 60s which we in Sweden did not have. But you'll find the same pattern in Norway, Denmark and Sweden when you talk about women's football. On a very general level, there is a correlation between women's position in society and their performance in sports arena, and women's rights were very different here compared to some other countries.
'In [some countries] football was very strongly connected to masculinity. You'll find that in the Nordic countries too, but not to the same degree. When Umeå won the European title [in 2004] with players like the Brazilian Marta, players could train two times a day, the Damallsvenskan had the best international players and the young girls in Umeå had idols just around the corner.'
Hjelm is not alone in thinking the country's relatively liberal views have played a part. Linus Gunnarsson, a Fifa-licensed agent from Linus MGMT and a lawyer at the MAQS law firm, based in Sweden, has been working in the women's game since 2019 and says: 'It's a country where I think the attitude towards gender equality has always been very progressive, so there's always been a culture to promote women's football. Also in Sweden, the youth development system is at the forefront, and then also the Swedish FA has been relatively good, historically, in promoting women's football as well.'
But how does that translate to consistently reaching the latter stages of tournaments? Mia Eriksson, the sporting director at the Damallsvenskan club Linköping, praises the league's attitudes towards enforcing top-level coaching: 'To coach in the Damallsvenskan, you need a Uefa Pro licence, the highest licence to coach, and that's not the case in the WSL for example. That says a lot about the Swedish model. We have high demands.
'You can't just come and coach here, you have to meet high standards here. We are very tactical and our gameplans require a high level of tactical knowledge from the players. Now you see [at Euro 2025] the Swedish players are really good at winning the ball high up the pitch.
'The 'team' is also key to team sports in Sweden. Other teams have great stars who can win a game on their own, but if they don't perform, the whole team can collapse, whereas Sweden also has big stars but they can do everything as a team. That's the culture in Sweden. We are raised that way: it's all about the team machine. And our league has been one of the greatest leagues for many, many years, creating so many senior players across the Euros.'
Gunnarsson's first clients in the women's game were the Sweden forwards Anna Anvegård and Stina Blackstenius, the Arsenal striker who scored the winning goal in last season's Women's Champions League final. 'Women's football gets a lot of media coverage here and [the public] is closely connected to women's football,' he says. 'And the [national team] is an insanely good group of world-class football players in every position, as well as a strong team. So we expect them to be up there.'
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Gunnarsson is speaking from Gothenburg, where the largest youth football tournament in the world, the Gothia Cup, is taking place this week, in a city that prides itself on developing young stars. But even though the national team are thriving, are the best players eventually going to abandon the Swedish domestic league?
'The Damallsvenskan is still one of the best leagues,' Gunnarsson says. 'Of course it's not always going to be, with the big countries investing more and more, but this is how it should be. Sweden shouldn't have the best league in the world – that wouldn't make sense. But I still think it's one of the best and right now, it's probably stronger than ever, because we have clubs like Malmö, Häcken, Hammarby, huge clubs on the men's side that are also making huge investments on the women's side.
England 4-0 Sweden, 26 July 2022, Sheffield
"One of the best goals you will ever see," the former England defender Stephen Warnock said – and few disagreed. Alessia Russo's audacious backheel nutmeg sealed England's third in style, a goal of the tournament winner from the bench. The Euro 2022 semi-final against Sweden played out like a dream: Beth Mead opened the scoring, Lucy Bronze powered in a header, and Fran Kirby's clever lob capped it off. Four goals, four statements. The Lionesses were ruthless. Sweden simply had no reply.
England 1-1 Sweden, 5 April 2024, London
Sweden looked nothing like the side torn apart at Euro 2022. In a closely contested qualifier, they held firm against an England team dominant in possession but short on chances. Alessia Russo, once again in imperious form, broke through with a striker's dream – a one-on-one calmly slotted home. Both sides grew bolder as the game wore on. A moment's lapse from the Lionesses and Sweden's rising star Rosa Kafaji Roflo punished them with an electric equaliser – well-earned.
Sweden 0-0 England, 16 July 2024, Gothenburg
It may have ended goalless but England got what they came for. A draw in Gothenburg sealed their place at Euro 2025. "Keeping it to 0-0, qualifying from a very hard group – I'm very relieved," the head coach, Sarina Wiegman, said. The Lionesses impressed early but faded, relying on the goalkeeper Hannah Hampton to keep their clean sheet. Georgia Stanway came closest to scoring with a strike from distance. Sweden, backed by a lively home crowd, failed to capitalise on the buzz.
Nasra Abdi
'Of course there is bigger money in other countries but, when it comes to how the clubs are being run, we are really far ahead, because a lot of the clubs here have a really good environment to play in.'
The Swedish club model applies a 51% rule safeguarding fan control, which has meant Europe's giants have stormed past Swedish clubs in the past 15 years financially. Eriksson, who has also worked in the media and in football analysis and scouting in Sweden, says she is not worried about the Damallsvenskan's future, though: 'We can't sell clubs out to be owned by oil companies so, no, we won't be able to keep up, but that doesn't mean we can't still be in a great place.
'What I do think is that Swedish women's football, from now on, needs very clear strategies on how we are going to work to bring in the money and get everything spinning still. But we will still be able to do what the Swedish women's national team are showing right now, which is that we can be really good at what we are good at.'
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It's staying home: England's road to Euro 2025 glory
It's staying home: England's road to Euro 2025 glory

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It's staying home: England's road to Euro 2025 glory

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A salvage operation of this scale had not been part of anyone's masterplan, but at least Ella Toone and Chloe Kelly knew exactly how to move the dial at a European Championship. They were the history makers at Wembley in England's most recent appearance on this stage; if it was going to be anyone, it surely had to be them. There were to be no heroics this time, even if Selma Bacha's late clearance was ultimately all that came between Wiegman's players and a draw. That statement is, in itself, illusory because the manager must face questions about her selection here. She had plumped for Lauren James's explosive gifts in the No 10 position, sticking to the claim that the Chelsea forward was ready to ramp up her recovery from injury, but the call backfired badly. England were misshapen and leggy where it mattered; the game simply got away from them and so, with another ill-conceived step against the Netherlands, could their Euro 2025 campaign. 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They also knew they had lost opening games and gone far at the World Cup in 2015 and the Euros in 2009. Messages came in from former Lionesses to remind them of those things, the Euro 2022 group chat still active. The difference between the sloppy and slightly shellshocked play against France and the focused and aggressive football played against the Netherlands in a sunny Stadion Letzigrund was night and day. The threat of an exit had sharpened the minds and the passing significantly, and Keira Walsh, Georgia Stanway and Ella Toone dictated play from the middle and increased the potency of Lauren Hemp and Lauren James out wide as Andries Jonker's side got narrower and narrower. England's title defence is well and truly alive, but they will be cautious. Suzanne Wrack GAME 3: GROUP D 13 JULY, ARENA ST GALLEN England 6 (Stanway 13pen, Toone 22, Hemp 30, Russo 44, Mead 72, Beever-Jones 89 Wales 1 Cain 76 Ella Toone scores England's second goal against Wales in a widely-expected demolition job that sealed their place in the knock-out stages. Photograph above: Annegret Hilse/Reuters. Click on the images below to reveal further captions. Sarina Wiegman said her Lionesses side found a sense of 'urgency' to book their place in the quarter-finals of the European Championship with a comfortable 6-1 victory over Wales. 'This urgency comes [after the France defeat],' the England head coach said. 'You could see the togetherness of our team. We knew today would be a different game because we knew we would have the ball a lot. I'm very happy with the performance. We knew that Wales really wanted to fight and we tried to stay out of it. I think in most of the moments we did but in the beginning we were sloppy.' 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Click on the images below to reveal further captions. The Letzigrund looks gorgeous under a pale pastel evening sun. The noise washes over the athletics track where Carl Lewis and Asafa Powell once broke the world record, and where Sweden are now flying out of the blocks and leaving England trailing in their dust. We do not yet know that in many ways this is simply the prologue, that this devastating early two-goal flurry is actually relatively benign in comparison with the carnage that will follow. We do not yet know that Lauren James will end up playing almost an hour in a double pivot. We do not yet know that Lucy Bronze will end up wearing the captain's armband on her wrist and kicking a giant credit card advert. Hannah Hampton, nose still unbloodied, has not the faintest inkling that this will end up being the greatest night of her career. But they all know something. Even if they're not entirely conscious of it. 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Chloe Kelly said England's saviour Michelle Agyemang has the 'world at her feet' after the 19-year-old striker's late leveller rescued the defending champions in their nerve-jangling semi-final victory against Italy. England's remarkably late comeback, with Agyemang scoring in the sixth minute of second-half stoppage time before Kelly's winner in the penultimate minute of extra time, booked the Lionesses a place in their third consecutive major tournament final. 'Big Mich at it again!' Kelly said to ITV Sport, discussing Agyemang's third goal in four senior international games since her April debut. 'She's unbelievable and she should have scored again: that one that hit the crossbar. She's an unbelievable player and she's got the world at her feet, a young player with a bright future and I'm absolutely buzzing for her.' The match was played two days after Jess Carter revealed she had received what the England team described as poisonous racist abuse on social media. The Lionesses said they were not going to take the knee before the game. Instead, the substitutes stood arm in arm on the touchline before kick-off, including Kelly, who said: 'I'm so proud to stand side by side with the girls in this team; Jess Carter and every single player in this team.' Tom Garry GAME 6: FINAL 27 JULY, ST JAKOB-PARK England 1 (Russo 57) Spain 1 (Caldentey 25) AET England won 3-1 on penalties Click on the images below to reveal further captions. Penalties: England 2-1 Spain (in the shootout). Now the pressure is on Spain and who else but Aitana Bonmatí? She steps up but Hannah Hampton saves!! Penalties: England 2-1 Spain. Now the pressure really is on Spain but England cannot afford to slip up here. For England it's Leah Williamson. The captain misses. Penalties: England 2-1 Spain. So Spain have a chance to level it again here. It's Salma Paralluelo and she misses. Penalties: England 3-1 Spain. Oh my word. These shootouts. 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Asian Cup: tough draw for Matildas, but chance to banish ghosts of India
Asian Cup: tough draw for Matildas, but chance to banish ghosts of India

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Asian Cup: tough draw for Matildas, but chance to banish ghosts of India

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How are England placed for next Women's World Cup?
How are England placed for next Women's World Cup?

BBC News

time8 minutes ago

  • BBC News

How are England placed for next Women's World Cup?

England may still be celebrating their second successive European Championship but it will not be long before attention turns to the next big challenge on the horizon - the Women's World years ago the Lionesses reached the final in Australia for the first time, losing 1-0 to Spain, and it remains the one gaping hole in their trophy Sarina Wiegman, who has now won the Euros three times, has twice been runner-up at a World Cup - once with the Netherlands and once with England - and will be desperate to go one 2027 the tournament will take place in South America for the first time, in Brazil, so what might the England team look like in two years and what are their chances of winning it? Which Lionesses might retire? Lucy Bronze, by far the most experienced member of the England squad, is also the oldest and by the time the World Cup comes around she will be the World Cup is the one major piece of silverware missing from her extensive collection of medals for club and country and after winning their first European title she said "there's still one more we can get our hands on". That is still unfinished business. Bronze has previously spoken about not retiring "unless my body gives up on me" and has shown little sign of her age affecting her availability. Having been involved in 19 of Chelsea's 22 Women's Super League (WSL) games during their title win last season, Bronze then started every England game at Euro 2025, where she was named in Uefa's team of the she did reveal after the final that she had been playing in Switzerland with a fractured leg, while she also suffered a knee injury against Spain - and injuries could become more of an players involved in the current squad who would be over 30 in Brazil are Alex Greenwood, who is currently 31, Beth Mead, 30, and uncapped goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse, also player who was not involved in Switzerland and faces an uncertain England future is Millie Bright, who turns 32 next month, and her retirement would not be a surprise. She made herself unavailable at Euro 2025, saying she was not able to give 100% mentally or physically, and while still valued highly by Wiegman, two of her past three seasons have been heavily disrupted by injuries. Who might break into starting line-up? It is impossible not to highlight teenage striker Michelle Agyemang, who has made such a big impression in a small amount of 19-year-old may only have five caps for England, making her debut in April, but she has already scored three memorable goals and played a pivotal role in England retaining their European she continues on her current trajectory she will be pushing Alessia Russo for a starting spot - although may have to displace her at club level first, with both playing for Arsenal. Wiegman could also consider playing them of England's most exciting young talents is Grace Clinton, who has long been tipped to become a regular starter for her country following her impressive displays at club 22-year-old Manchester United midfielder was given a starting role in the absence of the injured Georgia Stanway earlier this year, while Wiegman showed how much she trusted Clinton at Euro 2025 by using her as a substitute in all except the game against Wales, bringing her on in every knockout match when results were in the has been loyal to Keira Walsh and Stanway in midfield but they did not have as great an impact in Switzerland as at previous tournaments and Clinton could be the one to break up the Agyemang and Clinton, highly rated striker Aggie Beever-Jones, midfielder Jess Park and defender Maya le Tissier were also at their first major tournament. With two years' more experience come the World Cup in Brazil, they might be handed much greater United captain Le Tissier, 23, has often been overlooked by Wiegman but continues to impress at club level, and it is in defence where England might make the biggest changes having not fully convinced in Switzerland where they conceded seven goals in six captain Leah Williamson and Bronze have been permanent fixtures in defence, the other centre-back role and left-back have been problem positions, and the manager will hope first-choice candidates emerge to create a consistent back this summer's Euros Wiegman blended youth with experience, but there is plenty to be done over the next two years to develop some of those young players into starters at international defenders who might push the current regulars include Washington Spirit's Esme Morgan, 24, who made one start at Euro 2025, while Aston Villa's Lucy Parker, 26, and Tottenham's Ella Morris, 22, are both uncapped but had England call-ups in the past year. Who will be England's main rivals? It is hard to look further than the United States and USA team are now managed by Englishwoman Emma Hayes, who has restored them to the top of the world rankings after they dropped to fifth following their worst performance at a Women's World Cup in 2023, when they went out in the last to that they had won the previous two World Cups. They bounced back from their disappointment in Australia by winning the Olympics in Paris last summer, just three months after the former Chelsea boss took charge, and will no doubt be among the favourites to lift the trophy in meanwhile, are the World Cup holders and came agonisingly close to adding the European title with their defeat on penalties by England at Euro Switzerland they showed that at their best it is difficult for any team to live with them, while they continue to churn out world-class players with the performances of Barcelona midfielder Vicky Lopez, who has just turned 19, suggesting she will be one to watch in might also play a factor, with the American and Spanish players more accustomed to playing in hot weather than the Lionesses, whose players are mostly based in England. Yet when the men's World Cup was held in Brazil in 2014, Germany's triumph showed that a northern European team could still thrive in unfamiliar team who would be expected to flourish in that climate would be hosts Brazil, who will also have the added boost of home had a disappointing tournament two years ago, failing to make it past the group stage as Jamaica finished ahead of them. But just 12 months later they were impressive at the Paris Olympics, knocking out hosts France and Spain on their way to the final, and where better to end their search for a first international title than on home soil?When it comes to major tournaments it is also hard not to mention two-time champions Germany, while perennial underachievers France and former winners Japan are capable of competing with the world's best.

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