101-450: George Sidney Raynor (13 January 1907 – 24 November 1985) was an English professional footballer and one of the most successful international football managers ever. One of his greatest achievements was taking the Sweden men's national football team to a World Cup final, and he also managed them to an Olympic gold medal. Before the 1966 FIFA World Cup , he was the only Englishman to take
202-613: A World Cup qualifier. Sweden also failed to qualify to the UEFA Euro 1988 in West Germany. 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
303-406: 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
404-467: A final group stage, playing in round-robin format to determine the cup winner. A straight knockout tournament, as had been used in 1934 and 1938, would have featured only sixteen games (including the third-place playoff), while the proposed two rounds of the group format would guarantee thirty games, and thus more ticket revenue. In addition, this format would guarantee each team at least three games, and thus provide more incentive for European teams to make
505-473: A friendly gesture, allowing the Swiss to wear their own kit while Mexico changed. The local team that lent their shirts was Esporte Clube Cruzeiro from Porto Alegre. The shirts had vertical blue and white stripes. The final group stage involved the teams that had won their groups: Brazil, Spain, Sweden and 1930 FIFA World Cup champions Uruguay , who were making their first World Cup appearance since winning
606-849: A goal down and when they were held, particularly by the Welsh in the quarter-final, they had struggled to unlock the defence. As it happened the Swedes did score first; Liedholm scoring after four minutes, but Brazil rode the set-back and both Pelé and Vavá scored a brace in a 5–2 victory for the South Americans. The runners-up place is still the greatest achievement ever for Sweden in a major football competition. Raynor drifted back and forth into club management throughout this time with AIK in Stockholm (from 1948 to 1951), Lazio in Rome (during
707-577: 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
808-514: 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
909-460: 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
1010-571: 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
1111-485: A national team to a final of a World Cup. His World Cup campaign with Sweden is the best result ever for a non-national manager in the history of the tournament, along with Austrian Ernst Happel 's second place with Netherlands in 1978 , twenty years after Raynor's. Raynor first played football in the non-Leagues for Elsecar Bible Class, Mexborough Athletic and Wombwell . When he did sign professional forms, Raynor's career took him only on an uninspired jaunt around
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#17327723610051212-428: 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
1313-403: 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
1414-493: 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
1515-424: A result, FIFA had difficulties finding a country interested in hosting the event, since many governments believed that their scarce resources ought to be devoted to more urgent priorities than a sporting tournament. The World Cup was at risk of not being held for sheer lack of interest from the international community, until Brazil presented a bid at the 1946 FIFA Congress, offering to host the event on condition that
1616-624: 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
1717-479: 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
1818-592: A two-game tour in late Autumn 1953. One of those games included an international against Hungary in Budapest on 15 November. Raynor is reputed to have said: "If we win, I'll paint [the Stalin statue's] moustache red." The game finished 2–2 ( Kurt Hamrin , the Swedish right-winger, hitting the cross-bar in the final minute), against the brilliant Hungarian Golden Team , who had remained undefeated for over four years. On
1919-658: Is controlled by the Swedish Football Association , the governing body of football in Sweden . Sweden's home ground is Strawberry Arena in Solna and the team is coached by Jon Dahl Tomasson . From 1945 to the late 1950s, they were considered one of the greatest teams in Europe. Sweden has made twelve appearances at the World Cup with their first coming in 1934 . They have also made six appearances at
2020-633: Is known as the Maracanazo ("Maracanã blow"). Barbosa was blamed for the defeat, for which he suffered for the rest of his life as the match became part of Brazilian Tragedy. In 2000, shortly before his death, he said in an interview: "The maximum punishment in Brazil is 30 years' imprisonment, but I have been paying, for something I am not even responsible for, by now, for 50 years." The average attendance of nearly 61,000 per game, aided greatly by eight matches (including five featuring hosts Brazil) held in
2121-414: 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
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#17327723610052222-511: 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
2323-419: 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 ,
2424-692: 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
2525-533: The European Championship . Sweden finished second at the 1958 FIFA World Cup , which they hosted, and third in both 1950 and 1994 . Sweden's other accomplishments also include a gold medal at the 1948 Summer Olympics , and bronze medals in 1924 and 1952 . They also reached the semi-finals at UEFA Euro 1992 , also while hosting. Sweden has traditionally been a strong team in international football, with 12 World Cup appearances and 3 medals in
2626-529: The Football League . His first professional club was Sheffield United whom he joined in 1930, making only one first team appearance in the two years he was with the club. Between 1932 and 1939, he played for four different League clubs, the last of these ( Aldershot ) in the truncated season before the start of the War. He signed up as a physical training instructor (PTI) in 1939 in order to train soldiers in
2727-800: The German Football Association (disbanded in 1945 and reorganised in January 1950) were not readmitted to FIFA until September 1950, while the Deutscher Fußball-Verband der DDR in East Germany was not admitted to FIFA until 1952. The French-occupied Saarland had been accepted by FIFA two weeks before the World Cup. This is the most recent World Cup finals not to feature Germany in it. The "Home" nations were invited to take part, having rejoined FIFA four years earlier, after 17 years of self-imposed exile. It
2828-596: 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. In 1916, Sweden defeated Denmark for the first time. Sweden played in the 1912 Olympics (as hosts), the 1920 Olympics, and in
2929-552: 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. Sweden played its first international game against Norway on 12 July 1908, an 11–3 victory at Idrottsplatsen in Göteborg . Other matches in 1908 were played against England , Great Britain,
3030-667: The Superga air disaster one year before the start of the tournament. The Italians were eventually persuaded to attend, and travelled by boat rather than by plane. Brazil (the host country) and Italy (the defending champion) qualified automatically, leaving 14 places remaining. Of these, seven were allocated to Europe, six to the Americas, and one to Asia. Both Germany (still occupied and partitioned ) and Japan (still occupied ) were unable to participate. The Japan Football Association (suspended for failure to pay dues in 1945) and
3131-566: 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
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3232-449: The USSR and won 2–0. The semifinal at Ullevi , Gothenburg , 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
3333-577: The rest of Europe 6–1 in an exhibition match and England went into the competition as one of the favourites; however, they went crashing out after a shock 1–0 defeat by the United States and a 1–0 defeat by Spain . Italy, the defending champions, lost their unbeaten record at the World Cup finals with a 3–2 defeat by Sweden in its opening match and failed to progress to the second round. The final match in Group 1 between Switzerland and Mexico
3434-435: 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 #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
3535-569: The 1924 Olympics, where Sweden took the bronze and their first medal ever. 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
3636-470: The 1954–55 season) and Coventry City in England (for five months in 1956), but was back as national manager for the 1958 FIFA World Cup held in Sweden . During his time at Coventry, he was asked to be the trainer for the Third Division South representative team in 1956–57. Nine years after these triumphs, Raynor was made redundant after a seven-month stint managing Doncaster Rovers in
3737-457: The 22 matches played for this tournament. The Maracanã in the then-capital of Rio de Janeiro hosted eight matches, including all but one of the host's matches, including the Maracanazo match in the second round-robin group that decided the winners of the tournament. The Pacaembu stadium in São Paulo hosted six matches; these two stadiums in São Paulo and Rio were the only venues that hosted
3838-408: The 25th anniversary of Jules Rimet 's presidency of FIFA. Because of World War II , the World Cup had not been staged since 1938 ; the planned World Cups of 1942 and 1946 were both cancelled. After the war, FIFA were keen to resurrect the competition as soon as possible, and they began making plans for a World Cup tournament to take place. In the aftermath of the war, much of Europe lay in ruins. As
3939-550: 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 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
4040-584: The British Army. The Football Association had requested that all professional footballers become PTIs if they were not inclined to see active service. Raynor was posted to Iraq and, whilst in the course of working as a training instructor in Baghdad, he helped a fellow teacher club together a group of students into a team which toured the neighbouring states as a representative of Iraq. His work in Iraq came to
4141-634: The English Fourth Division . But perhaps nothing illustrates the contrast between Raynor's international profile and his English one better than the fact that during his career he managed Lazio and later found work as a manager with Skegness Town . He published a book in 1960 called Football Ambassador at Large . Sweden AIK Individual Sweden men%27s national football team The Sweden men's national football team ( Swedish : Sveriges herrlandslag i fotboll ) represents Sweden in men's international football and it
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4242-606: The Olympics over the FIFA World Cup. Although FIFA had imposed a rule banning barefoot play following the 1948 Summer Olympics , where India had played barefoot, the Indian captain at the time, Sailen Manna , claimed that this was not part of the AIFF's decision. According to Indian sports journalist Jaydeep Basu, India did not participate because the AIFF did not have confidence in its players. France also withdrew, citing
4343-536: The SFA to change its mind and accept the place in Brazil; however, Graham refused to change his position and so Scotland withdrew from the tournament. Turkey also withdrew, citing financial conditions that included the cost of travelling to South America . FIFA invited Portugal , Republic of Ireland and France , who had been eliminated in qualifying, to fill the gaps left by Scotland and Turkey. Portugal and Republic of Ireland refused, but France initially accepted and
4444-591: 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
4545-406: 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
4646-544: 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
4747-535: 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. Sweden's only major success in
4848-491: The United States' last appearance at the World Cup finals until 1990 , and Bolivia's last until 1994 . A new playing format was proposed by the Brazilian organisers of the tournament to maximise matches and ticket sales since the stadium and infrastructure were so costly. The 13 teams were divided into four first-round groups (or "pools" as they were then called) of four teams, with the winner of each group advancing to
4949-420: The amount of travel that would be required between the venues of the Group 4 matches. There was not enough time to invite further replacement teams or to reorganise the groups, so the tournament featured only thirteen teams, with just three nations in Group 3 and two nations in Group 4. Also, France withdrew means Brazil is the only team who had played in every World Cup from its inauguration in 1930 to date. Of
5050-514: 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
5151-489: 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
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#17327723610055252-555: The difference in quality between the teams was not excessive; unlike Spain and Sweden the Uruguayans were used to the challenges in the big South American stadiums. On 16 July, before a huge home crowd of 199,954 (some estimated as 205,000) in the Estádio do Maracanã, the host nation only had to draw against Uruguay and the trophy would be theirs. After such crushing victories over Spain and Sweden, it looked certain they would take
5353-408: 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
5454-574: The final, in front of 60,000 at Wembley . This was after having surpassed Austria , Denmark and South Korea in the earlier stages. At that stage, Raynor was assisted by Putte Kock . They had assessed the team and decided that Nils Liedholm and Kjell Rosén could work effectively as defensive midfielders. The team had a core of players who would go on to play in Italy's Serie A championship. Gunnar Gren , Gunnar Nordahl and Liedholm (later called Gre-No-Li ) formed an inventive striking force and each
5555-409: 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
5656-509: 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
5757-402: 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
5858-465: 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. 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
5959-472: The group with one game left to play against Uruguay; in second and only a point behind. Brazil had scored 23 goals in the tournament and only conceded four, and so were strong favourites. The two teams had played three matches against each other in the Copa Río Branco , played in Brazil two months previously, with one match won by Uruguay 4–3 and two by Brazil (2–1 and 1–0), who won the tournament. Thus
6060-554: The inaugural tournament. The World Cup winner would be the team that finished on top of this group. The final group's six matches were shared between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Brazil played all its final group matches at the Estádio do Maracanã in Rio while the games that did not involve the host nation were played in São Paulo. Brazil won their first two matches with a 7–1 thrashing of Sweden and 6–1 rout of Spain, putting them on top of
6161-609: The journey back to Sweden, Raynor met Walter Winterbottom in Vienna and explained to him how to play the Hungarians, using man-to-man marking to cut out the threat of Nándor Hidegkuti . Winterbottom did not follow the advice and this, in part, led to England's losing their home record against Hungary at Wembley on 25 November 1953 By that stage, the Swedish FA had decided to allow professionalism in domestic football, but there
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#17327723610056262-417: The journey to South America and compete. FIFA originally resisted this proposal, but reconsidered when Brazil threatened to back out of hosting the tournament if this format was not used. In each group, teams were awarded 2 points for a win and 1 point for a draw. Had there been a tie on points for first place in a group, a playoff would have been held to determine the group winner. The entire tournament
6363-431: 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
6464-408: The mooted 1942 bid and was quickly accepted. Having secured a host nation, FIFA would dedicate some time to persuading countries to send their national teams to compete. Italy was of particular interest as the long-standing defending champions, having won the two previous tournaments in 1934 and 1938 ; however, Italy's national team was weakened severely as most of its starting line-up perished in
6565-473: The national team after the tournament. 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
6666-544: The newly built Maracanã, set a record that would not be broken until 1994 . Not counting the Maracanã matches, the average attendance was a still-impressive 37,500; however, the only venues that saw crowds comparable to or greater than those in recent World Cups were the Maracanã and São Paulo. Other venues saw considerably smaller crowds. Antonio Carbajal from Mexico was the last living player from this World Cup, he died in 2023. Six venues in six cities around Brazil hosted
6767-429: 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
6868-671: The notice of the Secretary of the FA Stanley Rous . Thereafter, as Brian Glanville notes (with some poetic licence) in his The Story of the World Cup for The Sunday Times (1973), "the FA whisked him in 1946 from reserve team trainer at Aldershot to the team managership of Sweden ". During 1939, he was a 'guest' WW2 player with Aldershot, Bournemouth, Bury, Clapton Orient with one appearance, Crystal Palace and Hull City. Source: Neilson N. Kaufman, historian Leyton Orient. Raynor
6969-474: The pitch holding a Swedish flag. 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
7070-761: The qualification competition, George Graham, chairman of the Scottish Football Association (SFA), had said that Scotland would only travel to Brazil as winners of the Home Championship (England, by contrast, had committed to attending, even if they finished in second place). After Scotland ended up in second place behind England, the Scottish captain George Young , encouraged by England captain Billy Wright , pleaded with
7171-675: 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
7272-452: 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
7373-401: 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
7474-428: 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
7575-868: The second round-robin matches. The Estádio Sete de Setembro in Belo Horizonte hosted three matches, the Durival de Britto stadium in Curitiba and the Eucaliptos stadium in Porto Alegre each hosted two matches, and the Ilha do Retiro stadium in far-away Recife only hosted one match. In order to present itself as a modern country, Brazil invested a today's equivalent of 290 million US-Dollars into new stadiums. The newly built Maracanã cost around 275 million US-Dollars alone. [REDACTED] India
7676-399: 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. In the first round, Sweden played against Austria. The Austrian team had qualified without their professional players, which was a surprise since
7777-470: 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
7878-536: The side was not representative of Swedish football. Perhaps it wasn't, but it was representative of the footballers Sweden produced." Raynor managed Sweden to the final against Brazil ; a 3–1 win against 1954 FIFA World Champions West Germany confirmed their quality. He famously said that if Sweden get the first goal in the Final 'Brazil would panic all over the show'. Up to that stage the Brazilians had yet to go
7979-421: The thirteen teams that competed, only one, England, was making its debut. Several of the teams from the Americas teams were competing for the first time since the inaugural 1930 tournament – this included undefeated Uruguay, as well as Mexico, Chile, Paraguay, and Bolivia. Yugoslavia was also making its first appearance since 1930. Spain and the United States qualified for the first time since 1934 . This would be
8080-404: The title, and the home nation duly went ahead in the second minute of the second half, thanks to a goal from Friaça . However, Uruguay equalised and then, with just over 11 minutes left to play, went ahead 2–1 when Alcides Ghiggia squeaked a goal past Moacyr Barbosa , so Uruguay was crowned World Cup champions for a second time. This stunning defeat surprised Brazil to the point of shock and
8181-470: 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
8282-403: The tournament take place in 1950 rather than the originally proposed year of 1949. Brazil and Germany had been the leading bidders to host the cancelled 1942 World Cup ; since both the 1934 and 1938 tournaments had been held in Europe, football historians generally agree that the 1942 event would most likely have been awarded to a South American host country. Brazil's new bid was very similar to
8383-458: 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
8484-491: The two-time defending champions, were eliminated in the first round for the first time in history. Uruguay , who had won the inaugural competition in 1930 , defeated the host nation, Brazil , in the deciding match of the four-team group of the final round. This was the only tournament not decided by a one-match final. It was also the inaugural tournament where the trophy was referred to as the Jules Rimet Cup , to mark
8585-413: Was also drawn into this group, but withdrew before playing. [REDACTED] France was also drawn into this group, but withdrew before playing. With nine goals, Brazil's Ademir was the tournament's top scorer. In total, 88 goals were scored by 47 players. Alcides Ghiggia of Uruguay became the first player ever to score in every game: Just Fontaine would be the second in 1958 and Jairzinho
8686-436: Was an irascible, indefatigable figure, characteristics that possibly aligned him more to Sweden than they ever would in conservative England; accordingly, with his insights into club management coming to the fore, Sweden quickly developed into a force. Under his tutelage, Sweden gave England a scare before losing 4–2 at Highbury in 1947. The following year, Sweden won the 1948 Olympic Games title defeating Yugoslavia 3–1 in
8787-487: 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. 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
8888-447: Was arranged in such a way that the four first-round groups had no geographical basis. Hence, several teams were obliged to cover large distances to complete their programme, although Brazil was allowed to play two of its three group matches in Rio de Janeiro while its other group game was held in the relatively nearby city of São Paulo . A combined Great Britain team had recently beaten
8989-606: 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. Sweden qualified impressively for this tournament, winning all games except
9090-527: Was decided to use the 1949–50 British Home Championship as a qualifying group, with the top two teams qualifying. England finished first and Scotland second. A number of teams refused to participate in the qualifying tournament, including most nations behind the Iron Curtain , such as the Soviet Union , 1934 finalists Czechoslovakia , and 1938 finalists Hungary . Ultimately, Yugoslavia
9191-405: Was entered into the draw. The draw, held in Rio on 22 May 1950, allocated the fifteen remaining teams into four groups: After the draw, the Indian football association, All India Football Federation (AIFF) decided against going to the World Cup, citing travel costs (although FIFA had agreed to bear a major part of the travel expenses), lack of practice time, team selection issues, and valuing
9292-507: Was picked up by Italian scouts following the gold-medal victory. Raynor was the last English manager to lead a team to Olympic Gold until Bev Priestman did so for the Canada women's national soccer team at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics . Divested of his best players, and belaboured by the constraints of domestic initiative, whereby professionals were barred from playing for the national side, Raynor
9393-487: 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
9494-480: Was qualified for the quarter-finals. 1950 FIFA World Cup The 1950 FIFA World Cup was the 4th edition of the FIFA World Cup , the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. it was held in Brazil from 24 June to 16 July 1950. It was the first World Cup tournament in over twelve years, as the 1942 and 1946 World Cups were cancelled due to World War II . Italy ,
9595-464: Was still able to qualify the side for the 1950 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, where the team overcame Italy and finished in third place; losing 3–2 to the eventual champions, Uruguay , after they were beaten 7–1 by a brilliant Brazilian team . Raynor was still in charge of the national side for their Bronze medal performance at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki and coached the national side during
9696-527: Was still the need to go cap in hand to the Italian clubs in order to confirm the selection of Kurt Hamrin (from Padova ) and Liedholm (at A.C. Milan ) and there was still a need to convince the Swedish public of the need to play 'foreigners' in the national side. Raynor said: "It would have been impossible for us to meet world-class opposition without such performers as Liedholm, Gren, Hamrin and Skoglund. Some people thought it wrong to play these '[Italians' as
9797-525: 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 , in order 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
9898-701: 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. In 1956,
9999-715: Was the only Eastern European nation to take part in the tournament. Argentina , Ecuador , and Peru in South America withdrew after the qualifying draw, in Argentina's case because of a dispute with the Brazilian Football Confederation . This meant that Chile , Bolivia , Paraguay , and Uruguay qualified from South America by default. In Asia, the Philippines , Indonesia , and Burma all withdrew, leaving India to qualify by default. In Europe, Austria withdrew, claiming its team
10100-467: Was the second time a national team did not play in their own kit, the first being 1934 match between Austria and Germany when both teams arrived with white kits, and the Austrians borrowed blue kits from club side Napoli . Both teams arrived with only their red kits, so the Brazilian Football Confederation tossed a coin, with Mexico thus earning the right to play in their own kit, a right they waived as
10201-402: Was too inexperienced. Belgium also withdrew from the qualification tournament. These withdrawals meant that Switzerland and Turkey qualified without having to play their final round of matches. The following 16 teams originally qualified for the final tournament: Asia (0) Africa (0) North, Central America and Caribbean (2) South America (5) Europe (6) Before
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