Sweden at the FIFA World Cup

This is a record of Sweden's results at the FIFA Men’s World Cup. The FIFA World Cup, sometimes called the Football World Cup or the Soccer World Cup, but usually referred to simply as the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II.

The tournament consists of two parts, the qualification phase and the final phase (officially called the World Cup Finals). The qualification phase, which currently take place over the three years preceding the Finals, is used to determine which teams qualify for the Finals. The current format of the Finals involves 32 teams competing for the title, at venues within the host nation (or nations) over a period of about a month. The World Cup Finals is the most widely viewed sporting event in the world, with an estimated 715.1 million people watching the 2006 tournament final.[1]

Sweden have been one of the more successful national teams in the history of the World Cup, having reached the top four on four occasions, and becoming runners-up on home ground in 1958. They have been present at 12 out of 21 World Cups by 2018.

Throughout the World Cup history, Brazil became Sweden's historical rival. The two countries have met each other seven times but Sweden never won, with five victories for the Brazilian side and two draws.[2] Another historical opponent of Sweden in the finals is (West) Germany: four encounters, with three wins for Germany and one for Sweden.[3]

Overall record

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Sweden in the 1958 FIFA World Cup Final
 
Team formations of Brazil (blue) and Sweden (yellow) at the start of the 1958 FIFA World Cup Final
FIFA World Cup record FIFA World Cup qualification record
Year Round Position Pld W D* L GF GA Pld W D L GF GA
  1930 Did not enter No qualification
  1934 Quarter-finals 8th 2 1 0 1 4 4 2 2 0 0 8 2
  1938 Fourth place 4th 3 1 0 2 11 9 3 2 0 1 11 7
  1950 Third place 3rd 5 2 1 2 11 15 2 2 0 0 6 2
  1954 Did not qualify 4 1 1 2 9 8
  1958 Runners-up 2nd 6 4 1 1 12 7 Qualified as hosts
  1962 Did not qualify 5 3 0 2 11 5
  1966 4 2 1 1 10 3
  1970 Group stage 9th 3 1 1 1 2 2 4 3 0 1 12 5
  1974 Second group stage 5th 6 2 2 2 7 6 7 4 2 1 17 9
  1978 First group stage 13th 3 0 1 2 1 3 4 3 0 1 7 4
  1982 Did not qualify 8 3 2 3 7 8
  1986 8 4 1 3 14 9
  1990 Group stage 21st 3 0 0 3 3 6 6 4 2 0 9 3
  1994 Third place 3rd 7 3 3 1 15 8 10 6 3 1 19 8
  1998 Did not qualify 10 7 0 3 16 9
    2002 Round of 16 13th 4 1 2 1 5 5 10 8 2 0 20 3
  2006 Round of 16 14th 4 1 2 1 3 4 10 8 0 2 30 4
  2010 Did not qualify 10 5 3 2 13 5
  2014 12 6 2 4 21 18
  2018 Quarter-finals 7th 5 3 0 2 6 4 12 7 2 3 27 9
  2022 Did not qualify 10 6 0 4 13 8
      2026 To be determined To be determined
      2030
  2034
Total Best: Runners-up 12/25 51 19 13 19 80 73 141 86 21 34 280 129
*Draws include knockout matches decided via penalty shoot-out.
**Gold background color indicates that the tournament was won.
***Red border color indicates tournament was held on home soil.

By match

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Sweden playing against Germany in the 2006 FIFA World Cup
Year Round Against Score Scorers
  1934 Round 1   Argentina 3–2 Jonasson (2), Kroon
Quarter-final   Germany 1–2 Dunker
  1938 Round 1   Austria w/o
Quarter-final   Cuba 8–0 H. Andersson (3), Wetterström (3), Keller, Nyberg
Semi-final   Hungary 1–5 Nyberg
Bronze final   Brazil 2–4 Jonasson, Nyberg
  1950 Group 3   Italy 3–2 Jeppson (2), S. Andersson
  Paraguay 2–2 Sundqvist, Palmér
Final round   Brazil 1–7 S. Andersson
  Uruguay 2–3 Palmér, Sundqvist
  Spain 3–1 Sundqvist, B. Mellberg, Palmér
  1958 Group 3   Mexico 3–0 Simonsson (2), Liedholm
  Hungary 2–1 Hamrin (2)
  Wales 0–0
Quarter-final   Soviet Union 2–0 Hamrin, Simonsson
Semi-final   West Germany 3–1 Skoglund, Gren, Hamrin
Final   Brazil 2–5 Liedholm, Simonsson
  1970 Group 2   Italy 0–1
  Israel 1–1 Turesson
  Uruguay 1–0 Grahn
  1974 Group 3   Bulgaria 0–0
  Netherlands 0–0
  Uruguay 3–0 Edström (2), Sandberg
Group B   Poland 0–1
  West Germany 2–4 Edström, Sandberg
  Yugoslavia 2–1 Edström, Torstensson
  1978 Group 3   Brazil 1–1 Sjöberg
  Austria 0–1
  Spain 0–1
  1990 Group C   Brazil 1–2 Brolin
  Scotland 1–2 Strömberg
  Costa Rica 1–2 Ekström
  1994 Group B   Cameroon 2–2 Ljung, Dahlin
  Russia 3–1 Dahlin (2), Brolin
  Brazil 1–1 K. Andersson
Round of 16   Saudi Arabia 3–1 Dahlin, K. Andersson (2)
Quarter-final   Romania 2–2 (a.e.t.) Brolin, K. Andersson
Semi-final   Brazil 0–1
Third place play-off   Bulgaria 4–0 Brolin, Mild, Larsson, K. Andersson
    2002 Group F   England 1–1 Alexandersson
  Nigeria 2–1 Larsson (2)
  Argentina 1–1 Svensson
Round of 16   Senegal 1–2 (a.e.t.) Larsson
  2006 Group B   Trinidad and Tobago 0–0
  Paraguay 1–0 Ljungberg
  England 2–2 Allbäck, Larsson
Round of 16   Germany 0–2
  2018 Group F   South Korea 1–0 Granqvist
  Germany 1–2 Toivonen
  Mexico 3–0 Augustinsson, Granqvist, Álvarez (OG)
Round of 16    Switzerland 1–0 Forsberg
Quarter-final   England 0–2

Record players

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Rank Player Matches World Cups
1 Henrik Larsson 13 1994, 2002 and 2006
2 Kalle Svensson 11 1950 and 1958
Bo Larsson 11 1970, 1974 and 1978
4 Ronnie Hellström 10 1970, 1974 and 1978
Björn Nordqvist 10 1970, 1974 and 1978
Tomas Brolin 10 1990 and 1994
Klas Ingesson 10 1990 and 1994
Roland Nilsson 10 1990 and 1994
Thomas Ravelli 10 1990 and 1994
10 Lennart Skoglund 9 1950 and 1958
Ralf Edström 9 1974 and 1978
Stefan Schwarz 9 1990 and 1994

Top goalscorers

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With his five goals in 1994, Kennet Andersson won the shared Bronze Boot at that tournament.

 
Henrik Larsson, Sweden's joint all-time top scorer (alongside Kennet Andersson) at the World Cup
Rank Player Goals World Cups
1 Kennet Andersson 5 1994
Henrik Larsson 5 1994 (1), 2002 (3) and 2006 (1)
3 Agne Simonsson 4 1958
Kurt Hamrin 4 1958
Ralf Edström 4 1974
Tomas Brolin 4 1990 (1) and 1994 (3)
Martin Dahlin 4 1994
8 Sven Jonasson 3 1934 (2) and 1938 (1)
Harry Andersson 3 1938
Gustav Wetterström 3 1938
Arne Nyberg 3 1938
Karl-Erik Palmér 3 1950
Stig Sundqvist 3 1950

See also

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References

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  1. ^ 2006 FIFA World Cup TV Coverage (PDF), FIFA.com. Retrieved on 6 June 2007.
  2. ^ "Head-to-Head: Sweden v Brazil". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on April 22, 2014.
  3. ^ "Head-to-Head: Sweden v Germany". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on April 22, 2014.
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