SWEDEN NATIONAL TEAM
1998
Match Worn Shirt
Andersson Daniel
Things to Know:
Andersson was capped 74 times for Sweden between 1997 and 2009. He was a squad member for Euro 2000, Euro 2008, and the 2002 and 2006 World Cup finals. At Euro 2000, he was a regular starter in Sweden’s line-up. As a result of Tobias Linderoth getting injured, he was once again a regular starter at Euro 2008, although the team did not make it into the knockout stages of the competition. Andersson retired from the national team after the unsuccessful campaign to qualify for the 2010 World Cup, in order to devote his energies to Malmö FF.
SWEDEN NATIONAL TEAM
Euro 2000
Sweden vs Italy
Match Issued Shirt
Nilsson Roland
Did you Know?
Nilsson played 116 games for Sweden, making him the sixth most capped player in the Swedish national team. He also won the UEFA Cup and played in the semi-finals of the World Cup, the European Championships, and the European Cup during a playing career lasting over two decades. The last international tournament in which Nilsson played was Euro 2000. He started Sweden’s opening game against the co-hosts, Belgium; however, he was substituted at half-time in the game with a concussion after a defensive error, which allowed Bart Goor to put Belgium ahead, Nilsson played no further part in the tournament. Despite this snub, he played a further four games for Sweden, the last coming on 11 October 2000 against Slovakia, the result of that game, like his international debut, was 0–0.
Things to Know:
Sweden qualified impressively for this tournament, winning all games except the away game against England (0–0) and conceding only one goal. The finals however, were a great disappointment. Sweden lost their opening game 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 Sweden played 0–0 against Turkey and lost 2–1 to Italy. The goal was scored by Henrik Larsson while Italy won via goals from Luigi Di Biagio and Alessandro Del Piero. Sweden finished the group last behind Belgium with only 1 point. Italy finished first and Turkey second.
SWEDEN NATIONAL TEAM
Fifa World Cup “KOREA & JAPAN 2002”
Match Worn Shirt
Linderoth Tobias
Did you Know?
Linderoth was a midfield dynamo on the Swedish national team where he also was assistant captain. Tobias played for Sweden in the Euro 2004 and Euro 2008, as well as in the 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cup tournaments. In one game at the World Cup in 2002, he ran 14.6 kilometres (9.1 mi) during the 96 minutes of the match – not an unusual feature for the hard-working midfielder. On 26 May 2008, Linderoth scored his second international goal, the only goal in a 1–0 win over Slovenia in a pre-Euro 2008 friendly warm-up. On 6 September 2008 during a 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification game against Albania, he was injured and had to be substituted in the 6th minute – this was to be the last game he played for Sweden.
Things to Know:
This model of shirt was never used by the team during the Fifa World Cup 2002 nor during the following reasons due an issue occurred some days before the World Cup 2002 game against England. Fifa previously authorized this style/color of shirt to Adidas. So the shirt went to the regular production and it was also sold to the stores. Some days before the game against England (England has white shirt) Fifa realized that Sweden didn’t have any dark shirts for World Cup games against teams with light shirts as the first Sweden shirt was yellow. So they made Sweden changing the “away”white kit with a dark shirt. Adidas quickly made a blue away shirt for the World Cup, that according with the Sweden Team’s kit man of the time were delivered by Adidas only few hours before the game against England. Adidas decided to destroy the whole kit of white shirts and to reimburse all of the fans who previously bought the white ones on stores. So only few white shirts survived, so this shirt is definitely one of the rarest World Cup shirts ever.
SWEDEN NATIONAL TEAM
Fifa World Cup “KOREA & JAPAN 2002”
Match Worn Shirt
Sweden vs England
Edman Erik
Things to Know:
Edman has been a part of the Swedish national team setup, since 2001. In 2002, he was part of the 2002 World Cup squad, but did not make any appearance and was only an unused substitute. He then began to feature more regularly after the 2002 World Cup, and at Euro 2004 and the 2006 World Cup, he started almost all of Sweden’s games. He now has a huge amount of experience, with over 50 international caps to his name.
SWEDEN NATIONAL TEAM
Fifa World Cup “RUSSIA 2018” Qualifying Playoff Game
Italy vs Sweden
Kiese Thelin Isaac
Did you Know?
This shirt was worn by Isaac Kiese Thelin during the 2nd leg of the Fifa World Cup “RUSSIA 2018” playoff qualifying game against Italy which took place in Milan, Giuseppe Meazza Stadium on November 13th 2017. Sweden team won the first leg 1-0. This game became one of the worst pages of Italy team’s history. For the first time since 1958, Italy didn’t qualify to the FIFA World Cup. Sweden held on to force a goalless draw in the second leg at the San Siro to defeat the Italians 1-0 on aggregate in their Russia 2018 play-off. Despite creating the majority of the chances in the match and dominating in possession, Italy lacked the cutting edge they needed to find a goal, while Sweden goalkeeper Robin Olsen, captain Andreas Granqvist and team mates did enough to help their nation over the line and into their first World Cup since Germany 2006. The crowd at the San Siro of over 70,000 created an intense atmosphere which resulted in a frenetic and tense 90 minutes. Giorgio Chiellini, Andrea Barzagli and Jakob Johansson, goalscorer in the first leg, all picked up early yellow cards, before the latter picked up a nasty-looking injury. Swedish goalkeeper Olsen also made some big saves; the anxiety levels went up to an entirely different level in the second half. As expected, Italy continued to dominate possession but Janne Andersson’s side were able to thwart any attacks Giampiero Ventura’s men attempted. The Azzurri found no solutions to get back into the tie, and will miss out on the world finals for the first time in 60 years. While this game represents one of the worst pages for Italy team’s history, it also represents a memorable page for the Sweden team that was able to qualify for the World Cup and to write an important page for the football’s tale.
