2026 World Cup | What should France expect from Sweden? | OneFootball

Sweden’s attempts to qualify for the World Cup could hardly have gone worse, picking up just one point from the first four games under Jon Dahl Tomasson before, in October 2025, the Dane was sacked following a 1-0 defeat against Kosovo. 

In came Graham Potter, who had his breakthrough in coaching at Swedish side Östersund between 2011 and 2017, taking them from the fourth tier to Allsvenskan, winning the Cup and beating Arsenal in the Europa League. 

Under Potter’s leadership, the focus shifted to more traditional values associated with the Swedish national team with a stubborn defence coupled with effective counterattacks. Having initially said he prefers a back four he set up with a 5-3-2 in the playoffs, with a focus on keeping things quiet at the back. 

With the Nations League having offered Sweden a route back into the World Cup qualifying process, they put in an impressive performance against Ukraine in Spain in the semi-final, winning 3-1 after a Viktor Gyökeres hat-trick. The final, against Poland, was much tougher to watch with the visitors better for much of the game but Gyökeres again stepped up, scoring an 88th-minute winner in a 3-2 thriller. 

“It’s hard to explain, hard to describe,” said a delighted Potter. “Just an incredible evening, just so proud to be part of that and obviously proud to experience it. It was just the best night I’ve had in football. Incredible, like I was having some sort of out-of-body experience. I’m looking at the goal and suddenly all our bench is running and you’re thinking, am I here? I’m just grateful to be part of that.”

So Sweden made it to the World Cup despite collecting two points from six games in the group. They now face Tunisia, Netherlands and Japan with hope of getting out of the group – that’s the Potter effect for you. 

Injury wise they are without captain Dejan Kulusevski, whose influence on this team cannot be overstated. They will miss him in North America. There are also huge question marks over Alexander Isak’s form and fitness. 

What to expect from Sweden’s fans

Swedish supporters have a reputation of coming in large numbers for tournaments and making themselves heard. Fans of Blågult (blue and yellow) tend to be friendly and full of banter, interacting nicely with opposition fans. The go-to song of the supporters is “Kanna på”, a song referencing beer pitchers that keep on arriving. Yes, the Swedes like a beer or six. The song also states: “We are coming with 100,000 men” and, while there might not be another Viking invasion expected in America, there will be a large yellow-and-blue delegation at the World Cup.

This is a piece fromSebastian Pearson and Tobias Hellgren for fotbollskanalen.se as part of the Guardian Sports Network

GFFN | Luke Entwistle