Sweden at the FIFA World Cup

This is a record of Sweden's results at the FIFA 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 4 semi-finals, 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]

Records[]

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	Did not qualify								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	Did not qualify								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	Did not qualify								12	6	2	4	21	18
2018	Quarter-finals	7th	5	3	0	2	6	4	12	7	2	3	27	9
2022	To be determined								To be determined
2026	To be determined								To be determined
Total	Best: Runners-up	12/21	51	19	13	19	80	73	130	79	21	30	263	121

*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

**Gold background color indicates that the tournament was won.

***Red border color indicates tournament was held on home soil.

Sweden's World Cup record
First match	Sweden 3–2 Argentina (27 May 1934; Bologna, Italy)
Biggest win	Sweden 8–0 Cuba (12 June 1938; Antibes, France)
Biggest defeat	Brazil 7–1 Sweden (9 July 1950; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
Best result	Runners-up at the 1958 FIFA World Cup
Worst result	Group stage in 1970, 1978 and 1990

By match[]

Sweden playing against Germany in the 2006 FIFA World Cup

Year	Round	Against	Score	Scorers
1934	Round 1	Argentina	3–2	Jonasson (2), Kroon
1934	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
	Group 3	Paraguay	2–2	Sundqvist, Palmér
	Final round	Brazil	1–7	S. Andersson
	Final round	Uruguay	2–3	Palmér, Sundqvist
	Final round	Spain	3–1	Sundqvist, B. Mellberg, Palmér
1958	Group 3	Mexico	3–0	Simonsson (2), Liedholm
	Group 3	Hungary	2–1	Hamrin (2)
	Group 3	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
	Group 2	Israel	1–1	Turesson
	Group 2	Uruguay	1–0	Grahn
1974	Group 3	Bulgaria	0–0
	Group 3	Netherlands	0–0
	Group 3	Uruguay	3–0	Edström (2), Sandberg
	Group B Round 2	Poland	0–1
	Group B Round 2	West Germany	2–4	Edström, Sandberg
	Group B Round 2	Yugoslavia	2–1	Edström, Torstensson
1978	Group 3	Brazil	1–1	Sjöberg
	Group 3	Austria	0–1
	Group 3	Spain	0–1
1990	Group C	Brazil	1–2	Brolin
	Group C	Scotland	1–2	Strömberg
	Group C	Costa Rica	1–2	Ekström
1994	Group B	Cameroon	2–2	Ljung, Dahlin
	Group B	Russia	3–1	Dahlin (2), Brolin
	Group B	Brazil	1–1	K. Andersson
	Round of 16	Saudi Arabia	3–1	Dahlin, K. Andersson (2)
	Quarter-final	Romania	2–2 (AET)	Brolin, K. Andersson
	Semi-final	Brazil	0–1
	Bronze final	Bulgaria	4–0	Brolin, Mild, Larsson, K. Andersson
2002	Group F	England	1–1	Alexandersson
	Group F	Nigeria	2–1	Larsson (2)
	Group F	Argentina	1–1	Svensson
	Round of 16	Senegal	1–2 (AET)	Larsson
2006	Group B	Trinidad and Tobago	0–0
	Group B	Paraguay	1–0	Ljungberg
	Group B	England	2–2	Allbäck, Larsson
	Round of 16	Germany	0–2
2018	Group F	South Korea	1–0	Granqvist
	Group F	Germany	1–2	Toivonen
	Group F	Mexico	3–0	Augustinsson, Granqvist, Álvarez (OG)
	Round of 16	Switzerland	1–0	Forsberg
	Quarter-Final	England	0–2

Record players[]

No.	Name	Matches	World Cups
1	Henrik Larsson	13	1994, 2002 and 2006
2	Kalle Svensson	11	1950 and 1958
2	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[]

With his 5 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

No.	Name	Goals	World Cups
1	Kennet Andersson	5	1994
1	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

References[]

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

External links[]

[2006coverage-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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[2]

[3]

v t Countries at the FIFA World Cup
Team appearances All-time table
AFC	Australia² China Indonesia¹ Iran Iraq Japan Kuwait North Korea Qatar Saudi Arabia South Korea United Arab Emirates
CAF	Algeria Angola Cameroon DR Congo¹ Egypt Ghana Ivory Coast Morocco Nigeria Senegal South Africa Togo Tunisia
CONCACAF	Canada Costa Rica Cuba El Salvador Haiti Honduras Jamaica Mexico Panama Trinidad and Tobago United States
CONMEBOL	Argentina Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Ecuador Paraguay Peru Uruguay
OFC	New Zealand
UEFA	Austria Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Czech Republic¹ Denmark East Germany³ England France Germany¹ Greece Hungary Iceland Israel² Italy Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania Russia¹ Scotland Serbia¹ Slovakia¹ Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine Wales
¹ Considered a successor team by FIFA, or have competed under another name(s). ² Have been member of multiple confederations. ³ Team and national federation no longer exist.