Sweden

🌍 World Cup Story

Sweden are one of European football's most decorated nations with a rich World Cup history. They were runners-up in 1958, losing the final to Brazil (with a teenage Pelé) on home soil in Stockholm. They finished third in 1950 and 1994, the latter on US soil featuring the legendary Henrik Larsson-era squad. In 2018, without the retired Zlatan Ibrahimović (who sensationally came out of international retirement for their 2022 qualifying campaign), they reached the quarterfinals — beating Switzerland and Italy's qualifying group. They missed the 2022 tournament via a playoff, losing to Poland. Now Alexander Isak (Newcastle) and Viktor Gyökeres (Sporting CP — perhaps Europe's most in-form striker) give them a deadly attacking threat not seen since the Ibrahimović era.