Sweden

Not given a serious chance by pundits with detractors pointing to a shaky defence despite the Swedes conceding just four times in qualifying. The central pairing of captain Olof Mellburg of Aston Villa and Teddy Lucic from Swedish top flight side BV Hacken will need to be at their best in Germany although giant Rennes goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson did turn heads during qualifying with a series of outstanding displays.

Sweden's armoury, though, is in attack. Coach Lars Lagerback - in sole control of the side after the resignation of former co-coach Tommy Soderberg following Euro 2004 - has the luxury of selecting an attacking trio hailing from Juventus, Barca and Arsenal. Current Swedish footballer of the year Zlatan Ibrahimovic has the potency to match any striker on his day but needs to keep his composure in check. Henrik Larsson and Freddy Ljungberg complete the forward line, an enviable triumvirate who between them scored 20 of Sweden's 30 qualifying goals.

Coach: Lars Lagerback (SWE)
FIFA Ranking: 14

Sweden Matches

Match #	Date & Time	Group	Teams		Result	Venue
4	Sat 10th Jun 18:00	B	TRI	SWE	0 - 0	Dortmund
20	Thu 15th Jun 21:00	B	SWE	PAR	1 - 0	Berlin
35	Tue 20th Jun 21:00	B	SWE	ENG	2 - 2	Cologne
49	Sat 24th Jun 17:00	R2	GER	SWE	2 - 0	Munich

Match times shown are local times for Germany (CEST/GMT+0200). Click on match date/time to view match statistics.

Past World Cup performance

First Round: 1970, 1978, 1990
Second Round: 1934, 1950, 1974, 2002
Semi Finals: 1994
Fourth Place: 1938
Runner-Up: 1958

Key Players

Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Henrik Larsson

World Cup 2006 Qualification

Finished level on points in European Group 8 with group winners Croatia. Qualified as one of the best two runners-up from all European qualifying groups.

Squad

						Total		World Cup 2006
#	Posn	Name	DOB	Club		Caps	Goals	Pld	Goals	OG	YC	RC
1	GK	Isaksson Andreas	03-10-1981	Rennes	FRA	42	0	3	0	0	0	0
2	DF	Nilsson Mikael	24-06-1978	Panathinaikos	GRE	27	3	0	0	0	0	0
3	DF	Mellberg Olof	03-09-1977	Aston Villa	ENG	69	2	4	0	0	0	0
4	DF	Lucic Teddy	15-04-1973	Haecken	SWE	86	0	4	0	0	2	1
5	DF	Edman Erik	11-11-1978	Rennes	FRA	42	1	4	0	0	0	0
6	MF	Linderoth Tobias	21-04-1979	Copenhagen	DEN	63	1	4	0	0	1	0
7	MF	Alexandersson Niclas	29-12-1971	Gothenburg	SWE	92	7	4	0	0	1	0
8	MF	Svensson Anders	17-07-1976	Elfsborg	SWE	68	13	1	0	0	0	0
9	MF	Ljungberg Freddie	16-04-1977	Arsenal	ENG	62	13	4	1	0	1	0
10	FW	Ibrahimovic Zlatan	03-10-1981	Juventus	ITA	42	18	3	0	0	0	0
11	FW	Larsson Henrik	20-09-1971	Barcelona	ESP	94	36	4	1	0	1	0
12	GK	Alvbage John	10-08-1982	Viborg	DEN	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
13	DF	Hansson Petter	14-12-1976	Heerenveen	NED	14	0	1	0	0	0	0
14	DF	Stenman Fredrik	02-06-1983	Bayer Leverkusen	GER	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
15	DF	Svensson Karl	21-03-1984	Gothenburg	SWE	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
16	MF	Kallstrom Kim	24-08-1982	Rennes	FRA	39	4	4	0	0	0	0
17	FW	Elmander Johan	27-05-1981	Brondby	DEN	20	7	2	0	0	0	0
18	FW	Jonson Mattias	16-01-1974	Djurgarden	SWE	58	9	4	0	0	1	0
19	MF	Andersson Daniel	28-08-1977	Malmo	SWE	48	0	1	0	0	0	0
20	FW	Allback Marcus	05-07-1973	Copenhagen	DEN	61	24	4	1	0	2	0
21	MF	Wilhelmsson Christian	08-12-1979	Anderlecht	BEL	34	2	4	0	0	0	0
22	FW	Rosenberg Markus	27-09-1982	Ajax	NED	8	3	0	0	0	0	0
23	GK	Shaaban Rami	30-06-1975	Fredrikstad	NOR	3	0	1	0	0	0	0