Sweden

Sweden's national team, known as 'Blågult' (the Blue-Yellow), is one of Scandinavia's premier football programs with a long and successful international history. The team enjoyed one of Europe's greatest post-war eras through the late 1940s and 1950s, culminating in a run to the FIFA World Cup final on home soil. Sweden plays a physically strong, well-organized style and has produced a long line of stars who thrived at Europe's biggest clubs. The program remains a consistent presence in World Cup and European Championship qualifying.

The Swedish Football Association (SvFF) was founded in 1904, and the national team made its international debut in 1908 with an 11-3 win over Norway. Sweden's finest hour came at the 1948 London Olympics, where the team won the gold medal, beating Yugoslavia 3-1 in the final. A decade later, hosting the 1958 FIFA World Cup, Sweden reached the final before losing 5-2 to a Brazil side inspired by a teenage Pelé, still the country's best-ever World Cup finish. Sweden also won Olympic bronze in 1924 and 1952, cementing the late-1940s to late-1950s stretch as the golden era of Swedish international football.