Sweden's Euro Schedule
| Date | Fixture | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 14th June 8pm | Spain v Sweden | Seville |
| 19th June 2pm | Sweden v Slovakia | St Petersburg |
| 23rd June 5pm | Sweden v Poland | St Petersburg |
Road to the Euros
Sweden had to play second fiddle to Spain for most of their qualifying campaign, but they did more than enough to see off the challenge of Norway, Romania, Faroe Islands and Malta. Their solitary reversal was an emphatic 3-0 defeat in Spain, but they beat the bottom three teams home and away, while avoiding defeat in both drawn games with Norway was vital to keep them ahead of their Scandinavian rivals.
Current form
Things were less rosy in last year's Nations League campaign that saw Sweden win only one of their five games to finish bottom of the group and drop into League B next time around. However, their form in 2021 has been much more encouraging and should provide a better barometer of their Euro prospects. Victories over Georgia (1-0), Kosovo (3-0) and Estonia (1-0) got their World Cup qualifiers off to a 100% start, while more recent friendly successes against Finland (2-0) and Armenia (3-1) means they will start the tournament with the positive mindset of five straight wins in 2021.
Squad assessment
Sharing another qualifying group with Spain is probably not ideal for Jan Andersson's squad, and they also suffered the setback of being deprived of the services of talisman Zlatan Ibrahimovic in what would (surely!) have been his last international tournament. Sweden have long been exponents of a traditional 4-4-2 set up, which is ideal to suit their organised play and their work ethic. When venturing away from their structured and defensive-minded set-up, Sweden's full-backs have been allowed more licence to push up in recent outings, which offers more attacking options. With midfield playmaker Emil Forsberg likely to allow something approaching a free role, he should be able to link up with the front two, while Zlatans' absence offers an extended opportunity up front for Alexander Isak alongside Marcus Berg.
Key players
In the absence of Zlatan, Sweden might not have any stand-out stars, but that's not to say they don't have some players who are key to their success, with Sebastien Larsson likely to be the busy dynamo in midfield in front of an organised back line. Assuming Sweden lose to Spain, they will need to produce goals against Poland and Slovakia, which means they will be looking to create more in the final third. Emil Forsberg might well emerge as their most influential playmaker, both in terms of creating and scoring goals, while Alexander Izak is likely to prove a handful for opposing defenders if his team-mates can feed him the ball in threatening areas.
Click below to read more about each of Sweden's Group E opponents: