The story of the World Championship! He finished the preliminaries in last place, without a win, but qualified for the final tournament

Sweden was part of Group B of the preliminaries, along with Switzerland, Kosovo and Slovenia. The Nordics finished in last place, without a win, with only two accumulated points.

They got the play-off for the World Cup thanks to the Nations League ranking. In the semi-final, the national team taken over in October 2025 by Graham Potter had fun with Ukraine, winning 3-1, thanks to a hat-trick by Viktor Gyokeres.

Sweden returns to the World Championship

With 49,627 fans in the stands of Stockholm Arena on Tuesday night, the Swedes quickly opened the scoring against Poland. Elanga shot unstoppable in the 19th minute. The Poles, led from the field by Robert Lewandowski, took total control of the game. The dominance was also seen on the scoreboard in the 33rd minute when Zalewski equalized.

Again, against the run of play, the hosts struck. Lagerbielke registered just before entering the booths. Poland came back again, through Swiderski, and the qualification equation looked set to be decided in extra time.

It's just that Gyökeres was on stage once more, alert for a rejection, and brings Sweden back to the World Cup. The last participation was in 2018, when it was eliminated in the quarterfinals by England.

At the final tournament this summer, Sweden will be part of group F. They will have the Netherlands, Japan and Tunisia as their opponents.

Reactions after the Swedes qualified for the final tournament

Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Sweden's greatest footballer in recent history, was the first to react: “See you in the United States of America!”