This is a record of Sweden's results at the FIFA World Cup. The FIFA World Cup, sometimes called the Football World Cup or the Soccer World Cup, but usually referred to simply as the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II.
The tournament consists of two parts, the qualification phase and the final phase (officially called the World Cup Finals). The qualification phase, which currently take place over the three years preceding the Finals, is used to determine which teams qualify for the Finals. The current format of the Finals involves 32 teams competing for the title, at venues within the host nation (or nations) over a period of about a month. The World Cup Finals is the most widely viewed sporting event in the world, with an estimated 715.1 million people watching the 2006 tournament final.[1]
Sweden have been one of the more successful national teams in the history of the World Cup, having reached 4 semi-finals, and becoming runners-up on home ground in 1958. They have been present at 12 out of 21 World Cups by 2018.
Throughout the World Cup history, Brazil became Sweden's historical rival. The two countries have met each other seven times but Sweden never won, with five victories for the Brazilian side and two draws.[2] Another historical opponent of Sweden in the finals is (West) Germany: four encounters, with three wins for Germany and one for Sweden.[3]
Records
| FIFA World Cup record | FIFA World Cup qualification record | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Round | Position | Pld | W | D* | L | GF | GA | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | |
 1930
|
Did not enter | No qualification | |||||||||||||
 1934
|
Quarter-finals | 8th | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 2 | |
 1938
|
Fourth place | 4th | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 7 | |
 1950
|
Third place | 3rd | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 15 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 2 | |
 1954
|
Did not qualify | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 8 | ||||||||
 1958
|
Runners-up | 2nd | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 7 | Qualified as hosts | ||||||
 1962
|
Did not qualify | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 5 | ||||||||
 1966
|
4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 3 | |||||||||
 1970
|
Group stage | 9th | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 5 | |
 1974
|
Second group stage | 5th | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 17 | 9 | |
 1978
|
First group stage | 13th | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 4 | |
 1982
|
Did not qualify | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 8 | ||||||||
| 1986
|
8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 14 | 9 | |||||||||
 1990
|
Group stage | 21st | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 3 | |
 1994
|
Third place | 3rd | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 15 | 8 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 19 | 8 | |
| 1998
|
Did not qualify | 10 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 16 | 9 | ||||||||
  2002
|
Round of 16 | 13th | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 20 | 3 | |
| 2006
|
Round of 16 | 14th | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 10 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 30 | 4 | |
 2010
|
Did not qualify | 10 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 13 | 5 | ||||||||
 2014
|
12 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 21 | 18 | |||||||||
 2018
|
Quarter-finals | 7th | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 12 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 27 | 9 | |
 2022
|
To be determined | To be determined | |||||||||||||
 2026
| |||||||||||||||
| Total | Best: Runners-up | 12/21 | 51 | 19 | 13 | 19 | 80 | 73 | 130 | 79 | 21 | 30 | 263 | 121 | |
- *Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.
- **Gold background color indicates that the tournament was won.
- ***Red border color indicates tournament was held on home soil.
| Sweden's World Cup record | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First match | Sweden 3–2 Argentina  (27 May 1934; Bologna, Italy) | ||||
| Biggest win | Sweden 8–0 Cuba  (12 June 1938; Antibes, France) | ||||
| Biggest defeat | Brazil 7–1 Sweden (9 July 1950; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) | ||||
| Best result | Runners-up at the 1958 FIFA World Cup | ||||
| Worst result | Group stage in 1970, 1978 and 1990 | ||||
By match
Record players
| No. | Name | Matches | World Cups |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Henrik Larsson | 13 | 1994, 2002 and 2006 |
| 2 | Kalle Svensson | 11 | 1950 and 1958 |
| Bo Larsson | 11 | 1970, 1974 and 1978 | |
| 4 | Ronnie Hellström | 10 | 1970, 1974 and 1978 |
| Björn Nordqvist | 10 | 1970, 1974 and 1978 | |
| Tomas Brolin | 10 | 1990 and 1994 | |
| Klas Ingesson | 10 | 1990 and 1994 | |
| Roland Nilsson | 10 | 1990 and 1994 | |
| Thomas Ravelli | 10 | 1990 and 1994 | |
| 10 | Lennart Skoglund | 9 | 1950 and 1958 |
| Ralf Edström | 9 | 1974 and 1978 | |
| Stefan Schwarz | 9 | 1990 and 1994 |
Top goalscorers
With his 5 goals in 1994, Kennet Andersson won the shared Bronze Boot at that tournament.
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| No. | Name | Goals | World Cups |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kennet Andersson | 5 | 1994 |
| Henrik Larsson | 5 | 1994 (1), 2002 (3) and 2006 (1) | |
| 3 | Agne Simonsson | 4 | 1958 |
| Kurt Hamrin | 4 | 1958 | |
| Ralf Edström | 4 | 1974 | |
| Tomas Brolin | 4 | 1990 (1) and 1994 (3) | |
| Martin Dahlin | 4 | 1994 | |
| 8 | Sven Jonasson | 3 | 1934 (2) and 1938 (1) |
| Harry Andersson | 3 | 1938 | |
| Gustav Wetterström | 3 | 1938 | |
| Arne Nyberg | 3 | 1938 | |
| Karl-Erik Palmér | 3 | 1950 | |
| Stig Sundqvist | 3 | 1950 |
References
- ^ 2006 FIFA World Cup TV Coverage (PDF), FIFA.com. Retrieved on 6 June 2007.
- ^ "Head-to-Head: Sweden v Brazil". FIFA.com.
- ^ "Head-to-Head: Sweden v Germany". FIFA.com.