Sweden is an active member of the European Union but has always been grouped with Norway, Denmark and Finland in Scandinavia. Founded in 1397, the current capital is Stockholm and the majority of the current population of just over 9 million speak Swedish. Since joining the European Union in 1995, Sweden has been under pressure to conform to their guidelines but still retains some measure of independence, such as the Krona as the native currency. Another thing that remains from the pre-EU days is the country’s love of football! That is one thing that will probably never subside!

Football is by far the most popular sport in Sweden and is considered the national sport. As such, expectations for the national team are high. The national side currently stands at 24th in the FIFA world rankings but has been as high as 2nd, which was attained in November 1994. However, when they dropped to 31st in August 1998 it was considered a national disaster! The Swedish are passionate about their football and enjoy the good times but stick with the team through the bad!

In terms of professional tournaments, Sweden has never won a major honour. Despite appearing in the World Cup 11 times, the closest they have got to winning it was in 1958 when they were actually runners up. That year, Sweden actually hosted the World Cup and did the home fans proud. However, the best place that they have achieved in the European Championship is a semi-final appearance in 1992, the first time that Sweden actually appeared in the championship. The team has appeared twice more since then. However, despite their lack of success in the World Cup and European Championship, Sweden has experienced a measure of success in the Olympics. They won gold in London in 1948 and also achieved Bronze in Paris (1924) and Helsinki (1952).

The domestic football in Sweden is played between April and October in the Allsvenskan. The league was founded in 1924 and currently features fourteen teams. They all play each other twice, meaning that each team plays 24 games. However, that will rise to 30 games in 2008 when the league expands to 16 teams. The most well-known and successful clubs in the Allsvenskan are IFK Goteborgs, Helsingborgs, AIK and IF Elfsborg. However, today the league is one of the most open leagues in the world and provides exciting football for all of the fans match after match.