Sweden

Four times World Champion, four times European Champion, four times Olympic silver – despite these impressive successes the Swedish team have had their ups and downs over the last years. They failed to qualify for the 2007 and 2013 World Championships (eliminated by Montenegro) but reached the final at the 2012 Olympics in London where they won silver. Sometimes, the successful coaches Staffan Olsson and Ola Lindgren are puzzled as their Swedish team always have the potential to win a medal. Sweden have, so it seems, an endless number of highly talented juniors – and now the players who won the 2013 Men’s Junior World Championship in Sarajevo will be part of the senior team. Swedish goalkeepers have always been excellent – thus, the coaches are spoilt for choice between Champions League winner Mattias Andersson, Johan Sjöstrand and Andreas Palicka. Furthermore, the Swedish team have a very strong defence, with team captain Tobias Karlsson as well as Magnus Jernemyr as defensive specialists. In attack, the focus is on the two first-class players Kim Andersson, a very experienced player who was long injured, and Kim Ekdahl du Rietz. 

 

Competition records: 

World Championship campaigns: 1938: BRONZE, 1954: GOLD, 1958: GOLD, 1961: BRONZE, 1964: SILVER, 1967: 5., 1970: 6., 1974: 10., 1978: 8., 1982: 11., 1986: 4., 1990: GOLD, 1993: BRONZE, 1995: BRONZE, 1997: SILVER, 1999: GOLD, 2001: SILVER, 2003: 13., 2005: 11., 2009: 7., 2011: 4. 

Olympic campaigns: 1972: 7., 1984: 5., 1988: 5., 1992: SILVER, 1996: SILVER, 2000: SILVER, 2012: SILVER

European Championship campaigns: 1994: GOLD, 1996: 4., 1998: GOLD, 2000: GOLD, 2002: GOLD, 2004: 7., 2008: 5., 2010: 15., 2012: 12., 2014: 7.  

Qualification for Qatar: winner of the play-off against Romania (25:24, 27:21)

Coaches: Staffan Olsson, Ola Lindgren

Key players: Kim Andersson, Tobias Karlsson