Tag: sweden

Zlatan Ibrahimović: Sweden’s unstoppable man of gold

Illustration by Federico Manasse From the ghettos of Rosengård to the brightest lights in Amsterdam, Milan, Paris and beyond, Zlatan Ibrahimović has done it all in a career punctuated by continued excellence.…

Why the gold in Zlatan has never shone brighter

The meaning of Zlatan – ‘the golden one’ – has always revealed a lot about him, at least to those that admire the striker. If football numbers are any sort of indicator…

The Assyrian community in Sweden holding on to its roots

Södertälje is an industrial city 19 miles from Stockholm with a population of 86,000. But the interesting aspect of this Swedish city is that 44 per cent of Södertälje residents have a…

Henrik Larsson and the cult of a king

IT IS THE 1994 WORLD CUP QUARTER-FINAL and Sweden have 13 minutes to find an equaliser as they trail Romania 2-1. They turn to 22-year-old Feyenoord forward Henrik Larsson, a player who…

Nils Liedholm: the Swede who conquered calcio

IN 1973, a tall, handsome Swede bought the Villa Boemia estate in the Monferrato hills in the Asti region of Italy. A verdant area known for its fine wines and amazing vistas, this…

The birth of Brazil at World Cup 1958

BRAZIL CAME TO SWEDEN IN 1958 with a great deal of expectation behind them. It was the sixth incarnation of the World Cup; the Seleção had played in every previous tournament, but…

Football in the Arctic Circle

The Arctic Circle conjures images of bleak, cold, inhospitable landscapes, but also of beauty and mystery; of the Northern Lights, stunning scenery, secluded fjords and mountains. These are not images traditionally associated…

Gunnar Nordahl: the first great calcio import

WITH 2017 MARKING 25 YEARS since Francesco Totti first graced Serie A, much of the global attention the division receives has been directed towards the Roma legend’s extraordinary career, and rightly so. Over…