Sweden men's national handball team

Sweden
Information
AssociationSwedish Handball Association
(Svenska Handbollförbundet)
CoachMichael Apelgren
Assistant coachPatrik Fahlgren
Most capsMagnus Wislander (386)
Most goalsMagnus Wislander (1191)
Colours
1st
2nd
Results
Summer Olympics
Appearances10 (First in 1972)
Best result 2nd (1992, 1996, 2000, 2012)
World Championship
Appearances27 (First in 1938)
Best result 1st (1954, 1958, 1990, 1999)
European Championship
Appearances15 (First in 1994)
Best result 1st (1994, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2022)
Last updated on Unknown.
Sweden men's national handball team
Medal record
Olympic Games
1992 Barcelona Team
1996 Atlanta Team
2000 Sydney Team
2012 London Team
World Championship
1954 Sweden
1958 East Germany
1990 Czechoslovakia
1999 Egypt
1964 Czechoslovakia
1997 Japan
2001 France
2021 Egypt
1938 Germany
1961 West Germany
1993 Sweden
1995 Iceland
European Championship
1994 Portugal
1998 Italy
2000 Croatia
2002 Sweden
2022 Hungary/Slovakia
2018 Croatia
2024 Germany
World Outdoor Championship
1948 France
1952 Switzerland
1959 Austria

The Sweden men's national handball team (Swedish: Sveriges herrlandslag i handboll) is Sweden's national team in men's handball and is controlled by the Swedish Handball Association. Its most successful periods were under coaches Curt Wadmark (1948–1967) and Bengt Johansson (1988–2004). The team under Bengt Johansson, nicknamed Bengan Boys in Sweden, is regarded as one of the finest national teams in the history of the sport with players like Tomas Svensson, Staffan Olsson, Magnus Wislander and Stefan Lövgren. From 1990 through 2002 the team reached the medal round in every championship (6 World Championships, 5 European Championships and 3 Olympic Games, earning 13 medals in total) and qualified for a record 8 championship finals in a row 1996–2002.

Sweden is the most successful nation at the European Men's Handball Championship with 5 titles, and at the World Men's Handball Championship with a total tally of 12 medals, including 4 gold medals. Conversely, Sweden has yet to win an Olympic title despite participating in 4 finals (Sweden participated in the 1952 Summer Olympics in a demonstration match, defeating Denmark 19–11). The team has also won the World Cup 3 times, the Supercup 2 times, and were Intercontinental Cup winners in 2000.

Honours

Competition Total
Olympic Games 0 4 0 4
World Championship 4 4 4 12
European Championship 5 1 1 7
Total 9 9 5 23

Competitive record

  Champions    Runners-up    Third place    Fourth place  

Olympic Games

Games Round Position Pld W D L GF GA GD
1936 Berlin did not enter
Not held from 1948 to 1968
1972 Munich Match for 7th place 7th of 16 6 2 2 2 82 87 −5
1976 Montreal did not qualify
1980 Moscow
1984 Los Angeles Match for 5th place 5th of 12 6 4 0 2 145 134 +11
1988 Seoul 5th of 12 6 4 0 2 133 109 +24
1992 Barcelona Runners-up 2nd of 12 7 6 0 1 165 130 +35
1996 Atlanta 2nd of 12 7 6 0 1 182 141 +41
2000 Sydney 2nd of 12 8 7 0 1 240 197 +43
2004 Athens did not qualify
2008 Beijing
2012 London Runners-up 2nd of 12 8 5 0 3 228 186 +42
2016 Rio de Janeiro Group stage 11th of 12 5 1 0 4 132 131 +1
2020 Tokyo Quarter-finals 5th of 12 6 4 0 2 177 176 +1
2024 Paris 7th of 12 6 3 0 3 189 171 +18
2028 Los Angeles to be determined
2032 Brisbane
Total 10/17 0 Titles 65 42 2 21 1673 1362 +211

World Championship

World Championship record
Year Round Position Pld W D L GF GA GD
1938 Germany Third place 3rd of 4 3 1 0 2 8 13 −5
1954 Sweden Champions 1st of 6 3 3 0 0 56 36 +20
1958 East Germany Champions 1st of 16 6 6 0 0 138 74 +64
1961 West Germany Third place 3rd of 12 6 5 0 1 89 73 +16
1964 Czechoslovakia Runners-up 2nd of 16 6 3 0 3 104 90 +14
1967 Sweden Match for 5th place 5th of 16 6 4 0 2 118 112 +6
1970 France Match for 5th place 6th of 16 6 3 0 3 69 68 +1
1974 East Germany Preliminary round 10th of 16 6 3 0 3 111 113 −2
1978 Denmark Second round 8th of 16 6 2 0 4 121 125 −4
1982 West Germany Second round 11th of 16 7 2 1 4 159 157 +2
1986 Switzerland Fourth place 4th of 16 7 5 0 2 174 153 +21
1990 Czechoslovakia Champions 1st of 16 7 6 0 1 177 143 +34
1993 Sweden Third place 3rd of 16 7 6 0 1 166 136 +30
1995 Iceland Third place 3rd of 24 9 8 0 1 251 201 +50
1997 Japan Runners-up 2nd of 24 9 7 0 2 253 187 +66
1999 Egypt Champions 1st of 24 9 8 1 0 282 202 +80
2001 France Runners-up 2nd of 24 9 8 0 1 263 207 +56
2003 Portugal Second round 13th of 24 7 5 0 2 204 191 +13
2005 Tunisia Main round 11th of 24 9 4 1 4 275 234 +41
2007 Germany did not qualify
2009 Croatia Main round 7th of 24 9 6 0 3 277 232 +45
2011 Sweden Fourth place 4th of 24 10 6 0 4 272 241 +31
2013 Spain did not qualify
2015 Qatar Round of 16 10th of 24 6 3 1 2 157 133 +24
2017 France Quarter-finals 6th of 24 7 5 0 2 233 166 +67
2019 Denmark/Germany Main round 5th of 24 9 7 0 2 273 222 +51
2021 Egypt Runners-up 2nd of 32 9 6 2 1 276 218 +58
2023 Poland/Sweden Fourth place 4th of 32 9 7 0 2 299 237 +62
2025 Croatia/Denmark/Norway Main round 14th of 32 6 2 2 2 195 173 +22
2027 Germany To be determined
2029 France/Germany
// 2031 Denmark/Iceland/Norway
Total 27/32 4 Titles 193 131 8 54 5000 4137 +863

Euro Tournaments

All teams in these tournaments are European,all World and Olympic Champions, and top 7 from World Championships and Olympics were participating. They were mini European championships at the time, till 1994 when official European Championship started.

EURO World Cup tournament Sweden
  • 1971 : 6th place
  • 1974 : 8th place
  • 1979 : 8th place
  • 1984 : 4th place
  • 1988 : 3rd place
  • 1992 : Champions
EURO Super Cup tournament Germany
  • 1979 : 6th place
  • 1981 : 6th place
  • 1983 : 5th place
  • 1985 : 8th place
  • 1987 : 6th place
  • 1989 : 5th place
  • 1991 : 3rd place
  • 1993 : Champions

European Championship

European Championship record
Year Round Position Pld W D L GF GA GD
1994 Portugal Champions 1st of 12 7 7 0 0 172 133 +39
1996 Spain Fourth place 4th of 12 7 4 0 3 170 156 +14
1998 Italy Champions 1st of 12 7 6 0 1 182 158 +24
2000 Croatia Champions 1st of 12 7 7 0 0 198 167 +31
2002 Sweden Champions 1st of 16 8 7 0 1 235 191 +44
2004 Slovenia Main round 7th of 16 7 4 0 3 211 203 +8
2006 Switzerland did not qualify
2008 Norway Match for 5th place 5th of 16 7 4 1 2 208 190 +18
2010 Austria Preliminary round 15th of 16 3 0 0 3 78 84 −6
2012 Serbia Main round 12th of 16 6 1 2 3 157 168 −11
2014 Denmark Main round 7th of 16 6 4 0 2 166 158  +8
2016 Poland Match for 7th place 8th of 16 7 2 2 3 173 168 +5
2018 Croatia Runners-up 2nd of 16 8 4 0 4 218 216 +2
2020 Austria/Norway/Sweden Main round 7th of 24 7 4 0 3 182 169 +13
2022 Hungary/Slovakia Champions 1st of 24 9 7 1 1 252 221 +31
2024 Germany Third place 3rd of 24 9 6 0 3 282 255 +27
2026 Denmark/Norway/Sweden Qualified as co-host
2028 Portugal/Spain/Switzerland To be determined
Total 15/16 5 titles 105 67 6 32 2884 2637 +247
*Denotes draws include knockout matches decided on penalty throws.
**Gold background color indicates that the tournament was won. Red border color indicates tournament was held on home soil.

Team

Current squad

Roster for the 2025 World Men's Handball Championship.[1][2]

Head coach: Michael Apelgren

No. Pos. Name Date of birth (age) Height App. Goals Club
2 LB Jonathan Carlsbogård (1995-04-19) 19 April 1995 1.95 m 79 156 Barça
6 P Felix Möller (2002-09-04) 4 September 2002 1.97 m 22 29 Aalborg Håndbold
10 RW Niclas Ekberg (1988-12-23) 23 December 1988 1.91 m 212 845 Ystads IF
12 GK Andreas Palicka (1986-07-10) 10 July 1986 1.89 m 168 19 Paris Saint-Germain
13 RW Sebastian Karlsson (1995-01-21) 21 January 1995 1.78 m 25 72 Montpellier Handball
15 LW Hampus Wanne (1993-12-10) 10 December 1993 1.85 m 106 434 Barça
16 GK Tobias Thulin (1995-07-05) 5 July 1995 1.98 m 69 0 Pick Szeged
22 LW Lucas Pellas (1995-08-28) 28 August 1995 1.83 m 80 256 Montpellier Handball
23 RB Albin Lagergren (1992-09-11) 11 September 1992 1.86 m 120 356 SC Magdeburg
24 CB Jim Gottfridsson (1992-09-02) 2 September 1992 1.91 m 164 517 SG Flensburg-Handewitt
28 CB Jonathan Edvardsson (1997-04-07) 7 April 1997 1.90 m 29 18 TSV Hannover-Burgdorf
29 RB Edwin Aspenbäck (2000-08-07) 7 August 2000 1.96 m 4 3 TTH Holstebro
33 RB Lukas Sandell (1997-02-03) 3 February 1997 1.93 m 66 166 Telekom Veszprém
35 P Andreas Nilsson (1990-04-12) 12 April 1990 1.97 m 155 351 Önnereds HK
42 LB Eric Johansson (2000-06-28) 28 June 2000 1.97 m 40 110 THW Kiel
45 LB Olle Forsell Schefvert (1993-08-13) 13 August 1993 1.96 m 7 4 Rhein Neckar Löwen
51 GK Fabian Norsten (2000-07-11) 11 July 2000 1.96 m 7 0 Aalborg Håndbold

Notable players

Coaches

# Coaches Period
1 Herbert Johansson 1938–1948
2 Curt Wadmark 1948–1967
3 Roland Mattsson 1967–1974
4 Bertil Andersén 1974–1979
5 Ingemar Eriksson 1979–1980
6 Caj-Åke Andersson 1980–1982
7 Roger "Ragge" Carlsson 1982–1988
8 Bengt "Bengan" Johansson 1988–2004
9 Ingemar Linnéll 2004–2008
10 Ola Lindgren & Staffan Olsson 2008–2016
11 Kristján Andrésson 2016–2020
12 Glenn Solberg 2020–2024
13 Michael Apelgren 2024–

World and European records

World records

  • Longest undefeated streak in international championships (25 matches, Euro 1998 - 2000 Olympic Games).
  • Longest medal round streak in major championships (14 tournaments, 1990–2002).
  • Longest medal round streak in the World Championships (7 tournaments, 1986–2001).
  • 8 consecutive finals in international championships (1996–2002).
  • Most World Championship finals (8 - shared with France).

European records

  • 3 consecutive gold medals at the European championship (1998, 2000, 2002).

Other merits

  • First European nation to win a major championship title three times in a row (Euro 1998, Euro 2000, Euro 2002).
  • 3 x winners of the World Cup (1992, 1996, 2004)
  • 2 x winners of the Supercup (1993, 2005)
  • 1 x winners of the Intercontinental Cup (2000)
  • The first IHF World Champion (1954 - indoor handball) (Germany's 1938 victory was under the IAHF).
  • The first EHF European Champion (1994).
  • Defeated Denmark 18–12 in Copenhagen in the first ever international indoor handball game (8 March 1935).

Kit supplier

From 2004 to 2015 Sweden's kits were supplied by Adidas, and 2016–2019 by Kempa. The current supplier is Craft.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Olle Forsell Schefvert tar plats i VM-truppen" (in Swedish). handbollslandslaget.se. 18 December 2024. Retrieved 18 December 2024.
  2. ^ "Team Roster Sweden" (PDF). ihf.info. 15 January 2025. Retrieved 16 January 2025.