2026 World Cup | Who are France’s opponents, Sweden?

2026 World Cup | Who are France’s opponents, Sweden? France’s first opponents in the knockout rounds of the 2026 FIFA World Cup are Sweden. We look at the players that comprise their squad. Kristoffer Nordfeldt Date of birth: 23 June 1989 Club: AIK Position: Goalkeeper The “eternal No 2” in Sweden’s national team is expected to finally be the No 1 at the World Cup after getting his chance in the play-offs – and grabbing it with both hands. He had considered quitting international football after years of sitting on the bench watching Robin Olsen. “That discussion did come up,” he said. Nordfeldt has spent several years abroad, including five seasons at Swansea where he was, for a period, coached by Graham Potter, who is now Sweden’s manager. “Potter gave me back my love for football,” the 36-year-old says. Having played ice hockey for AIK until the age of 13, he is now the captain of their football team.  Viktor Johansson Date of birth: 14 September 1998 Club: Stoke City Position: Goalkeeper ‘The Viking’  Johansson’s career took off while on loan at Alfreton Town in the National League North – the sixth tier of English football – at the age of 18. “It was about getting stuck in and using your elbows,” he says. “It made me the goalkeeper I wanted to become.” His journey also took him to Rotherham, where he was nicknamed “The Viking” after taking a kick to the face. When he was about to leave the club, he treated fans to 600 beers, each with a personal message. It cost nearly £2,500. “A very small amount for everything they [the fans] have done for me and my family.” The beers were handed out at a supporters’ bar, where Johansson’s father had once jumped behind the bar and started pouring beer when visiting the city. “Dad was the king of the bar that evening – less so the morning after.” Often described as the “kindest” person in the national team. Jacob Widell Zetterström Date of birth: 11 July 1998 Club: Derby County Position: Goalkeeper Bookworm Widell Zetterström took a sabbatical in 2020 after suffering two concussions in quick succession. “When things were at their worst, I didn’t dare to believe that a future in football could exist,” he says. He returned the following year, became Djurgården’s No 1 and, as he left for Derby in 2025, he said farewell to the fans with tears in his eyes. “There are a lot of emotions, but it is also a dream for me to play in England,” he said. Widell Zetterström is not your usual footballer. Among other things, he has studied medicine and attended the top-ranked Stockholm School of Economics. He also enjoys reading: “People always raise eyebrows when I pick up a thick book on the team bus, but to me it’s just funny,” he says. Herman Johanssonlikeable Date of birth: 16 October 1997 Club: FC Dallas Position: Right-back The path to the national team has been long and winding for the likeable wing-back. At one point, Johansson considered walking away from the game. At the time his mother did what every self-respecting parent would do – she bribed her son to continue. “Mum gave me 20 krona (now £1.60) per training session,” he said. Johansson was a late bloomer and at 22 he still worked full time as a teaching assistant while playing in Sweden’s third and fourth tiers with Friska Viljor in the northern city of Örnsköldsvik. A few years later he got his breakthrough at top-flight side Mjällby – where he won the Allsvensken last year. Having flown in from Dallas for only his second cap, he battled through jet lag to make a huge contribution to Sweden’s playoff win against Ukraine. “I thought I’d be able to adjust my sleep schedule pretty easily,” he said, “but I had to take sleeping pills.” Elliot Stroud Date of birth: 22 June 2022 Club: Mjällby Position: Defender/wing-back Arguably the best player in the Swedish top-flight, the defender/wing-back broke through last year as his club Mjällby – from nowhere really – won the league for the first time. The Mjällby coach, Karl Marius Aksum, says the sky is the limit for the player who will turn 24 during the World Cup. “I hope he can get a move to a top-five league straight away; he is ready for it,” Aksum says. Stroud had never represented Sweden at any age-level, never mind the senior team, when he was included in the World Cup squad. Mats Winblad, a former sports director at Stroud’s childhood club Oddevold, says the player is “extraordinarily competitive”, adding: “Both at school and at the training ground, he always gave 100 percent in everything he did.” Stroud, who was also a central midfielder before switching to the left wing, is a close friend to Herman Johansson, who was left out of the World Cup squad. Isak Hien Date of birth: 13 January 1999 Club: Atalanta Position: Defender Began as a forward but at Vasalund an under-19 coach converted him into a centre-back. “The coach said he would play me as a centre-back whether I wanted to or not,” Hien recalls. “I was a bit surprised at first, but he turned out to be right.” After the successful position change, Hien moved from Sweden’s third tier to top-flight Djurgården, where he broke through as a powerful defender with “superb physicality,” according to his then coach, Thomas Lagerlöf. “He’s like a Ferrari engine in a small car.” Fun fact: Isak has a younger brother, Lien, who now plays for Djurgården and was also converted from a forward to a centre-back. Carl Starfelt Date of birth: 1 June 1995 Club: Celta Vigo Position: Defender Recently received high praise from Williot Swedberg, a compatriot and teammate at Celta Vigo. “Carl might get annoyed now, but I think he’s a top five centre-back in La Liga this season,” the forward said. “Actually, maybe top three. He’s really underrated.” Starfelt spent years in Sweden’s lower leagues before breaking through. In 2021, Ange Postecoglou signed him for Celtic and said the Swede “fitted his style of football”. During Covid, Starfelt was staying at the same hotel as Brendan Rodgers. “He pulled me aside for a chat and then we had a coffee,” Starfelt says. “He seemed to know about me.” A few years later, Rodgers coached Starfelt at Celtic before his move to Spain.  Eric Smith Date of birth: 8 January 1997 Club: St Pauli Position: Defender Had not been part of the national team discussion before Jon Dahl Tomasson took over in February 2024. The versatile centre-back, who can also play in midfield, was called up to four straight camps, but had to withdraw from all of them. “It was awful, not fun at all,” he says. It was so bad it almost became a bit comical in the end.” Was then in the squad for the World Cup play-offs – but got injured and had to pull out. Has stayed loyal to St Pauli for five years now after a turbulent spell at Gent, where he was frozen out. “I wasn’t allowed to touch the ball,” he recalls. “I had to jog around the pitch until the B team – not even the A team – had finished training, and then I could go home. I was almost in shock.” Victor Lindelöf Date of birth: 17 July 1994 Club: Aston Villa Position: Defender Nicknamed “The Iceman” for his composure on the pitch – a sobriquet he earned during his years at Old Trafford. Despite several challenging seasons, Lindelöf is as high as 56th on the all-time appearance list for Manchester United with 284 games, not bad for the boy from Västerås. Played as a right-back when Sweden became Under-21 European champions in 2015 – a tournament he wasn’t even supposed to play in. Lindelöf was not in the original squad but was called up as a late replacement for the injured Emil Krafth. A year later, he was a starter for the national team and Benfica. “It happened quickly, but I want to play at the highest level,” he says. Praised for his positive attitude by José Mourinho, among others, but he has had a fractious relationship with the Swedish media. Gustaf Lagerbielke Date of birth: 10 April 2000 Club: Braga Position: Defender Has a somewhat unusual routine with his national team friends Noel Törnqvist and Benjamin Nygren: “We go to the beach, look at the stars, and discuss life’s big questions. It gets deep – from starting XI discussions to conspiracy theories, whether the moon landing was fake or not, and so on.” The surname Lagerbielke belongs to a noble family with its own coat of arms and Gustaf himself holds the title of “friherre” (baron). “For me, it’s nothing special, but I understand people find it interesting – it’s not very common in football,” he says. He accidentally sprayed champagne on Sweden’s prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, after Sweden had secured World Cup qualification with the win over Poland. “He apologised, but he didn’t need to,”Kristersson says. Hjalmar Ekdal Date of birth: 21 October 1998 Club: Burnley Position: Defender Took an unconventional route via college football to elite football: “It’s unusual, but I don’t regret it for a second,” he says. In Sweden, he made the courageous decision to move between two Stockholm rivals – from Hammarby to Djurgården – in 2021. The Hammarby fans did not take kindly to the move and Ekdal endured some abuse. “I was never scared but it was a bit unpleasant.” The younger brother of Albin Ekdal, who played for Cagliari, Hamburg and Sampdoria among others and they came agonisingly close to making history for the national team. In Albin’s final international, Hjalmar was on the bench but never came on. Instead he had to comfort his older brother, who broke down in tears when he was taken off. “It was a very beautiful evening,” says the brothers’ father Lennart, a journalist and television presenter. Gabriel Gudmundsson Date of birth: 29 April 1999 Club: Leeds Position: Defender The Leeds full-back is the son of Niklas Gudmundsson, who played for Blackburn and Ipswich in the 1990s. Gabriel was coached by his father all the way up to the under-19 team at Halmstad: “You have to accept some criticism at home, but he was very good. I learned a lot of valuable things from him,” the 27-year-old says. Despite coming from a football family, Gabriel has no interest in watching the game on TV when he is not playing. He completely switches off: “I feel better that way, and it helps me stay focused.” Gudmundsson is articulate and polite with the media but is unlikely to create any headlines with what he says. After leaving Halmstad in 2019, he played for Groningen and Lille before joining Leeds in 2025. Daniel Svensson Date of birth: 12 February 2002 Club: Borussia Dortmund Position: Defender Svensson is still something of an unknown in Sweden, despite playing for the national team and Borussia Dortmund. That is partly because he left Brommapojkarna for Nordsjælland in Denmark at a young age. He may now play in the Champions League for a top Bundesliga side but said last year that he can still walk around in Sweden without being noticed. “No one has come up to me so far, at least,” he says. In Dortmund, he has been praised for his tireless running on the left flank, as well as his creativity. His coach at Dortmund, Niko Kovac, says: “He’s like Gyro Gearloose [an anthropomorphic chicken who is part of the Donald Duck character set]. He’s a player who doesn’t worry about running 13km every three days.” In the national team, Svensson is close friends with Roony Bardghji and they share an interest in fragrances. “He’s made me more interested in it. It’s fun.” Yasin Ayari Date of birth: 6 October 2003 Club: Brighton Position: Midfielder Ayari had his breakthrough year for Sweden last season, having impressed at Brighton under Fabian Hürzeler. But it could all have been very different with Tunisia competing for his services. Ayari had no doubts, though. “I was born in Sweden and feel Swedish, and Sweden is the country I want to represent,” he says. The technically gifted all-rounder, who has been linked with a move away from Brighton, says he would one day like to play for Pep Guardiola. “I love him. My dream is to play in his team. That would be absolutely fantastic,” he says. Ayari is a close friend of Dejan Kulusevski and is in a relationship with the Spurs winger’s sister, Sandra. Lucas Bergvall Date of birth: 2 February 2006 Club: Tottenham Position: Midfielder The Tottenham midfielder was seen as a super talent from a very young age. Throughout his upbringing, clips were often shared of him dominating games and when his Brommapojkarna youth team won the Gothia Cup, they were regarded as one of the best sides in Europe at that age group. “It was around 2019 [when Bergvall was 13] that people started noticing me and my team. Our BP team, with players born in 2006, won pretty much everything. We were often dominant.” Bergvall simply had to get used to the attention. Barcelona came close to signing him from Djurgården but it was Tottenham who won the race. “I think they [Barcelona] were extremely disappointed that he chose Tottenham,” says the Djurgården sporting director, Bosse Andersson. After a sensational 2024-25 season for Spurs, this campaign was interrupted by a knee operation but he returned to make a crucial substitute appearance for Sweden in the World Cup play-off against Poland in March.  Jesper Karlström Date of birth: 21 June 1995 Club: Udinese Position: Midfielder A late bloomer who spent many seasons in the Swedish league before finally making his Serie A debut at the age of 29, after three and a half years at Lech Poznan in Poland. “I try to enjoy it as much as possible and really remind myself that this is my dream that I’m experiencing right now,” he says. What many people did not realise was that he was battling gambling addiction while playing for Djurgården. He had started betting at the age of 15 and it just got worse. “In the end I was so deep in the shit that I couldn’t get myself out,” he admitted in 2021. With help from people at DIF – and his family – he does not gamble any longer.  Karlström was important in Sweden qualifying for this year’s World Cup, but four years ago things were very different after conceding a penalty in the play-off against Poland. After he was abused online afterwards, the Swedish FA reported it to the police.   Mattias Svanberg Date of birth: 5 January 1999 Club: Wolfsburg Position: Midfielder Emerged as a young talent at Malmö, but things could just as easily have turned out differently: he could have chosen ice hockey as his sport. His father, Bo Svanberg, was a professional ice hockey player who won the Swedish league several times, but his son took a different path. After Mattias won his first league title with Malmö in 2016, Bo said he was not disappointed with his son’s career choice. “Football is a great sport and I’m incredibly proud of him now,” he said. Svanberg, who has had a successful career in Italy and Germany, is the same age as Alexander Isak and they have played together in various Sweden teams for a long time. At Euro 2020, Svanberg caused merriment after momentarily mixing up Isak with Kylian Mbappé: “I’ve played with Kylian…uh, sorry, Alex for a long time,” he said, much to the surprise of his teammates. Besfort Zeneli Date of birth: 21 November 2002 Club: Union Saint-Gilloise Position: Midfielder A rising star at Union SG who could have faced his older brother Arber at the World Cup. Similar to Kevin-Prince and Jérôme Boateng representing Ghana and Germany, Besfort chose to represent Sweden while his brother Arber has made more than 30 senior appearances for Kosovo (who did not qualify). “It was really close between Kosovo and Sweden, but my heart beat faster for Sweden,” Besfort says. He was not popular in Kosovo as a result: “I received a lot of threats and things like that. But, yeah, that’s part of football.” The technically gifted attacking midfielder played with Anthony Elanga at Elfsborg and now enjoys being reunited with the forward in the national team. “We often talk about it and about the times we had together. We talk about the memories,” he says.  Taha Ali Date of birth: 1 July 1998 Club: Malmö Position: Forward A dribbling artist who has made a remarkable journey from being a national futsal player to becoming a top player in the Swedish top-flight. Popular for his individual skill, and as a youngster was inspired by Hatem Ben Arfa. “Ronaldinho, Neymar sure … but Ben Arfa – what a player he was,” he says. As a youngster, he was told he didn’t have the physique to succeed in football, but still made it to the national team. “I’ve always been told: ‘You’re too small, you’re too bad, not good enough, you dribble too much.'” Wants to be a role model for Swedish-Somali people: “I just hope to be an inspiration and show that no matter which path you’ve taken – whether through an academy or lower divisions – it’s possible to make it.” Anthony Elanga Date of birth: 27 April 2002 Club: Newcastle Position: Forward Born in Malmö, he moved to England with his mother and sisters at the age of 11. “Mum always said that the opportunities were in England. I trusted what she said.” That proved true for Elanga, who joined Manchester United’s academy, broke into the first team, and even got his own chant – “Rhythm is a dancer, Anthony Elanga” – before moving on to Nottingham and Newcastle. Football runs in the family, as his father Joseph won the Swedish title with Malmö and played for Cameroon at the 1998 World Cup. Despite the 23-year age gap, father and son were once mistaken for each other when Anthony was with the national team in Malmö. “A lot of people wanted photos and things like that. They thought I was my dad. I said: ‘That’s not me.'” Elanga says he owes his father a lot and that his greatest strength isn’t his speed: “My main weapon is my mentality. I’m very grateful to have had a father with that mentality.” Alexander Isak Date of birth: 21 September 1999 Club: Liverpool Position: Forward “It was magical, they sang for me.” On 21 September 2016, Alexander Isak turned 17 and became a derby hero. He scored two goals against fierce rivals Djurgården (in a 3-0 win) and was serenaded with a birthday song by the supporters. A super talent who  has gone from strength to strength and last year became the most expensive player in Premier League history. Despite being at the top, is described as a calm and humble person who hasn’t forgotten his roots. Thania Guanoluisa, his Spanish teacher in school, received a call from him when he was playing for Real Sociedad: “Alexander said: ‘Thania, it was you who gave me the foundations in Spanish.’ I was so happy that he remembered and appreciated it.” Enraged Newcastle fans after going on strike to force a move to Liverpool and his first campaign at Anfield has been one to forget because of injuries. Remains a key player for Sweden regardless. Alexander Bernhardsson Date of birth: 8 September 1998 Club: Holstein Kiel Position: Midfielder Bernhardsson’s journey to the top has not been straight-forward, but here he is, called up for the World Cup after an injury-hit season with the 2. Bundesliga side Holstein Kiel. “He is very versatile and has great charisma,” said the Sweden coach, Graham Potter, about Bernhardsson when he revealed his squad. Bernhardsson played in six different positions for Holstein in 2025-26 but is fairly unknown in Sweden after spending four years at Elfsborg before moving to Germany.  After school he worked in a factory and played in the Swedish fourth division. At that time it is fair to say he wasn’t spending much time thinking about the national team. “I worked in a factory for two years and it was very educational,” he has said. “I wouldn’t want to change a thing. But now I enjoy calling football my full-time job.” Bernhardsson is known for being very humble. Viktor Gyökeres Date of birth: 4 June 1998 Club: Arsenal Position: Forward The Arsenal forward with the characteristic goal celebration has given the Batman villain Bane a revival and is currently Sweden’s brightest star. When he fired Sweden to the World Cup, fans celebrated by singing his name and mimicking his goal celebration. “It’s hard to put into words exactly how you feel right now. It’s extremely nice and a relief,” he said after scoring to eliminate Poland in the play-off final. The star has had a winding road to the top, with limited minutes at Brighton, loan spells, and eventually a successful period at Sporting before earning a dream move to Arsenal. Improved gradually after his £64m move to north London after enduring some heavy criticism during the first part of the 2025-26 season.  Benjamin Nygren Date of birth: 8 July 2001 Club: Celtic Position: Forward Nygren scored three goals and made three assists in four matches for IFK Göteborg as he exploded on to the scene at the age of 17 in the spring of 2019. That was all it took before he agreed to join Genk in a record transfer. “It’s crazy. Going from going to school every day and living at home to moving abroad – away from family, friends, girlfriend. From everything,” he said. The road to the national team was bumpier and he only made his senior debut last year. In his second game for Sweden, against Northern Ireland, he scored and managed to celebrate with his close friend Emil Holm, who also found the net on the night. “To experience this with a childhood friend… I almost have to pinch myself,” Holm said. Nygren is now a regular in the national team and, just like at Celtic, continues to deliver goals and assists. Gustaf Nilsson Date of birth: 23 May 1997 Club: Club Brugge Position: Forward “The first thing you think of is Peter Crouch – how he combines height with technique.” That is how the former Sweden international Stefan Selakovic described Nilsson after the 18-year-old had just broken through and scored a spectacular bicycle kick in Sweden’s top flight in 2015. Even then, 11 years ago, people were talking about him as an international player, but it hasn’t quite worked out that way. After several years in Denmark, loans back in Sweden and even a spell with Wehen Wiesbaden in the German third tier, he now finds himself at Club Brugge (although playing time was limited in 2025-26). “I never once thought about quitting or giving up,” he says. Nilsson is a good option off the bench if Sweden are chasing the game.  Ken Sema Date of birth: 30 September 1993 Club: Pafos Position: Defender/winger The big surprise in the World Cup squad. The former Watford winger has been in and out of the Pafos starting XI in the Cypriot top flight and was not called up for the play-off matches for the tournament. However, Graham Potter knew the 32-year-old from their time together at Östersund and it is sweet revenge for the winger after being the last player to be left out of the 2018 World Cup squad. “That was the toughest choice for me,” said the then national team coach Janne Andersson. His parents, Ndongala och Kia, grew up in Kinshasa, but fled the country after having their first child. Ken was born in Sweden together with his brother Maic, who has also been a professional footballer. Ken is a positive character who always seems to have a smile on his face. Once he went viral – after an interview on Watford’s channels – where he discussed his stammer. “I have never seen it as an obstacle,” he says. “I am not the person who is shy or who stands in the background.” This is a piece from Sebastian Pearson and Tobias Hellgren for fotbollskanalen.se  as part of the Guardian Sports Network GFFN | Luke Entwistle