Janne Andersson steps down as Sweden national team coach

After seven years, Jan “Janne” Andersson stepped down as head coach of the Swedish national football team last night. He ended his tenure with a victory for Sweden in the Euro qualifiers, beating Estonia 2-0 in front of a crowd of nearly 12,000.

Despite the win, Andersson and the national team’s recent past has been dominated by the horrific violence that took place in Belgium a few weeks ago. In connection with the Belgium-Sweden qualifying match, two Swedes were murdered and one seriously injured in a terrorist attack by an Islamist who was then killed by Belgian police after a brief shootout.

Andersson’s final match was characterized by a clear Swedish advantage, with the team starting with a high tempo and initially having some good scoring chances. In the 22nd minute, Viktor Claesson broke the deadlock with a goal to make it 1-0. Ten minutes into the second half, Emil Forsberg made it 2-0.

– I don’t know what will happen tonight. We are going to do something fun with the whole team. We’ll see what happens tonight. I have no expectations. It will be something nice for sure. As long as I get a few beers, I’ll be fine, said an obviously moved Andersson after the game.

Janne Andersson i tårar inför sin sista match med landslaget 🇸🇪 pic.twitter.com/zJZX000vEa

— Viaplay Fotboll (@ViaplayFotboll) November 19, 2023

The match itself was insignificant for Sweden, as it had long been clear that Sweden would miss next year’s Euro finals, just as they had missed the last World Cup finals in Qatar. Janne Andersson’s greatest achievement was a surprising quarterfinal berth at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

At the time of writing, it is still undecided who will take over as national team coach. Speculations and rumors are circulating about the Djurgården duo Kim Bergstrand and Tomas Lagerlöf, as well as BK Häcken’s successful coach Per Mathias Högmo.