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Sweden have sacked manager Jon Dahl Tomasson after another humbling defeat by Kosovo left his team unlikely to qualify for the 2026 World Cup.
After drawing their Group B opener with Slovenia last month, Sweden lost their next three games, twice against Kosovo and once against favourites Switzerland, to leave them bottom of the table and needing results to go their way to have any hope of making the 48-nation tournament in USA, Canada and Mexico next summer.
“The decision made by the association board is based on the fact that the men’s national team has not delivered the results we hoped for,” Swedish Football Association’s chairman Simon Astrom said in a statement.
“There is still a chance of a playoff in March and our responsibility is to ensure that we have as optimal conditions as possible to be able to reach a World Cup playoff. In this, we assess that a new leadership is required in the form of a new coach.”
Tomasson, Denmark’s joint-record goalscorer, was named the first foreign coach of the Swedish men’s national side when he replaced the long-serving Janne Andersson in February 2024, having previously won the Swedish title with Malmo and impressed in charge of Blackburn Rovers.
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Jon Dahl Tomasson walks off the pitch after defeat by Switzerland (AFP via Getty Images)
He presided over a string of positive results during his first year in charge of Sweden, deploying a 3-5-2 formation which sought to get the best out of star strikers Alexander Isak and Viktor Gyokeres, though fitness issues meant they rarely played together. But a disastrous World Cup qualifying campaign saw Sweden score only two goals across four matches.
Tomasson was not helped by an injury to Tottenham attacker Dejan Kulusevski which ruled him out of the opening games, while Isak’s strung-out transfer saga, in which he refused to train or play for Newcastle during preseason as he forced through a move to Liverpool, meant Sweden’s best player was not fully fit.
The manager suggested that he had been directed by the Swedish FA to play an attacking brand of football which prioritised style of substance, but the Swedish FA’s technical director Caroline Sjoblom denied this, telling Aftonbladet: “There has been no order that we should play ‘modern football’. Instead, we should play football that will win matches and hopefully take us to the World Cup.”
Switzerland top Group B with 10 points from four games and two rounds of matches remaining. Kosovo have seven points, Slovenia have three and Sweden have only one point, meaning they must win both of their final games to have any hope of finishing second and reaching the play-offs.