1 / 4Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT
Historic SM gold, points record and Mjällby’s success became world news.
2025 offered a series of good sports events that were talked about – but also worse.
Here is a selection.
+ The football saga that echoed in the football world
Anders Torstensson, the Mjällby coach, was already a person who was talked about last year, when he told about his cancer. This year he got more fun headlines when he led Mjällby to the club’s first Allsvenskan SM gold – and which also meant a scoring record for the highest football league in Sweden. A success that spread around the world. Among other things, Mjällby’s success was reported in media from the US and the British BBC as well as The Guardian.
+ Swedish championship successes
Pole vaulter Armand Duplantis captivated the athletics crowd in Tokyo – and the star did not disappoint during the World Cup. He won gold and set a world record, 6.30. The Swede was not alone in leaving Japan with a medal. Daniel Ståhl did as he did in Budapest WC 2023 and decided with his last throw in the discus final. Andreas Almgren took Sweden’s first WC medal in long-distance running, a bronze in the 10,000 meters.
Biathlonist Elvira Öberg reaped great success at the WC in Lenzerheide. In the mass start, she offered outstanding shooting in the last, held off and finally won by nine seconds to the second.
Table tennis player Truls Möregårdh became the first European to win a Grand Smash tournament – and he did it in front of the home crowd in Malmö.
The Swedish women’s national team swept clean in the skiing World Cup in Norway: five golds out of five possible. Jonna Sundling and Ebba Anderssons both won three golds, including one in the long relay.
The Beach Volleyball WC in Adelaide was another huge Swedish success. Olympic champions David Åhman and Jonathan Hellvig followed up the title from Paris with another championship gold. In the final, the blue and yellow upstarts and WC debutants defeated Jacob Hölting Nilsson and Elmer Andersson.
Åhman and Hellvig were later awarded with Svenska Dagbladet’s achievement gold.
+ Tough year for the national football team
Jon Dahl Tomasson took over the men’s national football team and chose to turn the game around. An experiment that did not turn out well for several reasons. At the same time, it is difficult to duck the timing of stars Alexander Isak and Viktor Gyökere. They went on strike to get a club change – and they never reached a peak of form during Sweden’s World Cup qualifiers.
Tomasson was sacked and replaced by Graham Potter.
Despite the debacle in the qualifiers, the football men have a chance to reach the WC in the USA, Canada and Mexico via playoffs in March.
The women’s national team lost the EC quarter-final against England after a penalty drama. In focus: Hammarby’s 18-year-old super talent Smilla Holmberg, who missed the last penalty.
– It will probably take a while to melt, she said to P4 Stockholm.
+ The stars on the other side
Pelle Larsson has shown that he has every right to play in the NBA. The Swede, who is in the second year of his career in the league, shines and also gains the coach’s trust.
NHL star William Nylander earns an amazing 110 million per season with Toronto – and delivers. He stands for points and records, but perhaps above all, he is one of the players that the hockey-mad city’s club builds its team around.
Ludvig Åberg helped lead Europe to victory in the Ryder Cup, and he did so by winning two out of four matches. In addition, he clinched the second victory of his career on the PGA Tour when he won The Genesis in February.
