“We’ve never been worse”
World Cup in danger: Sweden parts ways with national coach
October 14, 2025 – 4:32 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
Hoffenheim’s Fisnik Asllani sends Sweden into a sporting crisis after Kosovo’s victory. The bankruptcy also sealed the professional fate of Sweden’s coach.
Jon Dahl Tomasson is no longer the national coach of Sweden. The football association SvFF has parted ways with the 49-year-old Dane with immediate effect, just one day after the disappointing 0-1 loss against Kosovo. The sporting management justified the decision with the persistently weak results in the ongoing World Cup qualification.
With just one point from four games, the Swedish selection is in last place in Group B. Despite clearly superior statistics against Kosovo – including twelve corners and a clear increase in chances – the team around Premier League stars Alexander Isak and Viktor Gyökeres failed to score for the third time in a row. The decisive goal in Gothenburg was scored by Hoffenheim’s Fisnik Asllani.
Tomasson was critical after the game: “It was a terrible result today. That’s what’s killing us. We allow easy goals and we’ve forgotten how to score goals.” At that point, the former VfB Stuttgart striker continued to believe that his game ideas were the right ones for the team.
However, there is growing public doubt about the team’s development. Leading Swedish football expert Erik Niva said in the Aftonbladet newspaper’s World Cup qualifying podcast: “I’ve been living with Swedish football for 40 years now – and we’ve never been worse.”
Tomasson had also recently lost support within the team. Even before the defeats against Switzerland (0-2) and Kosovo, goalkeeper Robin Olsen had declared that he no longer wanted to play for the national team – because of Tomasson. “Jon is a leader I don’t want to work under,” he said.
The only thing that should give the Swedes any hope at the moment is the World Cup qualification mode. As Nations League group winners, the Swedes still have a chance of participating in the playoffs in the spring. The prerequisite is that enough higher-placed group winners in the new competition either qualify directly for the World Cup or, as runners-up, have already secured one of the 16 playoff tickets.