Nilsson re-elected in Sweden
Tuesday, April 2, 2019
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Karl-Erik Nilsson, re-elected as Swedish Football Association (SvFF) president for a two-year term, highlighted Sweden's recent men's and women's national team successes, and outlined moves to make football in the country even more inclusive.
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Karl-Erik Nilsson has been re-elected by acclamation for a further two years as president of the Swedish Football Association (SvFF).
Speaking at the association's general assembly, Nilsson, who is also UEFA first vice-president, highlighted sporting success for Sweden's men's and women's teams, and emphasised aims to make the sport even more inclusive – for women and for minorities.
Looking back at Sweden's run to the quarter-finals at last year's FIFA World Cup in Russia, Nilsson, a former FIFA referee who was first elected in 2012, said: "Janne Andersson's team generated a buzz around our sport, and it felt as if all of Sweden was wearing our yellow jersey during the World Cup."
"Another bonus from the successful World Cup," he added, "is a very good financial result which benefits all of Swedish football."
The Swedish women's national team have qualified for this summer's FIFA Women's World Cup finals in France. "I am sure that the team's management and players want more, and that we have the capability to achieve good results," Nilsson said.
Nilsson also underlined the SvFF's key objectives in the women's football sector. "Plus 10,000 is a nationwide initiative to recruit 10,000 women coaches and leaders by the year 2022," he explained. The SvFF president was proud to note the encouraging results of a new report that has studied the role of football in Swedish society, and spoke of "positives socially, economically and health-wise".