Swedes inspired by English lessons

English football has provided the model for the development of the game in Sweden, with a match between Wolverhampton Wanderers FC and Sunderland AFC first catching local fans' imagination.

Bad weather
Sweden has long had strong links to England – Gothenburg was once called 'Lilla London' (Little London) – but the local passion for English football did not begin until 29 November 1969 when, for the first time, local television screened footage from an English league game between Wolves and Sunderland. Even though bad weather caused the picture to break up after 23 minutes, the Swedes were hooked.

Decent compromise
With the Swedish Football Association unwilling to broadcast local league games at the time, for fear that it would affect the already small crowds, a compromise was reached. With rights being obtained mainly for fixtures involving clubs from the English Midlands, games were screened live on Saturday so as not to create any competition for local matches, which were then largely played on Sundays.

Odd affiliations
Swedes of a certain age – and not least among them Under-21 coach Jörgen Lennartsson – thus have a disproportionate affection for some unfashionable English clubs: Wolves, Stoke City FC, Coventry City FC, Leicester City FC, West Bromwich Albion FC. "When I was younger, I used to look forward to watching Coventry play Southampton on TV on a Saturday afternoon," remembered Lennartsson.

English takeover
The football watched on television was soon to have an influence on the game played in Sweden, especially after 27-year-old Englishman Bob Houghton took over as Malmö FF coach in 1974. Two years later, countryman Roy Hodgson took up a similar position at Halmstads BK, and the ambitious coaches helped transform the Swedish game, introducing zonal marking, offside traps and – more controversially – the long-ball game.

Prevailing style
Hodgson led Halmstad – previously relegation strugglers – to titles in 1976 and 1979, the same year as Houghton took Malmö to the European Champion Clubs' Cup final, where they lost 1-0 to Nottingham Forest FC. Their tactical innovations influenced a generation of local coaches like Sven-Göran Eriksson, Tord Grip and Lars Lagerbäck, although it took a while for the national team to abandon its more German style.

Impressive record
There were further successes at club level the following decade, with the Hodgson-coached Malmö FF and IFK Göteborg – who won the first of their two 1980s UEFA Cups under Eriksson – making huge strides in Europe. The national team, meanwhile, continued to at least match the English at their own game – Sweden have not lost a senior international fixture against England in 12 games since 1968.

Changing channels
Television, Lennartsson believes, has ensured that English football has less of a grip on Sweden than it did in the past. "This generation is less influenced by English football than the generation before," he said. "Today, you can choose from ten different televised games on Saturday and ten more on Sunday. People can watch football from different leagues, with different playing styles."

Nice situation
Nonetheless, the universal respect for Premier League football – most Swedes still have a favourite English club – has created a nice situation for the Sweden players as they meet England in Friday's semi-final. Many of the country's football fans still regard the English game as the foremost in the world and victory against a side representating that nation would be thrilling proof that a copy can be better than the original.