Swedish export success

16 players of Sweden's 20-man squad play abroad

The Swedes have always travelled well.

Ikea, Volvo, Saab, the mobile phone company Ericsson and, of course, Abba are brands that are instantly recognisable throughout the world.

And Swedish coaches and footballers are no different.

"I think Eriksson's greatest asset is his character"

Lyn coach Stuart Baxter

England's Sven-Goran Eriksson is the most obvious example, having coached in Portugal and Italy, before stopping off at his latest destination.

His is a career that has attracted huge interest in his country of birth.

On Monday Eriksson, or Svennis as he is known back home, was feted as Sweden's personality of the year at the country's annual football awards ceremony.

But that same ability to effortlessly integrate into different countries is also true of the 20 Swedish players who are preparing to face England at Old Trafford on Saturday.

Just four players of the squad picked by joint-coaches Lars Lagerback and Tommy Soderberg play their football for Swedish clubs.

Eriksson's career is followed avidly in Sweden

Two best players

The remaining 16 are scattered throughout Europe in eight different countries - England, Denmark, Germany, Holland, France, Scotland, Italy and Portugal.

"We think it is important for them both as individuals and as players that they finish their studies as well as their football education," said Soderberg.

"It is also important that they have also played for a few years in the Allsvenskan, the Swedish Premier League."

"But then we want them to accept the challenge of going abroad in order to develop further."

Aside from Eriksson, Patrik Andersson and Henrik Larsson are the other two other Swedes who have made the biggest impact on their travels.

But they both miss Saturday's game for various reasons.

The elegant defender Andersson won the European Cup with Bayern Munich last season, before he moved to Barcelona in the summer.

At those annual football awards, Andersson won the Golden Ball as Swedish Player of the Year.

Normally, Andersson would captain the Swedish team, but he misses the Old Trafford game through injury.

Larsson, who is the holder of the European Golden Boot, awrded to the continent's top goalscorer, has asked for a break from the national team to recharge his batteries.

According to the former AIK Stockholm coach Stuart Baxter, the reason for this ability to adapt so easily has much to do with the security provided by Swedish society.

A major United Nations study in 1998 found that the Scandinavian country was the world's most egalitarian nation in terms of economic redistribution between rich and poor.

"Swedish players have such a good schooling and they are also brought up in such a good environment," says Baxter, who is now the coach of the Norwegian club Lyn.

"It is a society that develops people and players and gives them a great self-image and sense of character.

"I think that is Eriksson's greatest asset; his character.

"Like all Swedes he is also very calm."

Andersson won the European Cup with Bayern

Channel hopping

Baxter adds that those Swedish players who stay and play in the Allsvenskan are a very different breed from their more-well travelled counterparts

"Nobody goes poor in Sweden. If you lose your job you still get 99% of your salary.

"That sense of security doesn't lend itself to the risky business of becoming a professional sportsman.

"Swedish footballers like this safety net. They are always talking of the coach believing in them."

If the varied successes of Eriksson, Andersson and Larsson have thrilled the Swedish nation, so too has their own team's qualification for the World Cup finals.

The national side returned home to national acclaim after reaching next year's finals for the first time in eight years with a dramatic 2-1 win in Turkey.

Even so the career of Svennis still generates more column inches and bigger television ratings among the country's 9m population

And when England's game in Germany clashed with Sweden's own crucial World Cup qualifier in Macedonia, more Swedish television viewers tuned in to watch England than Sweden.

On Saturday the choice of which channel to watch will not be such an agonising decision to make.