Graham Potter returns to Sweden as national team coach on World Cup quest after Premier League stint

By Canadian Press on October 20, 2025.

Graham Potter was hired as the coach of Sweden’s national team on an initial short-term deal on Monday, taking his first job in international soccer after working in the Premier League over the last six years.

The 50-year-old Englishman will replace Jon Dahl Tomasson, who was fired last week after Sweden’s star-studded team lost three straight games in qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.

The Swedish Football Association said Potter will be in charge for next month’s World Cup qualifiers against Switzerland and Slovenia and then for the playoffs in March, which Sweden is likely to reach after winning its most recent Nations League group.

Potter’s deal will be extended through to the World Cup if Sweden makes it to the tournament which is being co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Potter said he was “very humbled by the assignment, but also incredibly inspired.”

“Sweden has fantastic players who week-on-week deliver in the world’s best leagues,” Potter said. “My job will be to create the conditions so that we, as a team, deliver at the highest level to take Sweden to the World Cup next summer.”

Sweden’s squad boasts high-profile players including Alexander Isak and Viktor Gyokeres — the starting strikers for Liverpool and Arsenal, respectively — Tottenham midfielder Lucas Bergvall, and wingers Anthony Elanga of Newcastle and Roony Bardghji of Barcelona.

However, the team is in last place in its World Cup qualifying group on one point from four games, after successive humiliating defeats to Kosovo either side of a loss to Switzerland.

Back to Sweden

It marks a return to Swedish soccer for Potter, who coached unheralded Ostersund from 2011-18 — leading the team from the amateur ranks into Sweden’s top league in 2015 and the Swedish Cup title in 2017.

That qualified Ostersund for the Europa League, where it advanced to the knockout stage before losing to Arsenal despite winning the second leg 2-1 at Emirates Stadium.

Since then, Potter has worked in Britain, firstly at Swansea and then in the Premier League with Brighton, and then less successfully with Chelsea and most recently West Ham from January to September this year.

“With Graham Potter, we are getting a strong and experienced leader who has been tested at the absolute highest level,” Swedish FA chairman Simon Åström said.

___ AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Steve Douglas, The Associated Press

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