Sweden sacks Tomasson after Isak and Gjokeres fail again against Kosovo

Sweden have sacked coach John Dahl Tomasson following a 1-0 defeat to Kosovo last night, leaving their World Cup hopes hanging by a thread.

Dane Thomasson has become the first man to be sacked as Sweden coach in what appeared to be an inevitable move given the country’s woeful qualifying campaign.

The loss to Kosovo means the team has taken just one point from their first four matches and sits last in Group B.

SvFF finished the job of John Dahl Thomason

SvFF thanks John Dahl Thomasson for his time as captain of the national team.

– Swedish Football (@svenskfotboll) October 14, 2025

Quick turn from Kallstrom

Speaking after last night’s match, Kim Kallstrom, the Swedish Football Association’s director of football, said: “We have full confidence in our coach not to do that.”

This confidence lasted only 16 hours, as a statement issued at lunchtime confirmed Thomason’s departure.

“The decision taken by the Federation Council is based on the men’s national team not producing the results we had hoped for,” Simon Ostrom, president of the Swedish Football Association, said in a statement. “There is still a chance for a play-off in March and our responsibility is to make sure we have the best possible conditions so that we can reach the World Cup finals.”

He added: “In this, we see that there is a need for new leadership in the form of a new coach for the national team.”

Kallstrom added: “We have a group of players that we believe very much in and we want to create new opportunities for them to perform. We believe that this team is capable of qualifying for the World Cup if the opportunity to qualify is available in March.”

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank John. John has been professional in his relationship with the players and captains in the national team and with the Swedish Football Association. It is always sad when we part ways, but football depends on results and we have reached a point where results are not good enough.”

Isak and Gjokeris suffer from stunting in Kosovo

Despite having a strike force of Alexander Isak and Viktor Gjukeris worth a combined £180m, Sweden have failed to shine under Tomasson, who departs after 18 games in charge.

When asked directly if he still had faith in Thomasson after last night’s game, Liverpool star Isaac bungled the question and replied: “We’re very disappointed because we’re making everyone unhappy. As players, we take a lot of responsibility ourselves. We need to look in the mirror.”

“Nobody survived. Not us as players. Not us as a team or a coach or anything around us. But we won’t end with these questions (about Thomason’s future) today.”

“It’s clearly a miserable failure,” Geukeris added.

Although Sweden are unlikely to secure a place in the qualifiers via their qualifying group, they can still enter through the back door thanks to winning their UEFA Nations League group last year – albeit after falling to third place out of the four tiers of European football.