Therese Sjögran

International career

Sjögran made her first appearance for the senior Swedish national team on 30 October 1997; a 3–1 friendly defeat by the United States in Chattanooga, Tennessee. After some injury problems kept her out of club football, Sjögran was not selected for the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup in the United States. She returned to the squad for the 2000 Sydney Olympics, but was mainly an understudy and was restricted to substitute appearances as Sweden crashed out in the first round.

Sjögran was a more established first team player by the time of UEFA Women's Euro 2001. She came on as a substitute in all Sweden's games except the final, which she started. Sweden lost 1–0 to Claudia Müller's golden goal for hosts Germany.

At the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup, Sjögran was substituted at half-time in Sweden's first match, a 3–1 loss to hosts the United States. She came on as a substitute in Sweden's remaining matches and won praise for her performance in the final, which Sweden again lost to Germany on a golden goal.

Following the retirement of midfield star Malin Moström in late 2006, Sjögran was given a more prominent role by coach Thomas Dennerby. As part of the Sweden team surprisingly eliminated in the first round of the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, Sjögran was one of few Swedish players to emerge with any credit from the tournament. She also played a leading role as Sweden beat rivals Denmark in a qualification play-off for the following year's Olympics.

Experienced "elder stateswoman" Sjögran helped Sweden achieve third place at the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup in Germany.

Incoming coach Pia Sundhage selected Sjögran in the Sweden squad for Euro 2013, admitting it was something of a gamble and demanding that Sjögran should expend "the last drop of sweat" to justify her place. Sjögran had not expected to be recalled and had even purchased tickets to attend the tournament as a supporter. At the final tournament Sjögran made substitute appearances in the 3–1 group win over Italy and the 1–0 defeat by Germany in the semi-final. Team-mate Lotta Schelin praised Sjögran's contribution, describing her as "an old gem".

In November 2013, the Swedish Football Association (SvFF) sparked a sexism scandal at its annual awards Fotbollsgalan when it presented Anders Svensson with a Volvo XC60 Afterwards SvFF claimed that they had planned to reward and celebrate Sjögran at a later occasion, but failed to properly inform internally. Chairman Karl-Erik Nilsson later regretted the decision, saying it would have been better if they paid tribute to Sjögran as well. She played alongside Lotta Schelin as a forward against Northern Ireland in Växjö, deputising for the injured Kosovare Asllani, a move that surprised some, as older players tend to get moved backward a bit and have a more defensive role. She scored the first goal. In October 2014 Sjögran reached her 200th appearance for Sweden, in a 2–1 home friendly defeat by Germany. She became the first Swedish player to achieve the milestone and only the third European after Birgit Prinz and Katrine Pedersen.

In November 2014, SvFF again sparked a sexism scandal involving Therese Sjögran at Fotbollsgalan, this time in conjunction with TV4. There was a celebration planned and prepared for the ceremony for her achieving 200 caps, but it was cancelled in the middle of the show before it occurred because of time constraints.

At the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, Sjögran made her 214th and final appearance in Sweden's 4–1 round of 16 defeat by Germany, She left the field with tears in her eyes and kept the match ball as a souvenir for her mother.

Before Fotbollsgalan 2015 Sjögran said she didn't want to be honoured this time, as she thought it was too late. But SvFF kept their plan and this time actually followed it though, rewarding her with Fotbollskanalens hederspris, The Football Channel's honorary award.

Managerial career Since 1 August 2015 Sjögran is sporting director in FC Rosengård.

Personal life In an interview made in 2005 before the European Championship Sjögran states that she would choose innebandy if she wouldn't play football. Her favourite food was shellfish, her favourite music was techno/house and her favourite movie was Saw. She thought Birgit Prinz was the best current player and that golfer Annika Sörenstam was the best Swedish athlete of all time. In a short interview made in 2013 she also mentioned table tennis as a secondary sports choice.

Economics graduate Sjögran took legal action when she was refused unemployment benefit on the grounds that her football career stopped her being available for work. She later worked part-time for the insurance company, Trygg-Hansa. One and a half-year later Gatu wrote a sequel titled Snygg fint, Therese! ("Nice feint, Therese!").

Sjögran participated in SVT's 2017 season of Mästarnas mästare which was recorded in Algarve, Portugal in September 2016. She was once again miscredited for her deeds as SVT in a press release before a press gathering for the show had left out most of her merits and claimed that Anders Svensson was the most capped Swedish player. The car incident from Fotbollsgalan was supposedly brought up during recording of her recap in the show, but was ultimately cut from the broadcast.

She still played football regularly in 2016, but only in Swedish amateur league Korpen. Melbourne

| Group match

2000-9-16 Sydney

| Group match

2000-9-19 Melbourne

| Group match

2003-9-21 Washington, DC

| Group match

2003-9-28 Columbus

| Group match

2003-10-1 Foxborough

| Quarter Final

2003-10-5 Portland

| Semi-Final

2003-10-12 Carson

| Final

2004-8-11 Volos

| Group match

2004-8-17 Volos

| Group match

2004-8-20 Volos

| Quarter-Final

2004-8-23 Patras

| Semi Final

2004-8-26 Piraeus

| Bronze Medal Match

2007-9-11 Chengdu Start

| Group match

2007-9-14 Chengdu

| Group match

2007-9-18 Tianjin Start

| Group match

2008-8-6 Tianjin

| Group match

2008-8-9 Tianjin

| Group match

2008-8-12 Beijing Start

| Group match

2008-8-15 Shenyang off 110

| Quarter-Final

2011-6-28 Leverkusen Start

| Group match

2011-7-2 Augsburg

| Group match

2011-7-6 Wolfsburg

| Group match

2011-7-10 Augsburg Start 11 1-0 | Quarter-Final

2011-7-13 Frankfurt Start

| Semi-Final

2011-7-16 Sinsheim Start

| Third Place Match

2015-6-8 Winnipeg Start

| Group match

2015-6-12 Winnipeg

| Group match

2015-6-16 Edmonton Start

| Group match

2015-6-20 Ottawa Start

| Round of 16

Matches and goals scored at European Championship tournaments Goal Match Date Location Opponent Lineup Min Score Result Competition 2001 European Championship 2001-6-23 Erfurt Group match 2001-6-27 Jena Group match 2001-7-4 Ulm Semi-Final 2001-7-7 Ulm Final 2005 European Championship 2005-6-5 Blackpool Group match 2005-6-8 Blackpool Group match 2005-6-11 Blackburn Start Group match 2005-6-16 Warrington Semi-Final 2009 European Championship 2009-8-25 Turku Start Group match 2009-8-28 Turku Group match 2009-8-31 Turku Start Group match 2009-9-4 Helsinki Start Quarter-Final 2013 European Championship 2013-7-16 Halmstad Group match 2013-7-24 Gothenburg Semi-Final

Honours

Veberöds AIF Division 3: 1994

Wä FF Division 1: 1997

LdB FC Malmö/FC Rosengård Damallsvenskan: 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015 Svenska Supercupen: 2011, 2012, 2015

Sweden FIFA Women's World Cup: runner-up 2003;

Individual Best female player in Sweden: 2007, 2010 Best female midfielder in Sweden: 2007, 2008 Soccer Channel special prize: 2015