The Big Interview: Peter Gerhardsson

In an exclusive hour-long chat with WFC, the head coach of the number one ranked side in the world reflects on the World Cup, his own coaching journey, his influences and much more...

Peter Gerhardsson has been Sweden head coach since 2017. Image: Sportimage

“It’s always a long story,” smiles Peter Gerhardsson, when I ask for his reflections on the recent World Cup.

For many on the outside, it boils down to the month-long span of games that took place in Australia and New Zealand, but for Gerhardsson and the other 31 head coaches who had aspirations of the ultimate glory, it’s the end of a two-year cycle, or in this case a condensed one-year cycle due to the delayed European Championships.

Sweden were though yet again the bridesmaids, following up a bronze medal in 2019 with the same again this time around, losing in the final minute of their semi-final to Spain, sandwiched either side of a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics.

“For Sweden, it’s a little bit special and a little bit different because we have a good core of players here in the Swedish league, but we have professional players in a lot of other countries,” says the 64-year-old.

“Of our 23 players, I think it was 14 who were playing across Europe and nine in Sweden, which means the group is at different levels and also different stages of their seasons [the Damallsvenkan is a summer league]. We had some injuries too to very important players, and some who hadn’t had a lot of full matches.”

While they had to build their way into the tournament after a last-minute win against South Africa in the team’s opening game, Gerhardsson’s side went all the way to the semi-finals once again, and the head coach was impressed with how his team remained patient, admitting no team will find their peak in the opening game of a major tournament.

“You can talk about happiness and joy, it’s the great thing about football, you can always win a football game…”

“As a tournament with a national team, and I’ve said this before, you’re turning more into being a club team every day and I think it was the same for us in France back in 2019. We had a difficult first game against Chile and it was the same against South Africa, you have to take those steps and that experience in 2019 was very important for us coming into 2023.

“We can’t be in perfect shape physically in the first game, but we can grow. We took one game at a time to get better and I think that’s what we did. For me, it was a bit different coaching-wise because apart from Argentina we kept pretty much the same starting eleven in every game. It just happened that way, but it’s also thinking about the starting eleven and the finishing eleven, because often the finishing eleven is what wins you the game.”

He also praises his wider staff for their diligent preparations and admits they were “lucky” that Italy, who had first choice on selected camps in New Zealand, turned down the base Sweden would choose which Gerhardsson describes as “perfect”.

“Including everyone, that was for me the best team we ever had. The preparation, it was perfect. We had a good place we could build a group and if I can feel I feel good and the players feel good, you can create something.”

Sweden navigated the group as one of only a couple of teams to win all three games, scoring nine goals and conceding just once, but for their good form were rewarded with a second-round tie against familiar rivals and double defending world champions USA, who had snuck through their own group after a couple of sub-par performances.

As champions so often do, USA raised their game for Sweden and Gerhardsson knows at times his side rode their luck, before coming out on top in a dramatic penalty shootout.

After dispatching of Japan in the quarter-finals despite the 2011 champions quickly becoming many people’s favourites for the tournament, Sweden were handed a semi-final against eventual winners Spain, a match which went right down to the final moments.

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Few had to endure the drama and intensity of Gerhardsson and his side through the three knockout games which culminated in a bronze medal match against co-hosts Australia, and he speaks openly about trying to keep a lid on those emotions, despite the heat of the moment feelings bubbling under the surface.

“You can talk about happiness and joy, it’s the great thing about football, you can always win a football game,” he says. “For players, coaches, media, supporters, at the end of the day you like those games, especially if you win them.

“The USA game was very special, that joy and happiness is bubbling in yourself, but for me it’s also about being happy when I see happy people, when I see the players as happy as that. I don’t feel like running around, I like to watch, to stay within myself and be happy watching others be happy.”

He adds, with a laugh “I don’t think that penalty shootout will ever happen again, it was incredible. I grew up reading old comic strips…you call it that in England, yes? There was a comic strip called ‘Buster’, it was always stories with a happy ending, and the game was like that, it reminded me of going back to an old time of reading stories ending with happiness and joy.”

Going back to his comic strip days also brings him to the present too, as he recalls with such joy becoming a key figure of the famous David Squires comic strips in The Guardian, when he accidentally walked into a storage cupboard when leaving a press conference after one of the World Cup games.

“After a press conference, I walked into…what do you call it? A cleaning room or something? The Guardian made my dreams come true,” he laughs, with such sincerity. “One of my friends sent me that. I was happy, that is one of my dreams to be in a comic strip – that’s fantastic. If I’d have known, I’d have done it again!”

Back on more serious topics, there is also the other side of the coin too. In a dramatic final 10 minutes of their semi-final against Spain, Rebecka Blomqvist looked like she had sent the game to extra-time with a goal in the 88^th-minute, only for Olga Carmona to score from a corner a minute later and leave Gerhardsson again waiting for a major trophy with Sweden.

He is though reflective only positively on the work his staff did, opening up about the different preparations for the knockout stages when you only find out who you will play a couple of days in advance and the intensity of the final games of the tournament.