The Swedish Football Association terminated Jon Dahl Tomasson’s contract just hours after Alexander Isak issued an X-rated assessment of his team’s performance
Jake Stokes Senior Sport Central Audience Writer
07:03, 15 Oct 2025
Liverpool striker Alexander Isak could still bag Sweden a place at the World Cup in March(Image: Photo by Michael Campanella/Getty Images)
Jon Dahl Tomasson has been sacked following Sweden’s defeat to Kosovo. The Swedish Football Association confirmed the termination of his contract just hours after losing 1-0 at the Ullevi Stadium in Gothenburg.
The 49-year-old had failed to lead Sweden to victory in each of their first four World Cup qualifiers, claiming just a single point. With two games left and any chance of qualifying for the tournament in the United States hanging by a thread, Liverpool star Alexander Isak’s side sits at the bottom of Group B.
Now that the World Cup has expanded to 48 teams, Sweden can qualify for the competition via the Nations League. So long as they fail to finish in an automatic qualification spot in Group B, Isak and his teammates will enter a four-team playoff next March.
In an official statement, the SvFF chairman Simon Åström said: “Jon Dahl Tomasson’s assignment is terminated with immediate effect. The decision was made by the Swedish Football Association’s board on Tuesday. The decision is based on a lack of results in the World Cup qualifiers.
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“The decision taken by the Swedish Football Association is based on the fact that the men’s national team has not delivered the results we hoped for. There is still a chance for a playoff in March, and our responsibility is to ensure that we have the best possible conditions to be able to reach a World Cup final.
“In this regard, we believe that new leadership is required in the form of a new national captain.”
Meanwhile, the head of football, Kim Källström, said: “We have a group of players that we believe in very much and want to create new opportunities for them to deliver. We have faith that this team can make it to the World Cup if the chance for the playoffs is there in March.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank Jon for this period. Jon has been professional in his relationship with the players, the leaders in the national team staff and with SvFF.
“It is always sad to go our separate ways, but football is results-based, and we have reached a point where results are not enough. The work of finding a new national captain for the men’s national team, as well as reviewing the existing staff, will begin immediately.”
Isak was devastated after Sweden’s defeat to Kosovo on Monday night. Speaking to reporters after the game, the 26-year-old striker, who joined Liverpool from Newcastle United for £125m in the summer, pulled no punches.
“It’s hard to find arguments that we’re doing the right thing, because we’re not,” he said.
“The responsibility lies with all of us, us players included. We’ve been here a long time, I’ve been here a long time. I look at myself in the mirror. I demand more from myself first and foremost.
“It’s a bit of a crisis situation. That’s clear. I don’t know what we’re going to do. It’s too bad. There has been a negative development this spring and since the World Cup qualifiers started. It hasn’t moved forward. It’s sad.
“We are so damn disappointed that we are making everyone unhappy. As players, we take a lot of responsibility ourselves. We need to look in the mirror.”
“Not us players, not us as a team. And that of course includes the coach and everything around, but those questions [about calls for Tomasson to be fired], we don’t get involved in them.”
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