Malin Swedberg (born 15 September 1968) is a Swedish former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

who won 78 caps for the Sweden women's national team, scoring ten goals. She represented Sweden at the inaugural

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior list of women's national association football teams, women's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Footb ...

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

; as well as in the Olympic women's football tournament in

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

and

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

. Since retiring Swedberg has gone into television punditry and worked as a commentator on

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia, owned and operated by Warner Bros. Discovery through its WBD Sports unit, it operates two main channels—Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territorie ...

and TV4.

Club career

As a 19-year-old, Swedberg signed a professional contract with

Napoli Naples ( ; ; ) is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its province-level municipality is the thir ...

. She only stayed in Italy for three months.

International career

Swedberg made her senior

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

debut in March 1989; a 2–1 win over

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. In 1991 she helped Sweden to a third-place finish at the inaugural

. Swedberg collected the

Diamantbollen Diamantbollen, Swedish for the ''Diamond Ball'', an annual award for Sweden's best female football player. The award is currently awarded by the Swedish Football Association and Sydsvenskans newspaper, in conjunction with its male equivalent, ''Gu ...

award for the best female footballer in the country in 1996. At that year's Olympic Football Tournament, she had scored twice in Sweden's 3–1 group stage win over

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

Personal life

Since 1996, Swedberg has worked as a police officer. She is married to Hans Eskilsson and has two children, including Williot Swedberg who is also a professional footballer.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Swedberg, Malin 1968 births Living people Swedish women's footballers Sweden women's international footballers Swedish police officers Olympic footballers for Sweden Footballers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Djurgårdens IF Fotboll (women) players Damallsvenskan players Swedish expatriates in Italy Serie A (women's football) players Footballers from Stockholm Women's association football midfielders Sundbybergs IK players 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup players 20th-century Swedish sportswomen Älvsjö AIK (women) players