Gunilla Sonja Eva Axén (born 27 October 1966) is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

. She played as a striker for

Gideonsbergs IF Gideonsbergs IF is a sports club in Västerås, Sweden. Established in 1955, the women's soccer Women's association football, more commonly known simply as women's football or women's soccer, is a team sport of association football when playe ...

and the Sweden women's national football team. Axén is employed as a development manager for the

Swedish Football Association The Swedish Football Association ( sv, Svenska Fotbollförbundet, SvFF) is the governing and body of football in Sweden. It organises the football leagues – Allsvenskan for men and Damallsvenskan for women – and the men's and women's nat ...

(SvFF).

Club career

In 1986 Axén won the ''Årets Fotbollstjej'' award, the forerunner of 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 ...

. That season she had also been the Swedish League's top goal-scorer with 22 goals. In 1989 an anterior cruciate ligament injury sustained on the artificial turf at Tipshallen in

Jönköping Jönköping (, ) is a city in southern Sweden with 112,766 inhabitants (2022). Jönköping is situated on the southern shore of Sweden's second largest lake, Vättern, in the province of Småland. The city is the seat of Jönköping Municipa ...

ended Axén's playing career early. She had reportedly been attracting interest from professional clubs in the Italian

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

International career

Axén made her senior Sweden debut in the semi final of the

1984 European Competition for Women's Football The 1984 European Competition for Women's Football was won by Sweden on penalties against England. It comprised four qualifying groups, the winner of each going through to the semi-finals which were played over two legs, home and away. As only sixt ...

, against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

Linköping Linköping () is a city in southern Sweden, with around 105,000 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the seat of Linköping Municipality and the capital of Östergötland County. Linköping is also the episcopal see of the Diocese of Linköping (Church ...

. Sweden won 2–1 after two goals by

Pia Sundhage Pia Mariane Sundhage (, born 13 February 1960) is a Swedish football manager and former professional player. She is the head coach of the Brazil women's national team. As a player, Sundhage played most of her career as a forward and retired a ...

. Axén was included in the squad who defeated

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in the final. In the semi-final of the

1987 European Competition for Women's Football The 1987 European Competition for Women's Football took place in Norway. It was won by the hosts in a final against defending champions Sweden. Once again, the competition began with four qualifying groups, but this time a host nation was selected ...

in Moss, substitute Axén scored twice against England as Sweden won 3–2 after extra time. At the

1988 FIFA Women's Invitation Tournament The 1988 FIFA Women's Invitation Tournament, or International Women's Football Tournament, was organised by FIFA in China from 1 to 12 June 1988. The competition was a test to study if a global women's World Cup was feasible following the experi ...

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

she was part of the Swedish squad who finished runners-up to Norway.

Personal life

Axén is

married Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...

to Anders Wengrud, who was also a footballer and football coach. She has a son named Pontus. In 2003 Axén was appointed to a senior development role in the

(SvFF).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Axen, Gunilla Living people 1966 births Swedish women's footballers Sweden women's international footballers Damallsvenskan players UEFA Women's Championship-winning players Women's association football forwards People from Eskilstuna Sportspeople from Södermanland County Gideonsbergs IF players