Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
are one of the major teams in international
speedway
Speedway may refer to:
Racing Race tracks
*Edmonton International Speedway, also known as Speedway Park, a former motor raceway in Edmonton, Alberta
*Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a motor raceway in Speedway, Indiana
Types of races and race cours ...
. They have been managed by Mats Olsson, who is currently in his 2nd spell, since 2005 after he quit in 2000. The current captain is
2000 World Under-21 Champion Andreas Jonsson
Andreas Karl Rune Jonsson (born 3 September 1980 in Stockholm, Sweden) is an international motorcycle speedway rider. He was a member of the Sweden speedway team that won the World Cup in 2003, 2004 and 2015.
Career summary
Jonsson won ...
.
Speedway World Cup
The Sweden national speedway team has won the
Speedway World Team Cup
The Speedway World Team Cup was an annual speedway event held each year in different countries. The competition started in 1960 and was replaced with the Speedway World Cup in 2001.
Format
From 1960 until 1985 each team consisted of four riders ...
and
Speedway World Cup
The Speedway World Cup is an annual motorcycle speedway, speedway event held each year in different countries. The first edition of the competition in the current format was held in 2001 and replaced the old Speedway World Team Cup, World Team Cu ...
on 10 occasions and were a major force in the opening years of the tournament, winning 4 out of the first 5, between 1960 and 1964. Key riding members of the title wins include
Ove Fundin
Ove Fundin (born 23 May 1933) is a Swedish former professional motorcycle speedway rider. He competed in the Speedway World Championships from 1951 to 1970. Fundin is notable for winning the Speedway World Champ ...
(6 wins),
Rune Sörmander
Rune Bertil Leopold Sörmander (1929-2020) was an international speedway rider from Sweden.
Speedway career
Sörmander was one of speedway's leading riders during the 1950s and 1960s, he was a three times champion of Sweden, winning the Swedi ...
,
Björn Knutsson
Björn Knutsson (born 1938 in Sweden) is a former speedway rider who won the Speedway World Championship in 1965 and was a four-time winner of the World Team Cup. He gained the nickname 'The Crown Prince' for his speedway success.
World Final A ...
,
Göte Nordin (4 wins),
Sören Sjösten
Sören Willy Ernfrid Sjösten (born 12 December 1938,
Krylbo, Sweden, died 1999) was a motorcycle speedway rider. He won the world pairs championship in 1974 with Anders Michanek and became world team champion three times representing Sweden, ...
,
Tony Rickardsson
Tony Rickardsson (born on 17 August 1970) is a Swedish former professional motorcycle speedway rider. He competed in the Speedway World Championships from 1989 to 2006. Rickardsson is notable for winning six Speedway World Championship titles in 1 ...
,
Peter Karlsson and
Mikael Max
Karl Mikael Karlsson (born 21 August 1973), who rides under the name Mikael Max, is an international motorcycle speedway rider who rode in the UK for the Wolverhampton Wolves in the Elite League.
After first riding a speedway bike at the ag ...
(also known as Mikael Karlsson) (3 wins). The cup eluded them for 23 years between 1971 and 1993, but they regained the trophy in 1994 when Sweden were the winners of a reformatted event involving pairs (
Tony Rickardsson
Tony Rickardsson (born on 17 August 1970) is a Swedish former professional motorcycle speedway rider. He competed in the Speedway World Championships from 1989 to 2006. Rickardsson is notable for winning six Speedway World Championship titles in 1 ...
,
Henrik Gustafsson
Henrik Anders (Henka) Gustafsson (born 14 August 1970 in Sköllersta, Sweden) is an international Motorcycle speedway rider who won the 1993 World Pairs Championship with Tony Rickardsson and the Speedway World Team Cup with Sweden in 1994 and 2 ...
and Mikael Karlsson) rather than teams, though this format was only to last until 1998. They also went on to win in
2003
File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...
and
2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...
.
Sweden bookended the original World Team Cup, winning the inaugural final at the
Ullevi
Ullevi, sometimes known as Nya Ullevi (, ''New Ullevi''), is a multi-purpose stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden. It was built for the 1958 FIFA World Cup, but since then has also hosted the World Allround Speed Skating Championships six times; the ...
Stadium at home in
Göteborg
Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has a p ...
in
1960
It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism.
Events
January
* Ja ...
before winning the last World Team Cup in
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...
at the
Brandon Stadium
Brandon Stadium, also known as Coventry Stadium, is located 6 miles east of Coventry in Brandon, Warwickshire, England. It was the home of the Coventry Bees motorcycle speedway team. It also hosted BriSCA F1 Stock Car Racing on the 1st Satur ...
in
Coventry
Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...
,
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 ...
.
Team U-21 World Championship
''* Due to cost of travel and visa problems, Sweden withdrew from the 2011 Final,''
Team U-19 European Championship
Honours
World Championships
European Championships
Titles
Famous Swedish riders
*
Henrik Gustafsson
Henrik Anders (Henka) Gustafsson (born 14 August 1970 in Sköllersta, Sweden) is an international Motorcycle speedway rider who won the 1993 World Pairs Championship with Tony Rickardsson and the Speedway World Team Cup with Sweden in 1994 and 2 ...
*
Ove Fundin
Ove Fundin (born 23 May 1933) is a Swedish former professional motorcycle speedway rider. He competed in the Speedway World Championships from 1951 to 1970. Fundin is notable for winning the Speedway World Champ ...
*
Conny Iversson
*
Bengt Jansson
Bengt Gustaf Jansson (born 9 January 1943 in Stockholm, Sweden) is a former Swedish international speedway rider.
"Banger" was runner up in the 1967 World Final to fellow countryman Ove Fundin after losing a race-off and finished third in 197 ...
*
Tommy Jansson
Per Tommy Jansson (2 October 1952 – 20 May 1976) was a motorcycle speedway rider. He was one of Sweden's most exciting speedway prospects in the 1970s but was killed in the Swedish Final a World Championship Qualifying Round meeting.
He was t ...
*
Andreas Jonsson
Andreas Karl Rune Jonsson (born 3 September 1980 in Stockholm, Sweden) is an international motorcycle speedway rider. He was a member of the Sweden speedway team that won the World Cup in 2003, 2004 and 2015.
Career summary
Jonsson won ...
*
Per Jonsson
Per Jonsson (born 21 March 1966 in Stockholm, Sweden) is a former speedway rider who won the Speedway World Championship in 1990, and finished runner-up in 1992.
Career
In 1985, his second season with the Reading Racers, the team won six major ...
*
Peter Karlsson
*
Niklas Klingberg
Niklas Klingberg (born 6 February 1973) is a former Swedish motorcycle speedway rider from Sweden, who was a member of Sweden team at Speedway World Cups. He was Swedish Champion in 2002.
Career details
World Championships
* Individual ...
*
Björn Knutsson
Björn Knutsson (born 1938 in Sweden) is a former speedway rider who won the Speedway World Championship in 1965 and was a four-time winner of the World Team Cup. He gained the nickname 'The Crown Prince' for his speedway success.
World Final A ...
*
Antonio Lindback
Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular mal ...
*
Christer Löfqvist
Christer Löfqvist (born 4 June 1944 in Visby, Gotland, Sweden - died 1 February 1978) was an international speedway rider
who reached the final of the Speedway World Championship in 1974.Bamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). ''A History of the Wo ...
*
Mikael Max
Karl Mikael Karlsson (born 21 August 1973), who rides under the name Mikael Max, is an international motorcycle speedway rider who rode in the UK for the Wolverhampton Wolves in the Elite League.
After first riding a speedway bike at the ag ...
*
Anders Michanek
Anders Michanek (born 30 May 1943 in Stockholm, Sweden) is a Speedway rider. In 1974 he won the Speedway World Championship in his Swedish homeland with a maximum score of 15 points.
Career
Michanek had a very successful career riding in the B ...
*
Peter Nahlin
Peter Nahlin (born 1 May 1968 in Eskilstuna, Sweden) is a former Motorcycle speedway rider who became the 1988 World Under-21 Champion.Jimmy Nilsen
Jimmy Nilsen (born 16 November 1966) is a former international motorcycle speedway rider from Sweden.
Career
Jimmy Nilsen was Swedish Champion in 1996 after finishing 3rd in 1994. Nilsen also rode in five World Finals as well as representing ...
*
Göte Nordin
*
Tony Olsson
*
Bernt Persson
Bernt Eveart Persson (24 June 1946 to 20 September 2020) was a Swedish international speedway rider who finished runner up in the 1972 Speedway World Championship final. He rode in Britain for the Edinburgh Monarchs, the Cradley Heath Heathens (f ...
*
Tony Rickardsson
Tony Rickardsson (born on 17 August 1970) is a Swedish former professional motorcycle speedway rider. He competed in the Speedway World Championships from 1989 to 2006. Rickardsson is notable for winning six Speedway World Championship titles in 1 ...
*
Sören Sjösten
Sören Willy Ernfrid Sjösten (born 12 December 1938,
Krylbo, Sweden, died 1999) was a motorcycle speedway rider. He won the world pairs championship in 1974 with Anders Michanek and became world team champion three times representing Sweden, ...
*
Rune Sörmander
Rune Bertil Leopold Sörmander (1929-2020) was an international speedway rider from Sweden.
Speedway career
Sörmander was one of speedway's leading riders during the 1950s and 1960s, he was a three times champion of Sweden, winning the Swedi ...
*
Erik Stenlund
Erik Stenlund (born 26 May 1962) is a former speedway rider from Sweden.
Speedway career
Stenlund is a two times world champion at the Individual Ice Speedway World Championship (1984 & 1988) and a former champion of Sweden, winning the Swed ...
{{Swedish national teams
National speedway teams
National sports teams of Sweden
National team
A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport.
The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...
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