Eriksson had to be carried off the pitch: Made me a team player

Magdalena Eriksson comes by bike to Enskede IP, one minute before the scheduled time.

It is the first day of summer vacation for children and young people in her childhood neighborhood, and on the small artificial turf right at the entrance, some boys are lazing around with a ball.

– This was gravel when I was little, and there was also gravel, says the national team star and points to a larger area a little further away.

She laughs and remembers that day when her father – who was her football coach until her early teens – had to step onto the pitch, lift her up and simply carry her from there.

– I remember it so clearly. It must have been five people, I do not remember exactly how old I was, but I got a real scolding after that, says Magdalena Eriksson about the event that father Björn Eriksson previously recounted for Expressen.

– He really shaped me into a team player and a little leader, because he did not allow that kind of thing. He would never allow that just because I might be the best on the team, I would play all the time. I think it has shaped me very much, not to be treated like a star.

But do you feel like a star now?

– No, not really, the 28-year-old answers and laughs again.

Not even when you step into the biggest arenas?

– I would not want to see myself individually as a star but I feel that I play in two incredibly good teams. And I think that’s so damn fun. That you have ended up in two such fantastic teams as Sweden and Chelsea is a huge luxury, something I often think about and am very proud of.

In the middle of the last European Championships, In 2017, she was introduced as a new player in the English top team Chelsea. At that time, Magdalena Eriksson was team captain in Linköping, Olympic silver medalist and Swedish Championship gold winner. But when the national team fell to the Netherlands in the quarterfinals, she sat on the bench.

During the past five years, her own curve and Sweden’s development have gone hand in hand – upwards.

Sweden is world number two after the World Cup bronze 2019 and Olympic silver last year, and “Magda” – Diamond Ball winner 2020, team captain in Chelsea and four-time English league champion – is given in the eleven when the European Championships for Sweden begin against the Netherlands on Saturday.

– In five years, you have experienced so much, says the midfielder about the trip.

– The whole challenge of moving abroad and getting into a completely new environment with very tough competition and taking a place there. But so is my role in the national team. In 2017, I was someone who was just happy to be with, hung around behind the scenes, while now it is very important that I am one of those who step forward and dare to take responsibility for the team.

How does it feel to know that you have a crucial role to play?

– I like it. I like to feel that I have an important role. I have no idea about playing time because it is extremely tough competition, but I know that I am an important character in the team, in the tactical talk and in helping the younger girls who have not been around for so long about how to think when you will play in front of a large audience, all with the media and so on.

Faithful servant Caroline Seger is still in the national team but many tip Eriksson as a future national team captain, including her coach at Chelsea, Emma Hayes.

– If it happens, it happens. But that will not change anything. Because I already feel that I have a strong leadership position in the team. But it is clear that it would be a very fantastic honor.

She has taken back on Seger, goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl and the older guard in Swedish women’s football not only as an important player and leader on the field, but also as a voice in gender equality issues, the fight for women’s football status, human rights and everyone’s equal value.

For some athletes, sport is just a sport. For Magdalena Eriksson, who in addition to football studied political science, something more.

– I have always tried to be clear about where I stand and with what values ​​I have, and with taking a fight for people who may not have a platform or voice in the same way. I feel a little that it is my responsibility, she says.

How much have you been inspired by those who have gone before you in these matters?

– A lot. They have had to take the fight even before you got any kind of backing, when people were still looking down on women’s football. I came in now that you have wind in the sails, then it is always easier to speak for something. But I follow in their path, which they have trodden for me.

Growing up in Enskede IK, with a large girls’ section in football, she did not experience any major differences between girls and boys in the venture, she says.

– But when I got older… I remember a pre-season when I played with Djurgården’s women’s team (2012) when we had to run intervals in the forest all of January because we had no plan to train on. It was something you only accepted then. But now that I think back on it, I think “god, it’s a month of my football practice that has been spent just running around instead of just training and getting better”. When I think back on such situations, I can get very angry and frustrated.

Is it never hard to have to answer questions other than the purely football-related ones?

– Not really. I think it’s interesting to have a bigger perspective, it’s always been that way for me.

– But then it is clear that sometimes when you stand the day before a very important match and get questions about everything other than to play, then you sometimes start to think “what is this?”, But then you understand that right now it is needed . And if I do this now, in the same way that Seger and Hedvig have done it for me, hopefully (nine years younger EC colleague) Hanna Bennison in five to six years can stand and just talk football, not have to talk about inequality or inequality .

Yes, she has made herself known to comment on issues and would like more athletes to do the same.

In an acclaimed column last autumn, Magdalena Eriksson called on players in the men’s national team to take a clearer position in the debate on the men’s upcoming World Cup in Qatar – and met both rice and praise.

Praise, for raising the issue of human rights and the opportunities for athletes to make an impact. Rice, from among others the men’s team captain Victor Nilsson Lindelöf, who already thought he was clear with his opinion.

– I do not want to force anyone to do anything, but I do not think you understand what it means until you take this step out and say something, take a stand. It would have meant a lot, to very many, says Eriksson.

It was in British I-News as she wrote that as a gay woman she would never want to go to Qatar, where homosexuality is punishable.

The midfielder profile lives together with the Danish national team star Pernille Harder. Before the European Championships, the couple has, among other things, graced the cover of a special issue of the fashion magazine Elle.

Do you feel that you make a difference personally?

– I still think so, without putting myself on a far too high pedestal. Above all, what Pernille and I do for the LGBTQ community. There I can feel immediately that we make a difference, because you have heard so many stories from our followers about how much it means to see us, that they are inspired by the fact that we are open with our love for each other.

The aftermath of the autumn attention-grabbing chronicle, however, also came to be about where the resources come from in her own club. During the spring, the issue has come even more into the spotlight, and here is the background:

For 19 years, the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich pumped money into Chelsea. But the billionaire is closely linked to Vladimir Putin’s Russia, and after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he has been forced to relinquish ownership due to sanctions.

Magdalena Eriksson has been criticized for ducking the issue. When we meet, however, the otherwise outspoken Swede has been stopped by Chelsea from speaking out.

– It is definitely not my choice, she clarifies and adds that she received “a little scolding from Chelsea” because she talked about the club in an interview with SVT.

– But I am very clear about where I stand.

The whole of football is right now at a crossroads, says the national team defender in general. This also applies to structures and sponsors within the European and international federations, Uefa and Fifa.

– I really hope that football chooses the “clean” way in the future.

The major investments in women’s teams in Europe’s heavyweight clubs is one of the major changes in the sport since the last European Championships.

Another is the increased visibility and exposure – also for better or worse.

Midback veteran Nilla Fischer told DN as early as 2015 how she, as a woman on a male-dominated stage, lives with net hatred. At the same time, threats and hatred in recent years have also become a major issue for the men’s national team, but then often linked to specific match situations.

Have you been affected yourself?

– I would not call it net hatred but I also think it is because you are a bit injured, says Magdalena Eriksson.

– I know that I will receive comments that it is wrong to be homosexual, that it is contrary to human nature and such. If it’s online hate, then I’ve got it. But if someone were to criticize me as a football player, I would take on more than if someone thinks it’s disgusting that I’m gay, because I’m so confident with that part and I know exactly where I stand.

She continues speaking whether a football player today needs to be equipped for net hatred:

– It is something I have mentally prepared myself for, thinking that I may have to deal with now during the European Championships.

– I think that the more media attention we get, the more we are seen everywhere, the more individual mistakes and such pieces can also get more criticism. Should we not perform as we want in the European Championships, we must be prepared for criticism, with good reason. We should be able to handle that. But hatred and threats, death threats, racism and homophobia – we will report that.

This summer’s European Championships in England is expected to be the biggest championship in women’s football ever.

Tickets for the final at Wembley sold out in an hour.

For the Swedish part, the goal is clearer than ever: It will be gold.

– But I do not like to talk so much about the end goal or to float away, because for me it is obvious and it has always been, says “Magda”.

She sits on a worn wooden bench at Enskede IP and remembers all the training hours of her childhood:

– I was never the most technical in our team or the one who could do the nicest tricks. But I have always loved to train, I love to get better, I love to develop and I simply love football. I think that’s what has taken me far.

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