Facts: Hanna Lundkvist
Born: July 17, 2002.
Position: Right back.
Clubs: Djurö-Vindö IF, AIK, Hammarby, Atlético Madrid.
International matches/goals, A national team: 4/0. U23: 12/0. U19: 12/3. U17: 19/2.
First team debut: 16 February 2023 against China (4–1).
Current: Selected in the Swedish WC squad.
Union captain Peter Gerhardsson has had to test himself a bit on the Swedish right wing after Hanna Glas’ knee injury last autumn.
The seasoned right-back, a regular in Kansas City, was hoping at the last minute to return to the championship in New Zealand and Australia but was ultimately forced to withdraw his offer.
It opens the way for, for example, the back talent Hanna Lundkvist.
“It’s really sad that a player gets injured, but then there’s always a new opportunity for another player,” Lundkvist himself notes.
— Hanna Glas is a player I’ve looked up to for a long time. She is extremely talented, so to try to fill her shoes in some way in this championship is a very big role to take. I hope I can do reasonably well.
Hanna Lundkvist is an experienced national team player on the youth side. But in the senior national team, there have been only four international matches so far, all this year.
That made for a nervous wait on June 13, when Peter Gerhardsson presented his World Cup squad.
“Ever since the first international match in February, you’ve probably had somewhere in the back of your mind that the chance exists and that all this spring I felt that I should do everything to have the opportunity to get the chance,” says Hanna Lundkvist.
— It’s big, it’s almost hard to explain. The whole day was like waiting for it and being nervous. Then it was a relief, but above all a sense of pride.
Higher demands
Hanna Lundkvist had only had time to play in the women’s league for one season when the chance for a move abroad came and the move went from Hammarby to Atlético Madrid.
A big step for a 19-year-old to take, but one that more and more people will take, she believes.
— When football develops, it moves more towards men’s football and how it looks there. It will be big clubs that want to buy young talent from the Allsvenskan, it will certainly become more and more common, says Hanna Lundkvist.
The first time in the club, without family and friends nearby, was tough, she admits. Not least that the requirements for training were significantly tougher than in Hammarby.
But a year and a half later, she does not regret the move.
– You make higher demands on each other and coming to that as a young person was probably a bit difficult in the beginning. But it’s also something you grow into and there are also great people off the pitch and so on. Now I feel great in the team, it feels like a safe environment now, says Hanna Lundkvist.
Two competitors
Of those who got the chance on the right wing since Hanna Glas was injured, in addition to Hanna Lundkvist, Nathalie Björn and Amanda Ilestedt are also in the WC squad.
However, Hanna Lundkvist hopes that she is similar enough to Hanna Glas to get the chance.
— She is a very good full-back, with very good qualities forward and backward. That’s something I want to be too, so I hope we’re similar in that way.
The World Cup starts on July 20 and three days later Sweden faces South Africa in the opener.