Could Sweden be the Big Surprise of Euro 2020?

Unlike the World Cup, Euro tournaments tend to produce surprise winners, including Denmark in 1992, Greece in 2004, and even Portugal in 2006. The Swedish national team has a long history of going deep into World Cups and Euro tournaments and next year may just be the moment they spring a surprise. The Swedes are currently second in Group F of Euro 2020 qualifying and should move through to next year’s tournament comfortably.

Sweden Has Strong History at Major Tournaments

If the blue and yellow of the Swedish national team seems familiar, that’s probably because it is. Sweden is as much a fixture of the big football tournaments as France, Germany, England, Spain, and Italy. 

The Swedish national football team has competed at each of the last five UEFA European Championships and in six of the last seven. In 2004, they made the quarter finals. In 1992, they made the semi-finals on home turf, bowing out to Germany 3-2.

Sweden’s World Cup record is even more impressive and testifies to their ability to perform well on the biggest stage. Sweden has competed in 12 World Cups, making it out of the group stage on all but three occasions. In Russia last year, they lost to England in the quarter-finals. Older fans will almost certainly recall a star-studded Sweden team including the likes of Tomas Brolin and Martin Dahlin losing to Brazil in the semi-finals at USA ’94. Some fans may still remember Sweden losing to Brazil in the final of the 1958 World Cup, which was played in Sweden.

Bookmakers Offering Good Odds on Sweden

So, we’ve established Sweden’s big game credentials. Now let’s look at their odds at next year’s Euro 2020 tournament. At time of writing, the casinos and bookmakers listed at Casino.se were still paying long odds for a Swedish victory.

We looked at a few top bookmakers and found Sweden’s Euro 2020 title odds hovering around the 80/1 to 125/1 mark. That puts Sweden around 20th in Euro 2020 betting, on a par with countries like Ireland, Wales, the Czech Republic, Austria, and Iceland. For the sake of comparison, the clear favourites are France, at arounds 7/2, England, 9/2, and Belgium and Germany, both paying around 7/1. 

Sweden Likely to Qualify for Euro 2020

Many online casinos also have online betting sites where fans can bet on Euro 2020 title and Euro 2020 group winner. It appears Spain will probably win Group F, with Sweden currently second in group betting odds at arounds 10/1.

Judging by these odds, it’s unlikely Sweden will win Group F, but that doesn’t really matter. In Euro 2020 qualifying, the top two teams from each group will go through to the main tournament. Sweden should qualify and, if it does, it could well spring a few surprises at next year’s tournament.