The Swedish performance in the FIFA World Cup in Russia was one of the topics at the annual Youth development Conference in Halmstad. Most of the players in the Swedish squad have passed through a Tipselit club on the way in their to the elite and some even have a Tipselit club as their club of origin.
”Ola is a big profile for our youth players at Degerfors IF, and we are very proud of him,” says Lars Ekman, Academy Director of Degerfors IF about Ola Toivonen.
Lars Ekman says that Ola Toivonen is a major role model for the new generation of football players in Degerfors and that he also gives a lot of back to his roots.
”We are lifting him all the time in our own channels, and we are looking at all the Sweden games in the World Cup together in Degerfors. Many youth players wears a Sweden jersey with Toivonen on their backs.
”Every year Ola has a football camp in Degerfors together with the club coach Patrik Werner. Many from Degerfors IF and clubs around the community are participating under the control of Degerfors IF’s youth academy. Ola often brings gifts with he shares to the children”.
Stefan Lundin, Sports Director at Swedish Elite Football and responsible for the youth development conference, mentions that most of today’s Swedish football elite players have received their education through Tipselit in any way and that the member clubs have every reason to be proud of their contribution to Swedish football.
”It is clear that the Swedish player education and also not to forget the education of the coaches holds a high class and the national team of today feels very ”Allsvenskan””, says Stefan Lundin.
Four players from Brommapojkarna
Another club that has generated players to the Swedish World Cup squad is Brommapojkarna. Albin Ekdal, Ludwig Augustinsson, John Guidetti and Kristoffer Nordfeldt all started playing in BP when they were six years old and everyone has now gone all the way to the World Cup finals.
”This proofs that we are doing the right thing regarding our talent development work. It also gives a real boost to today’s youth players. It becomes real that where they are now, there was ”Ludde” seven years ago, or Albin 14 years ago. It gives us continuity at work and it shows all youth players that they can also reach all the way. It actually works”, says Mikael Sörnäs, executive youth and academy in BP.
”I have not heard of any other club that has generated four players to a World Cup squad that started in the same club at the age of six.”
BP gathered about 400 youth players in front of the big screen during this summer’s football school to watch the Sweden games in the World Cup group stage and at the same time they made an effort to letting the players know which players in Sweden that has BP as their team of origin.
”We show all players that it is possible for everyone to get there one day”, says Mikael Sörnäs.
New record
In total, over 60 clubs from Allsvenskan to Division 2 participated in the youth development conference. A large part of the conference was spent to look back at what the Tipselit project already has achieved over the years and how work should progress in the future. As it is now, talent development in Sweden works incredibly well, and it is not least seen in the good results that Swedish national youth teams have achieved in the recent years. But there is also important to have a plan for the future to be able to improve even more.
”International competition is hardening and more and more countries and leagues make great resources on the development of young players. Therefore, it is obvious that our league must take responsibility for the development of our club’s work with players”, says Stefan Lundin.
The participants also looked at the new certification system that came into effect this season and discussed competition questions and the new format of the U series and the UEFA B training for coaches. Robert Johansson, Communications Officer in Swedish Elite Football and Editor of Tipselit.se, told about the Certification Results 2017 and Tony Lundqvist, Sport Manager Youth in Elfsborg, spoke about how his club is working with getting the players ready to go from the youth teams to the first team.
Sweden World Cup squad and their Tipselit club where they got elite education:
| Goalkeepers: | |
| Robin Olsen | – |
| Karl-Johan Johnsson | Halmstads BK |
| Kristoffer Nordfeldt | IF Brommapojkarna |
| Defenders: | |
| Mikael Lustig | – |
| Victor Nilsson Lindelöf | – |
| Andreas Granqvist | Helsingborgs IF |
| Martin Olsson | – |
| Ludwig Augustinsson | IF Brommapojkarna |
| Filip Helander | Malmö FF |
| Emil Krafth | Östers IF |
| Pontus Jansson | Malmö FF |
| Midfielders: | |
| Viktor Claesson | IFK Värnamo |
| Albin Ekdal | IF Brommapojkarna |
| Oscar Hiljemark | IF Elfsborg |
| Marcus Rohdén | IF Elfsborg |
| Sebastian Larsson | – |
| Gustav Svensson | IFK Göteborg |
| Emil Forsberg | GIF Sundsvall |
| Jimmy Durmaz | BK Forward |
| Forwards: | |
| Marcus Berg | IFK Göteborg |
| John Guidetti | IF Brommapojkarna |
| Ola Toivonen | Degerfors IF |
| Isaac Kiese Thelin | – |
Tipselit:
Tipselit is a cooperation project between Swedish Elite Football and Svenska Spel, the main sponsor of Swedish football with the purpose of developing Swedish elite football players. This is done through goal-oriented efforts on young talents. Every year, Svenska Spel contributes with SEK twelve million to Swedish youth football. Money that Swedish Elitfotboll distributes to the 62 participating clubs according to a certification system.
The clubs are given the opportunity to strengthen their talent development by getting qualified coaches for their development team. The idea is that the talents will receive an elite-oriented football training of primarily full-time coaches. The aim is to secure the future of Swedish football.
In 2017, a total of 803 active elite football players that played their football in Sweden or abroad had passed through Tipselit. 282 of these played in Allsvenskan and 353 in Superettan.
More info at tipselit.se
