SAN DIEGO (March 27, 2024) – San Diego Wave FC announced today that midfielder Sofia Jakobsson and defender Hanna Lundkvist will join the Sweden Women’s National Team for the 2024 Women’s European Qualifiers. Sweden will join Group A3 alongside England, France and the Republic of Ireland.
Matches will begin on Friday, April 5 as Sweden takes on England at Wembley Stadium at 12:00 p.m. PT for the first round of qualifiers. Sweden will then host France at Gamla Ullevi Stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden on Tuesday, April 9 at 10:00 a.m. PT.
Jakobsson joined the San Diego Wave ahead of the club’s inaugural season in 2022 and has since appeared in 38 matches (22 starts) for San Diego, while earning four goals and five assists over the course of her NWSL career.
Lundkvist recently joined the Wave in February from Atlético where she made 23 appearances in her three seasons with the club. The Swedish international began her professional career in 2018 with her hometown club Djurö-Vindö IF before moving on to join Hammarby in 2019 where she spent two seasons, scoring six goals in 66 appearances.
At the international level, Jakobsson has represented Sweden since 2011, earning her first senior cap in May before being named to the FIFA World Cup roster later that year. The international has since earned 144 caps and been a part of four World Cups and three Olympics for Sweden.
Lundkvist made her Swedish national team debut with the U-23 side in September 2021. Just over a year later, the 21-year-old was called up to the Swedish senior national team for a friendly match against Australia, and later went on to make her first team debut in February 2023. In June 2023, Lundkvist was named to the 23-player squad for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, but was later removed from the roster due to injury.
About the European Qualifiers
The European Qualifiers are composed of a league stage and final tournament play-offs, where the league stage splits teams into three leagues: League A with 16 teams, League B with 16 teams and League C with 19 teams. Each team’s starting league position is determined based on the results of the Nations League. Teams compete in groups of four or three teams (League C) and over six matchdays, with each team playing one home match and one away match against all the other teams in their group.
The ultimate goals of this phase are to qualify for the UEFA Women’s EURO (or the FIFA Women’s World Cup) and to be positioned as high as possible in the league system for the next cycle. The European Qualifiers ranking at the end of the league stage determines three main outcomes: who qualifies directly for the final tournament, who goes into the play-offs for the final tournament, and what starting league position teams will have in the upcoming Nations League. Depending on the league standings, teams will either maintain their position in the league or be automatically promoted or relegated.
