Two and a half years after her last national team match, Lindahl received her farewell. During the halftime break of Friday's Nations League match between Sweden and Italy, the 41-year-old was honored at Strawberry Arena in Solna.
I feel grateful. There is so much sorrow in the world right now, so I think all of this will help me in that, said Hedvig Lindahl and then turned to the Swedish crowd.
There are so many who have found their way to women's football now. You hang on to the love and warmth that exists. And no hate "whatsoever".
"Knew I would cry"
She was the national team's first-choice goalkeeper for nearly 20 years. No Swedish goalkeeper has played more A-national team matches (189) and only three players, Caroline Seger (240), Therese Sjögran (214), and Kosovare Asllani (195), have more overall.
When you reflect on the career she has had and the number of national team matches she has made ... as a goalkeeper, it's unique, says Bayern München-backen Magdalena Eriksson.
Lindahl had her wife Sabine and their two sons on the pitch and received a bouquet of flowers and a diploma from the Swedish Football Association's chairman Simon Åström and long-time national team manager Marika Domanski Lyfors.
I knew I would cry, said a tearful Lindahl.
In the impressive list of merits, there is a World Championship silver, two Olympic Games silver, and two World Championship bronze. She has won the league and cup in both England and Germany and was twice (2015 and 2016) awarded the Diamond Ball, the award for the best player on the women's side.
Penalty specialist
During her career, Hedvig Lindahl also made a name for herself as a penalty specialist. The save in the final stage of the World Championship quarterfinal against Canada in 2019 is an example, as are the many match-winning saves in several penalty shootouts during the Olympic Games in 2016.
All her damn penalty saves over the years ... I don't know how many there have been. There are many good memories, says Magdalena Eriksson.
Sweden's national team coach Peter Gerhardsson has often emphasized how difficult he has had to take out a goalkeeper in his starting lineups. Yet, the choice almost exclusively fell on Lindahl in the important matches.
I can't say she was unbeatable, because there were periods when we maybe thought about choosing someone else. But when we landed, she stood almost every match that mattered something. So, she has been extremely important, says Gerhardsson.
Corrected: An earlier version had incorrect information about which players have more national team matches than Lindahl. Correct is that Caroline Seger, Therese Sjögran, and Kosovare Asllani have more.
Born: April 29, 1983, in Katrineholm.
Youth club: Gropptorps IF.
A-national team matches/goals: 189/0*.
Senior clubs: Värmbol (1996–1998), Tunafors (1998–2000), Malmö FF (2001–2003), Trion (loan, 2003), Linköping (2004–2008), Göteborg (2009–2010), Kristianstad (2011–2014), Chelsea (2015–2019), Wolfsburg (2019–2020), Atlético Madrid (2020–2022), Djurgården (2022–2023), Eskilstuna United (2024).
Merits: Olympic Games silver (2021 and 2016), World Championship silver (2003), World Championship bronze (2011, 2019), English league champion (2015, 2018), German league champion (2020), English FA Cup winner (2015, 2018), German Cup winner (2020), Swedish Cup winner (2006, 2008), Diamond Ball (2015, 2016), goalkeeper of the year in Sweden (2004, 2005, 2009, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021), goalkeeper in FIFA's and FIFPro's world eleven (2018).
Footnote: In the Algarve Cup final in 2022 against Italy, Lindahl scored the decisive Swedish goal in the penalty shootout. However, it is not counted as a goal in the Swedish Football Association's official statistics.
