In May, the midfielder received a call from national team captain Graham Potter, who informed him that there would be no World Cup summer for Larsson.
All footballers dream of playing in the World Cup, so it's clear that it wasn't much fun there and then, says Hugo Larsson after the national football team's second training session on Bosön.
“Busy at the beginning”
The Skåne native was selected for Potter's first national team squad when the World Cup qualifiers ended in November last year, but he was injured during the second day of the camp in Marbella.
He was also selected for the World Cup playoffs in March, but did not receive any playing time against either Ukraine or Poland.
Then came the conversation about the World Cup no-show.
It was tough at first when he called for a day or two, and then I left it behind and enjoyed the summer.
He does not want to tell reporters any details about what was said during the conversation.
I've been pretty clear to you before that things between coaches and players should stay between us, so I'm not going to go against that now. We had a good conversation and have had one now as well. There was nothing strange about it.
Larsson's relationship with former national team captain Jon Dahl Tomasson was strained.
During a gathering in the fall of 2024, he got into an argument about playing time with the Dane, who also openly said that he thought Larsson made too many "vertical passes."
"It's very sad. Some things should stay within the family. Now it didn't happen that way," Larsson said at the time about Tomasson's statement.
The fresh Premier League player - he left Eintracht Frankfurt for Fulham in early September - was initially also called up for the ongoing Nations League gathering, but was withdrawn after Mattias Svanberg was injured.
“No problem with him”
Potter said on Monday that he had spoken to Larsson over the phone when he was called in.
"I have no problem with him. I understand that players who miss the World Cup will not be happy. The only thing you can do as a coach, as a person, is explain your decision," Potter said.
The Englishman has previously said that the decision was made for sporting reasons and recently pointed out that Larsson was not at all rejected because of who he is as a person.
"It's nothing that has come from us - from me, from Potter, or anyone in the entire national team. It's something that has been created by people who have no insight," says Hugo Larsson.
Sweden plays in the B division together with Romania, Poland and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The winner is moved up to the A division and the fourth place is moved down to the C division.
For the second and third place, promotion/relegation matches await in March 2027.
Sweden's matches:
September 25: Sweden–Romania 8:45 p.m. at Strawberry Arena in Solna.
September 28: Sweden–Poland 8:45 p.m. at Strawberry Arena in Solna.
October 2: Bosnia-Herzegovina-Sweden 20.45 at the Bilino Polje stadium in Zenica.
October 5: Romania–Sweden 8:45 p.m. at The National Arena in Bucharest.
November 14: Sweden–Bosnia-Herzegovina 8:45 p.m. at Strawberry Arena in Solna.
17 November: Poland–Sweden 20.45 at Tarczyński Arena in Wroclaw.
Source: Swedish Football Association.
