No one in the Swedish European Championship squad has played as many international matches as Jim Gottfridsson, who will make his 179th appearance for Blågult in Saturday's opening match against the Netherlands in Malmö.
"Gotte" has played in every championship since his debut at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and has experienced many peaks and fewer valleys during the last decade of the national team. The deepest one Sweden will try to crawl out of now after last year's rock bottom and 14th place in the World Championship.
"It has been many years since we received such a poor ranking, and there are no excuses for it," says Gottfridsson.
"I was thrown in"
The 33-year-old playmaker still has no difficulty finding reasons that partly explain why things went the way they did.
"Micke" (Apelgren, national team coach) was thrown in during the autumn. Then there was the championship and we had serious injuries in quick succession to central figures in the defense (Oscar Bergendahl and Max Darj). Plus Felix Claar was gone. So there were three heavy injuries.
In the year since the World Championship fiasco, Michael Apelgren has had more time to build "his" national team. Norway, Denmark and Spain have all been defeated in friendly matches, but it is only now, at the European Championship, that we get the answer to the big question:
Where does the Swedish men's national handball team actually stand in 2026?
"It feels like we've been taking steps the whole time and it's clear as day that I think we're back," says Gottfridsson.
"Worse team then"
Apelgren, now Gottfridsson's coach on a daily basis at Pick Szeged, agrees.
"We have had time to build something that we like and believe in. It feels a lot better. And I feel that I can personally stand much more for what we are in now," says the national coach.
"Then I don't want to bash the players who were at the World Championship, but we simply had a worse team then. There are four players who played in the last Champions League final (Bergendahl, Darj, Claar and Daniel Pettersson) who weren't at the World Championship."
For Jim Gottfridsson, the European Championships on home soil will be the 13th consecutive championship. He has never experienced three consecutive championships without a medal, but this time there is a risk.
"Denmark, and also France, are probably the biggest favorites. But we will be there to fight for the medals."
Jim Gottfridsson has participated in all European Championships, World Championships and Olympics since his championship debut in 2016. Here's how it has gone:
Olympics 2016: 11th.
World Championship 2017: Quarter-finals.
European Championship 2018: Silver.
World Championship 2019: 5th.
European Championship 2020: 7th.
World Championship 2021: Silver.
Olympics 2021: Quarter-finals.
European Championship 2022: Gold.
World Championship 2023: 4th.
European Championship 2024: Bronze.
Olympics 2024: Quarter-finals.
World Championship 2025: 14th.
