Kosovare Asllani Eyes Perfect Ending with European Championship Gold

The 35-year-old veteran has achieved almost everything one can wish for in a football career. With one exception.

What is missing is a gold medal. That's the only thing missing, says Kosovare Asllani.

She made her national team debut as a 19-year-old in a European Championship qualifying match against Romania in 2008. Then she got to play as a winger. Today, she is the team captain and a given in her favorite role as an offensive central midfielder.

The national team career that spans 17 years impresses even herself.

I'm incredibly proud. I never thought I'd be standing here and soon have played 200 national team matches, five European Championships and 11 championships in total. Those are crazy numbers, says Asllani.

Last championship

She played her 199th national team match in the European Championship warm-up against Norway last week. If injury or illness doesn't stop her, she'll reach the milestone of 200 in Friday's European Championship premiere against Denmark in Geneva. Only Caroline Seger (240) and Therese Sjögran (214) have passed that limit.

Extremely big. It's nothing I planned for when I joined the national team. You never know how a career goes, no matter how good you are. It's so much about the choices you make and having coaches who believe in you. It will be powerful to achieve that – if I succeed.

The European Championship will be her last championship, she has said. When the national team career ends is not as clear. Sweden, for example, has a Nations League final in the fall that Asllani might be interested in.

Does it matter how it goes in the European Championship for your decision?

I don't know. If we win gold, then it's the perfect ending. But we'll see. It's hard to decide on that right now.

The promise to Seger

There will definitely be no attempt to reach Caroline Seger's national team record.

I'm not Seger. I won't reach 240 national team matches. I actually met Seger during the vacation and said to her "don't worry, I won't take your record".

She tries not to think about the fact that it will soon be over in the blue and yellow jersey.

I'm the kind of person who lives in denial until that day, says Asllani.

I've just tried to be in the present and not think about what it means. What I've tried to think more about is that it has meant incredibly much. I'm very proud of my career and grateful for everything I've experienced.

Sweden starts the European Championship against Denmark on Friday. The final is played on July 27.

Lasse Mannheimer/TT