Jens T Andersson has changed the chaotic everyday life of Hejduk Split into more order and order in the Swedish Football Association.
Now Sweden’s new manager tells how he views Jan Andersson’s new national team, discussing gender equality, the national team’s under-21 national team turmoil, and what Plogolt will look like in the future.
– When we are not playing the World Cup in Qatar, it is good to look for it, he says.
It was in March of this year that Jens T Anderson He was appointed as the new manager of the national team. Thus, he takes full responsibility for all Swedish national football teams. From the boys’ and girls’ national teams, to the beach soccer team, to the men’s and women’s national teams. Anderson previously held the position of sporting director at AIK and AFG Aarhus of Denmark and Croatia Hajduk Split. Recently, he came from the position of head of the elite Swedish football team.
I think it was a good start for me here as the national team manager. It was exciting and fun to gain insight into the breadth of the national team’s activities. Sometimes you think that this is only the women’s national team and the men’s national team, but in fact there are about 15 national football teams.
Much of the first time is about getting an insight into the different aspects. At the same time, I’ve been very careful to have the lowest starting distance possible when I take on new tasks and I want that here too.
– But I also want to keep my outside perspective, which I think will be very useful. I came with the club’s experience and thought it would be useful, says Anderson, considering we borrow players from clubs, who are their employers.
What prompted you to take over the position of national team manager?
– I see it as a challenge. I think there is huge potential and I find it very exciting to work with the best players in Sweden. Although not everyone is playing in Sweden now, our best players and captains should be here. Working with a high-performance company has tickled me as it is. I also like the competition because they are short sets.
– Now we have four matches in 13 days with the men and we will win all the matches. It’s interesting and then you want to build a company and organization in daily life that creates the conditions for players to win those matches.
How much will you decide and control?
– If we take the national team kit that comes with the guys now. There, of course, Jan and Peter are the ones who go out of the squad and decide the team, style of play and so on. I have more general responsibility. Let’s take an example, if the men’s national team wants more sets, longer sets and all that. Or if we can somehow develop it, then Jan and Peter come to me with it, and then we have to look at it.
– I have more operational responsibility on our national team.
How do you think the activities of the national team feel?
– I had time on a short trip with the guys to Poland and a short trip with the ladies to Georgia. From what I have seen so far, the work is very professional and there are very good conditions for results in individual matches.
– Now it will be fun to watch a full June set with the men and women in the play-off for almost the entire European Championship. Then I got to know everyone better. Gaining such deep insight into how they work will be important to getting into the boys and girls business. Because it is about preparing the players to represent the men’s or women’s national team in the future.
The under-21 national team captain changes have been a snack lately. How do you see that both Boya Asbagy and Gustafsson’s jeans left almost immediately. Doesn’t this job have such a high profile anymore?
– It is an interesting question. Now we have two captains of the national team who have been assigned in a short time with coaching assignments outside Scandinavia. We all know that it is very difficult for Swedish coaches to get such jobs. Unique opportunities arose for Jens and Poya with the U21 national team being one of the reasons they got the job.
– Because if you look internationally, it’s good to be the captain of the national team for the national under-21 team. Hit loudly. It’s probably higher abroad than it is here in Sweden, Anderson says.
He believes that they continue to search for the most deserving coaches, but that it will also be important to strengthen the organization around the national under-21 team.
– In my opinion, we want the best coaches for our national teams. Then you have to live with the fact that you lose coaches during the flight, that is the reality today.
What will be important is to create a structure and a strategy around the U-21 national team so that we don’t become dependent on the current national team captain. With that said, it’s not a good idea to have two league leaders in a six-month period.
– But you can also be the captain of the national team for the national under-21 team for two or three years and then bounce. But it will place heavy demands on the business that we have now.
Could there be new roles in the U-21 national team or could it be reconstructed in any way?
– It’s too early to say. We’ll have a conversation with Claes Erickson. But it’s certainly a viable way to look at organization around the league leader. how to design it.
– This league leader will come next at regular intervals. The situation will not deteriorate for that. It’s a high-profile job. Perhaps now more than ever when everyone sees it’s a stepping stone abroad, too. I don’t see a big problem in finding a captain for the national under-21 team. The important thing is to do the right thing.
What is your take on the gender equality debate that has been applied, for example, to bonuses for various national teams?
– For me, it’s easy. Football is equal regardless of whether you play on a men’s team or a women’s team. Then there are the challenges, because unfortunately this approach does not permeate the rest of the world of football. But we are far ahead in Sweden when compared to other countries. But we will continue to push the case aggressively. Because there are very big differences, for example, in the compensation of the championship.
how do you do that?
As always when influencing large organisations. through pressure. Cooperate with countries that feel the same way and continue to pressure. When Sweden raises its hand on its own, there may not be many who see us, but once we join forces with a few countries, we have great opportunities to make an impact.
What do you say about the first meeting with Jan Anderson?
– I’ve met Janne before as a colleague at Allsvenskan so it wasn’t surprising. Janne is very simple and painless. I know Peter Wettergren a little more than before. Of course we were two different teams but we were both Swedish captains in Denmark at the same time so we had some connections. On the female side, I have known Magnus Wakeman and Peter Gerhardsson for many years, both from Uppsala like myself. So it was easy to get into it.
How do you measure that you have done a good job, is that possible?
– Yes, I want to believe it. It’s about efficiency there, too. It may well be calculated how things go with our national teams, I’m not deciding whether we should play 3-5-2 or 4-3-3, but if we have a number of players in both the men’s and women’s team who start to turn down the groups, You might start to grab the national team manager and ask what he’s doing.
How will you earn more money?
– No, the simple answer is that we will go to the championship and win. Then there are other parts of the union that operate on ordinary income. But my job is sports, and then it’s about that.
What do you think of the booze you have now when you meet the national team?
– I think it looks good. We have an exciting team with the guys now that we talk about them. Like Jan Andersson said, the Nations League is important in terms of rankings, but it’s not as important as the European Championships and the World Cup.
– When we are not playing the 2022 FIFA World Cup, we have to look for it and it is good to do so in the future. It’s a special business to get into and it’s right to pick players for the future. The more time you have to register young players, the better. You get very good routine and experience in international competitive matches.
I’ve talked previously in interviews about the time I was the athletic director in Hajduk Split when you had a meeting once and someone came there armed. This job in the guild seems a far cry from that of Hajduk. But what can you take with you from there?
– So, it is clear that there are opposites based on chaos and chaos in everyday life there and that there is order and order here. But at the same time, there have been many international matches out there and you get a different perspective. At least for me. It will be interesting. The experiences that I have gathered internationally, I benefit from here when I go away for the matches of the different national teams.
– On the one hand, I already have a network of contacts with me, respect for other cultures and how to deal with situations in different countries. Do it well for Sweden once you’re out. Because you have to remember that all the countries you have to meet do not always want to prosper. There I feel that my international experience is useful.
– Then as I said, there is more order and order in the office here in the guild than in the office I had in Hajduk Split.
Another big problem is the creation of a NDC, but it seems to be quiet and nothing has happened. What is the latest news there?
– I have experience working with an AIK training facility and we have partially started at a training facility in Aarhus as well. There I participated in drawing it and sketching what it would look like. Then it started building when I left.
– But I’ve been at this juncture before. Now Hakan Rosberg is the one working on this issue, but I’m there too. I think it is very important that we get a national training center. Just look at the most successful teams. They have too. We want a home for Swedish football.
“It’s a high priority for me.”
Anderson believes the case is more advanced now than it has ever been.
Denmark is in the planning phase, Norway is in the planning phase, and so are we. But I would say that the issue is higher now than it was before.
We will now also write a letter of intent with the Municipality of Upplands Bro. It’s an exciting track. One of the main points is the floor. It is difficult to obtain such a large area of land near Stockholm. But we’ve looked at this now in Kungssängen. Then we have some stakeholders who contact us with suggestions for plots of land. But if he’s been on the bench for a long time before, I’ll judge that we have this question every week in different contexts. The issue is a high priority for me.