Therese Sjogran, Sweden’s most-capped woman footballer, will bring down the curtain on her career after this year’s World Cup in Canada, she announced on Tuesday.
Midfielder Sjogran, 38, has played 209 times for her country and will retire after the tournament in June and July, to become sporting director of her club Rosengard.
“We’ve talked about it for a long time and the decision was easy to make: after the World Cup, my career will be over,” she said, according to the TT press agency.
Sjogran spent her entire career in the Swedish League, apart from a season in the United States in 2011.
She was at the centre of a controversy in 2013 when the Swedish football federation presented a car to Anders Svensson, who was the most-capped player in the men’s game, even though Sjorgan had already played more times for her country and received nothing.
Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic immediately waded into the debate raging in Sweden when he said dismissively: “She can have a bike with my autograph on it and that’s it. You just can’t compare men’s and women’s football.”