Sweden go into Tuesday evening’s match against Lithuania at Strawberry Arena on the back of a 5-0 away win. The temperature is expected to be around eight degrees at kick-off at 7 p.m., with no rain forecast.
Despite that, the roof is open. Men’s national team player Gabriel Gudmundsson has said, for example, that it becomes difficult to breathe when there is no open sky above the arena.
“It’s true. Depending on how many people are there and how hot it gets, it can feel like an indoor hall. It can be hard to breathe. I have asthma, so I have to take a few puffs beforehand,” says captain Nathalie Björn.
Is it an advantage that only 11,000 tickets have been sold?
“Yes, that’s a positive part of it all. That’s why I don’t think it will be that difficult to breathe.”
Only the first tier is open for sale for the match, giving the arena a capacity of approximately 20,000 spectators. The national stadium’s maximum capacity is just over 50,000.
“It’s clear that we want to fill it more, but it will still be good,” says Björn.
The women’s national team played at Gamla Ullevi as its home stadium for a long time, but the Gothenburg arena is no longer officially designated as a national stadium.