The Chosen One: Meet Sweden’s “next big thing”

25 Jan. 2021

The Chosen One: Meet Sweden’s “next big thing”

It is a new dawn for one of the most successful teams in the history of European handball. Sweden have won both the IHF Men’s World Championship and the EHF EURO four times, but have started a major rebuilding project, keeping some of their core intact, yet adding new, exciting prospects.

In fact, from the 21 players in Glenn Solberg’s Egypt 2021 roster, only nine of them played at the EHF EURO 2020, co-hosted by Sweden.

This meant that exciting young players like Oskar Sunnefeldt, Felix Claar or Lukas Sandell had the chance to represent Sweden at the highest level.

But neither of them have been lavished with praise more than centre back Alfred Jönsson, a 22-year old player at German club TSV Hannover-Burgdorf, who is touted to be “the next big thing” in Swedish handball.

Several coaches have pinpointed Jönsson to have the most impact on the future of the national side, including Tomas Axner, Sweden’s women’s national team coach, who watched Jönsson develop at his former club, Lugi HF and labeled him as “The Chosen One”.

“There is no pressure, I am feeling nothing, I can only get on the court and play the best I can,” says the level-headed Swedish playmaker.

Sweden have had a plethora of transcendent superstars in their roster, the famous “Bengan Boys” generation, who won everything that could have been won between 1998 and 2004, including the IHF Men’s World Championship in 1999, also hosted by Egypt.

“I would have never thought that I will be selected for the national team and prior to Egypt, I would not have believed I was going to get so much playing time.”

“I am feeling great here, we have a great group, we did not expect to win the group in the main round, but here we are and we just want to progress in the competition,” says Jönsson to ihf.info.

In a country that lives and breathes handball, Jönsson has been attracted to the sport since he was a child and has not stopped since.

His powerful shots, but also his creativity on the court make him a dual-threat player in attack, yet Jönsson still nit-picks flaws in his game.

“My defense can be improved and I hopefully will do that with in time. I would like to be a complete player – good both in attack and in defence,” adds Jönsson.

For a player that hates losing, Jönsson has been lucky at Egypt 2021. Sweden are one of the few teams that have not lost a game, with Sweden winning four times and drawing two games, against Belarus and Slovenia.

But the Nordic side won Group IV of the main round and will face Qatar in the quarter-finals where they aim to clinch one of the top four places in the competition, a goal that Sweden have failed to achieve since hosting the IHF Men’s World Championship in 2011.

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For such a young player, Jönsson’s ambitions are high and his first World Championship has been a success until now, scoring 10 times and dishing five assists in the six games.

“For the next step, I would like to play for one of the best teams in Europe and reach the EHF Champions League Men FINAL 4 in the next years. Also, I am only thinking about medals with Sweden, as I think we are a very strong and good group, we have a good chemistry,” adds the 22-year old centre back.

Yet his first appearance in a major tournament has not derailed Jönsson’s life. A student, Jönsson had to take an online exam the day after scoring two goals in Sweden’s draw against Slovenia, 28:28.

“It was harder than on court, really. I had to go online, do a one-hour meeting, finish my exam and that was it,” smiles the Swedish player.

Indeed, he passed the statistics exam with flying colours, like he has representing Sweden at the biggest level in handball.

Now, he can focus solely on the task at hand, helping Sweden win their first IHF Men’s World Championship medal since France 2001.