In November, Lisa Dahlkvist announced that she was putting her football boots on the shelf and instead focusing entirely on her new career as a police officer. The 36-year-old, who since the European Championships in the Netherlands in 2017, has not donned the Swedish national team jersey, finally received the long-awaited farewell – almost six years later.

"When Marika Domanski Lyfors called me, I thought it was too late. She said: Lisa you are like me, you never give up, you always thought you would come back to the national team. But I still didn't think I would come back, says Dahlkvist and continues.

"It was never made official that I didn't want to join the national team again and that's why it's this late farewell. I'm really happy that there has been a farewell anyway. It's always tough that you get poked from the national team and that ends your national team career, so to still get a good finish.

Targeted criticism of the union

After the poking in the national team, no one contacted Lisa Dahlkvist, something she talked about in SVT Sport's reportage series Allsvenska stjärnan before the 2022 season.

"When I got the message that I wouldn't be able to participate anymore, it became very difficult. It's something that I don't want any other player to be involved in, but if you get removed from the national team and have been with us for such a long period, then I hope there is some fall cream there and me and Marika (Domanski Lyfors) have talked about that.

Do you know what the federation plans to do better for the future?

"To catch players, partly an extra conversation and if you are not going to play anymore that you have a bigger thank you for the player who has been with you for a longer period," she says.

CLIP: Denmark decides against Sweden at the last minute

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Here Denmark shocks Sweden at the last minute – see the goal.