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Lotta Schelin Their Pitch Podcast Transcript

I wish I could put into words how resentful I am at having to transcribe a 90 min podcast just because some of y'all keep insisting on taking a quote about Lyon out of context.

Available on Spotify, I am not affiliated with Their Pitch in any shape or form nor have I ever begged them to contribute to my Starbucks fund, don’t want to commit to transcribing every podcast but it’s also directly related to how much much I want to avoid doing chores and/or people getting shit wrong about my team, blah blah you know the speech. I really wish they'd do Renard but her English isn't good enough for that to happen.

Also I'm bilingual in French/English, not Swedish, and absolutely do not have the self-confidence to even guess the spelling of some of the Swedish words they use, so if you see [Swedish term] it's just me accepting the limitations of my linguistic skills.

Finally, if you're going to post this transcription outside of Tumblr, pls just link instead of a mass copy/paste.

HOST: Lotta Schelin is one of Sweden's most successful football players of all time. Five times, she has won the Diamantballen as the Player of the Year in Sweden. And when playing with the multiple French Champions Lyon, she won the Champions League three times. From playing 185 games in the Swedish National Team shirt, Schelin scored 88 goals. The former striker has played professionally for Landvetter FC, now known as Göteborg FC before joining Olympique Lyonnais and FC Rosengard. Since Schelin stopped playing football, which she sadly was forced to due an injury in her neck, she has written a book and appears for both men and women's football on TV. In this episode, we talk about her career on and off the pitch, what made her move to France to play with Lyon, what she thinks is demanded from strikers in the game today. You are listening to Their Pitch, and this is the Lotta Schelin episode.

Host: Welcome back to a new episode of Their Pitch. Today we're Lotta Schelin, welcome to the podcast. How are you doing?

Schelin: I'm doing fine, thank you. And you guys? Are you alright?

Host: I'm doing very well, thank you. I'm a little sick. I've been sick for a while. You'd assume I have small kids at kindergarten, I don't. But that's how sick I've been lately, so.

Schelin: Oh no. That's not a good sign.

Host: Lotta, because I'm Swedish, I know how to pronounce your name. But I assume a lot of people have found it difficult throughout your career, pronouncing your name career. Maybe in France even. Would you like to tell us how to pronounce your name correctly?

Schelin: My name, like strictly correctly, is Lotta Schelin. Then I know, like, my American friends, my French friends, they say it like Shelling. That's totally fine. But Lotta Schelin.

Host: Lotta, we do have two quotes from people who know you. I'm going to start with the person that I said you would wonder how I got a hold of this person. And I'm going to read it to you, you're going to guess who it is, and then we're going to go on to the next one.

Host: "For me, it's always been easy to catch Lotta out of balance. She was the quickest and had the best technique, and it was incredibly hard to get the ball off of her. She was completely superior, but I had other tricks that kept our duels 50-50. Sometimes fair, sometimes not."

Schelin: Got it. I think this is my sister. I don't know if it's true.

Host: Yeah. It is your sister, Camilla.

Schelin: I can totally see that. It's kind of true what she says. You got me when you said balance. She could totally get me off balance with all her tricks.

Host: Yeah. I liked the "sometimes fair, sometimes not."

Schelin: Exactly. And often it wasn't fair. And she was always - yeah. If it was fair, then it was 110 percent - her tackling was 110 percent [intensity] against me and maybe 90 percent against others. Even if it's kind of fair, it's not really fair. And after that, it was everything. Everything. She could do anything and she knew I would be mad.

Host: And she knew she was going against you and not the ball.

Schelin: Yeah, for sure, for sure. I got irritated and mad, and that would get me out of balance, so. Because the way - only her, only her. Only this person could make me go mad like that.

Host: That's funny. That's what siblings are for, right?

Schelin: Yeah, for sure.

Host: I do have another quote here. I'm going to read it to you. This one's quite long, so it has a lot of detail. I think it's going to make you smile, and I think you're going to get it quite easily, but I'll start. And if you don't get it easily, we can cut out that part of me saying you're going to get it easily.

Schelin: No, no. That's going to stay for sure.

Host: "Lotta Schelin is one of the people who taught me most about myself and I value our friendship highly. It started off a little rocky though. When Lotta came into my life, she was a youngster at the very start of her career. I saw her only as a traditional talent, someone who had the possibilities to become the best but mentally I doubted she knew what it would take. She came late to training, and when I asked about the strength training, she told me "we do it individually on Wednesdays. But since we run on Thursdays, nobody does it because we don't want to be tired for the runs." Lotta and me were the complete opposites. That's what I thought at least. She had everything going for her on the field, and I was struggling with performance anxiety. I was training like crazy and she was training just enough and always performing the best. Tension got built up, jealousy from my side and maybe from her side, more of a "why does she have to take everything so serious?" After only a couple of months, we sat down, just Lotta and I. I addressed my feelings, the frustration I felt when she was late. I remember I was using very strong words. She told me about how she felt, everyone was judging her, no one saw the efforts she did, just seeing her as a talent and thinking "a talent can't be working hard." It was a very emotional 30 minutes at a parking lot in Gothenburg in 2005, and for me, it was the start of our friendship. During the last 17 years of friendship, Lotta has been growing on me every year. She's shown me again and again that her mentality is stronger than mine. She has been inspiring me by going against what every expert said was the right thing to do. When she moved to France, people might not remember this, but when Lotta went to Lyon, everyone said "it's just for the money and they don't even have a good league. She will never develop as she would have done in Sweden." But Lotta went anyway and became a legend not only at the club but at international football. She's been inspiring me by her smartness and her mental strength in football, but also in life. The way she entertains the whole table, and the fun in Lotta has always impressed me. Even when I was pissed at her, early early in our relationship. And in the end, I don't remember her as one of the biggest talents in football, but as one of the biggest professionals the game has ever had. With the highest ambitions, super aware of what it takes to reach the top, be the best and stay there. 7-37 [Swedish term]."

Schelin: That can only be like maybe 2 persons. I think - oh, now I don't know which one it is. I think it's Lissa [I am absolutely NOT sure about this].

Host: Yeah, that's correct.

Schelin: it was between her and Maria Karlsson. But totally [Lissa]. She is such a great storyteller. This was a story. But if it's true, I'm so humbled. I'm amazed by her talent, how she can like, express herself. She's a really special person for sure. And that's so true. We kind of had an argument, and she was really like - she was really mad about me being a little bit late. Sometimes. And when we talked, I totally understand for her, it was like a lot of respect, or lack of respect maybe when you were late. And I couldn't see that before. But when we talked about it, I totally understood her. It's true, that was like the beginning of something. Sometimes you just have to lift things up and talk about it, and afterwards it's so much easier to know what your expectations are, to try to fulfill those expectations. At least as much as you can. So yeah, okay. That was amazing. And I'm really happy that she gave you that quote.

Host: Yeah, me too. For us - I must say this. It's hard to know who has a connection and who does not. You go on social media and you're like "oh, they have a picture together, how about this?" Because in my job as a journalist, I am in contact with [Lissa], I have to call her, I have to ask things. And then I went onto your Instagram, and there's a picture of you guys sitting at a table. And she goes "do you know what's so funny about that picture?" And I said no. And she said "nobody knew I was pregnant." And Lotta who never posts on Instagram uploads that picture where I was pregnant with the twins.

Schelin: Oh no. I don't even put a lot of photos on my Instagram. That's a little bit typical.

Host: I knew I hit the jackpot as soon as she was like "yes! I would love to do it, I would love to do it! I know -" and then she was like "hmm, maybe I shouldn't say that." And she was like, "maybe I shouldn't tell those stories."

Schelin: Yeah, we have a couple of stories that shouldn't be told, that's for sure. [laughter] But this one was nicer. It's also important to be like - for sure in football, just work with other people, you know? We are so different. Everyone's different. Everyone has different ways of achieving what they want and seeing how to achieve it together. Sometimes we just have to like, talk about things. At least try to find a common path towards what you want, you know? And we did that. We're really different but we did that. When you find that, it's like [clicking sound]

Host: I think - that's what I was talking about at the start there. When you did start your career, she mentioned it in the quote, do you think that people didn't see the hard work that you put in?

Schelin: No, maybe not. I don't really know if I was thinking about it. I just did everything that I was supposed to do, I think. And I didn't really understand what she's talking about, like being on time, and like, you know, things like that. Everything around that. I was more of an easygoing person maybe and thought things weren't as important. I didn't understand maybe that I had to put all this effort in, like extra effort, because I hadn't thought about it so much. Anyways, I think that [Lissa] was one of the persons who showed me, and others, too, showed me that of course you can be different, but at least we have to try and find this common path. And I think they look at me sometimes and felt like, it's so easy for her. But I felt I did everything as much as I could, everything that I could to stay there, to stay at this great level, you know. So yeah. Maybe sometimes they didn't see everything they felt like that I did or like didn't think that I was thinking about it. I thought about everything.

Host: Was it frustrating at all?

Schelin: Yeah, sometimes for sure. Yes. But you know, the thing in the end was that you give everything for the team, and I think that I had such a high expectation on myself and sometimes maybe it was frustrating if they didn't see that. Like, if you have a bad day, it's not always about talent. You're just having a bad day. And something like if you're having a bad day, you just had to lean on someone even if you were one of the best. It was hard, you know, to be able to do that. But in the end in Gothenburg, everyone was like - that was one thing that I was not longing for, but was a little bit sad to lose when I went to France and Lyon, all these great people that always had your back. We had the backs of each other all the time. And when I came to Lyon, I was like "okay, oh my God, this is - I have to be an individual. No one was going to pick me up if I fall." This is the professional life, you know? You have to take care of yourself. But you know, in the end you see that even in Lyon, that we had a lot of people take care of each other also. But in the beginning it was tough.

Host: How different was it coming to the French league from Sweden for you? How was that for you, adapting to it?

Schelin: It was really hard. It was tough. The thing was like, I came in August. So like August, September, October. It felt like I was on a camp or something. And I just like, I had all this energy, like riding on this energy from there, so much fun. And in my performance, I was doing well also. But in January, after 4-5 months, I started to really feel like "oh my God, this is really different." I didn't know the language. And you know everything that you had in Sweden, that's so natural, all these things that I said, like in Sweden we're all about the team and you help in other. And in Lyon, it was more of an individual part. Like I had to pick myself up if I didn't have a good day and all this. And a different way of playing, you know. I was so used to getting the ball in front of me when I did my runs. And sometimes they were putting the balls in my heels because they like, they always pass the ball on your feet. And you know - they learned, they saw that I was different and that I saw that they were different, and you know, it was working really good. But you know, the first year was such a - I had to adapt in so many ways, and also in the every day life. So, culture differences in the ways of playing football and culture differences in the society and everything. On top of that, a language that I didn't know at all. So I felt like a kid when I was communicating and everything. My smile, that was the only thing I could communicate with sometimes. So it was difficult. But like I said, it was so important for me to have the three first months, because I was just riding on it and feeling so well. And the other, how do you say it, the other part of the season was tougher. But it was really nice for me to have the first part, because that made me feel a little bit secure, that like "okay, they saw that I had a certain level, at least." Even if I didn't have that in the end of the first season. So, hard, but just, yeah, just important to continue.

Host: In the end you ended up playing there for a couple of seasons ["a couple" is doing a lot of work here, Schelin was at Lyon from 2008 - 2016]. And as [Lissa] mentioned in her quote, becoming a club legend, a move that she also said was questioned. Why do you think you always believed in taking the step out of, what was at the time one of the best leagues in Europe, and going to the French league?

Schelin: I mean exactly, I - in that sense, that's one part that I am keeping with me, the part that I like listened to my intuition or whatever, my heart, I don't know. You can call it what you want. I just felt like it was time for me after eight years in the Damallsvenskan and Göteborg for me to do something different, and I was totally ready. And I thought about the US because, you know, they started something, a couple of teams, maybe, maybe. And suddenly this French team comes up. And I only had - I was like "okay, they only had two good games against Umea." A lot of people in Sweden thought they were looking really good. That was the only thing that I had with me. And I heard them tell me that they wanted to win the Champions League. So for me that was the only thing. And I just thought, okay, I'm kind of ready. I can do this, I can try this. I get to be a professional. And, you know, I can always go home. That was kind of my intent. Yeah, I signed for two seasons. But I thought to myself, if I was to go home after one [season], it's going to be alright. So it's just something I wanted to try. And I'm so happy that I did, of course, because it was amazing, an amazing club and an amazing team. But not at that point when I came. It developed to be this amazing team. But I'm happy that - because, you know, the [voices] weren't all good, of course, they didn't know, and I didn't know that much either. I had to go there, and to try, and to see. Just happy that I did, because it was a lot of change going on, in the French league and in French football.

Host: And they did say that they wanted to, you know, compete for real in the Champions League and win the Champions League. But how was the league and the competition in the league? Was it good, high level?

Schelin: No, I can't say that it was high level. The thing was that when you come to the team, you see all these great players. Like technically, they were amazing. And I was like, "what is this? Is this for real?" They were really good. And we needed a couple of years, we needed maybe a change of coach and everything. And in the end we got to be this amazing team. And you can look at it in the same way, with other teams, it was the same. I played against these teams, and maybe we won 10-0, but they were really technically - they got a lot of technical skills. The thing was that I saw with them is that they didn't practice enough, or, you know, well enough to be physically good to compete with Lyon, with Paris Saint-Germain, Juvisy at the time [now Paris FC], Montpellier. So we were like four teams that were really good, and the others normally you couldn't be beaten by them. But it was amazing during these eight years what happened. They practiced more and more. And like I said, so many great football players just had to start practicing more and know how to be professional. So that was a journey in that too, and still, I think. But I look at the Swedish teams, even when my sister played in Division 2 or something like that, 1 maybe. I know that she went practicing four times a week. So they were really physically good. And I talked to the other girls playing in the smaller clubs, and they would practice twice, maybe three times. That was the biggest difference. Technically, really nice football players, all of them.

Host: And when we talk about Lyon and your time in France, it makes me think back to your book where you talk about your previous coaches, and your experience with him [Patrice Lair]. I'm not going to put any words in your mouth. You describe him as leading with some sort of dictatorship, if I'm not mistaken.

Schelin: Yeah, yeah. You know, management by fear is common to a lot of people. And it was kind of like that. You know, I always - even when I do my - when I do my speeches or when I go to clubs and speak about my career or organizations, I'm always like "I'm totally forgiving him, because what he did to the team was amazing." Like, you know what I mean? He was so hard. Like he was always telling everything that he saw or thought about, he said it to the whole team, even if it was one person. And he was screaming, had a couple of tough words, and that was his game, you know? It was his kind of - he knows that he was like that, you know. He said it himself. He told us, normally he stays in a club one or two years, that's it. He knew that was his limit with his kind of style. But he stayed for four years. That was the problem. The first year he came in, amazing, he was so straight forward. He took a lot of players from doing maybe 70 percent in practice and even in games, like he took them right up to 100 percent. You can totally understand why he'd do that. They're good players who started to be amazing. We didn't stop when we had a lead of 4 or 5-0. We would win with 10-0, because every girl, every football player, they were at 100 percent all the time. He demanded that, you know, if you wanted to play, or if you wanted to play the next game. So he was really pushing us. And I can say that he put this winning culture in the walls, as they say in Sweden. He put it right into that team. That's kind of amazing. So I totally give him that. That was the right person, the right way of like getting each player into their highest level and how to get there. And he had a vision of everything. So Champions League, we didn't lose with him for three and a half years, that was amazing. But it was really, really tough. And mentally - I told you in the beginning, my only way of expressing myself was my smile. Like smiling at people, trying to communicate. The two last years with him I didn't smile. It's always interesting with these kind of things. We need that, at that time, in the beginning. And then when you couldn't, like, everyone to the highest level should be able to take care of that. You can't continue screaming and punishing, and you know, things like that. It doesn't - it works, maybe, yeah. We won a lot. But I think that as a human being, it wasn't mentally healthy. So I think that a lot of girls, like good players like Megan Rapinoe, were like "no". She couldn't stay, because it was just like no, human-wise, it wasn't alright with her. So that's my biggest thing about this. But I totally understand that when he came in in this young French team club, I totally understand that that's what we needed. Because they're also used to tougher, another hierarchy or I don't know how to say in English. But that was only good but he never could have gone into - like when I said we played in Gothenburg, we're a team, everyone did their best. It wouldn't have worked for one week I think. All the girls would have said "no, this is not okay." And if I had to switch somebody, I had the coach from Gothenburg. If I take him to this environment with the French girls, no. They would have like - they wouldn't have understood why he asked us what to do. Or he's like really diplomatic and just like really different. They would be like "no, we don't understand, just tell us what to do." So if you can see it in this way, you can also understand that it is different cultures and different mentalities from parts of the leadership. And I totally get that and respect that. But yeah, it was too tough. It was two years too much. That's for sure.

Host: Do you think that Patrice Lair ever crossed that line? Because you mentioned in your book where he was getting kind of like paranoid, looking at interviews and stuff like that. Did he ever cross a line that for you was like not okay?

Schelin: We have a couple of lines that were crossed for sure. At least I, for my part, I told him everything, you know. I even did it before. Because he was honest with everything, so you could be honest too even if you were thinking totally different things than he was. I told him everything, and what I thought was wrong, you know. And that's the most important thing for me, because I want to believe that I am honest person. But I'm also like, kind of loyal and everything like that. So that was the hardest part, because you're loyal to the team, you're loyal to the coach and everything. And even if you thought a lot of things were wrong, when you're winning and you're doing everything right on the pitch, you don't want to create problems for the team, you know, just because you had problems with - you just take it. And that's the bad part of leadership, I think. When you're just taking too much shit if you can put it like that. Because in the end, that was my - when I was thinking a lot about it at the time, it was just like "do you have to feel this way? Does it have to be so, so tough like this to be able to win?" That was a real question. Like, is this what it takes? And maybe. I don't know. It's just that I have the National Team on the other side, and it just felt like my kind of leadership and what I wanted, or how I wanted to lead. It's not like that at all. In the end it was like, "no, I don't think so." I think that you can at least have a part where you don't like, you don't have to push people down to be able to win. No. I don't think so.

Host: We're going to move on to Damallsvenskan. It's gone through quite a lot over the years. Have you followed it at all since you stopped playing yourself?

Schelin: Yeah, I follow some. I haven't been watching like every game, but of course the results and everything. And then with the National Team and everything, you follow it. I think it's good this year, you know, with how you got to see highlights and stuff like that. That makes it so much easier to follow.

Host: What do you think of the development? Do you think - because as we said at the beginning, when you started out it was one of the best leagues. And now it's lost some places in the ranking. And how - what do you think about this development from the sidelines, being a TV pundit expert within football. What do you think about that?

Schelin: Exactly what kind of pundit expert? [laughs] Thanks. No, but for sure, like it was so "this is so natural". Even like when I went to Lyon and I saw what they could do, the muscles that they have financially, everything. Like it's - I have no idea, but look at it like this. The guys team, the professional team in Lyon, I have no idea, maybe they're 25, 26 [players]. And if they just put the 26th player, put that guy on the side and put the money in the women's team, just with that kind of money, you could do a lot, you know. So when you see it like that, and see this big club and all this potential, I totally understood early on that this is going to be game-changing, of course, in the women's game. If just big clubs start to invest in the women's game, we don't stand a chance in Sweden, because we don't have these big clubs, even if [lists Swedish teams], they're a great and they are big, but they are - but they're nothing compared to Lyon in what they do in revenues and everything. So I totally understood that Lyon have that kind of power that's not in Sweden. And I say that kind of power is so important to understand, to not be like - to know that in history we've been really good in quality, the work that we've done in Sweden, that reflects in women's football, I think. So that means also that we've come so far when it comes to respect and how you look at it and what you feel is right for the women's game. And that is important, because when I came to Lyon, it took me six or seven years until I felt okay, the whole club understands now. They like the team, you know. [This is super badly phrased but I think she's saying that it took 6-7 years for people to understand Lyon]. It takes time to change peoples' mind. I'm kind of sure that even Juventus or whatever, they have the money, they could do a lot, but to change the mentality, the respect, that's not something you can do in one season. It takes time. And we have that in Sweden. What I wanted to say with that is that we have these things that we have to adjust, hold on to or we won't be able to pay the money. But we can educate, and we will have like - still, even if we don't have much, we will have good situations for the girls to educate in and with the team and everything, and that's important. And when I was starting I was really happy to come to the Swedish culture, coming home to a family and everything. It didn't matter for me that it wasn't this huge stadium and everything, I had everything that I needed, just in a different way. So I think that we just have to remind ourselves that we have really important and really good stuff in Sweden too. But the money, money-wise, no, it's going to be hard. We can still have a good league, education, and the players that we can bring back afterwards. And it's hard also to be abroad. It's not that easy to be a professional, because you can see - I totally understand that Blackstenius when she was in Montpellier and she's more of a shy girl. And you know, it's hard. The French mentality is tough. And if you don't speak the language and everything, it can be tough. And you know, she'll come home and settle, and developing, and being so great that she's right now [LOL at the failure to mention the lawsuit Blackstenius was involved in but whatever]. And we need a good solid equal league in Sweden to be able to do that. That's my "short" answer. I try to be, but there's so much [to say]. But I think that we have to see our good side.

Host: Do you think there is anything that the league should do to, you know, be more attractive? Because now we see more of a development league for players, that they come here, they develop, and then they leave. Maybe do a celebratory return when they're done. Like, "okay, I'm back" and then they quit playing. Do you think there's something they need to do keep the players, because there's a lot of Swedish players, but not enough of -

Schelin: Yeah, you know, it's going to be hard. It's got to be interesting for them in so many ways to go abroad for them, you know. It's going to be tough. But right now, for instance, when we talk about everything - ooff, you know, in English now - when you talk about situations for the players. And now we talk about collective bargaining agreements. It's not that easy, but something like that. And right now they stopped it and the negotiations, they're not going forward and all this. And that's what I don't like. I just want the Swedish football and Damallsvenskan to just be the best at that point, you know? Collective bargaining agreement, just like, really good situations for the players: "you can come to Sweden, you're going to be safe, be able to be a mom if you want to." You know, all those things. Just like be in the front of the line at least, you know. And if you can do that, I think it's going to help a lot. Just look at [Swedish player] for instance. Hacken, they're making such a good situation for her. She wants to stay. And for sure she can go abroad, you know. And of course that can change. But I just want to be like, that's a way of doing it. Just be in the front of the line with all these rights. I don't like it when girls are talking about maybe it's going to be worse. No. No. That's the least we can do be in the front of the line.

Host: And we're going to move on to the National Team. Obviously you had a very long career and an amazing career to say the least with the National Team. You were forced to quit due to injury. You didn't get to decide when to stop playing. How was that for you, to not be able to make that decision yourself?

Schelin: You know, I've always told myself exactly the same: of course. Because who doesn't want to quit by like - you know, you want to quit by yourself. That's the easy thing to say because it's so obvious. So I totally felt the same. But at the time, when I had to stop, I think also that I've had the problems since so long, like maybe 10 years. I struggle with these headaches, and I struggle with getting tackles, all these things for my head and for my neck. I couldn't do headers. I couldn't do headers in practice. And you know, for such a long time, I slowly just took things away that I couldn't do. "Okay, now I can't read." Okay, now I won't read. Now I can't do this, now I can't do that. And in the end it was like, I can't even put - I went to the Euros in 2017 before stopping, it was just like - I felt like I was so sick. I had these headaches every single day. And I just struggled to be on the pitch. And I knew at that point, when you look at it during 10 years, I kind of like also - like, okay, I didn't want to stop at that point. I wanted to choose for sure. But I was like leaving it to me to say that I am also very happy that I could play at that level for 10 years and more, you know, because it was a struggle sometimes. So I kind of leaned on that. And I think I kind of told myself that. And I don't know if it was totally true, but I could at least be a little bit - how do you say, relieved by seeing it like this. The toughest part for me was totally being on the pitch 90+ minutes in the Euros, you know? Two months after, couldn't have a small walk without being sick. That was the toughest part. I couldn't do anything in over a year, like work, nothing. Toughest part for sure. But you know, I had this whole year to mourn a little bit. You know, all the friends that you lean on, that you're used to seeing every day. So that was the toughest part, all the relationships. But at the same time, you know, they're still there.

Host: Did you always know what you wanted to do after your career or did that like - did you want to go into coaching, or being a sporting director?

Schelin: No, I didn't know. But I know that - because I did work a little bit with football, and mostly men's football, you know, in competitions, before, even when I was playing. So I knew I felt that that was a lot of fun. So I would think maybe something like that would be great. So that's been amazing for sure. But not like all - I'm still really open to everything. I'm still like enjoying my time and having these - how do you say - projects here and there and with different organizations and everything. But I'm still like, I'm going to do that as long as I can. And afterwards, maybe when I grow up, I'm going to do something else. I have no idea. I'm just enjoying the moment for as long as I can. But no coaching feelings right now at least.

Host: No coaching feelings right now. But what you're doing part of it at the moment as we mentioned it before, TV pundit, expert kind of thing. Which is at TV4. How did that come about? Were you like "yeah I really want to get into TV" or was like, you got an offer that was obvious you were going to say yes to?

Schelin: No, because I was also like really, do I want to do that? Before I was in a situation, you know, where I played football. Everyone has got an opinion of what you're doing all the time. So in in a way I was like "maybe I don't want to do something that -" most of the time, I'm just going to do what I like and what I love. In this case, it was kind of like both TV4 and SVT, they were like, asking around like if I wanted to do it. Because I did some things for them both before. So they were kind of like asking if I wanted to do it. So in that case, that's the kind of thing I liked. And that's the most important thing, you know. Do I like to do that? Yeah. I think it's so much fun. So that was easy in that way, yeah.

Host: I must say though, I do live with my mom and her best friend. I've been doing so since I was three years old. And we were watching the World Cup recently where you were an expert sitting there. And my mom's best friend, who knows nothing about football, she was sitting there and she goes "You know what? When Lotta speaks, I understand what she's saying and I listen." She takes it in. She's like, "I actually -" yeah. "She's very good." I was like yeah, I'm going to tell her.

Schelin: Wow. Okay. That was cute. That's really sweet. That's something that's always nice to hear. And exactly like what you say, it depends so much - that's why I like to talk about the National Team, I think, because it's not so - you don't have to be strictly into all of the tactics, you know? You can talk about everything, like how do you work in a team, or how does it work when there's a tournament and how do you think about losing the first game and how you have to put that aside. You know? It's so much more. It's so much more when it comes to it. That's what I like.

Host: We're going to let you get to the football analysis part in one second. But there's one thing I wanted to talk to you about. We work at the same place, right, for [Swedish football association?] and I did meet you in the hallways not too long ago. And we had quite a nice chat, right? And you mentioned you recently won an award. And you met at this award ceremony, you met Alexia Putellas. Or she met you, rather.

Schelin: I don't know, I don't know. We met each other at least.

Host: You met each other. And you told me a nice story. I'm going to let you share it.

Schelin: Oh. It was so - it was so cute, because, you know, of course she's a superstar in Barcelona, in Spain that's for sure. That's what you feel when you're over there and that's amazing already. But she's also like the world's best player at this moment. Now she's injured, but before. So yeah we got to talk a little bit, and chat for a while. And it was just so cute because she was telling me a story about her, like 2012 I think it was, and we won our second Champions League at that time. She said that me, and Sonia Bompastor -she's the coach in Lyon - and Camille Abily also, her and us three, she asked us for a photo. She was kind of young, like 18 or so, and we were her idols. So she wanted a photo afterwards after we played them once. And that was kind of cute. So she had this photo with her, before. I don't think she looks at it right now, because it's kind of different. But it's cute when you have all these stories, because I was a young girl, too, like 18 in the beginning, and I looked up to all these great players. I got to play against them, like the girls that played the final in 2003. The year after, I played with all these women that played in a World Cup final. For me that was totally amazing. So it's cute when you can go back and just see.

Host: I've never taken selfies with football players.

Schelin: No, no you haven't. I'm the only one. But it's okay, I understand.

Host: I had to do one up on Alexia Putellas. Sometimes you've just got to beat them. With that being said, we're going to move on to the football analysis.

Host: I actually usually start with this question when I talk to players being active today when on this podcast. But the story behind why you played as an attacker, because every story is different behind that question, so hit me with it. Why did you end up as an attacker?

Schelin: How did I end up as an attacker? Okay, I think that - I think that I've always been an attacker. Like, from the beginning and everything. But when I start to play with [Swedish team], that's Gothenburg right now, or Hacken right now, it changed its name two times. When I started to play, there were these two great goal scorers [names two Swedish players]. They were great. They were so good, and I was just like - to be able to play at all, I had to play on the wing, like in a 4-4-2, the mostly right midfielder. That was so easy for me, because of course I wanted to play. That was a good position, I learned more about defending also. That wasn't that bad. And the same in the National Team, you know. We had [lists two Swedish players], what could I do? If I got to play, I was so happy. So I played a lot on the line, or the midfield. And then what changed? I have no idea. I loved scoring, and I know that when I played in the midfield, I didn't think about it. But when I played on top, I was just like reminding myself "oh my god, this is so much fun". Like to score, to lead the team. But I can't really say when I stopped being a midfielder. Maybe when I was a little bit older or something. But I got the chance when [Swedish players] were injured. And like it was a real eye-opener for me too, because I felt like I had been playing well, kind of, before. And the first game that I got to play as forward, and I scored, so it was like *gasp* amazing good. And I looked at myself and felt that I had been playing better before when I didn't score. So that was like the first big reminder for me that okay, you shouldn't listen to what I'm doing now. You shouldn't listen to the media, because like you have to look at it yourself because it's going to be you're the world's best when you score and you're going to suck when you don't. So that's an interesting pitch. But you have to tell me about the first time. What did you read?

Host: What did I read?

Schelin: No, when I started to be an attacker. You said that there's a lot of stories.

Host: It's just the stories behind, every player is like - everyone has a story. And you know, how they end up in that situation and stuff. So the roles are different and the stories are different. So it's just interesting to know that. And this is also my thing, because you mentioned this yourself for a moment. You're a pundit now, opinions and stuff like that. What's the hardest thing about being a pundit after being active yourself?

Schelin: The hardest thing? That you understand. You understand the players so much, you know. And the hardest thing is you have no idea - and that's why I'm insisting they can't listen to everything. Because I have no idea how the game plan is, what they talk about before going on the pitch, or what kind of role maybe this particular player has. I'm just looking at the whole 11 playing, maybe even 22, and I'm just picking up things like this *snaps fingers*. So I have no idea if - I had a role in 2016, to be in like this middle with 5, and I was just like on the line. It's almost like a defender. Almost. And I did exactly what the coaches wanted. And everyone was asking me about scoring goals, and I'm just doing other stuff. They don't know about which role you have for this game or with this coach and everything. So that's really hard. So you're sitting there with the TV, you just have to keep that in mind and just like watching the game, taking things out, trying to explain. In the end I can't really 100 percent know if that was something already planned.

Host: You're very humble person.

Schelin: Maybe, maybe. With time. I see that with other experts, with time they don't feel as a player anymore. You start to be a little bit more rough or tough maybe. But I'm kind of like that as a person also. That's what's, you know, hard. But in the end I am telling myself like try and explain what you see. Explain as good as you can. Why didn't it work out? Why wasn't she good? You know. That's the best thing to have with you.

Host: I'm very happy that you back me up because I always say this when I watch football. People have opinions. We can see what position they play but we have no idea what their roles are and what the coach has been telling them. So I'm glad I had you to back me up on this. Speaking of tactical things, when you started to play professionally, how much tactical knowledge was demanded from you when you were active, and did it change in any way over the years?

Schelin: Yeah, it did. That's maybe the biggest difference. I was - growing up, I had great coaches in so many ways, I'm so happy about it. I'm happy that I kept on playing with players that were just my team. They weren't the best. Everyone wasn't like the best, of course. But it was important, because in that case you can also learn to understand that you're a team, that you need everyone, and that in your leadership you have to get everyone on the same path. So I'm really happy about that. Of course, I would lack tactics today. When I look at Lyon, and they have the academy for the youngsters, they learn so much from the beginning. And maybe sometimes it takes something away from just having fun, for sure, but they're learning all these things early on. And I started maybe when I was in the [Swedish term], the regional team, you know. That's when I started to get some tactical details and understand things. And even when I started to play in Damallsvenskan, you know, [Swedish coach], he wasn't all about tactics. He wanted me to run. Run on every ball, that was the only thing that I had to do for him. So for me it wasn't tactics in the beginning. It took a lot of runs to read the game for sure. The tactics, not that much. But like with the National Teams, and then with Lyon for sure, it started to be more and more normal with my football to have all this tactical - how do you say, tactics for the game, watching the opponent. It wasn't that much, we didn't have the possibility, you know? Videos at that time, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, no. Nothing. Like what could you do? Maybe because we played them last year we knew that maybe they had this player who would usually do this. So when I came to Rosengard, it had changed. He wanted us to go home and like do things at home, you know? Studying and stuff. And I'm not like that at all. It was at the end of my career so I just felt "oh my god, no, I'm not in school." But I totally understand, and it's important and good that they have this ability. But it's important also to listen to different kind of players and what they want. A lot of them want to know about the opponent and a lot of them doesn't want to know, because I usually just wanted to go by intuition. It's been kind of my thing.

Host: It's been working out pretty well, I must add. The thing that we often hear is that these players have to be very flexible. Because you can play in a club. You played for a club, Lyon, that you were pretty dominant in every game, played a certain way. I heard in another podcast where you talked about this. Because you played in Lyon, and you were very dominant on the ball, and you played with a high back line, pushed up very far and you won games all the time. And then in 2015, I think, the Swedish National Team, they did take on a "reacting" playing style. So we can see players coming to the National Team today from having both a completely different position and roles, then they are supposed to come into the Swedish National Team. We saw that happening in the Euros this summer [2022]. So what was that like for you, coming from Lyon into the Swedish National Team with that being said?

Schelin: Yeah, exactly. But you know, [it's] really hard sometimes. And of course it's for some players - for me, not so much. But yeah, a little bit also playing in a different role maybe, a different - we play 4-3-3 in Lyon, mostly. In Sweden we're really strong in our 4-4-2. And that was the most common style of play. So yeah, it was really different. Of course that's also a thing. You learn things and you want to apply them in the National Team or in other environments. It's the same in Lyon, because they were - they were saying like they were playing, how do you say that, [Swedish term] - like solo marking, yeah. Like they said that but like in practice you only did it. On the field, it was a lot of marking. Like, it's really different. So sometimes it was frustrating at both [teams]. But I'm like such a Swede, so it was mostly tougher for me, like, in Lyon, when I had to think differently sometimes. But like you say, it's easy also, because we were pressing so high. Our best way of defending was our offense. It was really like that. And you can win so much with that, like I said before. It's like with the US all these years. You start the game and they are taking all these advancing - 15 minutes, straight away, we are backing [away]. And that's so easy for them. They have all this confidence in that. That's like important meters to take. Important meters for them and for us to push back straight away. It's like a mental thing also. But that's what we had with Lyon. So that was really different. But I don't know which way was the worse in the end, but like I totally wanted to put some of my experience into the National Team and some of my experience from Sweden and the National Team into Lyon, for sure. For Lyon it was also good to have, like, different - they had a lot of French players, like the key, but they also took in some foreign players who made the team very well, because it was a good balance. But it was hard for some of them. Like, I don't know if you remember, [Name of player], she was a Norwegian player, captain and everything. She had a hard time, because it was so - she was so good in like pacing herself right, working together, with the other play she was so smart. But the others players in Lyon were like going on runs, following players - it was so hard for her to understand how she should be positioned. That's really interesting. And also Seger for sure, because she was the same kind of player. So good at balancing and knowing how to put herself in the midfield and offense, but it's hard when all around it doesn't work as she does. It was two players - I didn't see Seger, but for sure I know that that could be a problem sometimes. Maybe for her too I don't know.

Host: Yeah. I mean it's just such an interesting question because I think it's even more [Swedish term] - it's even more visible today when you watch the Swedish National Team, because we have such great players in this national team, we've always had that, but they come from clubs where they play so differently with players around them that aren't even close to being the same in the Swedish National Team, even though our team is good. And you can really see that, because the kind of development the game has at the moment, it's in the details. And this actually - when you look at a striker now, the position as a striker, is it something more or less demanded from an attacker today compared to when you played, do you think?

Schelin: Maybe. But one thing that I developed in Lyon was like work I did in the box. I don't know to say it - in the penalty area, like in front of the goal. Because of course in Lyon we play like that, too. So much more crosses into the penalty area. You have to work with that. So that's nothing like I wanted with before. In Sweden, we had defenders when we worked in front of the goal, because you also have to - but technically, we never worked only with crosses and shots and headers. In Lyon, we did that a lot. I felt I was so bad in the beginning because that wasn't my - that wasn't where I was the best. Nowadays, even in Sweden, you have to - of course you have to do it with the defenders also. I think I see more of that, working more in front of the goal and also just technically doing more. And they know they have to have all these abilities to be able to be one of the best in the position. And sometimes I know that Stina [Blackstenius], she's moving in the same areas as me, and I know that she feels that there was more space maybe, before. I had taken that space. So I could move on the whole pitch almost. And I think nowadays maybe, but not always, maybe from a No. 9, they want more working in the center of the corridor, like not working on the outsides as I did, because I could often find myself in positions doing the cross. Maybe I think they want to have the attackers more in the center. That's a feeling, I don't know if it's true.

Host: I have two more questions. One, do you still watch Lyon play, and when you watch them, what do you see today?

Schelin: I watch them as much as I can, but not like every game or anything like that. Sadly, I don't have the time really. But in the Champions League and everything, I can follow them and then I watch them for sure. Of course it's a little bit different, they're still - apparently they're still as good because they won the Champions League, so they're totally fine. But even like before, I feel they have - they still have this core. We talked about winning mentality they got with Patrice [Lair], I got with Patrice [Lair] - it's still there. And they still have the core of players, like Wendie Renard, Eugenie Le Sommer, and now they have Bompastor and Abily as coaches. They have this core. They know what to do and how to do it, for sure. But -

Host: I think they miss a No. 9 at the moment.

Schelin: Umm, at the moment, for sure, for sure. You could see that last year, when Ada [Hegerberg] came back, it was like totally different. And that was why they were able to win. That's for sure. So when they lose M'Bock in the defense and Hegerberg, again, it's like - it's a little bit too much. I don't know if they can do it without them. And that's the difference at this point. Before they had all these world players. Now they have to take some from the academy. It costs more and more to get all these great players. That's a big difference. But I'm really like proud of what they're doing. The coaches, Bompastor and Abily, winning the Champions League as coaches too, that they were able to do that. It's always hard, but now it's even harder, so. That's amazing, I'm happy for them.

Host: They had a very good game plan going into that Champions League final. Barcelona had the ball possession, high backline, but then you saw Lyon to be adaptable in that way.

Schelin: Yeah, and that - I just have to say something about that because - because for sure, like when you think of Lyon and how they win and how much they win, you think that they would only have these great technical players, putting the crosses into the penalty area and Ada's there or someone else. Yeah, for sure. But the thing is, since the beginning, they have all these players, but they also have counter attacks. They have that game in their DNA when I played, but also now. They have all these fast players that know exactly what to do when they see the - when they see some space. They're going to use it, you know? They're not going to play into the goal. They don't have to. It's what we saw against Barcelona, that's the main thing.

Host: We actually saw it already. I actually picked up on that when they played - I can't remember if it was in the Semifinal or Quarterfinal when they played PSG. It was against PSG before last year's final. They didn't play the counter attack in the first leg. They adjusted in the second leg, the whole plan. You could see that. If we're going to win this game against PSG, we're going to do it with a counter attacking style. They met Barcelona also who likes to hold the ball. But it was interesting, and I think that's also what makes a good team, that you can play both ways, because there's not many teams that can.

Schelin: No, no. Exactly, exactly. But that's key for their success also. One of the keys.

Host: One of the keys to all the wins. But last question, because I want to know this. Who is the best striker in the women's game according to you and why?

Schelin: Oh my god. There's so many. I kind of want to say Ada Hegerberg, but I know also with her injury and everything... But her style, I love it. She was - I think that she has it all. She's really great in the penalty area, in front of the goal, headers, with every part of her body. And she's kind of fast also, but like she's fast when she is on the great runs, you know? She's doing it fast and with the ball also. She's so clean. But what I saw she's so clean in front of the goal, and that's amazing. And the way she plays with the back at the goal is really good also. It's smart also, two touches, and she doesn't have to do more, you know? That's her game and she's so powerful in that. But at the same time when I say that and I see Popp and how she played in the Euros, she's like - the goals that she scored, no one else can score goals like that, she's amazing. She has to be the best in the penalty area, because she is taking her space and just owning that. You have to give her that, because I played not with her but against her for so long, and what she did at the Euros is impressive. I've seen her play and she's amazing, but coming from injury and all and doing all that. So with that said, and you hear that I like these kind of players for sure. Because they have the mentality, that's all. You can be good, you can be skillful in so many ways, but these two, the mentality is like -

Host: I'm also a big fan of Alex Popp, of course, Ada Hegerberg. So you don't have to convince me.

Schelin: Good. We don't have to say much, we just have to -

Host: Watch some YouTube compilation or something. You know what we are talking about. Well, let's move on to some listeners questions.

Host: Can I just add in before we do that. YouTube compilations. When Mia gave me this assignment, and I had to come up with questions, I was like "what do I do, what's this or that question doing to be?" So when I went on Youtube and I wrote "Lotta Schelin", I saw "Lotta Schelin Best Goals" and thought maybe she can choose one of the goals. But that's not going to be the question, because it was too hard for me to pinpoint when those games were exactly.

Host: Have you moved the questions around now so you can get the one you want?

Host: No, I have not moved them around, so you can take No. 1 and I can take No. 2.

Host: [Fan] wants to know who is the best coach you ever had and why?

Schelin: That's a tricky question. I had a lot of good coaches. When I talk about just like football, everything you do on the pitch, I think Gerard Precher [Lyon coach], the last one, he was really good. It was so much fun going to practice, because it was such fun games and everything in the way we played and tried to do. At least at practice. But like as a leader, it's like [Swedish coaches] - they're so different. This kind of leadership I like, when you can be humble in your leadership. You're like tough and you know what you want, but you can also be like "what do you guys want?" or "take this responsibility". The best for Pia Sundhage, when she saw me, we were coaching each other on the pitch. That was her best moment, you know. So that's good, I think, when you get the players to lead each other and be there for each other. That's good leadership. And maybe it isn't perfect all the time, but these kind of leaders, they also want to change or be better leaders. And you have to be able to do that. And I think that they did that a couple of times.

Host: [Fan] wants to know, you played with so many great football players during your football career. Who is a current player you wish you could have played with when you were active?

Schelin: I think that I would have liked to have played with Miedema if she could have played like behind me. She's so intelligent on the pitch and she sees all the movements and spaces, and I think Stina Blackstenius is having a great time having her around, because she can play a one-touch, and she can just - having the ball for a while, create the perfect opener. That would have been amazing, I think.

Host: Now you're going to have to be a pundit again. [Fan] wants to know how far can Sweden go in the World Cup this summer?

Schelin: It's - all these questions going into a tournament, it's hard. You can just guess, you have no idea. Everyone thought Brazil and Germany were going to play the final in the men's World Cup. It wasn't even close. So I don't really know. With Sweden, the amazing thing with them, even before I played with them, I think they now have a better team -

Host: Playing style?

Schelin: Playing style also. But also like so many players, good players now, on the bench and everything. They have so many alternatives, so they can play different styles and do different tactics. It's easy because you have all these players. So for sure. And Sweden nowadays are - what is it in English - they are controlling the game in a totally different way. Totally different. It was more easy to stop Sweden before, because we liked the space, we liked the runs behind. And if you didn't like the plan we just went home. It was hard. Then they took a big part away, and now we have so many different styles of playing against others. So I would say they could go all the way for sure with the players that they have. No question about it. But like we saw in the Euros, it was far from their best performances, like if you see every game. But it was also like England, they had every player available for every game. Come on. That's amazing. If you started the same 11 every time, everything is already won. I don't think they could have done this without all the COVID things and injuries. It would have been different, for sure. So you have to have - everything has to be in place and the form and the shape of the place. You know, sometimes, I know it too, you're out of shape. If you're out of shape and you're a key player, it's going to be tough. There are so many good teams right now. I'm putting Sweden really high, but I'm very understanding that they have to have everything in place.

Host: [Fan] wants to know, with Stina Blackstenius and Lina Hurtig being two different style of strikers, which style do you think is the most ideal for the National Team, and what kind of players does Sweden want to develop in the position, do you think?

Schelin: I really do like both of these players and their playing style. Stina [Blackstenius], she's so important because she's always doing her runs, pushing the defense down, you know. She's always finding the perfect timing in her runs and everything. That's amazing. And Sweden needs that. Also if we want to play a team and be dominating on the ball, she's really important at that time too. And Lina [Hurtig], she knows all these things too. She can do all these runs and she's kind of fast. But she's also good in the penalty area, with headers and, yeah. For me, the ideal would be to use both. If they can find this extra energy together, and if they can be able to work together, it can be perfect also, because Lina she can be there as a lineup player, a link player. And she also has the speed to be able to catch up with Stina. They can do something together. So yeah, I like both styles and I think we need both styles. I know he doesn't play 4-4-2 often, but if they can do something with that, it would be great. I don't want to see Lina Hurtig sitting on the bench for almost the whole tournament, no. I don't want to do that. There's so much talent and quality in that player.

Host: We have too many good players. We do have to let [Fan] have their second question, because [Fan background] He wants to know what was the role you had in your stint at Lyon, and how were you sold the position when you moved there?

Schelin: It was for sure the No. 9 role. But they wanted me for sure to take my runs early on in the game, because like Patrice [Lair] for instance, he wanted to have this counter attack. And we had Elodie Thomas, she was so fast, faster than me. But maybe I took my runs in a different way than she did. He wanted me to take them and use the space if I could. And in the big games, when you also have an opponent pushing us down, it was perfect. In the big games that I could do the biggest difference, I think. But you know at the same time if we stood high and pushed, I could easily - I was a link up player also. I used my one-two touches and took another position. And that was often in the space afterwards. And when it comes to crosses and everything in the penalty area, I often went on the first post. And that's not always a nice position, because everyone is there and you don't get the ball too often. But someone has to do it to make some space, to create space behind you. So that was kind of like my role. But I felt I like did a big difference in Lyon with my more direct game / play also. We need that sometimes in the bigger games. So it was always a No. 9. But I was totally able to do my runs on the side too, so I could also do the crosses and everything. Because that's what I like the most. I like to move in big spaces and I don't always have to be in top speed. That was what I did. Mostly.

Host: With that being said, we're going to move on to the last and final part. There are fire questions, you're not allowed to think, we just want an answer. Are you good to go?

Schelin: Okay, okay.

Host: It's just one or the other. No explanation, nothing. When active, did you prefer scoring goals or assisting?

Schelin: I - sorry. Scoring goals.

Host: Did you prefer the Euros 2017 kit or the Olympics 2016?

Schelin: 2016.

Host: Winning the Champions League with Lyon or a medal with the Swedish National Team?

Schelin: [laughs] Ohhh. Medal with the Swedish National Team. There weren't that many.

Host: For everyone listening, Lotta hit herself in the face when she got the question. Just so you're aware. On a day off, would you rather watch football or Netflix?

Schelin: Netflix.

Host: Gothenburg or Lyon?

Schelin: Lyon.

Host: That's that. That's a wrap. Thank you so much for being a part of this episode. We appreciated having you on and it was a lot of fun.

Schelin: Thank you. It was nice to be on.

#all good love stories start in the rain #lotta schelin #you think this takes forever to read? try being the one transcribing it #but as I said in another post #to know this team is to understand them

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