Since the dawn of modern sport, Swedish athletes and leaders have made a significant impact in the global sport community, and Swedish scientists and entrepreneurs have contributed to the development of coaching and training. But when it comes to football, Sweden has rather taken influence from others. Two names contradict this relative anonymity – Sven-Göran Eriksson and Pia Sundhage. They both have had long and successful careers which have brought Swedish coaching ideals to an international audience. The purpose of this study is to investigate how their respective coaching philosophies have developed over time and how they have been shaped by education, previous experiences, and influences in the coaches’ own lives. The developments of Eriksson’s and Sundhage’s coaching philosophies are analysed through the lens of theories about scientisation, specialisation and professionalisation. We build on their own publications, as well as interviews and archival sources.

In the late 19th century, football entered Sweden's coastal cities, such as Malmö, Halmstad and Gothenburg. The sport grew quickly, and the Swedish Football Association (SvFF) was founded in 1904. In the following decades, the popularity of football increased and in the 1950s it was perceived as the national sport of Sweden. However, at that time the sport was non-professional and in practice only for men. In order to keep up with hardening international competition, SvFF overturned the amateur regulations in 1967. Professionalisation was slow due to the lack of revenue but accelerated for male players after the Bosman ruling in 1995. Women's football developed gradually from the 1960s and in 1972 a national league organised by SvFF was formed. Youth football also grew substantially. Despite the differences in resources football became well-established amongst both men and women. However, the tensions between idealism, voluntarism and inclusion on the one hand, and commercialism, professionalism and selection, on the other hand, remain. This is best exemplified by the 51% rule, which states that clubs must be majority-owned by the members. This is hailed by some as a guarantee for democratic football, while others argue that it restricts clubs’ financial development.

The growth of sports and the increasing levels of participation, performance, and international competition are undeniable. This development has undoubtedly contributed to the tremendous growth of the sports economy during the last 100 years, as well as an impressive increase in results and performance levels in most sports. It is in turn linked to the comprehensive competition logic that drives sportification of performance and practice in predominantly Western sport, rooted in the cultivation of able bodies, and maximum performance. However, as sports have developed in tandem with the global industrial economy it is also facing similar problems. Over the last decade, sport organisations, supporters, athletes, scholars, and others have begun to problematise the consequences of an ever-growing sports economy and the constant strive for increasing performance levels, growing events, and intensified travel. This introduction will present an overview of how the logics of practice guided by performance, and the sportification model, are linked to potentially problematic aspects of sports in relation to the environment. We pose questions about whether sportification and a strong focus on increasing performance can go hand in hand with a sustainable development.

Sport has often had an important role in times of crisis, but the Covid-19 pandemic is another matter. Sport was heavily affected world-wide on all levels. In Sweden, gathering people for endurance events conflicted with the Covid-19 restrictions. Some events were cancelled, but many tried to adapt. What adaptation strategies to Covid-19 have Swedish event organizers used? What role have digital tools played in their adaptation? What economic impacts did these events experience? We argue that the challenges posed by Covid-19 have accelerated the digitization of endurance events and highlighted the tensions between commercial and non-commercial actors in sports due to the differences in financial structure and eligibility for economic support. We thereby contribute to the growing research on how sport events in general have been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, and specifically in the context of Sweden’s somewhat exceptional response to the pandemic.

This book examines the logic of ‘faster, higher, and stronger’ and the techno-scientific revolution that has driven tremendous growth in the sports economy and in sport performance over the last 100 years. It asks whether this logic needs revisiting in the light of the climate crisis and sport’s environmental responsibilities.Drawing on multi-disciplinary work in sport history, sport pedagogy, sport philosophy, sport science, and environmental history, the book considers not only how sportification may have contributed to the growing environmental impact of sport but also whether it might be used as a tool of positive social change. It reflects on the ways that sport sets performance limits for other ethical reasons, such as doping controls, and asks whether sport could or should set limits for environmental reasons too. Sport, Performance and Sustainability touches on key themes in sport studies, including digitisation, activism, social media, empowerment, youth sport, and physical education.This is fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in sport, the environment, development, sociology, or culture.

The environmental impact of sports facilities has received increasing attention over the last decades. However, studies within this area primarily deal with how the actual construction of sports facilities affects the environment. We know far less about how an active presence in sports facilities influences sporting practitioners’ thoughts about their own environmental impact. Therefore, this chapter critically discusses environmental issues connected to sports facilities generally and more specifically in relation to artificial sports facilities. We use several theoretical concepts to discuss the current research with examples taken from the artificial landscapes of cross-country skiing, canoe slalom, and turf-based sports. What makes artificial sports facilities especially interesting from an environmental perspective is the ambiguity they involve. On one hand, the actual constructions involve direct interventions in nature. On the other hand, there is a lack of knowledge about the impact these facilities have on health, environmental awareness, and travel. We argue that future sports facilities will need to stimulate more logic than competition if sport and outdoor recreation is to be environmentally sustainable. The process of sportification, which has prioritised the growth of sport economies and encouraged ever higher performance levels, would need to shift its focus to incorporate environmental concerns.

Environmental sustainability in sport is an increasingly important issue. In this paper, we want to highlight a specific phenomenon, namely artificially constructed landscapes and the outdoor sport activities that take place therein. More specifically, we are interested in the logics that govern peoples’ practice of sport in such artificial landscapes and what challenges with regards to environmental sustainability that follow from these logics. The purpose of this paper is to identify what individual athletes perceive as meaningful logics when practicing sport in artificial landscapes and to analyse and discuss potential environmental consequences of these logics. The sports we focus on are cross-country skiing and canoe slalom, two sports that historically have been dependent on specific geographies and contexts. We build on two research questions: What logics of practice govern individual athletes’ practice of sport in artificial landscapes? And what environmental challenges are potential consequences of the logics that are expressed by the athletes? Our findings indicate that the logic of performance is dominant for the sport practitioners who train in artificial landscapes, at the expense of perspectives such as nature experience and environmental sustainability. If performance is key, then the role of the training landscape is also first and foremost to present the best possible conditions for performance. But if the athlete/exerciser see their training as a means of experiencing nature, then other values than performance and comparability can become more important. When the environmental impact of individual athletes and of the artificial landscapes in which they do their training come under increased scrutiny, the role of logics of practice in the sport and movement culture needs further attention. Being aware of nature and the environment is also a logic that could be found meaningful in the process of making sports more sustainable.

Introduction

According to accumulated data, COVID-19 related restrictions can lead to considerable inactivity and sedentary lifestyles. The Swedish COVID-19 response consisted of guidelines rather than restrictions, which could possibly have a positive impact on activity levels remaining high. To investigate to which extent self-rated physical activity changed during the Swedish COVID-19 response, two cross-sectional surveys (N = 10,560) were conducted. The data constitutes the most comprehensive material on COVID-19 and physical activity extracted from Sweden. The aim is to contribute with new knowledge about general trends in physical activity during the Corona-pandemic in Sweden.

Methods

The method used is based on a quantitative cross-sectional retrospective approach. This approach makes it possible to clearly illustrate how the respondents’ (N = 10,560) answers differ depending on whether the questions referred to physical activity “before COVID-19” or “during COVID-19”. The data was collected on two different occasions (dataset 1 & dataset 2). Both surveys were digital questionnaires. The first dataset was distributed through social media, and The Swedish Research Council for Sport Science, whereas the second survey was distributed via e-mail. Dataset one was collected between 8 April 2020 to 14 august 2020, while dataset two was gathered from 8 December 2021 to 22 January 2021. The analysis included descriptive statistics, t-tests, correlations, and ANOVA. Cohen’s guidelines were used to establish what should be considered small, medium, and large differences.

Results

Overall, the results convey that there are significant differences for many people in everyday exercise performance during COVID-19. The most striking result is that many respondents report the same amount of everyday exercise, however, less physical training, and more sedentariness. Moreover, the result shows that elderly respondents were more affected than younger people, yet younger people reported more increased time sitting down. In terms of gender, although the Cohen guidelines categorize the difference as small, women had higher scores on sedentariness and reduced physical activity. 

Discussion

Both datasets reveal that patterns of physical activity have changed during COVID-19. However, contrary to what some studies conducted in Sweden have argued, within our datasets, differences across gender and age yielded only small differences. This deviates from studies that report that COVID-19 had a substantial negative impact on certain demographic groups. We conclude that respondents report less physical training regardless of demographic specificities. That elderly report less movement aligns with the outcomes of similar large-scale studies conducted in other countries. Finally, we suggest that one reason for differing results could be the use of different definitions when employing questionnaires to gain information on perceived physical activity. 

Efter coronapandemins utbrott införde de flesta europeiska länderna strikta restriktioner, såsom krav på fysisk distansering, munskydd och i vissa fall till och med tillfälliga utegångsförbud. Sverige utgjorde ett undantag genom att införa jämförelsevis mjukare restriktioner, och rekommendationer med större tonvikt på sociala normer och individuellt ansvar. Råd och restriktioner ändrades flera gånger under 2020 och 2021, men generellt sett fanns begränsningar i antalet deltagare, åskådare och funktionärer som fick vistas i gym, arenor och idrottshallar. Medan många idrotts- och utomhusaktiviteter stoppades i andra delar av världen kunde de således fortsätta i Sverige, och till och med uppmuntras under förutsättning att de genomfördes på ett säkert sätt, det vill säga i enlighet med Folkhälsomyndighetens rekommendationer. I det här kapitlet analyseras hur tränare, idrottsutövare, motionärer och publik påverkats av pandemin. Vår studie visar på betydelsen av anpassningsförmåga, kreativa lösningar och digitalisering för att kunna möta komplexa utmaningar och säkerställa tillgången till rörelse och träning för så många som möjligt. Good governance, i betydelsen flexibla, kreativa och motståndskraftiga organisationer, kommer att behövas i en framtid där miljöproblem, pandemier och andra risker blir allt tydligare inslag i idrottens vardag.