SWEDE DREAMS

No England player has been involved in more than six major finals, but Englishman Paul Balsom is off to his eighth this year – all for Sweden.

The former Torquay youth player already has two day jobs – head of sports science and performance analysis at Leicester City, plus a role with ex-foxes boss Nigel Pearson at sister club OH Leuven. He’ll also be going to the World Cup in the summer as the performance manager for Sweden, having been part of their backroom staff since Euro 2000.

This will be his third World Cup. Sweden failed to qualify for the 2010 and 2014 finals, but Balsom did help Blagult boss Janne Andersson to secure a stunning play-off victory over Italy, booking their place in Russia.

“This is my eighth major tournament and it’s still exciting,” Balsom explains to FFT. “The play-off win against Italy was so special. Their record at the San Siro is just ridiculous, so to hold them in the second leg was an incredible achievement.”

His next task: how to beat the Germans. Good luck, Paul...