Kulusevski to captain Sweden

Dejan Kulusevski has been named Sweden's National Team captain for their Nations League campaign opener with Azerbaijan.

Called up alongside Lucas Bergvall for his nation ahead of the September international break alongside, with usual captain Victor Lindelof unavailable, Jon Dahl Tomasson has named Deki as his skipper for their 2024/25 Nations League opener with Azerbaijan.

In League C, Group 1, Sweden will face fixtures against Slovakia, Estonia and Azerbaijan but will kick off their campaign with a trip to face Azerbaijan on Thursday 5 September (5pm UK).

In his squad announcement press conference, Tomasson said on Deki, ""(I've seen) a lot of good things (from Kulusevski). It started very early when I gave him the opportunity to speak in front of the group - how he took the responsibility but also during the camps. And also how he's helping Lucas at the moment in Tottenham, taking care of the young boy. So he's growing into that role and he likes that role as well."

Tomasson has also called Lucas up to the squad. The midfielder already has one cap to his name, coming in a friendly with Estonia in January, and he'll be looking to make his competitive debut this break.

On Lucas, Tomasson said: "I think he gets a lot of confidence in Tottenham from the coaching staff. I think the minutes he has played, of course he is not starting in the Premier League at the moment but he impacts the game. He's not afraid of using the ball.

"I think as a young boy with a lot of potential, he still needs to learn a lot of course, which is normal at that age but, if you look at how he is learning from playing here is Sweden to going to that level, he is using less touches now, he's playing more in the shape instead of out of the shape which he did lots in Djurgården. I think he has taken a lot of good steps forward but we would like to see him. So you have those players around the first team."