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Settles in the cafe patio with a lactose-free cappuccino. On the table is the autobiography “In the head of Lotta Schelin” (Norstedts), fresh out of the press.
It is the story of one of Sweden’s most successful football careers, 185 A-internationals, World Cup bronze, Olympic silver and 88 national team goals, five diamond balls, three League titles. Champions and 225 hits in as many games with Lyon.
It is also the story of a career that didn’t get the ending it wanted and an attempt to focus attention on head and neck injuries in football.
Large resources are invested to prevent injured cruciate ligaments and stretching of the thigh muscles, but when the national team star sought help and understanding for her constant headache, she felt the problem had been neglected.
– A doctor of the national team wondered if it was not the nerves of the championship that suffered. A whiplash injury specialist said, “But Lotta, you haven’t been in a car accident,” Schelin says.
Two years have passed since he called a press conference in Gamla Ullevi and “Number 8”, otherwise always smiling, with a tear in his eyes announced that he had given up the fight to return. In Rosengård’s match against LB07 in spring 2017, he fell into a close combat and landed unhappily. His neck cracked and he felt a sudden pain in his shoulder blades.
“Let’s say it’s 80 percent out of 100. Considering I almost went down to zero a while ago, I think it’s great,” says Lotta Schelin of her headaches and stiff neck issues.
Photo: Veronika Ljung-Nielsen
It was the last but far from the first of the serious blows to the neck and head during his career. She believes it all started with that collision in the match against AIK in 2005, when she collided with an opponent’s knee and her head was violently thrown back.
Then came the stiff neck and headache. The diagnosis was diffuse. From 2007 it got worse. New blows, such as when a teammate in Lyon lost her temper and swung her neck during a training session, compounded the problems. Sometimes they were so difficult that he would not get out of bed. With the knowledge of the pain that has come and gone, her accomplishments become even more remarkable.
Lotta Schelin meets DN at a cafe in Kungsbacka, where she lives.
Photo: Veronika Ljung-Nielsen
Even long after She put the shoes on the shelf; an attempt to wash the dishes or put the clothes in a moving box could result in crippling pain. When she squints this afternoon to protect herself from the weak autumn sun over Kungsbacka, she finds that she is feeling much better.
– Let’s say it’s 80 percent of 100. Considering it was almost zero a while ago, I think it’s great. Everyday life is much better, so I have to believe that it may be a step back now that I have started jogging, but I feel that it is progressing and it is nice, he says and points out that elite sports have a high price.
Of course, this is something you thought about when you formulated your thoughts in the book. She has no regrets.
– You may be crazy. That I drove to the end of the tile meant that I got all my years, of which I am very happy and proud. No, with the result in hand, I wouldn’t have done it any other way, Schelin says.
But it happened that he adapted his game so as not to expose himself to the bangs and tells how with fear he went to certain training sessions, where the coach ordered a heading training.
Schelin has participated in the debate on a possible ban on pitching training for young players and says he respects opinion. She believes that her own problems arose rather due to the heavy blows her normal body was subjected to later in her career. She wants football to open its eyes to this type of injury and asks for more knowledge and documentation.
– As there is not much talk about it, you may not believe it exists, but I who ended up here I hear many friends from football who say they have problems with headaches and are sure that it is because they agreed their entire career . And others with a headache may not even realize it comes from soccer, says Schelin, who wishes he had documented his severe blows.
– Maybe someone would have seen the connection if they had, she says.
Work on CSR issues at SHL Frölunda team has been put on hiatus due to the corona pandemic, but Lotta Schelin is looking forward to a return.
Photo: Veronika Ljung-Nielsen
The book has Schelin written together with his wife, Rebecca, a journalist and former press manager for the women’s national team. Just over a year ago, the family expanded with their son Kalle.
In the book, Schelin talks about her homosexuality and how her parents and friends accepted it as the most natural thing in the world when she, 17, recounted that she had gotten together with a girl. For the bride’s family, who had a different religious background, it was more difficult and after being forced to sneak into their relationship for many years, Schelin felt she had to leave the woman she loved. “Love does not overcome everything,” he says in the book.
As a famous star of the national team, he never spoke openly about his homosexuality. She didn’t want the subject to take energy out of football.
– I really wanted to focus on the right things. I didn’t want to talk about it in every interview, just because I opened that door. I have seen Nilla Fischer forced to answer questions, which do not pertain to football, even after a World Cup match. I say as Caroline Seger says: “Actually, I just want to be a soccer player,” says Schelin.
Lotta Schelin with the new book “In Lotta Schelin’s Head”, written by her and his wife Rebecca Schelin.
Photo: Veronika Ljung-Nielsen
At the same time, she is proud that her involvement and that of her fellow national team mates on equality issues has been important and has helped advance women’s football.
He criticizes the Swedish Football Association for a skewed distribution of income and for not taking advantage of business opportunities, for example in relation to the European Championship at home in 2013, where support shirts were immediately sold out.
– It’s easy to say that the women’s team doesn’t sell jerseys when they are out of stock after day one and no more printed, says Schelin, who also experienced poor gender equality over the many years in France.
Many times she felt diminished. For example, when Didier Deschamps, the captain of the national team of the French men’s team, did not visit her at a gala, where she was nominated for the best player in the league award.
She says that her coach in Lyon for four years, Patrice Lair, abused his power by controlling, knocking down and punishing his players, but at the same time claims that he achieved results in the form of four Champions League titles and in the series victory. in 2012 Lyon had the goal difference. 119–3.
After a difficult and painful period of her life, Lotta Schelin looks to the future with confidence. She would like to continue working on CSR issues with the SHL Frölunda team (the club’s work with social responsibility where the focus is on children and young people), which has been put on hiatus due to the corona pandemic.
The injury has taught her not to take risks and one of the most successful players in the world will probably never play a soccer game again. However, she longs for future soccer assignments and is ready to jump to the kiosk and sell hot dogs the day her son Kalle wants to start playing.
