Amanda Ilstedt – Sweden's most versatile player

Sweden has found a new goal-scoring threat during the World Cup, and she is not a striker! Sweden's female football team is packed with world-class talents, nevertheless, Amanda was the top scorer during the World Cup.

Prior to this World Cup, Ilstedt had only scored eight goals in her 89 caps for Sweden. 

Now, she has become a major areal threat in set pieces.  Ilstednt scored three of her four goals with her head at the World Cup! Standing at 5’10” or 177cm, she has proven useful within Sweden’s tactic of crowding the goalie on corners.

Her first goal during the World Cup came against South Africa, a glancing header to make it 2-1.

Against Sweden's 5-0 blowout against Italy, Ilstedt scored two impressive headers from corners.

During Sweden's quarterfinal matchup against Japan, Ilstedt found the net once again, poking the ball up into the top corner in the 31st minute. She showed great scoring efficiency for a defender!

Sweden’s ‘golden generation’ is up and running, regardless of their World Cup exit in the semifinals. The Blåglut was close to matching their best result from 2003 when they fell 2-1 against Germany in the final. 

Ilstedt was born in Solvesborg, Sweden in 1993, starting her career at 15 with Solvesborgs GolF. She made a brief move to Karskrona FF before signing with Swedish Powerhouse FC Rosengard, formerly known as the women’s team of Malmo FF.

She played there for nine years, earning 131 caps and scoring 6 goals, and during this period, in 2013 she made her debut for the Swedish national team in a friendly versus England.

In 2019, after a season on loan with Vittsjo GIK and a two-year stint with German club Turbine Potsdam, she was purchased by Bayern Munich.

She showed glimpses of her scoring ability in her first season with the Bavarian giants, scoring four goals in her 18 games played, a contribution which helped Die Bayern win their first league title in five years.

From Bayern, in 2021 she signed a two-year deal with PSG, who in her time there won the French Cup once, but saw several disappointing losses to French rival club Lyon, notably losing both league matchups with a combined scoreline of 7-1 and a 5-3 loss on aggregate in the Champions League in their 2021-22 campaign.

In June 2023, PSG announced she would not be re-signing with the Parisian club, and a month later, she announced a move to Arsenal ahead of the 23-24 season.