Sweden Accuses Referee Makkelie of Bias After 3-0 World Cup Loss to France

Sweden lost 3-0 to France in the World Cup round of 16, and several Swedish players left the pitch feeling they had been disadvantaged by Danny Makkelie’s refereeing.

The Scandinavians had held firm until the end of the first half, despite two shots hitting the woodwork from Michael Olise and Kylian Mbappé. Their resistance eventually crumbled, and Graham Potter’s team collapsed in the second half to concede a decisive defeat.

The Swedish manager was the first to acknowledge France’s superiority. “I personally haven’t seen a better team. The quality of this team at every position and the options on the bench are incredible,” he said. “Even if we had been perfect, I don’t know if that would have been enough. It’s no shame to lose to France, which is a team with players of very high caliber.”

But beneath this surface fair play, several players pointed the finger at the Dutch referee. Victor Lindelof felt that the French were getting free kicks too easily. “We wanted to be aggressive in the duels and show that we cared about getting a good result. I think they get free kicks a bit too easily sometimes,” he regretted.

Gabriel Gudmundsson, a former Lille player, went further, suggesting that the star status of the French players had influenced the referee’s decisions. “That’s how it is when you face France. There are a lot of stars, the referees maybe don’t whistle as much. They could have whistled much more often than they did.” Viktor Gyökeres meanwhile claimed that Sweden had not been awarded a single free kick in the second half, a statistic that, if confirmed, would illustrate the sense of injustice felt in the Scandinavian camp.

These complaints do not erase the reality of the scoreline: France dominated the match from start to finish and continues its run in the competition.