Following Sweden's early exit from the World Championship in December, Tomas Axnér strongly hinted that he was not prepared, in the long run, to handle the workload of serving as both a national team coach and a club coach at the highest level. His comments to "Aftonbladet" proved to be indicative of his future career path.
"It is fantastic to be at a club like Team Esbjerg, and I wouldn't have wanted to miss out on that experience, but you have to be honest with yourself and consider whether you want to continually subject yourself to the strain of holding two jobs. When I have time off from Team Esbjerg, the national team calls—where there is also a lot going on between matches and training camps—and we are currently in the midst of a generational shift," says Tomas Axnér.
He became Swedish national team coach in 2020 and led the squad to a fourth-place finish at the Tokyo Olympics that same year. Since then, he has kept Sweden among the top tier of international teams, with last year's World Championship serving as a painful exception.