Suddenly, team captain Kosovare Asllani and centre-back Linda Sembrant left the starting eleven during the team photo shoot.
The purpose was to highlight that every fifth woman, according to a survey, is forced to miss a match or training due to menstruation.
It was before the European Championship qualifying match against England at Gamla Ullevi in Gothenburg that the two national team stars left their nine teammates immediately after the traditional photo shoot of the starting eleven.
The two absent players symbolize the 21.1 percent of women who, according to a survey, have stated that they have missed a match or training due to their menstruation.
"Showing a starting eleven during the photo shoot is a strong symbol of how menstruation affects female athletes. We want to show the need for increased understanding and better support for our players," says Linda Sembrant to the Swedish Football Association's website.
The association has been running the "All Days" project since 2022, and since the start, there have been changes in a positive direction. For example, in January this year, 61 percent of those surveyed said that their association offers free menstrual protection in their team bags. In May 2021, that figure was 25 percent, according to surveys conducted by the association.
The proportion of leaders and coaches who experience that the menstruation issue is taboo in their associations has also decreased during the same period – from 32 to 11 percent.
