SSL Team SWE – By Sailors for Sailors

THE FOOTBALL WORLD CUP... IN SAILING

15 NOV - 13 DEC 2026 | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Events

Upcoming

1/8 FINALS

G2 - Race 1

12:30

02 December 2026

BRAZIL

Participants

SWE

POL

R2D1

R2B2

Results

Upcoming

1/8 FINALS

G2 - Race 2

14:00

03 December 2026

BRAZIL

Participants

SWE

POL

R2D1

R2B2

Results

Upcoming

1/8 FINALS

G2 - Race 3

15:30

04 December 2026

BRAZIL

Participants

SWE

POL

R2D1

R2B2

Results

Upcoming

1/8 FINALS

G2 - Race 4

11:00

05 December 2026

BRAZIL

Participants

SWE

POL

R2D1

R2B2

Results

See All Races

News

The Football World Cup in Sailing Enters Its Next Phase

Sailing is moving deeper into its “world championship” phase, modelled on the idea of a football World Cup. With 197 days left until the Grand Final of the second SSL…

DateYesterday at 15:40

The Countdown Is On: Road to the SSL Gold Cup

30 days until the second qualification round in Grandson, Switzerland, and 200 days until the SSL Gold Cup in Rio, Brazil! The countdown to the 2nd Football World Cup in…

DateSunday at 11:13

Understanding the SSL System: PART 2

In this second Q&A cycle, we take a closer look at the structure behind team composition, race dynamics, and eligibility within the Star Sailors League. From how national squads are…

Date30.04.2026

THE VIKINGS

Hard work and tenacity

In the harsh North success comes from hard work

Sweden may be a small country, far up in the north, but it has a strong maritime heritage and tradition: SSL Team Sweden is standing on the proud shoulders of sailing giants to conquer the first SSL Gold Cup for the Country.

A mix of experience and young spirit, the Vikings are anything but lacking in titles and accolades. Onboard the Swedish boat there are Olympic Gold Medalists, Match Racing World Champions, Dinghy Proteges, America’s Cup Sailors, and probably enough championship medals to sink the SSL47. However, knowing that no team is stronger than its weakest link, and it does not matter how much gold you have around your neck if you don’t give your all and put in the work, the team premieres hard work, dedication, a willingness to learn and a strong team spirit: there is no room for divas onboard a Viking ship!

Like their ancestors – The Vikings will again follow the northern wind and cross the seas to fight for honor and glory in the SSL Gold Cup.

Statistics

THE COUNTRY

115 000 members Swedish Sailing Federation
8 000 km of shoreline
60 000 islands

ACHIEVEMENTS

10 Olympic Gold Medals
13 Olympic Bronze Medals
7 World Championship Titles
4 European Championship Titles
2 AC Challenger Cup finals

SSL Ranking

SSL best ranked woman: 56 (now Josefin Olsson)
SSL best ranked man: 51 (now Anton Dahlberg)
SSL nations ranking: #

MAIN EVENTS

Gotland Runt
Match Cup Marstrand

With 3 Olympic Medals in two different classes Freddy Lööf is an icon and one of the brightest shining stars in modern Swedish sailing.

The captain

Max Salminen

Chasing his second gold, hoping to add to his collection of Finn dinghy championship titles, Tokyo 2021 will be his third appearance, second in the Finn, at the Olympic games. He has already risen to the top of the podium with Freddie Lööf, now the dynamic duo once again take on the best sailors in the World to fight for gold and glory.

THE LEADERS

Mattias Rahm (helm) “

Great knowledge of helming and team development from both matchracing and A.C.

Fredrik Aurell (pit)

Experienced RC44. Positiv mentor.

Jimmy Hellberg (Main)

Speed and master of analytics

THE YOUTH FACTOR

Their young age may suggest otherwise, but this is not the youngsters’ first rodeo. Many of Sweden’s talented young sailors were fostered in the Artemis Youth program, and essentially grew up in the presence of greatness and around high-performance sailing and just ran with it from there, claiming their place in some of the best professional sailing teams around the world and now onboard the SSL47.

Confirmed Athletes

CAPTAIN | 10

FLOATER | TBD

TRIMMER | TBD

MID-BOW | TBD

MAIN TRIMMER | 7

MID-BOW | 3

Tactician | 9

FLOATER | TBD

PIT | 2

Potential Team Position

1 BOW	2 MID-BOW Jakob Wilson
3 PIT Fredrik Aurell	4 GRINDER
5 TRIMMER Fredrik Bergström	6 TRIMMER
7 MAIN TRIMMER Jesper Stålheim	8 HELM
9 TACTICIAN Mattias Rahm	10 CAPTAIN Max Salminen
11 FLOATER Lovisa Karlsson

BOW

MID-BOW

Jakob Wilson

PIT

Fredrik Aurell

GRINDER

TRIMMER

Fredrik Bergström

TRIMMER

MAIN TRIMMER

Jesper Stålheim

HELM

TACTICIAN

Mattias Rahm

CAPTAIN

Max Salminen

FLOATER

Lovisa Karlsson

SQUAD

Max Salminen	Nils Åkervall
Andreas Axelsson	Josefin Olsson
Emil Forsgren	Jonathan Llado Krentsler
Fredrik Bergström	Axel Munkby
Jesper Stålheim	Jakob Wilson
Mattias Rahm	Julia Gross
Gustav Pettersson	Anders Ekström
Johannes Pettersson	Lovisa Karlsson
Julius Hallström	Rasmus Alnebeck
Jens Möller	Otto Hammel
Fredrik Aurell