Stefan Schwarz

A complete and underrated Swedish midfielder, Stefan Schwarz had the technical quality of a cultured passer and the edge of a player perfectly happy to turn midfield into a difficult neighbourhood. Left-footed, intelligent and tactically flexible, he could operate as a central midfielder, holding player or wide-sided midfielder, always bringing balance, strength and clean distribution. He was not especially fast, but he read situations early, used the ball with maturity and gave teams a rare mix of structure, aggression and elegance. At Benfica, Arsenal, Fiorentina and Valencia, he showed the profile of a modern European midfielder before the term became overused and slightly annoying. For Sweden, he was a key figure in the strong 1994 World Cup side.