Landskamp | 1938

Landskamp Sverige - Tjeckoslovakien, 1938, Designer Unknown

This striking sports poster advertises an international football match between Sweden (Sverige) and Czechoslovakia (Tjeckoslovakien) held on August 7, 1938. The match took place at the Råsunda Football Stadium (Fotbollstadion-Råsunda) in Solna, Stockholm at 7:00 PM (kl. 19). The poster features a bold graphic design with two football players shaking hands against a backdrop of intersecting Swedish flag colours - the blue and yellow cross. The player on the left wears a red shirt with white shorts (Czechoslovakian colours), while the player on the right sports a yellow shirt with blue shorts (Swedish colours). Both figures are rendered in a stylized, modernist approach typical of 1930s sports graphics, with a brown football positioned at their feet. The text is arranged hierarchically, with "LANDSKAMP" (international match) in blue at the top, the competing nations "SVERIGE-TJECKOSLOVAKIEN" in red in the middle, and the date and time details at the bottom in brown.

This match took place at a historically significant venue - Råsunda Stadium had been officially inaugurated just a year earlier in May 1937 and was at the time Sweden's largest sports facility. The match occurred during a notable period for both teams - Czechoslovakia had recently participated in the 1938 FIFA World Cup in France earlier that summer, where they reached the quarter-finals before losing to Brazil in a contentious replay known as the "Battle of Bordeaux." Meanwhile, Sweden had automatically advanced to the quarter-finals of that same tournament due to Austria's withdrawal following the Anschluss with Nazi Germany. Råsunda would later gain international prominence as one of only two stadiums in the world to host World Cup finals for both men (1958) and women (1995). This particular friendly match between Sweden and Czechoslovakia was part of the ongoing football rivalries between European nations during the pre-World War II era.

While the designer of this poster remains unknown, it reflects the Swedish graphic design aesthetic of the 1930s, which was influenced by functionalism and modernism. This was an era when Swedish design was gaining international recognition, particularly through the work of pioneers like Anders Beckman (1907-1967), who had studied at the Technical School in Stockholm between 1927 and 1930.