🇸🇪 Euro 2022 Player to Watch: Hanna Bennison | OneFootball

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Sweden go into Euro 2022 as one of the tournament favourites with a squad stacked with household names like Stina Blackstenius, Magdalena Eriksson and Europe’s most capped player of all time in Caroline Seger.

But it is a young Swede who could make a name for herself on the big stage this summer.

Her name is Hanna Bennison, and she is just 19-years-old.

A prodigious talent as a child, Bennison was handed her senior debut for Swedish side Rosengård by coach Jonas Eidevall (now of Arsenal) at just 15.

“The first time I met Hanna was during post-season physical test day with the senior team in November 2017,” Eidevall told Goal in 2021.

“She was invited to participate together with a couple of other young players from our academy. In the endurance test, Hanna ran until she collapsed on the ground.

“I remember I was very impressed by her effort and will. When I later saw her ball [control], I knew she was, and still is, a very special player.”

Bennison quickly went from strength to strength and became a crucial member of Rosengård’s first-team the following season, before making her senior debut for the national team in a friendly with the United States at the end of 2019.

“I was in school with my classmates,” Bennison recalled to Goal about her first international call-up.

“We were watching the press release, when the head coach was selecting the squad. Then he said my name and I was just like, ‘What?!’

“I was overwhelmed and I didn’t know what to do, really, but I was so, so happy. That’s something I had dreamed about since I started playing. It was like a dream come true to me.”

The 17-year-old caught the eye with a delightful chipped pass in the build-up to Sweden’s first goal that night in Columbus, Ohio, and it has since become something of a trademark for the creative playmaker.

She loves a long range shot as well, and models her game on flair players like Ramona Bachmann and Brazilian legend Marta.

Bennison played for Sweden at the Olympic games last summer and her performances soon caught the eye of foreign scouts. Olympic Lyonnais were said to be interested but in August 2021 she joined Everton in a club record transfer reported to be a “six-figure sum”.

Last season was a bedding in period and a preview of what’s to come as the teenager netted one goal and assisted two others in the Women’s Super League, and she heads to the Euros in fine shape and full of confidence.

“I think it’s very cool to be a part of that and I hope a lot of people want to watch the games and come to the games” Bennison told Her Football Hub in June.

“I think it will be a very good experience.”