Lotta Schelin found herself in a familiar position last month, and in familiar company.
On stage and smiling for the cameras, having been named Sweden's women's player of the year for a fifth time, the Lyon star stood alongside the recipient of the men's award, Zlatan Ibrahimovic. A sense of déjà vu was unavoidable. And just as both strikers are accustomed to receiving such recognition, they are also well used to being compared to each other.
In many respects, these comparisons are natural. Be it their on-field position, adopted nation, athleticism, goalscoring knack or the talismanic role they hold for both club and country, these France-based Swedes have plenty in common. Indeed, that lengthy list was recently supplemented when both broke their national teams' scoring records, Schelin surpassing Hanna Ljungberg (72 goals) just a month after Ibrahimovic had eclipsed Sven Rydell (49).
"The comparisons are nice in a way," Schelin told FIFA.com. "After all, Zlatan's one of the best in the world; a real killer on the field with fantastic technical skills and an awesome will to win. But although he inspires me, and I love watching him play, there are big differences between us too. And I like that young girls look up to me as Lotta Schelin, not as 'the female Zlatan'."
Schelin has certainly earned the right to be judged and lauded very much on her merits. Firmly established as the best female Swedish player of her generation and with few equals worldwide, the 30-year-old will again be expected to feature among the stars of next year's FIFA Women's World Cup. She is also heading into the tournament in fine form and in confident mood, having just become the all-time leading scorer for her club, Lyon, in the wake of setting that new Swedish benchmark.
It was therefore an upbeat Schelin who spoke openly about her career thus far and hopes for the future.
FIFA.com: Lotta, we're coming to the end of a year that's brought you qualification for the FIFA Women's World Cup, another player of the year award and two scoring records for club and country. A 2014 to be proud of, I imagine? Lotta Schelin: I've been extremely happy. It really has been a great year for me, with plenty of success, a good number of goals and, of course, the records. They've been a nice extra. You don't start in football with personal records as your big target but they're definitely very satisfying when they come along. When you start to get older and you've been at the top for a while, I suppose they're a nice reminder that you've been doing something right in your career. I'm definitely proud of them.
You've been at Lyon for over six years now, winning two UEFA Women's Champions League and six league titles. But did you see it as a risk initially, moving to France? It's been amazing. When I first moved here, a lot of people in Sweden said, 'What is she doing?' There was real negativity because we have a good league in Sweden and people didn't really rate the French league at that stage. But I needed something new and I saw that there was a genuine desire at Lyon to do something special with the women's team. I liked it, I bought into it and I've not been disappointed at all. They told me that winning the Champions League was their goal at that stage, which was ambitious, but we won it twice. So if it was a risk initially, it's a risk I'm very happy I took.
In recent years, there has also been a sustained challenge from PSG. Has that brought added motivation? They've been challenging us well for a while now and I think it's a great thing for women's soccer in France and women's soccer in Europe. They have bigger budget even than us now and to have another club with great ambitions can only be a good thing. But the great thing from our point of view is that we've stood up to that challenge and, so far at least, kept ourselves in front.
The situation in France, with PSG and Lyon leading the way, is quite different to the model we've been used to in Sweden and Germany, which are generally dominated by sides not affiliated to major clubs in the men's game. It seems, though, that more and more big clubs - in Spain, in England and elsewhere - are following Lyon's lead. Do you feel that's a positive thing? I really do. I love the way the Swedish and German teams do it and the fact they succeed independently. But I think it's important too for the women's game that we have these huge names in football showing the way and taking their women's teams seriously. Lyon was really the perfect model in that respect because they took it so seriously and really made us feel part of the club, with the result that all the Lyon fans really supported us. And that's the great thing about a Lyon or a Liverpool or a Manchester City - they have the community there already. If you do it well, it's something that can build momentum and generate support quite fast.
Turning 30 - which I did earlier this year - was a big deal for me. That was when I came to terms with the fact, 'Ok, I'm not young anymore!'
Although you're clearly settled in France, have you never been tempted by, say, USA or Germany? Or a return to Sweden? Every time I re-sign with Lyon I question myself in that respect and ask whether it's time to go somewhere else. But I've always been happy at Lyon and feel that the organisation here is very good and perhaps a bit more stable and certain than in the US. The option to go back to Sweden is always in the back of my mind and, although I wouldn't swear on it, I'm fairly sure I'll do that at some stage. I definitely think that Sweden would be the first thought in my head if I do leave because, happy as I am here, I do miss my country a lot.
At national level, you took the goalscoring record from an old team-mate and Swedish legend, Hanna Ljungberg. Was she an inspiration to you as a youngster? Oh, of course. When I first came into the national team, I had two fantastic senior strikers to work with in Hanna and Victoria Svensson. That was such an amazing learning experience to have players of that quality and experience to watch, just picking up on all the good things that they did.
These days, do you enjoy guiding and inspiring younger players in the way Hanna and Victoria did with you? Yeah, I do, and it's amazing how quickly your role changes in that respect. With age comes responsibility and I realise that now. But it was hard to adjust to that role at first because, in a sense, I didn't really see myself as one of the senior players. I think I was still a youngster in my mind!
Is that really the case, that you didn't really feel like one of the team's stalwarts? Yeah, although I must say that turning 30 - which I did earlier this year - was a big deal for me. That was when I came to terms with the fact, 'Ok, I'm not young anymore!' I know it's just a number but it did feel like a big milestone and turning point. Suddenly you have this '3' at the start of your age, telling you that you don't have all that many years left in the game. And that's not a negative thing. I suppose it's just realising that, yeah, I'm one of the most experienced players in the team and should embrace that. It also makes me grateful that I've been able to stay in the game and play at a good level for so long. Even more than that, it gives me a nice feeling that I still hopefully have a few years ahead of me and that I can enjoy those, knowing I have nothing to prove to anyone. Although I'm always motivated to do better, I feel good in myself and feel that the base I have - the career I've already had - is something I can be proud of.
We need to talk about that World Cup draw, of course. USA, Nigeria and Australia: it could hardly have been any tougher for Sweden, could it? No, but we're used to having the group of death. I think we've had it at every World Cup I've been involved in, so it's kind of normal now. That said, with so many more teams this time, it's even more obvious that our group is by far the toughest. But although it wasn't the draw we wanted at first, now it just feels really, really motivating. Certainly, if we can get through that group, there should be no limits on where we can go. It also helps sometimes to start a tournament playing against the best teams at a good pace from the very beginning. We just need to make sure we're ready to hit the ground running.
How do you feel Sweden are shaping up? Your coach, Pia Sundhage, has mentioned that there have been a few difficulties in establishing a new possession-based style of play, mainly in creating chances. Do you feel the worst of that transition is now behind you? I do. The main question for us is, 'Will we be ready and at our best when the World Cup comes around?' And I'm sure we will - physically, mentally and tactically. In terms of the way of playing, we've been working on that a lot during the qualifiers, and it did take some time. But whenever you try something new - in our case, focusing on ball possession - you can think so much about the new things you're doing that you forget to do the things that you've always done well. It definitely took a while for us to find a balance between this new style of dominating possession and also remaining quick and dangerous on the counter-attack, which was always one of our biggest strengths. But we're definitely making progress and the balance will hopefully be perfect by the time we arrive in Canada.
You've already experienced two World Cups in China and Germany, both with very distinct characteristics. What do you expect of Canada 2015? I have very high hopes. Germany will take some beating because it was such a fantastic competition, so well organised and with such great support from the fans. I just loved it. But Canada is another great country where women's football is very well established and where the public is really tuned into the game. It should be a great tournament.
Finally, having won a bronze last time, are you hopeful of another medal - perhaps of a different colour? That's our goal, most definitely. But at the same time we're humble and realise that there are a lot of good teams with the same dreams as us. All we can do is prepare ourselves in a way that gives us the best chance of reaching our target. We'll need a little bit of luck along the way, of course, as every successful team does. But we definitely feel we can do something.