(Reuters) - Sweden defender Nilla Fischer's statue was vandalised in Linkoping, an incident which, according to midfielder Caroline Seger, raises deeper questions about gender equality in the country.
Swedish media reports said a local resident noticed on Saturday morning that the main body of the statue had been knocked from its plinth.
The statue is one of four commissioned before the women's World Cup, and the Fischer statue was placed in Linkoping as she is set to join the local club from VfL Wolfsburg when the tournament is over.
"It illustrates very much how this initiative was completely right," Seger told reporters ahead of Sweden's group stage clash against Thailand on Sunday.
"It's an issue that becomes even more important and there is a need to lift all the questions around equality even more.
"Then I must say that I don't really want to comment. I don't want to give this person or these people who did this the space to be seen or talked about."
Seger, along with goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl and forward Kosovare Asllani, were the other three national team players to have statues made in their image.
Sweden press officer Fredrik Madenstam told reporters that Fischer was made aware of the incident and could comment after the Group F match in Nice.
(Reporting by Hardik Vyas in Bengaluru, editing by Pritha Sarkar)