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Oscar Melander

November 22, 2015 Email

Oscar Melander



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@OscarAMelander

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Many experts were certain that Malmö FF ("MFF") would win Allsvenskan for the 3rd season in a row, especially after all the money MFF got when they managed to qualify to the group stage of Champions League last year. But the 2015 Allsvenskan was another example of how tough it is to win this league. MFF started the year strong, but had a weak streak in the middle of the season which kept them away from the title race. It was instead IFK Norrköping who won, which was extremely surprising. Some thought that it was one of the biggest sensations in Allsvenskan history. It was really tight at the top, as 3 teams had the chance to win the title before the last game. IFK Göteborg, who had been at the top of the table for most of the time during the season ended up on 2nd place, AIK on 3rd, Elfsborg on 4th and Malmö FF on 5th place. Halmstad & Åtvidaberg was relegated to Superettan. With respect to Canadians competing in Sweden for 2015, here is a review of how each player, and their club, fared. Kenny Stamatopoulos, AIK



AIK is one of the biggest clubs in Scandinavia, if not the biggest club (at least “we” AIK fans want to believe so). That means of course that it can be anything from heaven to hell to play for AIK. Yet, I wouldn’t compare how it is to play for a clubs like Galatsaray or Fenerbahçe however, the pressure is always there. Luckily, the past couple of seasons has been pretty good for AIK, they have been top 3, four times in the past five seasons. The 3rd place that AIK ended up in this year was mostly because of a solid performance at home. Stamatopoulos came to AIK 2010 on loan from the Norwegian club Tromsø IL and played 5 games during his first season in AIK. Stam has been the 2nd keeper in AIK every season except the extremely tragic year of 2013. That was the season when Croatian goalkeeper Ivan Turina tragically passed away in his sleep. I believe that most AIK fans will never forget where they were, what they did and how they felt the moment when they got the horrible news. Stamatopoulos' role in AIK changed after that, not just because he suddenly was the 1st keeper but he got a lot of respect because he showed such a great character during that difficult time. Stam lost the position as the 1st keeper during the 2014 season to the young and extremely talented Patrik Carlgren and I believe that Stam had a really important role for Carlgren and his development. Stam played 3 league games, 2 Swedish Cup games, 3 pre-season friendlys and 2 Europa League games for AIK this season. It could have been more games when Carlgren was injured. But it was “unfortunately” during the gold cup when Stam already was with the national team. Stamatopoulos has 1 year left on his contract with AIK, and he seems to be a much respected person within AIK. Lee Baxter, the former AIK goalkeeper coach for example, has spoken really well of him not just as a player, he has also said that he would like to see Stam as a goalkeeper coach in AIK in the future. Stamatopoulos is often criticized by supporters for some reason, mostly unfair. But I personally believe that all the character that Stam has and all the experience that he has collected during his career makes him very valuable. I hope that AIK will do as much as they can to make him stay within the club not just as a player but also as a future coach. Superettan (2nd div.)

Superettan was for the first time in many years without any “big” teams this season, which resulted in some skepticism that it might be a bit uninteresting. How wrong they cynics were, as several teams played (or at least tried to play) good quality soccer. Jönköping Södra won the league with 63 points, only 1 point ahead of Östersunds FK. That means that Jönköping Södra is back in Allsvenskan after 46 years. ÖFK who was founded just 19 years ago, will play their first season in Allsvenskan next season. It’s actually the first time ever that a soccer team from the province of Jämtland is promoted to the Swedish top division.

ÖFK is also, at least according to me, the most interesting club in Sweden. For example, they have good connections with English clubs like Everton, Swansea and Wigan. But they have also a very interesting transfer history, I use to say (partly for fun, partly seriously) that it reminds me of “Football manager”. Because we have seen players from all over the world join ÖFK the last couple of seasons. Not just from England, but also from countries like Iceland, Slovakia, Comoros, Nigeria, Ghana, Gambia, South Korea, Mexico, USA & Montserrat. ÖFK has also been a very cultural club, they use for example to have an annual show where the players perform an act, read a poem, a dance or something like that in front of spectators. One of the reason to this show is to make the players more comfortable in unusual situations. Sirius, who was promoted to Superettan this season, ended up on 3rd place but was defeated by Falkenbergs FF in the playoff to Allsvenskan and will therefore stay in Superettan next year as well. How about the bottom teams? The two teams Brommapojkarna (who is very famous for their academy) and Mjällby AIF was both relegated from Allsvenskan last year, had another weak season and was relegated for the 2nd year in a row. BP ended up on last place and Mjällby lost their playoff game to Örgryte. So it’s definitely fair to say that it was very interesting to follow Superettan this season with several unexpected results. Sasa Plavsic, IK Frej



IK Frej is a quite small club from Täby Kyrkby located just outside Stockholm. IK Frej, who played their first season ever in Superettan this year, came in 14th place and they just managed to stay in Superettan after they defeated Akropolis in the playoff. Sasa Plavsic played his 2nd season for IK Frej and continued to be more of a squad player than a starting player. Plavsic participated in 17 games (5 from start) and scored 3 goals. He may not have been a frequent starting player for Frej, but he is still very appreciated in Frej especially for his professionalism. Plavsic contract with Frej ends after this season, and the question is if he should stay or move on? He should at least be well known for several Swedish clubs after a couple of years within the Swedish soccer system. Division 1 Södra (3rd div.)

Division 1 (north and south) is usual 2 really though leagues, but the 2015 season was really special especially division 1 south. Clubs like Trelleborgs FF, Landskrona BoIS, Örgryte IS & Östers IF are all clubs with a long tradition to play in any of the two top divisions in Sweden. And when we summarize the season we found perhaps not so surprisingly Trelleborgs FF, Örgryte & Öster in the top 3. TFF got the promotion as the league winner, but Örgryte was also promoted to superettan after a playoff win against Mjällby (who actually was relegated for the 2nd consecutive season). A third place may seem to be a decent position for Öster, but it’s definitely not good for the local community in Växjö to have a new and an expensive arena when Öster isn’t in any of the top divisions. So what’s about the earlier mentioned Landskrona? They ended up on a 6th place which probably was a disappointing result for them, especially when they had 20 points up to the playoff spot. Landskrona who was relegated from Superettan last year had an absolutely horrible start on their season, 1 point after 5 games was one of the main reason why they never were involved in the fight for a promotion spot. Roger Thompson, Trelleborgs FF



Trelleborgs FF, from the southernmost city of Sweden is a club with a long tradition and it’s quite unusual that they don’t play in any of the 2 top divisions, this was their third consecutive season in Division 1. TFF is a pretty unappreciated club, partly because of the reputation of playing “boring soccer” with a lot of long balls, but also because of their small fan base. TFF, who had a really weak season last year when they just managed to stay in division 1 thanks to a better goal difference, had a much better this season. TFF won division 1 Södra with 7 points and was therefore promoted to Superettan. Roger Thompson signed for TFF in August this year, but he wasn’t able to play for his new club for a couple of weeks because of what I believe was some bureaucratic problems. But Thompson got the chance to play from start in his first match for TFF, a match against Östers IF (0-0). Thompson must have done a good impression because he kept his position in the starting lineup for basically the rest of the season. He participated in 9 games, TFF kept a shutout in 5 of those games. Thompson’s contract with TFF ends after this season, and he is probably pretty well known by nordic soccer clubs, not just because of his performance this fall, but also after a couple of years in Finland. Thompson is only 23 years old but he has already gained a lot of experience, so it would surprise me if there isn’t a couple of clubs that are interested to sign him for next season. Perhaps to stay with TFF for another season could be a good alternative. Division 2 Norrland (4th div.)

Tegs SK changed their name during the pre-season to Team Thorengruppen FF (Team TG FF) after a swedish development- and education-company. Development is an excellent word to describe Team TG FF season given that they went from 6th place last year to 1st place and was therefore promoted to Division 1 Norra. An impressive performance for sure, especially considering that they didn’t have any “big” name in the squad. The perhaps most stable team Hudiksvalls FF who was on 1st or 2nd place basically the entire season, ended up on 2nd place. The perhaps most interesting squad before the season, Ånge IF ended up on 3rd place. Unfortunately for Ånge, one of their star player and former AIK striker Saihou “CH” Jagne left the club early into the season. They might have been a contender for the 1st place if they managed to retain him for the entire season. Bodens BK whom this part will focus on ended up on 4th place (8th place last year). Gino Mauro, Bodens BK



Bodens BK is a small military village located in the northern part of Sweden, in fact it's located in a part of Sweden where they have midnight sun during summer. But the town is perhaps mostly associated with their military camp and the cold climate. So Boden may not be a metropolis, but BBK can at least boast that they have a very impressive arena. For some reason, the club use to have several foreign players in the squad and one of those is Gino Mauro who came to Boden last year. Mauro had a successful 1st season where he participated in 22 games in the league, 1 point (1 goal) and named man of the match 6 times. So it’s not so surprisingly that BBK wanted to sign a new contract with the Toronto-born defender. Mauro continued to be a frequent member of the BBK lineup this season as well, he participated in 24 games where he contributed with 7 points (1 goal, 6 assists) and 1 man of the match. So what’s next for the 24 year old center defender? Well, you might think that he should be pretty well known for several swedish clubs considering all the games he has played in Sweden the last 2 years. It would definitely be interesting to see him on a higher level.