May 18, 2023
Today’s Swedish Cup Final between Mjallby AIF and BK Hacken was the first match in Sweden to be covered by Fatbear’s Sporting Diaries, and in doing so became the 67th country to be featured.
I have though seen one game of football in Sweden, travelling to Stockholm in September 1998 to watch the Euro 2000 group qualifier between Sweden and England at the Rasunda Stadium in Solna, home to AIK. The ticket was 400 SEK, which is £30 at today’s exchange rates and the programme was 10 SEK.
With Glenn Hoddle as their coach, England came into the competition with high expectations after good performances in the France 1998 World Cup, and had a star-studded starting line-up of Shearer, Owen, Scholes, Ince, Anderton, Redknapp, Le Saux Adams, Southgate, Campbell and Seaman. England took the lead in the first minute through an Alan Shearer free-kick.
Sweden were an experienced side, but had two players from their domestic league. Johan Mjallby, then with AIK Stockholm, was making his debut and scored his side’s second goal, and he went onto earn a move to Glasgow Celtic. He has no connection with today’s finalists !
The other was Halmstad’s Freddie Ljungberg, who was brilliant that night, and after such an outstanding performance, Arsene Wenger immediately authorised his signing for Arsenal after watching the game on TV. Newcastle’s Andreas Andersson had equalised for Sweden, and when Pierluigi Collina showed a second red card to Paul Ince midway through the second half, Sweden eased to a 2-1 victory with Henrik Larsson taking every opportunity to fall to the floor.
In the aftermath of the game, I was in a bar in Gamla Stan when a cameraman came in and wanted some photos of jubilant Swedish supporters celebrating their win. Unfortunately for him there were only a small number of Swedish supporters in the crowded bar, but they were persuaded to stand together and pose for the camera just in front of where I was standing. I thought nothing more about it until I was on my flight back to Amsterdam the following day, when the passenger sitting next to me was reading one of the Swedish tabloids, and I saw myself on the front page !
Like the Belarus Cup, the Swedish Cup is played over two years whereas the league is completed in the calendar year. 96 teams enter the competition, and the winners qualify for the Europa Conference. The first round, involving 64 sides from outside the top two division was mostly contested in July last year, with the Allsvenskan and Superettan sides joining the second round at the end of August/early September.
The surviving 32 sides then played in 8 groups of 4 in pre-season in February and March, with quarter-finals and semi-finals also played in March before the regular league season commenced, to produce the two sides to play the final in May. Today’s final was played at Mjallby’s 6,500 capacity Strandvallen Stadium, which has a natural grass pitch.
Mjallby reached the final by eliminating Kalmar on penalties and beating Hammarby 1-0. Hacken overcame IFK Norrkoping and Djurgardens.
Mjallby play in the small village of Hallevik but represent the whole southern county of Blekinge, and last season they finished 9th in the Allsvenskan. With eight matches played in the 2023 season they were in 6th place, with a 3-3-2 record.
Defender Colin Rosler is the son of ex-Manchester City favourite Uwe Rosler and has played for both England and Norway representative youth sides, as well as NAC Breda and Lillestrom. He was apparently named after Colin Bell !
Fellow defender Ivan Kricak comes from Serbia, centre-back Tom Petterson has played for ex OH Leuven in Belgium, whilst 19 year old midfielder Noah Persson was sold to Young Boys Berne for €1M but has been loaned back.
Gothenburg based BK Hacken won their first ever league championship last season, and despite an impressive 6-0-2 start in defence of their title, they were only in third place, one point behind IF Elfsborg and 6 points behind Malmo FF, who still possessed a 100% record. With a home kit of yellow and black strips, they are as known as The Wasps, and they have won the Swedish Cup on two occasions ( 2015/16 & 2018/19 ).
Alexsander Jeremejeff scored 22 goals last season but is now playing for Levadiakos on loan from Panathinaikos. Ivorian winger Benie Traore has stepped up to take his place and has already scored 8 league goals so far. Danish midfielder Mikkel Rygaard contributed 11 goals last season and remains a key player.
Full-back Valgeir Fridriksson has 5 caps for Iceland, ex Nurnberg centre-back Even Hovland has 29 caps for Norway and striker Ola Kamara has 17 Norway caps. Midfielder Samuel Gustafson has 6 caps and has previously played in Italy for Torino and Hellas Verona, centre-back Simon Sandberg has one cap and had a short spell with CSKA Sofia, and keeper Peter Abrahamsson has 2 caps. Defender Johan Hammar has played for Everton and Stockport County.
With today being an Ascension Day holiday in Sweden the local kick-off time was 15.00 and on a cloudy day with sunny intervals the temperature was 13 degrees.
Ticket prices for the Final ranged between 180-360 SEK, although prices for Mjallby home league games are usually between 40-180 SEK.
The game was streamed live on Bet365.com, who made Hacken 7/10 favourites, with Mjallby at 15/4 and the draw at 5/2. The sides have not yet met so far this season, but when Hacken visited Mjallby last season they returned home with a 2-1 victory.
Mjallby were playing in yellow shirts and black shirts, so Hacken were in a change kit of white shirts and black shorts. Confusingly the Hacken fans packed into the away end were wearing yellow !
The game started at a frantic pace and with Mjallby looking to play a high press but it was Hacken who won the first corner of the match after 5 minutes. The first piece of goal-mouth action came in the 12th minute when Alexander Johansson swung in a free-kick into the Hacken penalty area. Hacken keeper Abrahamsson came off his line to make a punch but was beaten to it by Mjallby centre-back Petterson, who could only head off for a throw-in but received a punch in the face for his troubles and needed treatment.
The home fans were regularly setting off flares and at one point it the game was no longer visible through the smoke. The smoke cleared just in time to see Mjallby’s Herman Johansson cross from the by-line to beyond the back post when Persson headed narrowly over the bar.
Hacken responded with Larsen crossing from the left but Ibrahim Sadiq’s scissor-kick from 6 yards was blocked by a defender’s leg and when Hacken regained possession, Romeo rounded Brorsson to put the ball back into the 6 yard box, but Sadiq took too long to control and his eventual effort was again blocked.
The visitors fashioned another chance in the 30th minute. Mjallby’s Gustafson was trying to escort the ball out of play for a goal-kick on the left-hand side of his area but Lund stuck out a leg and was able to divert the ball towards the near post, where Traore headed wide from close range.
Play was halted when Petterson went down injured again, and the defender appeared to be having concussion tests, which seemed a little strange as it was nearly 20 minutes since he was punched in the head, but he was allowed to continue.
Sadiq was in the action again in the 34th minute. A mazy run into the Mjallby area was halted, but the ball rebounded off Fridriksson back to the Ghanian but the shot from a tight angle flashed across goal and wide.
Mjallby launched a counter-attack with Rosengren twisting inside and then outside but his shot hit Hovland to go off for a corner.
Play so far had been very direct, with both sides looking to quickly move the ball into the opposition half and to use an appropriate cliché, it was like a cup-tie. Apart from goal-kicks being played short inside the area, there was hardly any tippy-tappy patient build-up from the back.
With 6 minutes of first-half added time to be played, Hacken took the lead. Rygaard took a left-footed free-kick from close the right touch-line and Sadiq ran clear of the Mjallby back-line to head home unopposed from just over 6 yards. There was a suspicion of offside but with no VAR in Sweden the goal stood, and there were no conclusive TV pictures either way.
With Mjallby still reeling after falling behind, they conceded a second goal two minutes later. Petterson’s weak header away fell to Traore who quickly passed to Larsen who was one-on-one with the keeper, but the Hacken attacker unselfishly passed to Sadiq who had a simple tap in for his second goal of the game. However, he appeared to injure himself in the goal celebrations and was replaced during the half-time interval.
More flares were let-off as the teams came out for the second half but the smoke had just able cleared when the play resumed. Mjallby started strongly as Persson cut in from the left to D of the penalty box but could only shoot straight at Abrahamsson, who held on at the second attempt.
However, it was Hacken who scored the game’s third goal in the 47th minute. An attack down the left saw Lund cross from close to the by-line over the defenders near the front post, for Rygaard to steal in and mis-hit a side-foot from the 6 yard line into the corner with Tornqvist flat-footed.
Mjallby threw numbers forward in an attempt to get back into the game but were repeatedly being exposed by swift counter attacks by the pacy Hacken front-line. Traore was forced wide and Tornqvist was able to dive at his feet and win a goal-kick in the collision, and from another break Brorsson had to bring down Traore as he closed in on the home penalty area at the expense of a yellow card.
A Mjallby free-kick was inadvertently headed clear by a Mjallby player, and Hacken then defended four corners in close succession. With 65 minutes played, the home side made three substitutions but the immediate effect was a fourth goal for Hacken.
Another flowing break involving Traore and Lund saw the ball reach Sonko unmarked with the goal at his mercy. The substitute’s touch was heavy and the ball rolled away from him, but his blushes were spared as Gustafson was on hand to hammer the ball into the roof of the net from a few feet.
At 4-0 it was game over but Mjallby gamely tried to get some consolation. Lofquist struck a post from 12 yards after a pull-back from Persson, and a minute later he blasted an effort from the edge of the area only for the Hacken keeper to make a two-fisted block after Rosengren’s cross had been headed across the face of the penalty area.
Hacken still looked like adding another goal on the counter, and full-back Fridriksson made a strong run, passed to Sonko whose low ball enabled Larsen to take a shot on goal, but it was straight at the keeper.
With the clock ticking down Hacken were now content to indulge in some possession football in their own half but with 6 minutes remaining a bout of head tennis and pin-ball in their area was defended. There appeared to be no way through for Mjallby.
A minute later Fenger made a jinking run but his shot looked to be going well wide until it hit Hammar and deflected into the opposite corner, leaving the keeper wrong-footed for a goal for Mjallby.
Another attack from the home-side led to another mass scramble inside the 6-yard area, as Rosler and Kricak both had attempts blocked and there were appeals for handball, but finally Kamara was able to clear for Hacken. Rosengren then blazed wildly over from 20 yards after a long-ball was headed out to him.
Interestingly, Hacken did not look to indulge in time-wasting or overt “game-management” and continued to take quick free-kicks and look for another goal. The game finished with Rygaard making an unsuccessful run into the Mjallby area before being dispossessed.
Overall, this was a very enjoyable game for a neutral to watch, with both sides trying to play attacking football and not be content to have possession for possession’s sake. In the end, Hacken’s finishing was more clinical and their forwards always looked more dangerous.
Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH2JAH34fEI
Mjallby AIF : Tornqvist – Kricak, Rosler, Petterson ( Eile ) – H.Johansson, Gustaffson ( Lofquist ), Brorsson ( Fenger ), Rosengren, Persson ( Stroud ) – A.Johansson, Stahl ( Moro )
BK Hacken : Abrahamsson – Fridriksson, Sandberg ( Hammar ), Hovland, Lund ( Hodzic ) – Rygaard, Samuel Gustafson, Romeo – Sadiq ( Sonko ), Traore ( Kamara ), Larsen ( Totland )
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