Damallsvenskan Newsblog

April 1st is the last date for a player to register for a new club, so the last weeks before are usually a bit hectic on the player market, even if there usually still are more rumours than actual movements. This happened:

Maja Johansson, ex-Mallbacken, who has been with Umeå the last few months, signed for Sunnanå. After Umeå's late signings of Ramona Bachman and Ma Xiaoxu it became appearent that Maja would have huge problems breaking in to the first 11 with Umeå's present abundance of forwards. She has signed a three month contract with the northern club (130 kilometers north of Umeå), tieing her with the club until the transfer window opens again July 1.
Norra Västerbotten: Maja klar för Sunnanå, Maja och Sunnanå vill - väntar svar från UIK

Malmö FF's Jenny Engwall goes on loan to Kopparbergs/Göteborg. 30 years old Engwall has played with Malmö since she was 16 and has been considered be the heart and soul of the team and the person you least expected to leave. But the competition for a spot on the team has grown and judging from Malmö's training matches so far, Engwall would spend a lot of time on the bench this season. At the same time Göteborg has been looking far and wide for an experienced defender since Sofia Dammström and Frida Höglund left earlier this year. Malmö's coach Jörgen Pettersson comments that he usually would oppose loaning a player to a competing club, but "a player that has been so loyal to the club for so long should be rewarded".
Malmö FF: Jenny Engwall till Göteborg
Göteborg FC: Jenny Engwall klar för Kopparbergs/Göteborg

Attacking midfielder Rebecca Moros, with USA U21 experience, had a fairly successfull try-out with Kif Örebro, participating in the 4-0 defeat of Qbik. She will move on to Cologne in Germany for another try-out before any decisions are made.
Nerikes Allehanda: KIF Örebro testade ny amerikanska

Emma Herbring, previously Jitex, has finally managed to finalize her move to Malmö FF. It has been a long and winding road, including Jitex not honouring a verbal agreement with Herbring to let her go if her boyfriend (Swedish national team player Ola Toivonen) moved from Göteborg, Malmö FF's men proposing to pay the transfer as part of the package with Toivonen, Malmö FF Dam's refusal to pay for a player they are not actively persuing and Emma and Ola taking the trip to Jitex to try to negotiate a termination of the contract themselves. It finished with Jitex mailing Malmö a contract with a "fill in any number you like" for transfer fee, Malmö paying SEK 0 (that is 0 as in nothing) for her contract, but with a SEK 1 million fine of they loan Emma Herbring to a club competing with Jitex. And one might add, not the best relations between the clubs involved.
Kvällsposten: Attacken mot MFF:s damer

Asthildur Helgadottir has renewed her contract with Malmö. The club has got her a part time job as an engineer. Asta had made it clear that she was not prepared to continue commuting from Iceland and she needed a qualified job to move to Malmö. Another deciding factor was probably Iceland's reasonably good possibilities to qualify for the European Championships in Finland 2009. Helgadottir seems keen on finishing her career with Iceland's first ever big championship participation.
Dagens Nyheter: Asthildur fortsätter i MFF Dam

Tiffeny Milbrett has re-joined Linköping FC and will stay until, early June, when she joins canadian Vancouver Whitecaps in the W-league.
Corren: Flygande comeback i LFC

Falköping has signed a contract with Nigerian national team forward Cynthia Uwak, voted 11th place for the FIFA World Player award last year. Uwak has played for Finnish top side FC United the last 2 years, where she has been named player of the year, but her agent has tried to get her to a club in "the world's best league". Kopparbergs/Göteborg passed over the offer, but Falköping was thrilled: "An opportunity we cannot miss". There is only one problem. FC United claims that Uwak signed a contract for the 2007 season late last year, which Falköping was unaware of when they signed the contract. FC United had given Uwak permission to talk to other clubs, but a transfer is depending on the clubs agreeing on a transfer fee. FC United's chairman Jari Manninen says it will probably take a five figure sum (in Euros, which means 6 figures in Swedish crowns) to buy her contract. I doubt Falköping has that kind of resources.
Göteborgsposten: Afrikas drottning har landat - i Falköping
Falköping: Världslagsspelare till FKIK!
Jakobstads Tidning: FC United kan förlora sin stjärna

More complicated Nigerian transfers. Former Qbik players Maureen Mmadu and Faith Ikidi surprisingly signed with 1st division side Eskilstuna United early this spring. But the transfer come to naught, when the Swedish Football Association pointed out that according to the rules, only Damallsvenskan sides are allowed to sign foreign professionals. It is not uncommon with foreign players in 1st division clubs, but they have not been employed by the clubs. After that, rumour has placed Mmadu and Ikidi in negotiations with clubs like danish top club Skovbakken and Damallsvenskan's Sunnanå and even back to Qbik. Sunnanå conforms they have been offered the players, but are, as Qbik, not interested.
Now, Linköping FC confirms that they have registred two African players, but will not release any names until the paoper-work is completed. Linköping has for a long time tried to find an internationally experienced defensive midfielder and when their midfielder Anna-Kaisa Rantanen suffered what looks to be a long-time injury, the need to strengthen the squad became even bigger. Linköping's sport director Patrik Stålhammar says he hopes the unnamed players will join the club within a week and be on the team in time for the Damallsvenskan kick-off April 11.
Eskilstunakuriren: United går miste om stjärnduon från Nigeria
Damfotboll.com: QBIK, Danmark eller Sunnanå för Mmadu?
Corren: LFC värvar nigerianska stjärnor

American midfielder Jill Oakes, on trial at Linköping earlier this year, joined Falköping for another Swedish try-out and impressed in the 1-1 draw against 1st division side Dalsjöfors. No news about a contract yet.
Falköping: Jill Oakes provspelade med FKIK

Kif Örebro's Keeley Dowling has been called up for residency camp with the USA national team. She is one of 32 players competing for a place in the World Cup team. She is under contract with Örebro and will return if and when she is dropped from the camp. Örebro's director Thomas Rasmusson reveals that the club has been taking this possibility in consideration and already registred a couple of players for the club as possible replacements. Since they are regsitred before April 1, they will be eligble to play if the club decides to sign them. No names mentioned, but a guess is that we are talking about American players.
Nerikes Allehanda: Dowling borta på obestämd tid

Scotland international defender Ifeoma Dieke has joined Qbik. Dieke, who lives in Miami but is a regular with Scotland, also had a trial with Kopparbergs/Göteborg. Dieke has been in touch with Qbik's Hallstensson for a couple of years, but the time hasn't been right. Dieke will not join Qbik immedeately, since she has committments in USA, but hopes to join the team in May at the latest.
Värmlands Folkblad: Ifeoma Dieke skrev på för allsvenska Qbik