Damallsvenskan Newsblog

Landström & Larsson, November 8, 2007
(Pictures nicked from svenskfotboll.se)

Kif Örebro and Örebro University announced a three year cooperation agreement, worth SEK 1,5 millions for the club. Örebro University wants to profile itself as Sweden's leading sport campus and sees the agreement, the first of it's kind in Sweden, as an important step to achieve that. Kif Örebro's chairman Gerd Engman says that the university is important for the club. The possibility to offer university studies was crucial in the work to get Sanna Valkonen and Maria Nordbrandt to sign for the club. The deal with the university includes discounted ticket prices for students to Kif Örebro matches.
Nerikes Allehanda: Universitetet sponsrar KIF med 1,5 miljoner

This agreement follows another groundbreaking sponsor deal, when Örebro city earlier this fall decided to sponsor the two premier division football teams in town, the men's team Örebro SK and the women's Kif Örebro, with the same amount. Both clubs gets a guaranteed SEK 500,000 a year for the three years as long as they play in the premier league. An additional SEK 250,000 can be recieved as compensation for participating as role models in schools and youth clubs.
Svenska Dagbladet: Örebros damlag får samma avtal som herrlaget

The Swedish Football Awards Gala was tonight and gave us the following winners (you can find the nominees at http://dandal.webblogg.se/2007/october/football-award-2007-nominations.html):

Coach of the Year: Andrée Jeglertz, Umeå IK - to me it seems more motivated this year than last. He's had more problems to overcome with the mass exodus from his 2006 team but also more failures - the defeat in the UEFA Women's Cup final, the failure to integrate Ma Xiaoxu in the team and losing matches to domestic competition. But I do think it's a bit boring to just see the ones that coached the champions win this award every year (it's the same for the men). Why not somebody like Kenneth Israelsson, who's done great with his much lesser resources.

Breakthrough of the Year: Linda Forsberg, Djurgården - the breakthrough price usually goes to a player that has taken the step to establish herself in the national team. So it is in a way Dennerby that picks the winner. But I can't say she is less deserving than any ther of the nominees.

Goalkeeper of the Year: Bente Nordby, Djurgården - I was hoping for this. If you were simply looking for the best, it was Nordby or Caroline Jönsson and Carre dropped out (knee injury) after a little bit more than half the season. And it's a nice goodbye to a great player, who now leaves Sweden and maybe football.

Defender of the Year: Hanna Marklund, Sunnanå - she subscribes to this award, but it is hard to argue against her. If Djurgården had let Hingst play defense instead of midfield, we might have had a match.

Midfielder of the Year: Therese Sjögran, LDB FC Malmö - even if her Malmö teammate Nilla Fischer had higher ratings in the local paper, Sjögrans national team performance made the difference.

Forward of the Year: Marta Vieira da Silva, Umeå IK - the best player in the world must be the best something in Sweden too, mustn't she?

The Player of the Year, the Diamond Ball: Therese Sjögran, LDB FC Malmö - there are never any nominees for this and it can only be won by a Swedish player. There has been a lot of names mentioned, but fairly few had picked Sjögran. To me she was the obvious choice, a dominating figure in the league and one of few in the national team that didn't disappoint but rather impressed in the World Cup. Big night for Malmö by the way - Zlatan Ibrahimovic won the Gold Ball.

TV4's football website, fotbollskanalen.se, had a people's choice award where the viewers could phone in their votes on one of four alternatives of people or groups of people that had done something extraordinary for football the last year. The winner: Marta, for her performance the entire season, but in particular in the World Cup.

Aftonbladet: Alla vinnare från Fotbollsgalan, pictures, Marta video
Expressen: pictures, more pictures

Marta tells local media that she is happy that the contract negotiations are finished. "It feels good to be able to go home to my family without having to think about or talk about a new contract". She confirms that there was a substantial offer (US$ 7 millions for 7 years has been rumoured) from a USA party, but that was never a viable option for her: "They wanted me over there already next year, but there is no professional league in USA. [...] It is the Olympics next year and the most important for me is to play in a good team in a good league and that means Sweden". But she emphasizes that the contract only is for one year. If the prospected USA professional league starts in 2009, it will be an alternative. "I think it is good for women's football if the league starts, it is good for the players to get more alternatives in the future, so I can see myself playing there".
Västerbottens Folkblad: Marta valde Umeå ? och kompisarna
Västerbottenskuriren: "Skönt att det är klart"

Marta's contract gives her a monthly salary at SEK 100,000, at least according to the anonymous sources "with good insight in the club", that tabloid Expressen refers to. The contract starts in February and should reach over November, so that is 10 months, which gives us the nice round figure of SEK 1 million a year. This should be, still according to unconfirmed rumours, almost twice as much as she gets in her current contract.
Expressen: Dubblar sin lön från 50 000 kronor till 100 0000

Marta is of course in a league of her own, but she is not the only one to make good money. Elin Ekblom, regular guest on TV4's Monday morning show, commented that the growing difference in salary between foreign stars (Hingst and Angerer were mentioned) and Swedish players can become a problem. She stressed that she had no problems with the money Marta got - she is worth it, but meant that it is important for the clubs to raise the wage floor. The average salary in Damallsvenskan was about SEK 50,000 a year last season with many players getting significantly less.

The details in player contracts are almost never made public, so it is not easy to get any hard data here. But if a player pays taxes in Sweden, you can get some information from the players tax returns. For the tabloids this is always selling news and they usually publicize different compilation of celebrities earnings. This is Expressen's list for sport stars earnings 2005: http://extra.expressen.se/pdf/samycket.pdf. These figures should be used with caution. It is not how much the player made, it's how much she paid taxes for, after deductions. It is not what the club paid her, it's all incomes that the player pays taxes for in Sweden. The figures here relates to incomes earned 2005. The amount of money the clubs paid for player wages doubled in 2006, so there is a good chance that a player is making significantly more money today than she did 2005. If you don't want to look through 6 pages of small print, here's some highlights:
Victoria Svensson, Djurgården, SEK 342,900
Sofia Lundgren, AIK, SEK 157,200
Sanna Valkonen, AIK, SEK 223,100
Sara Johansson, Hammarby, SEK 165,400
Caroline Jönsson, Malmö, SEK 175,600
Therese Sjögran, Malmö, SEK 298,200
Nilla Fischer, Malmö, SEK 187,200
Hanna Marklund, Sunnanå, SEK 329,100
Anne Mäkinen, Umeå, SEK 310,300
Karolina Westberg, Umeå, SEK 204,100
Hanna Ljungberg, Umeå, SEK 276,100
Marta Da Silva, Umeå, SEK 488,400
Lotta Schelin, Göteborg, SEK 286,500
Hedvig Lindahl, Linköping, SEK 300,800
Frida Östberg, Linköping, SEK 252,500
Josefine Öqvist, Linköping, SEK 301,500
Caroline Seger, Linköping, SEK 175,400

Marika Domanski Lyfors, who recently left her position as head coach for the Chinese national team, has been hired by the Swedish Football Association to head the football department, which makes her responsible for all player and coach training in the Swedish FA, except the men's national team. Marika says she has had some offers since she left China, but being part of developing Swedish football was the best offer. It will also make it possible for her "to have an ordinary family life".
Svt: Domanski Lyfors blir fotbollschef
Svensk fotboll:  Marika Domanski Lyfors åter till SvFF

LDB FC Malmö signed a SEK 3 million a year contract with their new sponsor Hardford, a company in cosmetics and hair- and skincare products, naming the club after one of Hardford's best known brand names, just before the season started this year. Included in the package was an additional couple of millions to rebrand the club. Match kits, of course, but also shirts and flags and other promotional material, including a new team slogan: "Snyggare fotboll", roughly translated "beautifuller football". The slogan has been somewhat debated - what are they referring to, the players? - but it should be noted that "snyggare" is a very versatile adjective in Swedish. You can use it for a goal, for a save, for a man and for a woman.

Now they are taking the rebranding a step further. Go to their web-site, www.ldbfc.se, and see for yourself. Not much discussed in public about this yet, since they launched it just a few days ago in the midst of the World Cup, but I've seen fans questioning the "stereotyped female" picture of the players. And I do think it would have been more refreshing to see Asta Helgadottir in a hard-hat on a building site than doing work-out exercises.

Djurgården's Dorte Dalum Jensen has been picked for Denmark's team in the World Cup, while Malmö's Nanna Johansen was one of three that was cut from the 24 player list.
3f: Danmarks VM-hold klar

Nigeria will be on camp in Germany August 25 to September 4 to prepare for the World Cup. Perpetua Nkwocha (Sunnanå), Cynthia Uwak (Falköping) and Linköping's Maureen Mmadu and Faith Ikidi has been called up.
Damfotboll.com: Sveriges VM-motståndare träningsspelar i Tyskland

Three Norwegian players in Damallsvenskan; Bente Nordby (Djurgården), Ingvild Stensland (Göteborg) and Lise Klaveness (Umeå), were named for Norway's World Cup team, that was announced earlier today.
Norway's FA: - Kjempegøy å bli tatt ut

Another future Damallsvenskan World Cup player, Sunnanå's Rebecca Smith, has captained her New Zealand team in two matches in USA the last days. First a 6-1 defeat against USA, where Smith scored the consolation goal for the Kiwis on a penalty kick, and then a 1-0 defeat against WPSL champions FC Indiana.
New Zealand Football: US HAND NZ WORLD CUP WAKE-UP CALL,  TIRED NEW ZEALAND DOWNED BY INDIANA

Germany has announced their squad for the Women's World Cup in China. Djurgården's Ariane Hingst is among the chosen.
Frauenfussball-News: Neid legt sich auf WM-Kader fest

Germany, with Hingst playing 90 minutes, played Czech republic in a friendly just before announcing the WWC team, comfortably winning 5-0. Örebro's Pavlina Scasna did not show up for the Czech team.
Fansoccer:  Ein bequemes Training endet 5:0

Brazil has also announced their team, Umeå's Marta and Elaine both on the list.
Brazil FA

Denmark called up 24 players for a short training camp in Copenhagen August 8-9. The Danish players in Damallsvenskan, Djurgården's Dorte Dalum Jensen and Malmö's Nanna Johansen, were both there. The final squad list is supposed to be released next week.
3f: 24 spillere til VM-træning

Linköping's Sara Larsson, who didn't play in the match against Qbik last week, suffers from a tendon inflammation in a foot, a typical overstraining injury. Sara, who is one of the 30 prospective players for the World Cup squad, would need three months rest and rehabilitation to get rid of the problem. But national team coach Thomas Dennerby doesn't count her as a definite injury casualty yet: "As long as I know for sure that she can't play, she is in the mix" he says. He will discuss the situation with Sara Larsson and her club and see if they can postpone the rehabilitation until after the World Cup. "You can play with an injury like this, it just hurts a lot.
Corren: Sara Larsson riskerar att missa VM
Expressen: Ännu en skada i Linköping
Värmlands Folkblad: Förbundskaptenen ger inte upp hoppet om Larsson

Larsson's Linköping team mate Josefine Öqvist's has been hit by complications after her ACL surgery. She got a bacterial infection that kept her in hospital for two weeks. This has of course demolished her plans for a speedy recovery (after her last ACL injury, it only took her 3 and a half months to come back) and she now just hopes to be able to participate in preseason training next year.
Corren: Öqvist drabbades av allvarlig bakterie

And, to continue on the subject, Örebro's prolific striker Emelie Erixon, who had to leave the match in Umeå last week, has now been diagnosed with an ACL tear, ending her season. The 19 year old has scored 11 Damallsvenskan goals this season.
Aftonbladet: Jättelöfte slet av korsbandet
Nerikes Allehanda: Korsbandet av - Emelias säsong över

Caroline Jönsson has been Sweden's first choice goalkeeper since she ousted Ulrika Karlsson just before the 2000 Olympics (with an exception for a period before and during the 2005 European Championships). Replacing her after her recent ACL injury will not be an easy decision.

Linköping's Hedvig Lindahl, who was Sweden's starting keeper 2005, has just returned from an ACL injury and only played two league matches so far this year. She is confident herself and says that she has completely revovered from the knee injury. She also points to her experience, "but I would like to be picked because I'm the better goalkeeper". Sofia Lundgren, who had her ACL injury 2004, has made very ambitious committment to her national team career. She changed clubs from champions Umeå to newcomers AIK, since that would give her a bigger challenge as a goalkeeper, and has weekly extra training sessions with AIK's junior (men's) team. "I am ready", she says.

National team coach Thomas Dennerby doesn't say much so far, but admits that experience is important. He also says that it is important for Lindahl to play as many matches as possible before the team goes to China.
Expressen. Uppdrag: Rädda VM
Dagens Nyheter: Sofia Lundgren redo i målet

For LDB FC Malmö the choice seems easier. Their back-up keeper Stéphanie Öhrström (2 caps for Sweden's U21 this season) will come back from her loan to 1st division side Husie. "She's been around for some time now and you can see that she is getting experienced" commented Caroline Jönsson, who had joined her team at the season restart camp in Ronneby. But they need to find a new back-up. "It's not hard to find a goalkeeper, but it's hard to find the right one", commented club coach Jörgen Pettersson.
Sydsvenskan: LDB FC Malmö letar ersättare

Malin Moström will go to China. She makes the journey as part of her extra job as an expert for Svenska Spel, the leading Swedish gambling company. She will serve as host for Svenska Spel costumers who has won tickets to the WWC in China and write match analysis.
Västerbottenskuriren: Moström klar för VM i Kina

Another former World Cup player, Malin Swedberg (bronze winner 1991), will also go. She has for several years worked as a football commentator with Sweden's public service broadcaster Svt, but now transfers to the main competitor TV4: "I want to do more women's football and TV4 has the broadcasting rights for the World Cup".
Aftonbladet: TV 4 värvar ny SVT-profil

Göteborg's Lotta Schelin has signed an according to media reports "very lucurative" 4 year shoe deal with Puma, leaving her previous attachment to Nike. Lotta has been able to make a living from football for the last two years, but the Puma deal, reportedly the biggest sponsor deal ever for a Swedish female footballer, makes it much easier for her to continue her committment. "She feels perfect for us", says Puma representative Fredrika Schlasberg, "She is like Fredrik Ljungberg, but in women's football". Does that mean we will get to see her in her underwear on billboards?
Expressen: "Hon är som Ljungberg"

Bälinge's general manager Conny Sjöberg explains the reason why they had to let star midfielder Kacey White go to AIK: "We couldn't afford to keep her". Initially White was contracted for June and July, but when she, missing out on USA's World Cup squad, decided she wanted to spend the rest of the season in Sweden, Bälinge didn't have the money to compete with AIK.
Upsala Nya Tidning:  Kacey White lämnar Bälinge

Malin Moström and Djurgården winger Elin Ekblom got married. No, not with each other.