Damallsvenskan Newsblog

Damallsvenskan Newsblog has moved to Nordic Football News. My roomies writes about Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish football (the male kind). Feel free to visit me there. It will look pretty much the same, particularly if you go to the Damallsvenskan section directly.

My four years, 1290 posts archive will remain here for the foreseeable future.

Reports from Oklahoma, where Yolanda Odenyo is finishing her last college obligations, tells that the Linköping player has suffered a potentially season ending back injury. Information is a bit scetchy - I don't think the Linköping people has talked to anyone but Yolanda yet - but she seems to have damaged a vertebra. Linköping's coach Magnus Wikman said yesterday evening that he is waiting for the results of a MRI scan before deciding if the club has to go shopping for a replacement.
Yolanda Odenyo has spent the last four years at OSU and signed with Linköping only six weeks ago, probably to replace Sara Larsson in the back line.
Corren: LFC-förvärv kan missa hela säsongen
Linköping: Yolanda Odenyo skadad

Victoria Svensson will retire from the national team after the 2009 European Championships and then she would like to become a football coach. "But not immediately", she says, "that would take too much time", probably thinking about her 6 months old daughter.
She thinks she has the capacity to become a good coach. She is the team captain for both her club Djurgården and for the national team: "I must have some leadership qualities" she thinks and admits that she has been thinking about coaching the national team: "That would be a dream come true and when people talk to you about it, you think about it."
Borås Tidning: Victoria Svensson avslöjade framtidsplaner: "Jag vill bli tränare"

Magnus Wickman is already a coach. He has been coaching the football classes at an Uppsala highschool as well as the women of Bälinge and the men in Sirius, Uppsala's biggest clubs. When he accepted Linköping FC's offer to coach the team, he also became one of the reasons why Josefine Öqvist, whom he coached in highschool, decided to remain in Linköping instead of accepting Umeå's offer.
Wickman comment on his new club, that planning forward is important. Linköping has had more players on contracts shorter than a season than they've had longer than a season. "It's not really worth winning a gold if you finish at eight the next season. You can't go on renegotiating 20 contracts after every season".
Wickman also had recently signed Yolanda Odenyo as one of his players in highschool in an extremely successful class. No less than six of the players he had the first years of the 2000s dressed for Sweden's youth teams, in addition to Öqvist and Odenyo also Nera Smajic (who now plays for Malmö), Lina Andersson, Mona Najib and Marie Thuré.
Corren: Huvudet fullt av fotboll

Kristianstad DFF's Thomas Mårtensson, who had coached the team for six years when he retired a few months ago, has resigned for the club as a technical director. He was offered a three year contract abroad - he won't even reveal which country - but he turned it down as he didn't want to leave Sweden for such a long time. Mårtensson will work with individual training, match analysis and player scouting, while the new coach Elisabeth Gunnarsdottir will be resonsible for training sessions, coaching and deciding the team.
Kristianstadsbladet: Mårtensson tog jobbet som teknisk direktör

Newcomers Stattena's coach since four years Thomas Persson has resigned. He agreed with the Helsingborg based club on a two year contract before the 2008 season, but now when the club against all odds promoted to Damallsvenskan, he wanted to renegotiate: "The conditions are much different in Damallsvenskan compared to the first division. It is much more time consuming." Persson argued that he can't continue with a full-time day-job when coaching a Damallsvenskan team.
But Stattena refused to renegotiate: "We have to turn every penny. We can't afford to sign a more expensive contract" said Stattena's chairman Michael Freitag. The club had an annual turn-over at about SEK 700,000 in 2008. Next year they will have to raise at least SEK 2,5 millions. "We decided to keep the expenses for the coach position and use the money on players instead".
Freitag stressed that the management and the players have the utmost confidence in Persson as a coach. Persson took over when Stattena was relegated from Damallsvenskan in 2004 and has built the team that surprisingly defeated favorites Jitex to win promotion.
Helsingborgs Dagblad: Succétränaren säger upp sig, Stattena har inte råd just nu

Umeå won in all the categories where they had nominees at the Swedish annual Football Award Gala last Monday and retiring Frida Östberg got the Diamond Ball, the Player of the Year prize. Contrary to what we are used to, Umeå staff and newspapers were pleased and thought it was the best award show ever, while others found it the most boring in a long time and there were of course the usual outraged cries about "how did she get that award?!". The choice of Frida Östberg recieved more critizism than any Diamond Ball winner in recent times, usually with the argument that she simply isn't the best player we've got, followed by pointing out her technical limitations.
Personally, I value a lot of other qualities in a player than ball skills and I have a soft spot for the hard-working, never-give-up defensive player and Frida has been immensly valuable to her club this season. I still think that maybe a life-time achievement award would have been more proper.
And I surprised myself with a happy little chuckle when Ulla-Karin Rönnlund was announced for the goalkeeper award. Not the expected winner, but fun.
And if you're wondering about the Coach of the Year award, Pia Sundhage couldn't win it since only club coaches are eligible.

The Awards:

Goalkeeper of the year: Ulla-Karin Rönnlund, Umeå IK
Other nominees: Nadine Angerer (Djurgården), Kristin Hammarström (Kif Örebro), Hedvig Lindahl (Linköpings FC)

Defender of the year: Sara Thunebro, Djurgården
Other nominees: Sara Larsson (Linköpings FC), Charlotte Rohlin (Linköpings FC), Stina Segerström (Kif Örebro)

Midfielder of the year: Therese Sjögran, LDB FC Malmö
Other nominees: Anne Mäkinen (AIK), Ingvild Stensland (Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC), Victoria Svensson (Djurgården)

Forward of the year: Marta, Umeå IK
Other nominees: Lisa De Vanna (AIK), Jessica Landström (Linköpings FC), Manon Melis (LDB FC Malmö)

Breakthrough of the year: Jessica Landström, Linköpings FC
Other nominees: Kosovare Asllani (Linköpings FC), Louise Fors (AIK), Nazanin Vaseghpanah (Hammarby)

Coach of the year: Andrée Jeglertz, Umeå IK
Other nominees: Thomas Mårtensson & Ulf Palmqvist (Kristianstads DFF), Jörgen Petersson (LDB FC Malmö), Daniel Pettersson (Linköpings FC)

The Diamond Ball: Frida Östberg, Umeå IK

Svensk Fotboll: Fotbollsgalan

Pictures of girls and boys in their bestest outfits, for those of you who are so inclined:
Finest.se, Fotbollskanalen, 2, 3

Want to watch the entire two hours? Fotbollskanalen again.

Even if disappointment was the word of the day in Umeå - team captain Frida Östberg called her own performance against Arsenal "my worst this year" and coach Jeglertz was very critical to how the team managed to lose their lead in the last 15 minutes - they are looking forward to the home leg. The two away goals gives confidence. Jeglertz said after the match that "if anyone had asked me before the match, I would have been satisfied with 3-2, but the way the game turned out I can't be. We should have closed the match at 2-1". And Frida Östberg was confident: "We will sort this out at home".
Marta, who came in from the bench in the last minutes of playing time, will probably be able to play the full 90 minutes next week.
Västerbottenskuriren: Allt rasade samman sista kvarten
Dagens Nyheter: Umeå förlorade mot Arsenal

Madeleine Edlund's injury turned out to be much less serious than feared, "just" a concussion. She was hit in the temple by Arsenal goalkeeper Emma Byrne's elbow in a duel for a high ball. She lost consciousness and Umeå's physioterapeut Gunilla Stenmark called for a doctor. Since there was no one at the arena, they had to wait 15 minutes for the ambulance before Edlund could be stretchered off. The day after the match, she is suffering the usual concussion symptons, head-ache and feeling nauseous. It is not clear if she will be able to play in the return match.
Umeå's coach Andrée Jeglertz was very upset about the lack of medical personell at the match, which he said risked his players health. He also said Umeå will file a protest to UEFA, since this was "a clear infringement of the rules".
Aftonbladet: – Jag är yr och mår illa
Västerbottenskuriren: Arsenal saknade läkare - Jeglertz kräver bestraffning
Dagens Nyheter: Umeå anmäler Arsenal - saknade läkare

EDIT: Late Friday news says that Madeleine Edlund will not be able to play in next week's return leg of the UEFA Women's Cup quarterfinal against Arsenal.
Sydsvenskan: Säsongen över för Edlund

The Swedish FA's big Football Awards are of course not the only awards handed out after the season. Almost every local FA  branch have their regional awards. There are also two, fairly prestigious, national player awards.

EFD, the association of Damallsvenskan and 1st division clubs, hands out the Ebba every year to the player that has been most valuable to her team. This year Umeå's Frida Östberg recieved the award.
Svensk Fotboll: Årets Ebbor utsedda

SR, the Swedish public radio company, has a "Best on the field" award. After every match, coaches and captains of the teams have voted for the best player on their own team as well as on the other team. LDB FC Malmö's Therese Sjögran won the prize, just one point ahead of Göteborg's Ingvild Stensland.
SR: Therese Sjögran allsvenskans bäste 2008, Top ten list, Top five team for team

FIFA released the list of candidates for the 2008 FIFA Women's World Player award earlier today. Five of the ten nominees have played in Damallsvenskan this season: Nadine Angerer (Djurgården), Cristiane and Daniela (Linköpings FC), Marta (Umeå IK) and Ingvild Stensland (Kopparbergs/Göteborg).
FIFA: Shortlists for FIFA awards revealed

Three of the nominees for the FIFA award are also listed for awards at the Swedish Football Gala; Angerer, Stensland and Marta. Daniela and Cristiane are not. I can understand the Cristiane decision, since she only played half a season with Linköping. But even if there are a lot of really good competitors for midfielder of the year, I was a bit surprised not to see Daniela among those to compete for the award.

Stattena from the south and Piteå from the north won promotion to Damallsvenskan by winning their 1st division series. Both divisions were decided in the last match nad Stattena as well as Piteå were maybe the most likely winners. In Stattena's south division, former Damallsvenskan greats Jitex were almost unanimously tipped to win, while there were several Damallsvenskan hopefuls in the northern. Both clubs have a history in the premier league, but very few seasons and with weak results. The step from the 1st division to Damallsvenskan is big. Both clubs are facing the task to double or triple their spending and finding new quality players for most parts of the team. Clubs that hasn't started to prepare for this already during their last year in the 1st division often finds it overwhealming to remain at the top level.
By the way, if you think Umeå and Sunnanå are in the far north, just check out Piteå. Here's a map.
Helsingborgs Dagblad: Himlen är blå när tjejerna festar
Norrländska Socialdemokraten: Ni har skrivit historia

Bälinge's last Damallsvenskan match, and probably last match ever, finished in a humiliating, but at the same time in a for this season characteristic fashion, a 11-1 defeat. The team has played in Damallsvenskan for the most of the last 15 seasons and finished third as best. A few weeks ago, the club decided to part themselves from their women's senior team, since they realised that they neither had the finances nor the organization to field a team on such a high level.
The idea to let the team live on, by moving it to the major Uppsala sports club, Sirius, was killed by the decision from the Swedish Football Association. The FA explained that you can't take a team from one club and move it to another, while keeping the team's position in the league system. So, if Bälinge's women would move to Sirius, they would lose their 1st division place.
"This is the end for Bälinge", said sports director Conny Sjöberg.
Upsala Nya Tidning: Sjöberg: "Det är slut för Bälinge"

Three Malmö veterans played their last match for the club in the 4-0 win over Kristianstad. Besides star goalkeeper Caroline Jönsson, who will continue playing but not for Malmö, it was 29 years old national team forward Therese Lundin (287 matches for Malmö, 57 caps for Sweden, the last one against Italy in May this year) and 28 years old defender/midfielder Therese Jönsson (326 matches for Malmö, capped at youth level and for the Swedish deaf national team). Put together, the three players have 940 matches for Malmö and almost 30 years playing for the club.
Sydsvenskan: Tre Malmöveteraner tog farväl

Hammarby's team captain Jennie Jonsson also played her last Damallsvenskan match last weekend after four years with the club. Her biggest achievement was the winning the Swedish championship with Djurgården the year before she moved to Hammarby.
Hammarby: Sista natten med gänget

Bälinge's women's team has had a difficult season, both result-wise and financially. Today the club, at an extra general assembly, made the decision to part themselves from their women's Damallsvenskan team. "We neither have the finances nor the organisation to keep this up", Bälinge's sport director Conny Sjöberg said. He explained that Bälinge is a local, grassroots club from the country side outside Uppsala and has the main task to run activities for youth and children. "A couple of years ago you could combine this with a top level women's team, but not any longer", said Sjöberg. "The costs for running a Damallsvenskan team has exploded the last years".

The decision seems dramatic and surprising, but the club has discussed this for some time. The idea is to let the women's team form a new club, which then will seek cooperation or even incorporation with the biggest Uppsala football club, Sirius FK. Bälinge has been in contact with Sirius to discuss the solution. Both Sirius chairman Lasse Svensson and marketing director Johan Gille commented cautiously positively, but stressed that their board must make the decision.

Bälinge's current coach Zaine Söderlund, who will leave the club after this season, showed enthusiasm over the possible solution. He said that a club like Bälinge doesn't have the organisation needed to run a Damallsvenskan team, while associating with a club like Sirius could help a lot.
Upsala Nya Tidning: Bälinge Dam lägger ner elitsatsning - vill bli Sirius
Radiosporten: Bälinge damfotboll lägger ner

Manon Melis, leading goalscorer in the league and a key player with LDB FC Malmö and the Dutch national team, suffered a serious injury in the cup match at Göteborg last night. In a collision with Göteborg's keeper Sandra Bjurteg, she fractured her jaw bone. She was immediately rushed off to a nearby hospital, that made the diagnose. She has today been operated at the university hospital in Malmö. The Malmö club announces in a press release that the fracture will take five weeks to heal, which counts out Melis for the rest of the season. This might not worry the Malmö club much - their remaining two matches are against fairly weak competition - but she will surely be missed by Holland, that has two play-off matches to play against Spain for a spot at the 2009 European Championships.
Aftonbladet: Här bryter hon käkbenet
Sydsvenskan: Manon Melis missar resten av säsongen

The cup match wasn't only a close fought match, that almost went to a penalty shoot-out. It also saw an unusual amount of injuries. Besides Melis, Göteborg's regular goalie Jenny Olsson left after only 17 minutes with a thigh injury, while Göteborg defender Amelie Rybeck and Malmö midfielder Therese Sjögran left with what looked like muscle injuries later in the match. You can tell it's been a long season.

Often players endures pain in muscles and joints during the season, but use the off-season to go to the surgeon and get that knee or tendon fixed. It seems like that was what Djurgården's Ariane Hingst had planned for her knee. But lately the swollowing hasn't receded between games and yesterday she went on the operation table. The surgeon fixed a smaller meniscus damage and a worse than expected to the knee cartilage. Ari will have to use crutches for the next six weeks before she can start her rehab training. And obviously she won't play any of Djurgården's remaining matches.
Djurgården: Ariane Hingst borta resterande matcher

Another Djurgården player, Sweden national team mifdfielder Linda Forsberg, was treated for a meniscus damage last week. Early reports suggests that only a couple of weeks rehab will be needed. Still, that probably means that she too has finished playing for the season.
Djurgården: Knäopererad Linda Forsberg

Sweden and Linköping forward Jessica Landström hurt her knee (cartilage damage) during Sweden's recent match against Ireland. The operation went well and three to six months rest will be needed before she can strat tarining again. No more matches for her either this season.
Expressen: Säsongen över för Jessica Landström