Damallsvenskan Newsblog

When Chinese star Ma Xiaoxu joined Umeå early this spring, she was described as a "super talent" and "already a world class player". But so far she has not been able to fulfil the expectations and Umeå's management has not yet decided if they want to sign a new contract with her when the current expires in August. "If we had been certain that we wanted to keep her, we would have made her an offer already", commented Umeå's manager Roland Arnqvist.
Ma has been considered to have been somewhat pampered in China and not working hard enough on matches and in traning in Umeå. She also had to take extra fitness training sessions in the spring. "I'm not saying we're not satisfied with her, but she has another level that we haven't been able to bring out of her", says Arnqvist. Umeå's other young foreign talent, Swiss Ramona Bachman, has managed to cope with the transition better. Coach Jeglertz thinks that is because she's younger and more receptive to instructions.
Expressen: Superlöftet kan sparkas

Umeå is already looking forward to the next season and beyond. Two young 1st division talents, Lina Frank (Gideonsberg) and Sara Fröjdfeldt (Eskilstuna United) has joined Umeå for a summer try-out. But Jeglertz says the club will not try to get any reinforcements before the World Cup, but might try to sign a player from one of the European World Cup teams after the championships.
Västerbottenskuriren: UIK testar spelare men avvaktar VM

Bottom-dweller Qbik has signed Scotland international Nicky Grant (98 caps). She got in touch with the club through her Scotland team mate Ifeoma Dieke. Coach Jansson points out that she is not a player of the same class as the international players that has been with Qbik earlier, "but she is good enough to compete for a spot on the team". Grant, who is a teacher, will stay with the team for 7 weeks during her summer holidays.
Nya Wermlandstidningen: Lärarinna med landslagsmeriter förstärker Qbik

Malin Moström's return to Umeå IK opened for a flood of speculation on her future, including a possible World Cup aoppearence. National team coach Thomas Dennerby even had a talk with her. But when Malin now finished her short time contract with Umeå, playing three of the five matches, she stressed that "this is it. I know what it takes to play a World Cup ... When I decided to quit [last december] I felt it was the right thing to do and I still think so". Umeå's manager Roland Arnqvist commented that the deal was that Malin should help out the team for two weeks and it is now fullfilled: "If she would come tomorrow or next week and say that she wants to play, I would be really happy. You don't turn down someone like Malin, but we won't try to persuade her."
Sydsvenskan: Moström: Nu är det slut

And anyways, she's gonna get married to her long-time ice-hockey playing boyfriend Jesper Jäger in July.
Expressen: Moströms nya fullträff

Nigeria's Perpetua Nkwocha arrived in Skellefteå, Sunnanå's home town, yesterday. She says she's happy to be there and that she sees her Swedish excursion as a way to prepare for the World Cup in September. She should be able to play July 1, when the transfer window opens, but there are some problems with the Nigerian FA that might delay the neccesary paper-work. "It's been hard for the Swedish FA to get in touch with their counter-parts in Nigeria, but that will hopefully be solved in the next few days", said Sunnanå's chairman Sören Gustafsson.
Västerbottens Folkblad: Stjärnan har landat

Hammarby's new Swiss goalie Kathrin Lehmann arrived at the club a few days ago. She is happy with the club and teammates, but a bit curious to the artificial turf at Hammarby's Kanalplan: "I've never played on that before, so I have to adapt". Lehmann will not be registred to play for Hammarby until July 1.
Hammarby: Nyförvärvet Kathrin är på plats

Djurgården's Bente Nordby tells Norwegian newspaper Oppland Arbeiderblad, that she will return to Norway after she has completed her two year contract with Djurgården in December this year. She has completed a coaching education and hopes to be responsible for the goalkeepers in the younger orwegian national teams. She has not decided if she will quit playing altogether or if she will finish her goalkeeping career in Norway.
Oppland Arbeiderblad: Bente kommer "hjem"

On the other hand, Umeå's Lise Klaveness advertises for the Swedish league in interview with Norwegian public service broadcaster NRK: "The level in Sweden is a step higher than in Norway. They've got both better top teams and better bottom teams. .. Our best players are at least as good as the Swedish, so they are of course very attractive for the Swedish clubs". Norway's top scorer Melissa Wiik says she finds Swedish football exciting while national team coach Bjarne Berntsen understands that more Norwegian players will get offers, but hopes they will stay in Norway: "We need our profile players at home".
NRK: Attraktive i Sverige

Malin Moström is back in jersey number 6. Umeå, hurt by injuries to Johanna Frisk and Hanna Ljungberg and with defender Maria Bergqvist suspended for tomorrow's match against Qbik, has signed the legendary midfielder on a short time contract (16 days and 5 matches). "Since it was all right with my employer, it wasn't a hard decision. This feels both fun and exciting and I will do what I can to help my club out", comments Malin in a press release. Umeå's coach Andrée Jeglertz is happy to get Malin back and says that this is the best that could happen to the injury-stricken club: "Malin shows what a big heart for the club she has".
Dagens Nyheter: Malin Moström gör comeback
Västerbottens Folkblad: Moström gör comeback

Sunnanå SK today announced tht they have agreed on contract with Nigerian 31 years old forward Perpetua Nkwocha. Nkwocha, who is currently playing for Tianjin in the Chinese league, was named African player of the year 2004 and 2005. Sören Gustafsson, who is responsible for player recruitment at Sunnanå, is very pleased: "This is a signing at the same level as Hanna Marklund and Tiffeny Milbrett". The paperwork with the immigration authorities is not complete yet, but Gustafsson is confident that Nkwocha join the club when the transfer window opens July 1.
Norra Västerbotten: Stjärnforward till Sunnanå


Kopparbergs/Göteborg's keeper Maria Edman thought she strained her foot in the league match against Umeå, but a closer examination revealed a fracture in an ankle bone. It will take 10 to 12 weeks to heal and Göteborg needed to find an emergency replacement. They found her in former Jitex goalie Anna Rehnlund. Rehnlund recieved lots of praise for her contribution in Jitex goal last year, but had to retire from the team with back problems. She is now fit again and happy to help out in Göteborg. Since she is no longer tied to any club, she can join Göteborg immediately and probably shows up already against Qbik next week.
Göteborgsposten: Edmans stukning - var en spricka, Rehnlund klar för Göteborg FC

After the contracted 8 rounds in Damallsvenskan for Linköping FC, Tiffeny Milbrett returns to America to join Vancouver Whitecaps in the W-league. The club wishes her luck and hopes to see her in Linköping's blue outfit again, maybe already this fall.
Linköping:  Slutspelat för Milbrett - just nu

Just like her former US U21 teammate Keeley Dowling (Örebro), Kacey White was dropped from the US national team residency camp recently. The twice capped midfielder now returns to her 2006 club Bälinge, where she is eagerly awaited as a replacement for the finnish striker Sanna Talonen, who will leave for USA (college) in a few weeks. White will stay with Bälinge for at least the next 7 Damallsvenskan rounds, until July 11. Kacey White was generally considered Bälinge's best player 2006.
Upsala Nya Tidning:  White tillbaka i Bälinge

National team head coach Thomas Dennerby will try to have an extra look at Yolanda Odenyo, former Bälinge and AIK player, when she returns from her college in Oklahoma to spend the summer vacation in Sweden. Odenyo hasn't played in Sweden since spring 2005, but Dennerby says that she was a very good player already when she left "and if she has continued to develop in USA, she might be interesting for the national team." Odenyo will be playing for 1st division side Gusk during the summer, since appearing for a Damallsvenskan side would jeopardize her college eligibility.
Upsala Nya Tidning: Odenyo ett namn för landslaget?

Djurgården/Älvsjö increased their squad with two young players, forward Mia Jalkerud and goalkeeper Emma Landkvist from 1st division club Älvsjö. The players will be training with Djurgården, but spend most of the coming season with their old club on loan.
Djurgården: Två till i truppen

Linköping FC has confirmed that they have made an agreement with Nigerian national team players Maureen Mmadu and Faith Ikidi. They former Qbik players are expected to show up in Linköping next week, depending on how long time the immigration authorities needs. Linköping has, without success, been trying to find a world class defensive midfielder and when Anna-Kaisa Rantanen suffered a long-time injury the midfield problem became urgent. Mmadu and Ikidi are signed as full-time professionals, but their compensation will be very far from the in Nigerian media rumoured SEK 54,000 a month. "Those figures are absurd", says LFC sport director Patrik Stålhammar, "they are just getting the normal compensation for foreign players".
Damfotboll.com: Nigeriaduo till Linköping - men inga fantasiförmåner

Jill Oakes has turned down the offer from Falköpings KIK she recieved after her successfull trial there a couple of weeks ago. Falköping's Bengt Tjus says that Oakes, who failed to impress Linköping FC at an earlier try-out, would have been a certain starter with Falköping. On the other hand is Falköping's signing of Nigerian forward star Cyntia Uwak moving along nicely and she will join the club in May.
Damfotboll.com: No Oaks för Falköping

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

The 1st division side Holmalund (finished 7 of 12 last season) a few weeks ago decided to give up their place in the league for financial reasons. Most of the players have since tried to find new clubs and quite a few has ended up with Damallsvenskan sides:
Newcomers Falköpings KIK has found their first new signings in former Holmalund players Therese Larsson (forward) and Emma Eriksson (midfielder).
Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC is looking at Sofia Karlsson (midfielder), Sanna Mikkola (goalkeeper), Helena Bernekil (defender) and Elin Dahl-Örn (defender). These players are not officially confirmed by Göteborg, but local newspaper Göteborgsposten lists the transfers as done.
Damfotboll.com: Holmalund förstärker Falköping
Göteborgsposten: Silly Season - Göteborg FC

Malmö FF has, as expected, signed Husie IF's goalkeeper Stephanie Öhrström as new back-up keeper. 20 year old Öhrström, who has over 20 caps for Sweden youth teams, will be loaned back to her old club Husie, that plays in the 1st division.
Even if Öhrström is signed as a back-up now, she might also have been brought to the team as a future replacement for Caroline Jönsson, who turns 30 later this year.
Sydsvenskan: MFF har klart med reservmålvakt

Chinese teenage star Ma Xiaoxu will arrive in Umeå within short and gives a farewell interview to Goalchina.net. She reveals that she got three assignments from her national team coach Wang Haiming; study the strong sides of the Swedish players, keep away from injuries and bring back experiences from European football to China. Ma has a six month deal with Umeå and will return to China in time for the World Cup preparations.
The Shanghai Daily gives another version of Ma's deal with Umeå. According to a piece published on their website yesterday, Ma will join Umeå on loan from her club Dalian Shide FC and most of the US$ 5,000 a month will go to the club.
Damfotboll.com: Se upp för "spionen"!
Shanghai Daily: Ma 1st Chinese woman to play in Europe

First Djurgården, that is on spring training camp in Algarve, announced that they have agreed with China's national team to play a friendly on Friday afternoon. Djurgården's sport director Micke Söderman commented that it will be very exciting to compare themselves with such a good team.
Djurgården: Djurgården/Älvsjö möter Kinas damlandslag

Then they announced that they, effective from February 27, will drop the Älvsjö from the name and just be Djurgården. This because their cooperation club Älvsjö AIK now plays in the 1s division and they want to avoid any possible confusion.
Djurgården: Djurgården/Älvsjö blir Djurgården Damfotboll

And then, the big finale: Germany and Turbine Potsdam midfielder Ariane Hingst will join the team, starting April 1. Hingst has more than 100 caps for Germany, several European Championships and a World Cup gold as well as Bundesliga, German Cup and UEFA Women's Cup victories. Djurgården and Turbine Potsdam has played each other several times and Hingst has always played an important part for Turbine. She will be a key player for Djurgården and "in spite of her long experience and big successes so far, she is still eager for new victories", Djurgård's Mikael Söderman explains. He adds that Djurgården has had good connections with Turbine and Hingst since first their encounters in 2004, which I suppose has facilitated the deal.
Ariane Hingst writes on her official website that she has always dreamed of playing abroad and particulary in Sweden. Turbine Potsdam's Bernd Schröder explains that they don't want to stand in the way for such a deserving player and wish her luck "with our friends in Djurgården".
Djurgården: Tysk toppspelare klar för Djurgården Damfotboll
Dagens Nyheter: Hingst klar för Djurgården
Turbine Potsdam: Ariane Hingst wechselt zu Djurgården/Älvsjö
Ariane's official homepage

By the way, Hingst in Swedish means stallion or, if you like, stud. No way the tabloids did anything to avoid the double entendre of a Hingst to Djurgården's ladies.

Jitex defender Emma Herbring has, as mentioned here previously, moved to Malmö, following her boyfriend Ola Toivonen who made the transfer to Malmö FF late last year. Emma is training with Malmö FF, but a transfer has so far not been possible, as Jitex and Malmö FF are far from an agreement on a transfer fee.
But now there might be some movement in the negotiations. Malmö FF's sport director Hasse Borg tells tabloid Expressen that he has been talking to his counterpart with Malmö FF women, Kenny Jönsson. "We want Ola to be happy", Borg says and continues "It might take a couple of days or a week, but I think we'll find a solution to this". The SEK 60,000 Jitex demands for their contract with Emma Herbring is rather steep for a woman football player, but not that much for Malmö FF's men, who made a handsome SEK 15 million profit last year. Hasse Borg also points out that getting Emma to Malmö FF's women would benefit the men's side too: "It would be fun and nice for both Ola and the club. It's tempting to be able to market the club with a sky blue couple in love."
The happy two, who have been together since they went to the same football class in highschool, seems less excited in the prospect of being Malmö FF's poster couple. "There's nothing special with us", Ola says.
Expressen: Jitex ger inte upp kampen om Emma, Par i blått

It's the middle of February and a lot of clubs has more or less closed the door for new signings, among them Umeå IK. Umeå declared the squad set for the season after the recent signings Ma Xiaoxu and Ramona Bachman. Their 19 player roster has 9 forwards, but only 5 defenders ...

Still, some are not satisfied. Iceland's national team captain Asthildur Helgadottir is reported to be training with Malmö FF. But Malmö's coach Petersson explains that she is just training with the team during a short visit. On the other hand, the reason for her visit seems to be job interviews. And with a job in Malmö, Asta will almost certainly be playing for Malmö FF.
They're building a new football stadium in Malmö. Wouldn't that be something for Ms Helgadottir, Master of Engineering with a specialization in building mechanics?
Sydsvenskan: MFF hoppas på Asta

Linköping is still looking for that defensive midfielder. On top of their most recent list are English players. "The English league is very interesting", says sport director Bengt Ekholm. The two top names seems to be  Fara Williams (Everton) and Jayne Ludlow (Arsenal), with Ludlow as the front runner. Since Williams is playing for England, concerns for the World Cup might be more important for her. Ludlow is Welsh and doesn't have that kind of problems.
Corren:  Englandsstjärnor av intresse för LFC

And you can, once again, find a curiously vague comment from Ma Xiaoxu on the move to Umeå, this time at the website of the AFC (Asian Football Confederation): "I am negotiating with the Swedish club (Allsvenskan). But any transfer decision will depend on my current club Dalian Shide and the China Football Association". AFC also gives the interesting information, that Ma is offered a US$ 5,000 monthly salary by Umeå.
AFC: China beat Russia in women's friendly

The Nigerian national team players Maureen Mmadu and Faith Ikidi, who both played for Qbik last year, has signed for 1st division promotion hopefulls Eskilstuna United.
Qbik's chairman Lars-Inge Hallstensson is surprised, but still not. "I knew the player's agent was talking to other clubs, among them Falköpings KIK." Qbik made a deal with the Nigerian FA's general secretary Fanny Amun, that Qbik would take back the players in spite of their contract violation last year. In return, NFA should give financial guarantees. No such guarantees has yet appeared. "This shows that a deal with the Nigerian Football Association isn't worth anything", Hallstensson concludes.
In Eskilstuna, the club's coach Leif Edeborg was just as surprised, when the player's agent contacted him last Thursday. They managed to find sponsors over the weekend and could finalize the deal yesterday. "We've been in contact with Kjell Pettersson [who coached Qbik last year] and he recommended us to sign them. This is players with World Cup and Olympic experience. We are very happy to be able to get them."
Värmlands Folkblad: Två av Qbiks nigerianskor har skrivit på för Eskilstuna i norrettan
Eskilstunakuriren: United värvar två landslagsstjärnor

16 year old Swiss forward talent Ramona Bachman, who has been offered a contract after her try-out at Umeå IK, has decided to join the Swedish champions. Umeå's coach Andrée Jeglertz calls her an exceptional talent and says that she in spite of her young age is ready to compete for a starting position in the team. She will join Umeå March 1 and is contracted until the end of the 2007 season in November.
Bachman's Swiss club, SC LUwin.ch, has confirmed the transfer. Ramona is the third player from the Swiss champions that has left the club for international play recently.
Umeå IK: Ramona Bachmann väljer UIK!
SC LUwin.ch: Bachmann geht zum UEFA-Cupfinalisten UMEA

The Chinese Football Association has given green light for Ma Xiaoxu to join Umeå. Umeå's management is working hard to finalize visa and residence permit for the young player, who they hope will be able to join the team by the end of the month.
Svt: Klartecken för Umeås kinesiska stjärna
Fifa.com: Ma Xiaoxu set for Umea move

And those of you, who are interested and have the neccesary proficiency in Chinese, can (thank's to Markus Juchem at womensoccer.de) find Ma's own blog at http://blog.sina.com.cn/m/maxiaoxu. If you drop her February 6 entry in the Babelfish, you will get mostly rubbish, but still be able to understand that she is somewhat bewildered. Makes you wonder if she ever took part in the contract negotiations herself.

While Umeå IK 's management is brooding over how to make their chinese teenager Ma Xiaoxu as comfortable as possible, perhaps finding a host family for her, Ma herself is happy but a bit surprised in today's issue of China Daily. She was not aware that the Swedish champions had reported the transfer as a done deal and hopes that the Chinese Football Association and her club Dalian Shide will let her go. "I don't even know when to apply for the visa", she says.
It doesn't seem like Umeå will have any problems with the Chinese FA: "It is good news. The transfer will help her improve. The CFA will let her go abroad", states a CFA official.
Västerbottenskuriren: "Ma bör inte bo ensam"
China Daily: Ma Xiaoxu set to move to Sweden
Big thanks to David at www.womensfootball.eu for the Chinese tip!