Damallsvenskan Newsblog

Turkish-German teenage talent Aylin Yaren has captured a contract with LDB FC Malmö. The 18 year old from the German 2nd liga leaders Te-Be Berlin has been on trial with Malmö for a week and impressed coach Jörgen Pettersson enough to get a one year deal with an option for a second year.
Coach Pettersson talks about Yaren as a player for the future, "She has a huge potential, but she is not a finished player", and points to her ball control, ambitions and sensitive left foot.
Sydsvenskan: Landslagsspelare förstärker LDB FC
LDB FC: Aylin Yaren klar för LdB FC

Defender Amelie Rybäck has finally decided to sign a contract with Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC, turning down offers from Linköping and Kristianstad.
In other Göteborg news, goalkeeper trialist Laura Boyer has arrived for her two weeks with the team. The 22 year old has good reviews from her four years college soccer for Marquette University.
GöteborgFC: Amelie Rybeck klar för Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC

Fullback Therese Björk, who left Kristianstad 2006 for Jitex and played for Qbik 2007, has now made up her mind to return home and play for 2008 newcomers Kristianstads DFF. The club is happy with her decision, the more since two other of Kristianstad's targets has decided against joining the club. Björk's former team mate Amelie Rybäck will probably go to Linköping and Damallsvenskan veteran Jenny Engwall has just been announced as 1st division newcomers Tyresö FF's latest signing.
The Kristianstad club is still loking for a few more players, but there isn't many quality players available anymore on the domestic market. Sport director Ulf Berglund says that he at the moment is looking at three North American players.
Kristianstadsbladet: Björck ritade på när de andra tränade
Norra Skåne: Therese Björck klar för KDFF

Tyresö FF, that somewhat surprisingly managed to get Jenny Engwall's signature, is a 2008 1st division newcomers after only one year in the 2nd. They are trying to strangthen their squad with players with Damallsvenskan experience and has also tied AIK's 23 year old midfielder Lina Hedkvist to the club.
Damfotboll.com: Lina & Lina ny duo till Tyresö

The pre-season started bad for Hammarby's leftback Annica Svensson. She injured her knee in her club's last indoor tournament for the season and it has now been established that she has tore her ACL. The 24 year old has been one of Hammarby's key players the last seasons and the club is hoping for a speedy recovery.
Hammarby: Annica Svensson knäskadad

Former Qbik defender Amelie Rybäck, who just has finished her try-out with Linköping, has recieved an offer, sport director Bengt Ekholm says. "She is a good player that would increase the depth in the squad", he says and adds that she is welcome if she accepts the terms. Rybäck says she still hasn't made up her mind "I have some clubs to chose between and it's niot easy to decide".
Linköping are still looking for a strong offensive midfielder, but Ekholm says that they are not panicing, "we have a strong squad already".
Corren: Rybäck välkommen till LFC

Sunnanå have signed 17 year old local talent Sandra Fält Barbalace from nearby 1st division side Morön. Sunnanå's Sören Gustafsson is happy to have been able go get her to the team and says that she is one of the greatest talents northern Sweden, "it's pretty much up to herself exactly how good she will become". Gustafsson adds that Sunnanå are still looking for good players to add to the team, the more so after Hanna Marklund retired, but no names mentioned.
Sunnanå also signed a new assistant coach, Göran Hallberg from the club's men's team. The fairly late decision seems to have to do with that the club originally wanted Hanna Marklund for the position, but didn't manage to persuade her.
Norra Västerbotten: Sandra klar för Sunnanå, Nästa brorsa i Sunnanås damlag

Bälinge's young left fielder Ida Norström has left the club for local 1st division side Danmarks IF.
Upsala Nya Tidning: Ida Norström klar för Danmark

Salina Olsson, who recently returned home to Stockholm after two years with Kopparbergs/Göteborg, has not made up her mind about her future in football, but is in talks with AIK. She was bothered by a hurting knee most of last season and is now doing light rehab training to see how it will work out. She says that the door to AIK is open for her, if she decides to continue playing.
Damfotboll.com: Salina funderar på framtiden

A couple of players trying to impress their way into the team showed up at the training sessions, as it is that time of the year:

Former Qbik player Amelie Rybäck, earlier connected to both Göteborg and Kristianstad, showed up at Linköping. Coach Daniel Pettersson calls the 25 year old fullback fast and sensible, but neither he nor the player has made any committments yet.
Corren: Rybäck tränade med LFC

18 year old Turkish-German talent Aylin Yaren visited LDB FC Malmö. The young midfielder, currently playing for TeBe Berlin in the German 2nd liga, definitely has some ball-skills and played for the German 17 year olds before she decided to switch to her other nationality. Malmö's coach Jörgen Pettersson first noticed her in a youth match between Germany and Sweden and is impressed by her technical abilities but also thinks that she needs to get stronger. Yaren doesn't know much about the Swedish league, except that it is highly rated in Germany, and hopes there will be a decision about a contract within a week.
If you want to find out more about Aylin Yaren you can start with her website at www.aylinyaren.com. If you continue to google around a while, you will see that her own self-characterization as "arrogant" isn't completely unfounded. In one article she explains that she switched from the German to the Turkish national side because she wanted to be a full international: "I'm already 18 years old". But ambition is good.
Sydsvenskan: Landslagsspelare tar chansen i Malmö
LDB FC: Bilder på Aylin Yaren

And finally: the American/Swedish not-really-an-agency-but-almost Connect DK Football announces that a client of theirs, former Marquette University goalkeeper Laura Boyer is going on trial with Kopparbergs/Göteborg. A quick google tells us that she made the 2006 short-list for the well-known and respected Hermann trophy. On the list were several USA national team players, so let's assume this is a quality player.
Connect

Finnish midfielder Elina Sormunen from HJK Helsinki is on trial at Umeå Södra. The 21 year old, who has experience from all Finnish youth national teams but has yet to earn her first cap at senior level, came in contact with the club through her friend Minna Meriluoto, Södra's newly signed goalkeeper. Sormunen was in Germany last fall for a try-out with Essen-Schönebeck and got a contract offer from SC Freiburg, but turned it down. Wisely, I would say, since Freiburg is rock bottom in the Bundesliga.
Sormunen isn't a player Umeå Södra has scouted, but coach Torbjörn Nordström says it will be interesting to watch her. However, he states that their demands on the player are high: "We don't need any players to fill out the roster, she has to qualify for the starting eleven to be interesting for us".
Västerbottenskuriren: Södras kolme som Gerrard
Västerbottens Folkblad: Södra har en ny finska på gång

Hanna Marklund played her last football match in a small local indoor tournament this past weekend. Her decision was a couple of weeks old, but she and the club management had decided to keep in quiet until the team was together after the holidays and could be told. "I have to think about the future", she says. "Football is still great fun, but there are other things I'll rather do now". She will continue to work for the human resource development company that Sunnanå owns and will also coach the football classes in a local highschool, but I'm not sure that's what she is talking about. She is currently renovating a house together with her boyfriend, so you might jump into your own conclusions.

30 year old Hanna Marklund made her national team debut 1997 and has been a mainstay in the Swedish team since the turn of the century. She played 118 matches for Sweden, won the Diamond Ball in 2005 and has been voted Damallsvenskan's best defender the last three years. National team coach Thomas Dennerby, who was told of Marklund's decision two weeks ago, says he had hoped that she would have played on over the Olympics. "She is one of the best centre defenders in the world and has only improved the last years". "We're losing a leader", he continues, "but when that happens somebody else usually steps up".

Sunnanå's new coach Rainer Eskelinen hopes that Marklund will be able to help the team in other ways than as a player: "We will do everything we can to use her experience and knowledge. We'll see if we can find a role that fits her". He adds that the club is keeping an eye on possible replacements, but also says that there are many good players on the team that will have to take more responsibility next season.
Dagens Nyheter: Hanna Marklund slutar
Norra Västerbotten: Hanna Marklund slutar, "Vi tappar en världsspelare"

A few more links; Hanna talks to broadcaster SVT about her decision to retire and the local paper Norra Västerbotten publishes a series of photos from her long career.

Kif Örebro has signed midfielder Susanna Lehtinen, their third player from the Finnish national team after Sanna Valkonen and Leena Puranen. 24 year old Lehtinen, who has 19 caps for Finland, will probably play left back or left midfield in the Örebro team. She has played college football for four years in USA (Florida Atlantic University) and played for Jersey Sky Blue in the W-league last summer. She will join Örebro after she has graduated in May.
Nerikes Allehanda: Två gånger KIF Örebro i finska landslaget, Tredje finskan klar för KIF Örebro

Well, we didn't have to wait long. Really late last evening Hammarby and Kristin Bengtsson announced that she has signed a one year deal with the smaller Stockholm  club. Bengtsson played for Hammarby between 1988 and 1996 and says that it feels good to return to the club that helped her start her career.
Hammarby's sport director Annelie Norén says that Kicki Bengtsson's experience will be invaluable for the club and that she still is one of the best players in Damallsvenskan.
Dagens Nyheter: Kicki Bengtsson från Dif till Bajen
Hammarby: Kicki Bengtsson till Hammarby Damfotboll

36 year old Swedish veteran Kristin Bengtsson has decided to leave Djurgården. In a press release she says that she has done a lot of thinking, "which must come natural when you've been in the game as long as I have". She still wants to play "but you need to have the right conditions". Djurgården's sport director comments that Bengtsson has meant a lot to the club and hopes that she will continue to bring her competence to the game.
Kicki Bengtsson is one of Sweden's greatest players of all times. She has won the Diamond Ball, Sweden's Player of the Year award, two times and has 157 caps for Sweden (her first already 1991), more than any other Swedish player. She joined Djurgården from Göteborg and has played 4 seasons for the Stockholm side, winning one championship and two Swedish Cups.
The way I read this, it looks like Kicki Bengtsson wasn't satisfied with whatever it was that Djurgården offered her. I don't think she's the only one. Elin Ekblom voiced something similar when she left and Jane Törnqvist was obviously offered something by Göteborg that Djurgården couldn't match. There is a rumour that Djurgården is spending so much on their high profile players, that they can't afford to give competitive bids for experienced players like Bengtsson, Törnqvist and Ekblom.
Kicki Bengtsson says that she has closed the book on Djurgården and that there are new decisions to be made. I don't know if this means that we will see her in another club, but it doesn't sound unlikely.
Expressen: Kristin Bengtsson lämnar Djurgården
Djurgården: Inget femte år för Kicki i Djurgården

Qbik defender Jenny Hallstensson, who has been attracting interest from several clubs, has signed with Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC. The experienced 27 year old will probably help Göteborg's big new signing Jane Törnqvist to improve Göteborg's defense, their weakest side last season, but can also play midfield. This signing will be the last the club makes before the 2008 season with one exception; they still need another goalkeeper. Club chairman Peter Bronsman says that he doesn't want to comment on any names for the goalkeeping position.
Göteborg has also lost a couple of veteran players. Midfielder Salina Olsson returns to Stockholm (no club mentioned). Defender Jenny Engwall, who was on loan from LDB FC Malmö, returns home south but will not return to the club. In both cases it is unclear if they intend to continue playing at this level.
One of coach Torbjörn Nilsson's goals has been to trim his squad somewhat compared to last year to get more quality in the training sessions and it seems like he will settle for 20 players. At the same time the club establishes a development team for promising youngsters, where some of the younger 2007 players will find their place as well as a number of talented local youth.
Göteborgsposten: Mittback klar för Göteborgs FC
Damfotboll.com: Jenny Hallstenson till Göteborg

A couple of snippets from some end-of-the-year player interviews:

Sunnanå's Hanna Marklund has still not made up her mind about 2008. "I can't say it's boring with football, but you have to make decisions about the future", Hanna says but admits that it would be fun to play in the Olympics. If she continues to play, it will be with Sunnanå.
Västerbottens Folkblad: "Spelar jag nästa år så är det i Sunnanå"


Jane Törnqvist left the national team 2006 and also lost the stipends that comes with being a national team player. She has worked full-time since and had decided to round off her career with one last year in Djurgården 2007. But the offer from Göteborg's new coach Torbjörn Nilsson was too good to turn down. She gets a full professional contract and will (for the first time in her life?) be able to train and play without any job on the side.
Damfotboll.com: Nästa år ska Jane spela på heltid


Germany's and Djurgården's goalkeeper Nadine Angerer says in an interview that her life changed completely after the World Cup and her match-deciding penalty save in the final against Brazil. "I am completely empty in my head and my body also says that this is enough". She has been rushing from one engagement to the next and could have done an interview a day for the last four months. On top of that she fell ill in pneumonia followed by an allergic reaction to her medicine.
Angerer says she is uncomfortable with all the attention: "I am not a heroine. I don't like to celebrate myself. I'll rather stand in my place and bring my contribution". She hopes to be able to concentrate fully on her sport when she within short moves to Stockholm and Djurgården.
FFNews: Angerer: "Mein Leben hat sich total verändert"


Iceland's player of the year, the prolific goalscorer Margrét Lára Viðarsdóttir, will probably leave Icelandic champions Valur. She had a try-out with Djurgården last fall and has just returned to Iceland from a similar visit to FC Indiana in USA. My Icelandic is almost as bad as the available on-line translators, but as far as I understand, she hasn't made up her mind yet, but it seems like USA might be more interesting in 2009, when the new professional league should be up and running. She says that she will make up her mind in January.
Visir: Margrét Lára með yfirburðakosningu
An anonymous contributor sent me the link from a remailer. Thank's for the tip, but is all that cloak-and-dagger stuff really necessary?

23 year old American midfielder Kacey White will return to Bälinge for the 2008 season. White, who has 2 caps for the USA national team, played the 2006 season for Bälinge until she got called up for USA in October. She returned to Bälinge this summer after being released from USA residency camp and played a handful of matches before she transfered to AIK. This time around she will join Bälinge already in February to participate in the pre-season training and stay the whole season. Barring any national team call-ups, I presume.
Coach Zaine Söderlund is elated, this is what he wanted for Christmas: "It is wonderful to have her here already in the pre-season. She will contribute a lot with her positive attitude and her great skills."
Upsala Nya Tidning: Kacey White tillbaka i Bälinge

ADDENDUM:
Bälinge's sport director Conny Sjöberg says in a short interview with local daily UNT, that at least one and maybe two more Americans are on their way to Bälinge. He says the club is having "a positive dialogue" with an experienced and very merited defensive player, who can play both defense and midfield. "We already have lots of talent in our team. The ones we are looking at now are players with experience."
Upsala Nya Tidning: Fler amerikanskor på gång

Erika Karlsson, who after two and a half years with the club did not get a renewed contract with Umeå IK, has now as expected signed for Sunnanå. The 20 year old forward got a two year deal with last season's Damallsvenskan number 5.
Västerbottens Folkblad: Erika Karlsson till Sunnanå

Hammarby has signed 17 year old left-sider Malin Broberg from Bälinge's youth programme. She has played a lot in defense, but will likely be used as a winger in Hammarby. Hammarby has also announced that two players, midfielder Therese Dahlberg och forward Lisa Björkvik has renewed their contracts.
Hammarby: Therese, Lisa kvar + 1 Malin till

LDB FC Malmö's coaching duo Jörgen Petersson and Martin Sjögren has extended their contracts with the club for two more years. Head coach Petersson was offered to take over the men's team of his old home club, Östers IF, a classic Swedish side with several Championships but now residing in the third level. Petersson decided that he wanted to continue with Malmö, which he says has been an exciting journey so far.
LDB FC Malmö: Jörgen och Martin har skrivit nya kontrakt

Bälinge defender Lina Andersson has decided to renew her contract with the club. After losing several experienced players coach Zaine Söderlund is happy to keep the 23 year old in the team.
Upsala Nya Tidning: Andersson förlänger med Bälinge

Relegated Falköping's 18 year old forward Linnea Liljegärd (6 damallsvenskan goals last season) is moving clubs to Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC. Club chairman Peter Bronsman also reveals that they are close to signing with two defensive players and are looking for a goalkeeper. He adds that they are in talks with a couple of candidates for the goalkeeper position, but will not be able to finalize any deal before the holidays.
Göteborgsposten: Göteborg värvar och jagar vidare

Kristianstads DFF is expected to announce the signing of defender Therese Björck from Qbik within short. They are also talking to two more defensive former Qbik players, Amelie Rybeck and Jenny Hallstenson. These two might be the same unnamed players that are in talks with Göteborg.
Kristianstadsbladet: Björck närmar sig KDFF

Umeå hasn't offered the Brazilian forward Cristiane any contract and are not planning to do it at the present, says manager Roland Arnqvist to local media. "But we are not closing the door. It is hard to tell what the future will bring", he adds. And head coach Andrée Jeglertz agrees: "The last word isn't said yet, but we're not crying for another forward".
Even if Umeå hesitates, there seems to be several other options for Brazil's Cristiane. Local Umeå paper Västerbottens Folkblad got hold of Marta's agent Fabiano Farah, who now also represents Cristiane: "We have to respect that these talks are confidential, but it's hard to find a woman player that doesn't want to play in Umeå."
Farah adds that three Swedish clubs (Umeå, LDB FC and one unknown, possibly Linköping?) has shown interest in Cristiane as well as clubs in Germany, USA and France. He doesn't want to comment on whether the French club is Olympique Lyonnais, Umeå's UEFA Women's Cup semifinal opponent.
Västerbottens Folkblad: Fler vill ha Cristiane
Västerbottenskuriren: UIK nobbar Cristiane

Cristiane, Brazil forward and named third best female player at the FIFA World Player Gala yesterday, reveals that she would like to join her teammate Marta in Umeå. Cristiane, who has been playing her club football in Brazil since her contract with Wolfsburg in the German Bundesliga wasn't renewed, says that she has been approached by a couple of clubs, but that Umeå is number one on her list.
Umeå's manager Roland Arnqvist admits that he has made inquiries about Cristiane: "It would be a great signing, but we are pretty well supplied with offensive players and this is both about finances and about balancing the team", he comments, stating that he is still undecided on the question.
LDB FC Malmö's sport director Kenny Jönsson reveals that Malmö were in negotiations with Cristiane earlier this fall and were close to finding a solution. But when her agent came with a wage demand twice as high as had been discussed earlier, Malmö decided to break off the negatiations.
Västerbottens Folkblad: UIK har inte släppt tanken på Cristiane

Two personal reflections. First, Cristiane has spent a couple of seasons in Germany without any appearent success. She was first let go from Turbine Potsdam and then Wolfsburg decided against offering her a renewed contract after the 2006/07 season. Marcus Juchem had a piece at the always well informed and well written www.womensoccer.de this summer, titled "Why is Cristiane only good in her national team?" . He tried to figure out why things hadn't worked out for the Brazilian attacker in Germany. Climate, food, culture clash and home-sickness were mentioned and Juchem ended in recommending Los Angeles as a suitable destination. Not exactly Umeå.
Second, throwing in a huge wage demand is often an efficient way to break negotiations. Czech forward Pavlina Scasna did that to get Umeå of her back, when she really wanted to go to Malmö. Cristiane might have wanted to scare away Malmö because she wants to go to Umeå.

When Linköping deemed Maria Aronsson superfluous after their signing of Jessica Landström, several other teams approached the 12 times capped attacker. That she ended up with a two year deal in Malmö was a surprise to many and Aronsson herself commented that it must be seen as a step up. Malmö's coach Jörgen Petersson commented that he was very pleased to get a forward that is young (24) but still very experienced. Aronsson has scored 41 goals in 80 Damallsvenskan matches and her size and playing style could make her a good replacement for Malmö's retired Asthildur Helgadottir.
Malmö more or less re-signed all their starters already before the World Cup. Their defense was the most successful of all Damallsvenskan teams last season but with an injured Helgadottir and a Therese Lundin with problems finding the goal their offense has been suffering. Not surprisingly they seem to be aiming mostly to strengthen their attack. Coach Petersson went Prague to check in with newly signed Pavlina Scasna, finalize the contract papers and see how her rehabilitation is turning out. It looked good and Petersson is expecting Scasna to turn up for practice in Malmö after the holidays.
Malmö also decided to pick up young winger Antonia Göransson from their youth team. Göransson, a speedy 17 year old, has been on loan to Danish premier division side BK Skjold since the summer and impressed greatly.
Corren: Aronsson från LFC till Malmö
Sydsvenskan: Landslagsanfallare till Malmö ...
LDB FC Malmö: Pavlina Scasna på gång till Sverige, Ytterligare en spelare till A-truppen

Linköpings FC has, as usual, had the ambition to sign a big name to the club. But both their main targets Victoria Svensson and Lotta Schelin opted to stay with their clubs. Instead they managed to get Hammarby's budding national team star Jessica Landström, offering her a full time position paying somewhere around SEK 20,000 a month.
But besides Landström, Linköping's new recruits has been young and fairly unproven with the two 16 year olds Tilda Heimersson and Lisa Nilsson as the youngest. These signings has made Linköping's squad 19 players strong, but coach Daniel Pettersson says he's counting on two more players, preferably established internationals.
Expressen: Löneklippet
Corren: Norrköpingsduo klar för LFC

Kif Örebro's defender Malin Nilsson has decided to leave her mother club and instead sign for Hammarby. Örebro's sport director Thomas Rasmusson said they wanted to keep her, but with the competition in the club for a position as one of the two centre defenders as tough as it is, he could understand why she wanted to move. Last year she had team captain and Sweden defender Stina Segerström and USA's Keeley Dowling as competition and next season Dowling will have been replaced by Finland's Sanna Valkonen.
Rasmusson also told local newspaper Nerikes Allehanda that even if they already have a better squad than last season, he is still open for a couple more players, most important a good back-up for their keeper Kristin Hammarström.
Nerikes Allehanda: Malin går till Hammarby


Bälinge's experienced keeper Maja Åström has decided to take a break from playing football. The 25 year old, who has both national team experience and two Swedish championships with Djurgården, says that she has been living with football for a long time now and needs to try something else.
Sport director Conny Sjöberg isn't worried, even if Åström is the third key player that has left (Mäkinen and Sembrandt the others) recently. He has confidence in the team in the long run, but admits that 2008 will be a tough season: "It is crucial that we find the right players when we sign the more experienced players we are looking for". And his first priority isn't a goalkeeper, but a defender and midfielder.
Upsala Nya Tidning: Maja Åström lämnar Bälinge


Kopparbergs/Göteborg has now officially given up on trying to sign USA's national team keeper Hope Solo for the 2008 season. The possibilities to synchronise USA's Olympic preparations with a Damallsvenskan schedule are limited, to say the least. Club chairman Peter Bronsman admits that they will have to find another keeper, but is in no hurry.
Göteborgsposten: Hoppet om Hope ute


After a tough 2007 season, with injury problems and her father's death, it took Sunnanå midfielder Sanna Frostevall some time to decide if she should continue playing. But recently she resigned with Sunnanå: "Dad would have liked me to go on".
Norra Västerbotten: "Pappa hade velat att jag skulle fortsätta"