Jitex coaches stays

Jitex coaching duo Hans Prytz and Mats Heed have agreed to stay with the club over the 2007 season, whether it will be in Damallsvenskan or in the 1st division. "No contract is signed yet", says Jitex' sport director Lennart Lindorsson, "but we are very pleased with what Hans and Mats have accomplished the two years they've been with us and we all want to continue." 

Damfotboll.com:
Jitex tränarduo fortsätter

Linköping resigns key players

Frida Östberg and Sara Larsson was already signed and last Friday left back/winger Maria Karlsson also made an agreement to stay with Linköping FC the 2007 season, this in spite of some interest being being shown from champions Umeå. "Of course it was flattering", Maria comments, "but I like it in Linköping. This is my club and this is where I want to be."

Sport director Bengt Ekholm is especially pleased with the 2 year contract the club signed with Sara Larsson. "It is still very uncommon with contracts this long in women's football and we're very satisfied we managed to agree on it." Ekholm also says they are close to agreements with the other key players, goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl, medfielder Caroline Seger and forward Josefine Öqvist.

As usual Linköping are also keen on signing a couple of top class players. This is of course among other things a question of what they will be able afford, but it's no secret that are looking at Hanna Ljungberg and Victoria Svensson. Tiffeny Milbrett will return to USA after the season, but there is a possibility that she might return next year.

Corren:
Karlsson blir kvar i LFC ett år till

Norway's resurrected Asker is eyeing Djurgården's Pedersen

Norwegian top club Asker, relegated from the Norwegian premier last year for financial reasons, has now secured promotion back to Toppserien. Asker's coach Eli Landsem lost several influental players last year, among them Lise Klaveness to Umeå and Bente Nordby to Djurgården/Älvsjö. She now states that she wants the resources to compete for the Norwegian championship and names among others Djurgården's midfielder Katrine Pedersen. The danish national team captain came to Djurgården a year ago from another Norwegian club, the 2005 bronze team Fløya.

Budstikka:
Krever forsterkninger

Pavlina Scasna stays in Örebro

KIF Örebro's czech striker Pavlina Scasna stays another year with Örebro. She has had other proposals, but likes it very much with the team and the town in Örebro: "I love Örebro!".

KIF örebro's chairman Karin Tellås told the press that securing Pavlina's signature had been their top priority in the preparations for 2007.

The future for Americans Kelly Schmedes and Keeley Dowling is more unsure. They haven't made quite the impact that was expected. Pia Sundhage also wants to await the result of Dowling's try-uot with the US national team: "We can't sign players that are going to spend most of next year with their national teams"

Nerikes Allehanda:
Pavlina stannar i KIF Örebro

Bälinge and Mallbacken coaches leaving

Bälinge's head coach Magnus Wikman has announced that he will not seek an extension of his contract. Wikman took over the position when Bälinge got relegated after the 2004 season and has, as Bälinge's board states, done a great job getting them back getting them back to Damallsvenskan and securing their continued stay there.
Uppsala Nya Tidning:
Magnus Wikman lämnar Bälinge

Mallbacken's coaches Mikael Fahlén and Peter Wennberg will both leave after this season. Wennberg will work for the Swedish FA's new talent development program and Fahlén has decided to take a year off from football to get more time for family and his real life job.
Värmlands Folkblad: Lämnar Mallbacken


Coaches moving on

Hammarby's coach since 2003, En Perlskog, announced after the Bälinge match that he has agreed with the club to end his tenure with the club at the end of this season. Perlskog is one of the big coach profiles in Damallsvenskan, out-spoken about his own team as well as the competing ones.

Qbik's Kjell Petersson has recieved a three months notice, ending his contract after the season finish. Qbik's management and Petersson himself the club is not changing head coach (assistant coach Jan "Adidas" Svensson has been named as successor), but have to take precautions in case of relegation. "We cannot keep a full-time coach if we have to play in the 1st division next year", club chairman Lars-Inge Hallstensson says.

Damfotboll.com:
Hammarby byter tränare
Värmlands Folkblad: Adidas kliver fram

Last minute American recruit to Bälinge

Bälinge's latest additioon, 22 year old left winger Christen Karniski (University of Illinois and FC Indiana), has arrived to the club. Karnski was signed only hours before the international transfer window closed on August 31 to replace Bälinge's Amy Vermeulen. Vermeulen had the day before announced that she had got called up by the Canadian national team for a two month long training camp in  preparations for the North American World Cup qualification tournament in November.

Upsala Nya Tidning: 
Bälinge värvar en ny amerikanska!

Umeå wants to keep Klaveness

Umeå's manager Roland Arnqvist tells Norwegian media that they are very pleased with their Norwegian international Lise Klaveness and is very interested in negotiating an extension of the one year contract. Klaveness herself says "Every time I play a match or go to training, I think I cannot leave this. Buit everytime I talk to family and friends from home I get uncertain."

NRK:
Vil forlenge med Klaveness

Hanna Marklund stays in Sunnanå

National team defender and Sweden's 2005 player of the year Hanna Marklund has signed a one year extension of her contract with Sunnanå. Sunnanå's chairman Sören Gustafsson says that Hanna's early decision will make the on-going work with the 2007 squad a lot easier.

Damfotboll.com:
Hanna Marklund har bestämt sig

New American to Hammarby

Hammarby announced today the signing of American midfielder Martha West (Stanford and WPSL club California Storm). The 27 year old was Stanford's leading goal-scorer last college season.

Hammarby:
Martha West klar för Hammarby (short interview in english)

West is, if my count is right, the 16th player in Damallsvenskan this season from a North American club and/or college. To that you can add at least 6 more players in 1st division clubs. This is a huge number and it really should warrant a story of it's own. I'll look around and see if somebody's already written it.

Vermeulen leaves Bälinge for Canada

Bälinge's Canadian forward Amy Vermeulen leaves the club after only three matches. She impressed her national team coach Pellerud in the matches against France last August and has been called up for Canada's two month long training camp in preparation for the Gold Cup in November, a competition that also serves as World Cup qualifications for the North and Central American teams. "That's one of the risks you have to take with foreign players", comments Bälinge coach Magnus Wikman. "They were very pleased with her in the national team and we don't want to stop her."

Upsala Nya Tidning: 
Vermeulen lämnar Bälinge

People and places

Those of you that read the match reports has noticed that Linköping has a new keeper during Hedvig Lindahl's injury: Ellinor Birath. Birath, a 32 year old mother of two, comes from 2nd division Saltängen, but played both in Damallsvenskan and in Sweden's national team before her kids came along.

You might also have noticed the reappearence of Caitlin Fisher on Hammarby's roster. She played for the club this spring, then returned to Massachusetts to play for Boston Renegades in W-league. Unless there is a typo in Hammarby's line-up for the Umeå game, she is now back in Stockholm.

Malmö's Anna Mörstam played her last match for Malmö this season at Jitex before going on loan to her mother club Östers IF (1st division). Two other Malmö FF benchsitters, Mia Westerblad and Vlora Bajraktaraj, has been loaned to Malmö neighbours Husie (1st division) and the 17 year old talent Emelie Ölander has just finished a stint with Älmhult (1st division). To make up for bringing Emelie home, Malmö set up the connection between Älmhult and American forward Annii Magliulo (California Storm), who was on trial with Malmö early this year.

In other Malmö news, their Danish winger Nanna Johansen has decided to extend her contract and will stay with the club the entire season.

And Hammarby has hired longtime defender Annelie Norén as club manager. Smaller clubs hiring office staff seems like a little trend. Mallbacken earlier this year hired Jenny Larsson, also a former player. Probably the greatly increased TV revenues comes to use here.


Jitex signs Luckenbill

Kristin Luckenbill, who was named WUSA goalkeeper of the year a couple of years ago when she was playing for Carolina Courage and has a handfull of caps for USA, has in a surprising move been signed by relegation-fighting Jitex as a substitute for Anna Rehnlund, who was recently forced into retirement with a back injury.

Jitex coach Hans Prytz, who is satisfied with again having two goalkeepers on the roster, tells local daily Göteborgsposten that they found Luckenbill through an agent. Luckenbill should be cleared to play in time for the Malmö match next week. Jitex now has 4 foreigners on the squad, but are only allowed to put three on the match roster, but Prytz isn't worried about that: "All players are competing for a spot every week".
Göteborgsposten:
Målvakt på väg till Jitex

In related news, Sunnanå's young defender Linnea Gjersvold has left the club to return north to her native Luleå, where she will begin studying for a PE teaching degree.
Sunnanå: Linnea Gjersvold 20 år back, säger upp sitt kontrakt...

League restart - player movements, player injuries and slightly desperate player searches

Umeå refused to let Marta go to the U20 World Championships in Russia and play for Brasil. Not so much for the sake of the team, but they want Marta fit all the way through the UEFA matches in November and didn't want to risk the heavy championship schedule. The loan agreements for the younger players with local 1st division clubs (Umeå Södra and Själevad) seems to work fine. And some of the youngsters has been pretty active in the first team, notably Lisa Dahlqvist and Johanna Frisk. And to the relief of many fans, Karolina Westberg is now unlike last year an undisputed starter - she's played 90 minutes of every Damallsvenskan match so far.

Djurgården/Älvsjö has had Danish international Dorte Dalum Jensen injured since before the season, but it looks like she's approaching a come-back. Anne-Marie Norlin is also coming back from a rather long injury period. And Laura Kalmari got married.

Two Malmö FF players, defenders Dora Stefansdottir and Malin Levenstad, suffered sever injuries during the summer, broken arm (the bicycle kick can be a dangerous move) and broken leg (U19 European Championships can be dangerous too). These two girls (20 and 17 years old) has been starters the entire season, sort of replacing Denise Reddy and Malin Andersson and will be missed. On the other hand, Asthildur Helgadottir's long distance commuting from Iceland will continue the entire season, thanks to an understanding employer and a few companies willing to sponsor. And Asta's convincing her icelandic club Breidablikk that she really needs to play on a higher level than the Icelandic league. They have also signed the Danish talented winger Nanna Johansen, who has 20 matches with the Danish national team in spite of being only 19. Initially this is a short term deal over only July and August, sort of a very long try-out.

Tiffeny Milbrett is coming back to Damallsvenskan. As soon as her committment with Vancouver Whitecaps in the W-league is finished, she will join Linköping. She says enjoyed her stay in Sweden last year and is looking forward to play in Damallsvenskan again, this time in a club competing for a top position.

Kopparbergs/Göteborg lost national team midfielder Johanna Almgren to a knee injury in early July and she might be out for the rest of the season. Defender Sofia Palmqvist leaves the team and Sweden for college in USA. On the other hand they have managed to get the promising forward Emmelie Farfa from 1st division club Holmalund on loan for the rest of the season.

Hammarby's defender Caitlin Fisher left the club, as planned, after the first six matches to return to USA and Boston Renegades.

Czech star Pavlina Scasna joined as planned KIF Örebro July 1 and immediately made an impact.

Bälinge had to let Kacey White leave for USA national team camp during August - it was part of the initial deal that should White get called up the club would let her go. On the other hand they've managed to capture Amy Vermeulen, from Ottawa Fury that reached the final in the W-league Championships. They are hoping Vermeulen, a strong target player type, will better their dismal scoring statistics (8 in 12 matches, half of them by Kacey White).

Jitex' goalkeeper Anna Rehnlund has had back problems for a long time and has now been told by her doctor that she has to quit playing. Rehnlund has been the main reson why Jitex so far has managed to stay above the relegation line and will be severly missed. Their young forward Katya Salguero is leaving for college studies (and playing some ball, I presume) in USA. They are looking to strengthen their squad and as most lower half teams they are looking at the other side of the Atlantic. The club has signed a Kathy Ericsson, a 25 year old American who has moved to Sweden after marrying a Swedish man. I have no information on her, but if she's as good as they say, she must have made an impact on the college scene in USA. They have also signed two Ottawa Fury midfielders; Leah Robinsson, who has played for Canada and Stacey Stocco, with experience from the Australian youth national teams.

Qbik's goalie Maria Busk broke her foot on training and the club is trying to find a replacement. At the moment they are looking at Maria Yatrakis, Greek national team player, recently at University of Connecticut and Long Island Lady Riders in the W-league. They've signed a short term contract with her as a long try-out. Germany's national team forward Anja Mittag joined the team July 1.

Mallbacken, in what local press describes as their search for a new Lindsay Greco (last year's successfull summer signing), has signed forward Kristi Swaving, with lots of goals and awards playing for Michigan Hawks (successfull W-league club) and Oakland university. They've also had Elizabeth Dauble (Villanova university) trying out for the team, but she wasn't quite what they' were looking for.


Big shoes to fill for Keeley and Kelly

Last season Kristin Lilly and Kate Markgraf played for KIF Örebro. American U21 players Keeley Dowling and Kelly Schmedes admits that are big shoes to fill, but they still hope to be able to help the team. They are excited to be able to play in one of the best leagues in the world, gaining international experience and, not the least, working with Pia Sundhage.
Nerikes Allehanda: 
Keely och Kelly ska lyfta KIF
Radiosporten:  Förstärkningar till KIF Örebro (audio)
NA WebbTV: about 2 minutes into the broadcast there is a segment about the players (video)

Pavlina Scasna rumour confirmed

Monday afternoon KIF Örebro's chairman Karin Tellås could confirm that Czech national team player Pavlina Scasna will leave Bayern München in  the Bundesliga and join Örebro July 1. Tellås and Örebro's head coach Pia Sundhage both says they are happy and excited by the arrival of the Czech forward.
Damfotboll.com: 
Klart mellan tjeckiska Pavlina och KIF Örebro
Nerikes Allehanda: Tjeckisk center till KIF Örebro

Czech star to Örebro?

Czech national team star Pavlina Scasna, who plays for Bayern München in the German Bundesliga, might sign for KIF Örebro. That was the big talk on the sidelines at the Czech - Sweden match earlier today.

Scasna, who was behind almost everything in the offense for the Czech side, played in the WUSA team Philadelphia Charge when Örebro head coach Pia Sundhage was the team's assistant coach and Sundhage is said to be very keen on working with her again. The main preseason problem for KIF Örebro has been goalscoring and Scasna, who should be eligible for a July transfer, showed capacity to be able to help solve that in the match against Sweden .

No link, just a lot of talk during the match broadcast.

Edit April 25
Just to show that you shouldn't believe everything they talk about on the telly: It seems like Pia Sundhage and Pavlina Scasna never was at Philadelphia Charge at the same time. At least as far as I've been able to find out. Scasna was a rookie with the Charge in 2003. Sundhage had moved from Philadelphia by then to take charge of Boston Breakers.

You shouldn't believe everything you read on the internet either, by the way. But I don't lie to you  deliberately.

Helgadottir stays with Malmö FF

Malmö FF today announced, rather pleased, that their target player Asthildur Helgadottir will stay with the club for at least the three first Damallsvenskan matches. "And we are negotiating for more matches", says MFF's Kenny Jönsson.

Malmö FF says that the deal has been possible thank's to Helgadottir's committment to the club and to the cooperation from her Icelandic club, Breidablik.

Malmö FF:
Påskpresent till alla MFF DAM-fans
Damfotboll.com: Asthildur premiärspelar med Malmö FF

QBIK after Mittag: We are no longer just trying to avoid relegation

- "We worked on the transfer of Anja Mittag for several months. She's a world class player and we are extremely happy to be able to get her to the club." Qbik chairman Lars-Inge Hallstensson contuinues to say that with Mittag on the team, the club will no longer just be trying to avoid relegation.

Qbik's contact with Anja Mittag began when she came to Karlstad last summer to visit her long-time friend Jennifer Meier, who had just moved to the club. "We just said hello then, but when Jennifer decided to accept a new deal with Qbik for the 2006 season, we realised that there was a real possibility to get Mittag too."

Anja Mittag has signed a contract from July 1 to the end of the Swedish season. Lars-Inge Hallstensson, who intends to play the Potsdam forward in a midfield position, tells that the club has managed to finance the deal with support from a couple of sponsors.

Anja herself says at her website, that it was not an easy decision to leave Turbine Potsdam and she thought about it a lot. But she says she is looking forward to get to know new people, a new country and a new language. "I think I will develop both as an athlete and as a person. I've been in Potsdam for four years and I don't think it's wrong with a change of air."

Anja finally comforts her Turbine fans: "I will return to Turbine once my stay in Sweden is over."

Värmlands Folkblad:
Qbik förstärker med tysk landslagsstjärna

European Champion signs for QBIK

In a surprise move, QBIK's chairman Lars-Inge Hallstenson could today announce that the club has signed a deal bringing Turbine Potsdam's young star Anja Mittag to the Karlstad club. The 20 year old Mittag, often named as one of Europe's most promising young players, was part of Germany's European Championship winning team last year.

"We are very happy to present this new transfer. Anja will arrive in Karlstad on July 1, after the German Bundesliga season is finished", Hallstensson announced. He has now signed 5 foreign professionals to the team, three Nigerian national team players and two with German national team experience, besides Mittag also Jennifer Meier, who joined the team last summer.
Damfotboll.com:
EXTRA: Europamästare spelar för QBIK

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