Umeå re-signings slowly moving on
Arnqvist expects most of the questionmarks around Umeå's 2007 squad to be cleared during the next week. It is already clear that Umeå has lost goalkeeper Sofia Lundgren (AIK), defender Sanna Valkonen (AIK) and midfielder Anne Mäkinen (address unknown, but most likely also to a club in the Stockholm area). He expects answers from key players Marta and Lise Klaveness soon and also from Malin Moström. Moström, now 31 years old, has no ambition to change clubs but is trying to make up her mind if she is going to play top football for yet another year.
Another player that might be moving on is full-back Anna Paulsson, who is also in talks with AIK. Apart from the possible lure of "bright lights, big city", Paulsson also seems to be interested in training to become a make-up artist, a field where Stockholm has more to offer than Umeå.
The main task for Umeå's management must be to find a replacement for Anne Mäkinen. They have had talks with Ingvild Stensland, who plays in a Mäkinen position for Norway. If she doesn't sign, says a columnist in the local paper, Umeå is in serious trouble. Arnqvist would have to place a call to somebody like USA's Shannon Boxx.
Still, futsal jokes aside, Arnqvist is confident: "Believe me, we'll have a competitive team next year too and we will be fighting for the silverware. It's fun to watch AIK's efforts, but UIK is something different altogether."
Västerbottenskuriren: Ersätt Mäkinen - det är nyckeln till framgång
SVT: Spelartappet oroar inte Umeå
Västerbottens Folkblad: Frisk och Pedersen stannar i Umeå IK, Arnqvist lugn trots få spelare klara
Qbik board dismiss Nigerian plea
Ikidi, Kudaisi and Mmadu met the Qbik board yesterday for talks, but their plea was unsuccessfull. The board stands by their earlier decision to terminate the contracts. Chairman Lars-Inge Hallstensson says that they are all interesting players, but the club had no choice: "We can't have players that just leaves when we're struggling for survival".
The Nigerian trio says that they are disappointed with the club's decision, but that they will talk to their agent and try to get contracts with other European clubs.
All of them might not have to wait very long. FC Indiana in the US WPSL league has issued a press release, stating that they are in talks with Ikidi. The young defender says that she is looking at FC Indiana's offer and adds that "it would be good for once to play alongside [FC Indiana's Ghanian stand-out] Adjoa Bayor".
Värmlands Folkblad: "Vi fick tillåtelse", Qbik står fast vid sin linje, "Vi är besvikna"
Dates set for UEFA Women's Cup final
"Just playing the Women's Cup final is great in itself. Then meeting Arsenal, that we've never played before and which is a pretty good brand name, is something we're looking forward to. And then playing at the Emirates - well, there's a lot to look forward to", comments Umeå's manager Roland Arnqvist.
Dagens Nyheter: Umeå kan få spela på Emirates Stadium
Umeå IK: Datum för Women's Cup-finalerna klara
I'm buying plane tickets right now. I'm making reservations.
Change in goal at Umeå
Västerbottenskuriren: Sofia Lundgren från Umeå till AIK
Mallbacken's sought-after goalie Carola Söberg yesterday returned from Umeå with a contract offer. She says it will make her "sort of professional". She says that from a footballing point of view, it can't get any better than in Umeå. She's still not decided though, since there are other things in life to conside .
Värmlands Folkblad: Umeå erbjöd Carola Söberg ettårskontrakt
Hanna Ljungberg stays in Umeå and other news
Västerbottens Folkblad: Ljungberg stannar i UIK
Malmö FF's assistant coach Martin Sjöberg, mentioned in connection with Linköping earlier, has renewed his contract with MFF.
Malmö FF: Martin Sjögren stannar i MFF Dam!
Hammarby goalie Katarina Wicksell has renewed her contract with the club.
Hammarby: Katarina Wicksell förlänger
Goalscorer Kent back with Bälinge
Bälinge has only signed contracts with three players so far, goalkeeper Maja Åström, defender Lina Andersson and midfielder Michaela Björklund. They have verbal agreements with Nera Smajic, Emma Lindqvist and Linda Sembrant. But their top priority is still Anne Mäkinen. "It feels like we're still in the game there, but I think all the Stockholm clubs are interested too."
Upsala Nya Tidning: Måldrottningen Kent tillbaka i Bälinge
Linköping and Qbik signs coaches
Linköping FC has signed Daniel Petersson, a 33 year old university educated with coaching experience from lower division men's teams, as their new head coach. Malmö FF's assistant coach Martin Sjögren, who earlier was rumoured to be Petersson's co-coach, is no longer in the picture since Malmö got their Damallsvenskan license renewed.
Corren: Seger får en ny trendig tränare
Qbik has signed Janne Jansson, previously Team Strømmen and before that Mallbacken, as their new head coach. The experienced Jansson alradey has plans for his new team. He thinks the team needs to be more aggressive on the field and doesn't want to hire full-time professionals: "We're not at that level yet". He is focusing on local players like Therese Lückner (Team Strømmen), Carola Söberg, Maja Johansson and Kathlen Fernström (all Mallbacken).
The competition for Söberg's services now seems to have narrowed down to, besides Qbik, Hammarby and AIK. Should Söberg not choose Qbik, they will try to get Maria Yatrakis back.
Värmlands Folkblad: Ett väntat besked
Mirjam Marklund rejoins Sunnanå
Mirjam has a year left of her studies in Stockholm, but will combine commuting and taking some distance courses. Sunnanå has also reached an agreement with Djurgården/Älvsjö, that Mirjam can train with them while in Stockholm.
Norra Västerbotten: Mirjam åter i SSK
Smith stays in Sunnanå
Damfotboll.com: Tackade nej till Bayern München
Dowling renews contract with Kif Örebro
Damfotboll.com: Dowling tillbaka till KIF Örebro nästa år
Malmö players looking for alternatives
Malmö's young full back Johanna Rosén is reported training with Kristianstad DFF, a team that finished 2nd in the 1st division this season, only one point from promotion. Kristianstad is making a serious attempt to reach their goal to promote next season and is looking at several players with Damallsvenskan experience. Therese Björk (Jitex) and Maria Åhlund (Sunnanå) were also present at the training session.
Besides Johanna Rosén, Kristianstad is also having talks with Malmö's winger/forward Emma Stålhammar. Both Johanna and Emma has been occasional starters, but just as often late substitutes for Malmö this season. They would both like to play a more important role with their team and are probably also worried about the outcome of the licensing committee's review of Malmö's financial status. The committee's decision, that should be official this Tuesday, could lead to relegation from Damallsvenskan for Malmö.
Kristianstadsbladet: Allsvenska spelare tränade med KDFF
Djurgården's Pedersen back to Norway?
Just promoted Norwegian club Asker is looking to reinforce their squad for the awaiting season in the top flight. As earlier reported here, coach Eli Landsem demanded a serious attempt to reach the top if she was to remain with the club. Among the players she wanted to Asker was Djurgården/Älvsjö's and Denmark's midfielder Katrine Pedersen. Norwegian media now reports that Asker is in negotiations with Pedersen and an unnamed Danish national team central defender and hopes to reach an agreement during the weekend. I don't think "central defender" is the right way to describe Dorte Dalum Jensen, so it's probably some team in the Danish league that will suffer.
Fxt.no: Asker jager landslagsduo
Malmö and Kolbotn rumours at Linköping
Malmö FF's assistant coach Martin Sjögren will, together with local man Daniel Pettersson, share the head coach position at Linköping FC. At least according to local newspaper Corren. Sjögren declines to comment.
Linköping FC's former coach, Per-Johan Karlsson, has been signed as head coach at Carlstad United, a men's 1st division (level 3) side in his home town Karlstad. He says that after coaching a team like Linköping FC it would just feel strange with another women's team.
Corren: Ny tränarduo till Linköpings FC
Linköping is still looking for a new big name player. After Hanna Ljungberg, Therese Sjögran and Asthildur Helgadottir, their top prioroty now seems to be Kolbotn and Norway midfielder Trine Rønning. Rønning says that she hasn't heard from the club yet, but that she will listen if they get in touch: "I have played nine years in the Norwegian league and could be tempted to try something new."
Corren: På jakt efter norsk landslagsstjärna
Player signings in Sunnanå
Sunnanå has also offered Mirjam Marklund a contract. Mirjam, Hanna's younger sister, left Sunnanå after the 2005 season to focus on her education in Stockholm. Halfway into the 2006 season she got persuaded by AIK to join the club. AIK were by then an obvious promotion candidate, but leaking in goals and the defense needed to be tightened. Mirjam gave experience and stability to the young AIK defense and the team conceded only 12 goals in 15 matches with her, to compare with 16 goals in the 7 first matches. Mirjam, who also has a proposals from AIK, says she is tempted to return home and play with Hanna.
Norra Västerbotten: Nordbrandt förlänger med Sunnanå
No worries in Umeå over players leaving
Roland Arnqvist says he doesn't know which players the club will field in the UEFA Women's Cup final next year, but there is no reason to worry: "It was much worse last year", he says and reminds of a tabloid headline a year ago announcing "The stars are fleeing from Umeå". He also underlines, that it is important that the players they sign are dedicated, that they really wants to play for Umeå. And there is a generation change to deal with. "It would of course be great to keep the entire squad and just play on next year. But we have a lot of players close to 30 and it's better to replace some of these now instead of replacing a lot of them next year."
Probably a couple of more players will follow Valkonen and leave Umeå, but Arnnqvist says "There is a lot of good football players in the world. I can assure UIK will field a strong team next year too."
Västerbottens Folkblad: Sista matchen med UIK-gänget
Västerbottenskuriren: UIK kan säkra finalplatsen – men vilka spelare blir kvar?
Mäkinen to Bälinge? Valkonen to Stockholm!
Defender Sanna Valkonen tells local daily Västerbottenskuriren that she has decided to leave Umeå after this season. She has an agreement with a Stockholm club, but doesn't want to reveal the name of the club yet, since all papers aren't signed. The deal is for a full-time professional position, just like she has with Umeå. Sanna also says that she will take a break from the Finnish national team next year and see if she wants to continue to play in 2008.
Västerbottenskuriren: Valkonen: "Jag flyttar till Stockholm"
EDIT: We can replace Stockholm with AIK. The northern Stockholm club happily announced Valkonen's signing at a press conference earlier today.
AIK: Sanna Valkonen från Umeå till AIK
Bälinge has been in touch with Umeå's star midfielder Anne Mäkinen and will have continued talks next week, after Umeå's second UEFA Women's Cup semifinal match against Kolbotn. Bälinge's Conny Sjöberg seems excited and says that Mäkinen is the second biggest transfer you can make in the Swedish league, only Marta would be bigger. She is not only a great player, she would also be a great leader and role-model for Bälinge's young players. Sjöberg finally adds that Bälinge wouldn't have started talks with Mäkinen if she hadn't hinted that she might be interested.
Upsala Nya Tidning: Bälinge satsar på att värva världsstjärna
Marta's agent: German clubs in the race for Marta's signature
Farah says that Marta has to play in the league "that adds most to her value". "The Swedish is competitive", he says, "and so is the German. And the American is really trying to be there."
Umeå IK has presented a contract proposal, says Umeå manager Roland Arnqvist.
Expressen: Marta på väg till Tyskland
EDIT: This actually made the evening TV news too. Lots of footage of Marta in action, but she herself refuses to comment. She won't even talk to media and just refers to her agent. Coach Jeglertz says that Marta is a good player, so of course other clubs will try to pull her away from Umeå. And towards the end of the clip, when manager Roland Arnqvist looks like he's being made to answer a personal and slightly awkward question, he is just trying to avoid answering to how much they are offering Marta for 2007.
SVT: Marta på väg att lämna Umeå? (video clip)
Coaches and players renew deals with Göteborg
Among the players, the club has already signed 2007 contracts with Johanna Almgren, Lisa Ek, Maria Edman, My Hjelm, Frida Höglund, Maria Nilsson, Camilla Schelin, Lotta Schelin, Marlene Sjöberg. Kopparbergs/Göteborg hopes to be able to release news on more signings within short.
Göteborg FC: Klara ledare inför 2007, Ett helt gäng spelare klara inför nästa säsong..
Djurgården forward goes to AIK
AIK says they are happy Simonsson signed and calls her "a strong and fast forward".
AIK: Sofia Simonsson till AIK
Mäkinen turns down FC Indiana
Västerbottenskuriren: Mäkinen nobbar USA