The Cup. It was different story, deliberate or not. The final was reached by teams outside the battles for the title. AIK was unfortunate and missed the final championship stage, but Osters IF was not even close to such a possibility this year. May be they put all their efforts in the Cup tournament and AIK, once out of the championship, also aimed at winning. At the final, ambition drove both candidates and no winner emerged in regular and extra-time: 1-1. Penalty shoot-out is always chancy, but this time it looked like justice prevailed: overall, AIK was better team this year. They clinched victory 3-2.
Unlucky Osters IF, but it was only fair they lost the final. At least their dignity was intact – they did their best at the final. No shame losing a penalty shoot-out. Yet, their season was weak and in terms of fairness, they had to lose. If football has anything to do with fairness, of course.
Must have been a great moment for AIK – they lost a chance to fight for the title only on goal-difference and were one of the strongest Swedish squads this year. Winning the Cup was more than compensation. Not an easy win, perhaps even a bit lucky, but they have been unlucky in the championship, so it was fine. It was the 4th Cup for AIK and the first after 1976 – had to weight almost 10 years for another trophy, but it was theirs again. The title was out of their reach since 1937, so the Cup was perhaps more important for the club – given the circumstances, they had no chance competing with IFK Goteborg and Malmo FF. As a Stockholm-based club, they had strong local competition for available top players and no chance of building really strong team. Perhaps the numbers of won cups appear small, but the reason for it is the Swedish Cup was introduced only in 1941 – the championship exists since 1896. AIK could not compete with Malmo FF in terms of Cup winning, but with this victory they climbed to 2nd position, leaving IFK Norrkoping and IFK Goteborg behind.
Sweden I Division
First Division. The formula of the championship was slightly changed this season: it was still two-phased championship, but instead of the top 8 going to the second phase, only the top 4 were going ahead this year. Of course, there are old and unsolvable problems with many-phased championships: a small league, like the Swedish, needs a way for playing more games, especially for the leading clubs. But second phase makes the regular part of the season quite meaningless: it is enough for a team to qualify. A smart, but otherwise limited team can do just that, saving strength for what really counts. They don’t need to finish first or second – 8th place would be enough and such a team can go all the way to the title after the first phase. In a league of just 12 teams a tactic like that means that pretty much one of the outsiders may end up champion. Even in honest countries like Sweden scheming can be used – it is not corruption after all, just a tactical matter. Of course, the case is largely theoretical – weak teams hardly ever can go very far – but the real problem remained anyway: the regular part of the championship was almost playing for nothing and it was even stupid to put much effort in it, risking tiredness and injuries. So, it was just the top 4 from the regular championship going ahead this year, opening immediately the other problem: most teams of the league had nothing to play for at all, once getting enough points for survival. Short season and long vacation. In a way, 8 of the 12 teams had to play a bit just to avoid relegation. And if there were weak outsiders, it was just playing the motions for good number of clubs.
There was such outsider this championship:
Trelleborgs FF had no bite and was at the bottom the whole time – 12th with 12 points.
Two other teams battled between themselves for survival.
Mjallby AIF lost the battle – 11th with 15 points. Along with Trelleborgs, they were relegated.
IFK Norrkoping survived – 10th with 17 points. Lucky boys.
IK Brage celebrated its 60th birthday with keeping place in the top division. Nothing more to brag about, though – looked like they managed managed to earn enough points for survival early and the rest was pretty much a vacation. 9th with 19 points.
Similar to Brage were Osters IF – taking it easy at the championship, but concentrating on the Cup tournament. 8th with 20 points.
Halmstads BK was satisfied with easy season too – 7th with 21 points.
Hammarby IF was perhaps more ambitious, but not strong enough: 6th with 24 points.
AIK was unlucky – they fought for top place and going ahead, but lost the battle on goal-difference – three teams ended with 26 points; AIK had the worse goal-difference and took 5th place.
The top four at the end of the regular part of the championship went ahead: IFK Goteborg – 4th with 26 points; Orgryte IS – 3rd with 26 points; Kalmar FF – 2nd with 28 points; and Malmo FF – 1st with 30 points.
On the surface, Malmo FF seemed like prime candidate for the title – strong in the first phase, outplaying all. But then again… IFK Goteborg, arguably the strongest Swedish squad at this time, played just enough, barely enough, to reach the second stage. And Malmo FF had to face them in the semi-final.
Face to face, the leading Swedish teams had nothing to hold back. Fresher IFK Goteborg won both legs – 2-1 at home and 2-0 in Malmo.
Malmo FF was out, seemingly, just to prove how stupid was to win meaningless phase of a championship. May be even to prove how stupid is to have English coach, for the English played seriously and without tactical schemes from start to end. Thus, the team was tired when it really mattered and the opponent – fresher.
Kalmar FF proved the same as Malmo FF – whatever strength they had, they spent in the first phase. Second best then, but so what? Orgryte IS was in high gear now and beat them twice – 4-2 and 3-1.
There was no small final for the bronze medals – Malmo FF and Kalmar FF had to sulk and lick their wounds without any chance for consolatory victory.
IFK Goteborg and Orgryte IS met to decide the championship – a final between 3th and 4th in the opening phase, both teams barely qualifying for the semi-finals, but once they achieved that, they were in top form. Or may be not… at least, IFK Goteborg was liable to misstep. They lost the first leg of the final at home 2-4. They lost badly and, seemingly, everything was over. But they came back in the second leg and won it 3-2. It was high drama, but it was not enough for the best Swedish team: Orgryte still prevailed by a goal.
Title lost, but it was not so bad after all: the team was wonderful – so far, the bigger loss was the coach, who made this squad – Sven Goran Eriksson. But he had good replacement – Lennart Johansson. The top players were not sold yet, so it was just a matter of slight adjustment, perhaps a bit of fine tuning of form. That was Sweden after all – no big tragedy because the team finished second.
Orgryte IS played their cards right and truimphed. A good example of timing and sober evaluation of priorities – the team struggled a bit at first, but once they reached the final stages, they were just fine and fought with great spirit to the very end. The 1985 champions of Sweden, third row from left: Raymond Carlsson (lagledare), Anders Carlsson, Conny Karlsson, Åke Johansson, Henrik Svartborn, Anders Holmvén, Sören Börjesson,Agne Simonsson (Tränare)
Middle row: Dennis Olsson, Jan Gidebratt, Jan Hellström, Glenn Martindahl, Piter Esberg, Tony Ohlsson, Gunnar Samuelsson, Anders Andersson
Sitting: Hans Prytz, Peter Rodin, Sonny Åberg, Sven Andersson, Lars Andersson, Göran Ramstedt, Dennis Skånberg (ass,tränare).
Playing their cards right was the whole secret – this is a modest squad, especially compared to IFK Goteborg and Malmo FF. Conny Carlsson was more or less the only familiar name. There was some good talent, but nobody with a name yet. Sturdy team, depending on collective effort and good timing, but nothing special. It was nice to see them win, though – Orgryte was the underdog. It was the 14th title for Orgryte, but their first after 1928! A 15th title was unlikely in the visible future, though, so it was truly a big moment to be cherished. Even more than that: Orgryte IS was still the most successful Swedish club – Malmo FF had 12 titles at the moment, IFK Norrkoping – 11, and IFK Goteborg – 10.
Sweden II Division North
Second Division Nodra.
Falu BS – the weakest team in the whole second division. Unable to win even a single match. Only 3 ties gave them points. 3 points.
Tyreso FF – 13th with 19 points.
Karlslunds IF – 12th with 21 points and the third relegated team this year.
Ope IF – 11th with 23 points.
IFK Vasteras – 10th with 25 points.
Vasalunds IF – 9th with 25 points.
Sandvikens IF – 8th with 26 points.
IF Brommapojkarna – 7th with 26 points.
Lulea FF – 6th with 27 points.
IFK Eskilstuna – 5th with 28 points.
Orebro SK – 4th with 28 points.
Like the other group, three teams were high above the rest of the league, battling for the top two positions, giving chance for promotion.
Gefle IF lost the battle – 3rd with 35 points.
Vasteras SK settled for 2nd place with 38 points.
With 40 points, Djurgardens IF won the championship. 16 wins, 8 ties, 2 losses, 50-20. Vasteras SK scored more goals and had much better goal-difference, but Djurgardens ended with more points.
The promotion play-offs opposed a group winner to the second-best in the other group. Two legs were played. Djurgardens IF and GAIS proved to be equally matched – both legs ended 0-0, goals were scored at last in the extra-time, but still there was no winner: 1-1. Penalty shoot-out favoured Djurgardens IF – 4-2.
No such drama in the other play-off. In fact, no drama at all: IF Elfsborg destroyed Vasteras SK at their home turf 5-2 and the second leg was mere formality. At home, Elfsborg simply won again, this time 4-0.
The group winners – Djurgardens IF and IF Elfsborg – were promoted to the top division. For both teams, it was a return to familiar league.