Month: March 2021

The Cup final opposed the best teams in the country – Malmo FF vs IFK Goteborg. Exciting final for sure – both teams were determined to win and prove who was really the best in Sweden. Malmo FF clinched 2-1 victory.
IFK Goteborg ended the year with nothing. Bad luck, but to a point – since the cup tournament had different schedule, played in 2 years – 1985-86 – vs single year championship, the final was played much earlier than the end of the championship. Thus, they lost the Cup almost in the middle of the championship and Malmo FF, already running strong got additional bust. Small difference, but in favour of IFK Goteborg – at the end, they did not reach the championship final. Tiny differencies, leading to unpleasant results.
Malmo FF collected a double this year – does not happen often, so it was fantastic result of very strong season. May be not the greatest squad in the history of the club, but very successful and in excellent from. Motivation was not lacking either – credit must go to Roy Hogdson, who was quietly developing into fine coach.

First Division. Still the same formula used in the previous years: after the regular season the top 4 teams proceeded to play-offs and the winner in the final was the champion. Weakened IFK Goteborg, losing key players every year, was not quite up to the task and another club – perhaps the most consistently strong Swedish club – stepped in. Only 3 teams finished with positive goal-difference and one more managed to end with neutral goal-difference. Looked like a division between strong and weak club was emerging, quite atypical for Swedish football, but times were changing… may be.
Djurgardens IF had miserable season, finishing last with 15 points. Down the Second Division.
Kalmar FF was other relegated – 11th with 17 points. Top row from left: Ulf Nordenhem, Mikael Marko, Henrik Hasselgren, Anders Jonsson, Peter Karlsson, Billy Lansdowne, Niklas Karlstrom.
Middle row: Bjorn Wigstedt, Martin Holmberg, Magnus Arvidson, Jan Jansson, Bjorn Nilsson, Hakan Jagerbrink, Magnus Nilsson, Magnus Pettersson, Peter Nilsson, Johny Erlandsson.
Front row: Hakan Arvidsson, Niklas Friman, Allan Hebo Larsen – coach, Kjell Nyberg – manager, Johnny Wiksten – physical trainer, Peter Engstrom. Ulf Karlsson.
IF Elfsborg survived – 10th with 18 points.
Orgryte IS – 9th with 19 points. Lucky.
IK Brage – 8th with 20 points.

Osters IF – 7th with 20 points.

Hammarby IF – 6th with 20 points.
Halmstads BK – 5th with 21 points.
The top 4 qualified to the championship play-offs.
IFK Norrkoping – 4th with 21 points.
AIK – 3rd with 25 points.
IFK Goteborg – 2nd with 31 points.
Malmo FF was superior by far in the regular season and topped the league with 37 points, losing just once, but nothing was done yet. The actual battle for the title followed…
And in the semi-finals Malmo FF was almost eliminated: they were tied twice by IFK Norrkoping – 2-2 and 0-0 – and qualified only on away goals.

Really unfortunate IFK Norrkoping. What a bad luck.
There was no winner in the other semifinal too: IFK Goteborg and AIK ended 0-0 and 1-1. AIK, however, was lucky to score in Goteborg.
IFK Goteborg was out. Misfortune, but they were unable to beat AIK and had only themselves to blame.
AIK and Malmo FF met at the final, but it was not much of a clash, nothing like the semifinals. AIK won the first leg at home 1-0, but they were destroyed in Malmo 2-5. And that was that.
Strong season for AIK were clearly outclassed.
Malmo FF collected one more title, but it was not by chance: they had great season, better than anybody, and faced difficulty only in the semifinal against IFK Norrkoping. Still, they lost only 2 games this year – one in the regular stage of the championship and the second – at the final. There was no doubt they deserved the title. Roy Hodgson at the helm. Good players like Jonas Thern, tied squad, tradition – all was working fine.

Second Division Södra – the Southern group. Here 3 teams were clearly stronger than the rest, but not quite equal – one was still better than the rivals, losing only twice this season.
Norrby IF was the outsider – last and out with 11 points.

Markaryds IF was slightly better, yet, also an outsider: 13th with 15 points.
Helsingborgs IF was the third infortunate: 12th with 19 points and relegated.

BK Hacken was weak, but not in real danger of relegation: 11th with 22 points.
Myresjo IF – 10th with 23 points.

Karlstad BK ended 9th with 25 points, but looked like that had some troubles and their future in the league was uncertain. May be going down…
Karlskrona AIF – 8th with 25 points.
Trelleborgs FF – 7th with 25 points.
Landskrona BoIS – 6th with 25 points.
Kalmar AIK – 5th with 26 points.
Atvidabergs FF – 4th with 29 points, but curiously with negative goal-difference: -2.
GAIS – 3rd with 38 points. Much stronger than the rest of the league, but somewhat not a title contender.
Mjallby AIF – 2nd with 39 points. The best scorers in both groups of Second Division – 72 goals in 26 games, and finishing with best goal-difference also in both groups: +48. But it was not their year…
Vastra Frolunda lost only 2 games this season and eventually built a 3-points lead by the finish. 18 wins, 6 ties, 2 losses, 48-11 goal-difference, 42 points. Excellent defense, which probably gave them the edge over their opponents. In any case, they won promotion and returned to top flight.