Madelen Janogy is one of Swedish women’s soccer’s most talented players. A wonderful step, aloof, technical, good understanding of the game, an excellent shooter – and a good team player.
Her two goals against IFK Norrköping secured Hammarby’s second SM gold, 38 years after the first.
But there is also a fragility that has cost her a successful career at a bigger club in a bigger league.
In the summer of 2020, she went into darkness, broke the contract with Wolfsburg in the German league and moved home to Piteå. Half a year later, Hammarby attracted with a clear and clear investment.
Don’t want to talk future
The reward came this year. First cup victory, then the magical resolution in the battle for Crown Princess Victoria’s trophy. The highlight and end point of Janogy’s time at the club – or just the beginning of something that could become much bigger?
She doesn’t want to answer that. Maybe because she doesn’t know where she will play soccer next season. How the future looks may in any case become something for the future.
— It’s not something I want to focus on now. I just want to be here and now and enjoy it, she says.
— I haven’t even reflected on it. There have been so many important matches. My focus has been on winning matches with Bajen. I won’t be able to give any answers now. We have to take that further, she says.
Madelen Janogy celebrates after the 2–0 goal.
It was as wonderful as it was a strange afternoon. When the final whistle went at Parken in Norrköping, Janogy & Co didn’t know if the 2-0 victory was enough for a gold party at home on Södermalm in Stockholm.
At the same time, a fairly large part of the around 6,000 Hammarby fans poured onto the Park’s artificial grass, in the direction of her and the rest of the players who had gathered in the center circle, waiting for the knowledge they lacked.
“It was horrible”
At the Bravida arena, Häcken still had several minutes to score the goals required for SM gold. Was Janogy’s goal enough for gold? Or would she and the others stand there and at the last moment be snuffed out for the gold, for the title, at tonight’s party?
Many thoughts went through many heads shortly before four o’clock on Saturday afternoon. Janogy admits it was almost a nightmarish experience.
— Incredibly difficult. I only heard that Häcken had scored a lot of goals, but I didn’t know how many or how many they needed to score. It was terrible not knowing. I started to feel sick, they had just played 90 minutes.
“I don’t want to experience that again,” says Janogy, who turns 28 on Sunday.
But she got to roar, sing, shake hands with the confederation base Fredrik Reinfeldt and receive her second SM gold, five years after the first with Piteå.
Has escaped injury
“We have worked incredibly hard and toiled and so we stand here with double gold this year in our third year in the Allsvenskan,” she says.
TT: How high in your career do you place this gold?
— Incredibly loud. I have won gold before with Piteå and that was also big in many ways. No one thought we would win gold. This is just as big.
Twelve goals and five assists underline Madelen Janogy’s importance to Hammarby’s champion team.
She gives the explanation herself.
— I have had to stay injury-free, worked hard, got into Hammarby’s way of playing even better. Last year there were a lot of injuries. Now I have gained continuity in training and matches and grown together with Bajen.