In the stands, a man calls his father in the middle of the march. The father, gray-haired with glasses on the tip of his nose, could not possibly hear what the man was saying through the soundscape from the stands – but he was looking at the screen. It is yellow-black on one short side and blue on the other. He sees the two big rivals, Djurgården and AIK, enter the pitch and how they are surrounded by over 40,000 gaping, nervous and excited spectators.
The season’s first Stockholm derby in the men’s Swedish in football has been this week’s snack ice cream. On social media, supporters quarreled while players tried to stir up the mood with a couple of cocky statements. In the end, AIK wins the battle thanks to a nod from Nicolas Stefanelli.
Football in Stockholm blooms and not just on the men’s side. Of Damallsvenskan’s 14 clubs, four come from the capital.
But behind football, the representation of Stockholm clubs begins to be sparse. This is shown by DN’s latest survey.
Fewer and fewer elite teams behind football
A total of seven football teams from Stockholm play at the highest level in the men’s and women’s Swedish in football. But in the big team sports behind football, the representation of teams from the Stockholm region in the highest leagues decreases. In the 2003/2004 season, there were a total of 27 elite teams from Stockholm in the sports bandy, ice hockey, floorball, handball and basketball. The corresponding figure for the coming season is 14.
Footnote: A gold can be added this season if Skuru’s ladies win the current handball final.
Graphics: Jonas Backlund Facts: Carl Bolinder
The total number of Stockholm teams in the highest series in the sports of bandy, ice hockey, floorball, handball and basketball has almost halved in less than 20 years. In the 2003/2004 season there were 27 teams – next season the number is 14.
The Swedish Championship gold also shines with its absence. In 2004, five golds ended up in the capital. This year, only one team, handball’s Skuru IK, has the chance to become Swedish champions.
The development is something that worries RF-Sisu Stockholm.
– It is obviously very boring and it should not be so, says chairman Claes Thunblad.
Ice hockey’s upcoming season will be the first ever without a Stockholm team in the highest men’s league. Djurgården’s exit from the SHL means that they join AIK in the hockey allsvenskan.
The trend can be seen in several sports. On the men’s floorball side, 08 teams were missing between 2018 and 2021. This was after there were as many as five teams in the middle of the 00s. At that time, the elite series consisted of associations such as Balrog, Haninge, Järfälla and Råsunda.
Haninge won Swedish Championship gold three times around the turn of the millennium, but the association no longer exists in 2022. Balrog’s men play in division 1, while Råsunda mostly conducts youth activities. Ahead of the coming season, AIK has risen again but, according to many experts, risks doing what Djurgården did this year, ie leaving immediately.
Handball has also lost, on both the women’s and men’s side. In the 2004/2005 season, seven 08 teams played in the highest series. Stockholm Police, Spårvägen and IFK Tumba are some who have disappeared from the top tier. The coming season is the number of teams two (Hammarby and Skuru).
An exception is the ladies’ floorball where three teams take place in the elite series for the first time since 2015. But the trend is clear. Basketball has also got rid of capital associations in the top league. On both the men’s and women’s side, there is only one team, compared with a total of six teams in the middle of the 00’s.
RF-Sisu Stockholm remains of associations from 22 municipalities in the Stockholm region – which is also the delimitation that DN has used in the survey – and there are a total of 600,000 active practitioners. This is almost a fifth of all practitioners in Sweden, according to RF’s statistics.
Here is Stockholm’s top team today
Footnote: The figures are based on teams from the 22 municipalities that fall under RF-Sisu Stockholm. These are all municipalities in Stockholm County except Sigtuna, Norrtälje, Södertälje and Nykvarn.
Graphics: Jonas Backlund
– The conditions for sports are not growing at the same rate as the city. If you look at the number of practitioners and population, we have the conditions to be a leader in Sweden, says Claes Thunblad.
In addition, the region has no problem educating players who step into the elite. Several of today’s national team troops have one or more Stockholmers in them. But still, associations from Sweden’s capital are struggling to establish themselves in the highest series. How is it that?
According to Claes Thunblad, there are mainly two factors that are decisive. One is the competition from the teams of smaller cities. The second is the lack of facilities.
Further answers can be read in DN’s forthcoming articles in a series where we continue to highlight the difficulties that Stockholm Sports and its elite activities face.
Footnote: The figures are based on teams from the 22 municipalities that fall under RF-Sisu Stockholm. These are all municipalities in Stockholm County except Sigtuna, Norrtälje, Södertälje and Nykvarn.
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