The Swedish men’s football championship had a great starting point before the final round of Allsvenskan.
There were two teams in the championship, Malmö FF and IF Elfsborg. The latter duo led the series with three points and Malmö needed a win in their last game of the season to become champions. A draw was enough for Elfsborg.
As the climax of the dramatic arc, it was Malmö and Elfsborg who met each other in the last round.
The championship match had a literary amount of twists and turns, most of which were seen in the stands instead of on the field.
However, in the end, Malmö became the champion of Sweden from behind, winning the championship match with 1–0 goals and becoming the champion on goal difference, thanks to a difference of two goals.
At the same time, one Finn also ended his season in the men’s Swedish football championship, when the former captain of the Huuhkajie Niklas Moisander was able to lift the Lennart Johansson trophy. Moisander opened the match on the bench, but was taken into the defense already in the 40th minute of the match by Martin Olsson injured.
Moisander, who won his second Swedish championship, was able to witness the decisive match of the season, full of events, from the field.
Sick scene in the stands
The decisive match of the Allsvenskan season had naturally gathered a full stadium in Malmö, a total of 21,562 spectators. The sky blue color of the home supporters dominated the stands. However, the away end was yellow due to the strength of several thousand Elfsborg supporters.
The match was able to start a little late, but without major setbacks. From the beginning of the match, it was clear that Malmö will have to put everything into the game, that it will break Elfsborg’s tight defense.
However, the first situation that attracted attention was seen right after the first minute of the game. In connection with Elfsborg’s attack, the home team Gabriel Busanello and guests Per Frick fought in a corner kick situation in front of the goal. The tearing progressed to Busanello ripping off Frick’s jersey. No foul was called for the situation.
Moments later, after the substitution of Niklas Moisander, the first situation that stopped the match happened. When Moisander marched to take a throw-in as Malmö attacked, the home fans in the stands behind him started waving their arms to signal an emergency.
There was a sick scene in the stands, which stopped the match for less than ten minutes. There was the same amount of additional time for the opening period.
Elfsborg fans burned the net, Malmö supporters had a pyromer
However, the second episode did not start on time at all.
At halftime, the eyes in the stadium and in Sweden with the match on TV, Discovery’s cameras turned towards the away end. Some of the Elfsborg supporters burned the grandstand net in front of their end with torches. The reason was that those supporters wanted to secure their way to the field to celebrate if Borås’ successful club won the championship.
The orderlies were quickly lined up, but the burning of the net continued. Sometimes captain of Elfsborg Johan Larsson went to negotiate with his supporters, but even this did not affect the situation.
Halftime stretched to half an hour, as the teams were not brought onto the field to wait from the dressing rooms due to the heated situation.
– All this, which has delayed the continuation of the game, is very sad for everyone present, said a former professional referee in Discovery’s TV studio Jonas Eriksson.
When finally the burning of the net ended, the game was ready to start for the second period. However, then the home supporters lit a sea of blue and white torches and smoke at the other end. This in turn triggered a fire alarm in the stadium, which took the teams back to the locker room.
Questionable penalty kick decided
The break eventually stretched to an hour. Malmö FF’s stadium announcer already had time to announce the fire alarm twice and announce that the stadium would be evacuated. Few of the spectators, however, moved anywhere from their seats. At the same time, TV pictures showed how Malmö’s fire trucks headed towards the stadium.
However, rescue workers turned off the fire alarm that echoed in the stadium when nothing was on fire. The game was finally able to continue.
The game situation that finally decided the struggle was seen in the 54th minute of the game. Malmö Stefano Holmqvist picked up a flying ball to which the tip of the blue shirts Issa Kiese Thelin and the Elfsborg defender Ibrahim Buhari ran away. Buhari extended his leg in front of the pieces, hitting directly at Kiese Thelin’s kicking leg.
Match referee Glenn Nyberg blew a penalty kick for the Malmö team. Kiese Thelin lined up to shoot the comma and put it in.
The last forty minutes of the match were Elfsborg’s grind towards Malmö’s goal. The Yellow and Blacks pushed the game hard towards the home team’s goal. Having returned to his parent club from Moisander and Premier League Brentford Pontus Janssonin in the lead, however, Malmö repelled Elfsborg’s attempts. When the final whistle blew, the field was filled with sky blue supporters.
Four Finnish champions in fierce series decisions
In both the men’s and women’s major leagues in Sweden, Finnish players became champions.
While on the men’s side, 38-year-old Moisander celebrated his second championship, on the women’s side, three Finns celebrated their first in the shirt of Hammarby IF. Helmari’s standard faces include Anna Tamminen, Eva Nyström and Adelina Engman got to enjoy the championship buzz on Saturday, when Hammarby secured their championship in the last round of Damallsvenskan.
Read more: From the Finnish team, Swedish champions after crazy stages! See how 6,000 Hammarby fans took over the away city
Both major leagues of Swedish football were united this season by securing the championships in the last round after dramatic stages.
In both, the championship was also decided by goal difference. In Damallsvenskan, Finns’ Hammarby became champions with a difference of two goals, while BK Häcken was unable to close the gap in the last round.