by Guest » 16 Mar 2024, 21:40
Was at AIK - Hammarby today in the Swedish cup. Raining and freezing but besides that fun. 0-4 for the visitors. I knew Hammarby was the likely winner but the thing that I noticed most was the players looked visibly different. Almost all Hammarby players were bigger than AIK’s players and looked more fit, more muscular. They looked like full time players, and AIK looked like a young semi-pro team. Which is what they were all of last year so nothing strange about that.
They do have good players and they didn’t lose a single game last year in Elitettan, but this was good for them to see the difference in level with the best from the top division. Playing against national team players like Andersson, Lennartsson and Roddar, and the Finnish and Danish internationals. That’s very different compared to Elitettan.
AIK is gonna have to reinforce their team a little bit if they want to compete at the top of Damallsvenskan, but obviously the immediate ambition should be to simply stay up. Buying players is not enough either, it’s even more important to become full time and have a fully professional set up. Hope they will aim to establish themselves in the top tier this time, and hopefully the club leadership has a better attitude than last time.
It will take a few years of hard work, step by step investment and active recruitment before they compete with the best in the league and before their women’s team has built a bigger fanbase, so if that’s the club’s aim they have to give them that time and believe in the project.
Was at AIK - Hammarby today in the Swedish cup. Raining and freezing but besides that fun. 0-4 for the visitors. I knew Hammarby was the likely winner but the thing that I noticed most was the players looked visibly different. Almost all Hammarby players were bigger than AIK’s players and looked more fit, more muscular. They looked like full time players, and AIK looked like a young semi-pro team. Which is what they were all of last year so nothing strange about that.
They do have good players and they didn’t lose a single game last year in Elitettan, but this was good for them to see the difference in level with the best from the top division. Playing against national team players like Andersson, Lennartsson and Roddar, and the Finnish and Danish internationals. That’s very different compared to Elitettan.
AIK is gonna have to reinforce their team a little bit if they want to compete at the top of Damallsvenskan, but obviously the immediate ambition should be to simply stay up. Buying players is not enough either, it’s even more important to become full time and have a fully professional set up. Hope they will aim to establish themselves in the top tier this time, and hopefully the club leadership has a better attitude than last time.
It will take a few years of hard work, step by step investment and active recruitment before they compete with the best in the league and before their women’s team has built a bigger fanbase, so if that’s the club’s aim they have to give them that time and believe in the project.