Yes, it's early, but we may as well get it started, as Aftonbladet has put out the preliminary opening-round schedule. Note that this is not official, but they've usually been a good indicator of how things wind up. The full schedule should be out by the end of the month. TV rights are held by Canal+ and TV4. It looks like Canal+ will show a Tuesday night game, with TV4 having one or two on Saturday afternoons. Rules are in place this year saying that every team must be in a televised game at least once in the first 10 rounds of the season. I remember reading an article, though I can't find it now, that said that there were teams in the league not on TV at all last season. This is the final season of a 14 team league, as the Allsvenskan will expand to 16 for the 2008 term. So, only one team will be relegated, and 3 will come up from the Superettan, with no interleague playoffs. Now, the opening weekend schedule. Dates have not been totally locked down, but the games will take place between Friday April 6 and Tuesday April 10: Djurgården at Brommapojkarna (possible TV4 game) Kalmar at AIK Helsingborg at Halmstad Hammarby at GAIS (possible TV4 game) Örebro at Gefle IFK Göteborg at Trelleborg Malmö at Elfsborg (possible Canal+ game)
well i am stsarting to get excited about the upcomming season I have High Hopes that AIK can bring home the champinship when it's all set and done. Hey only a fan can hope
I think it good that the Swedish clubs finally got a decent TV deal, though it's still not quite at the same level as the Norwegian and Danish TV deals. I belive Canal+ and TV4 (or more precisely the Kentaro Group) pay just around $22.7 million (SEK 160 million) a year for the rights to show Allsvenskan and Superettan games. The comparable figure for Norway is $31 million a year, while Danish TV2 and Modern Times Group (Viasat, TV3, TV3+) are still fighting it out with the Danish national broadcasting corporation (DR) and Canal Digital over the Danish Superliga rights. The offer made by Danish TV2 and Modern Times Group of $34.8 million a year was accepted by the Danish league clubs last year, but DR and Canal Digital have filed an official complaint to the Danish Competition Authority, because they have not been allowed to make their bid of around $38.5 million a year. .
This figure is for all Swedish soccer (including womens league and NT games). I was only talking about the part of the deals that cover the Swedish and Norwegian league games, comparable to the deal made by the Danish league clubs. The part of the Swedish SEK 1.35 billion deal that is to be shared by the Allsvenskan and Superettan teams is just around $22.7 million (SEK 160 million) a year http://expressen.se/expressen/jsp/polopoly.jsp?a=556063 .
Could you provide a link to the norweigan and danish deals? SEF gets SEK 180 million a year, which they then give to the clubs as bonuses.
The link to the Norwegian TV deal is unfortunately long gone, but it said that the Norwegian clubs get to share NOK 200 million (around $31 million) a year and : --- Av de 136 millionene som skal til norske toppserieklubber neste sesong, skal halvparten fordeles «flatt» (alle får det samme), altså 4,85 mill. til hver klubb. 30 prosent av summen fordeles etter hvor mange kamper lagene er i tv-ruta. De 20 siste prosentene avhenger av prestasjoner. --- The Danish deal of DKK 200 million ($34.8 million) a year is no secret and only cover the League clubs (The Danish FA got their own TV deal that e.g. cover all the different Danish NT's) http://fotballmagasinet.no/?mode=news&id=5451 But as written then DR and Canal Digital have filed an official complaint to the Danish Competition Authority, because they have not been allowed to make their bid : http://www.berlingske.dk/sport/artikel:aid=849880/ .
The full schedule is now up: http://www.svenskfotboll.se/t3allta.aspx?WCI=wiFixtureList&TournamentId=43703 Opening round, with kickoff times local to Sweden: Friday, April 6 Göteborg at Trelleborg 3:00 Djurgården at Brommapojkarna 6:00 The season kicks off with a Good Friday doubleheader. Saturday, April 7 Malmö at Elfsborg 4:00 No games on Easter Sunday Monday, April 9 Kalmar at AIK 3:00 Örebro at Gefle 3:00 Helsingborg at Halmstad 3:00 Tuesday, April 10 Hammarby at GAIS 7:00 No midseason break or anything like that this year, and the final round is scheduled for October 28. As of now, the final 2 rounds are set for simultaneous kickoff times, which would be a change, though I'm sure television has not been set for that late in the season. Just for fun, here's the first round of Superettan matches as well: April 15 Häcken at Öster IF Sylvia at Falkenbergs FF Ljungskile at Sirius April 16 Mjällby at Sundsvall Åtvidaberg at Norrköping Enköping at Landskrona April 17 Bunkeflo at Jönköpings Södra Degerfors at Örgryte The full Superettan schedule is at http://www.svenskfotboll.se/t3supta.aspx?WCI=wiFixtureList&TournamentId=43707
Here is the tv schedule. Unfortunately tv4 hasn't announced their schedule yet, but I think they will show about one match a week. April 6 Brommapojkarna vs Djurgården - CANAL + April 17 Örebro vs Elfsborg - CANAL + April 24 AIK vs Hammarby - CANAL + May 1 Helsingborg vs Elfsborg - CANAL + May 8 Malmö vs Hammarby - CANAL + May 15 Helsingborg vs Malmö - CANAL + May 22 Elfsborg vs Göteborg - CANAL + May 28 Djurgården vs AIK - CANAL + June 12 Kalmar vs Helsingborg - CANAL + June 19 Hammarby vs Djurgården - CANAL + http://www.svenskfotboll.se/t2all.aspx?p=152184&x=1&a=901528
In my opinion, the following teams are the strong favorites for winning this season: Elfsborg (current champions) Helsingborg Malmö AIK With Djurgården and Hammarby as outsiders. (never count them out) The usual contender Göteborg is in a transition period, and does not have a strong squad. Another disappointing year for them, I think.
Hey! Something more to talk about, as league play gets started on Friday. The annual media poll is out, and the newsies figure that the title will go to... Malmö. It was a close vote between them and Elfsborg, with Malmö getting 20 percent of the votes cast, Elfsborg at 19, along with Helsingborg. AIK at 16 percent, and the best of the "other" category were Göteborg (6%) and Kalmar and Djurgården at 5 percent each. So, the title race figures to be pretty wide open, according to the "experts" The one relegation spot? Not as much of a race there. HALF of the "experts" are looking squarely at Brommapojkarna for the drop. Another 21 percent are picking Trelleborg. GAIS is the relegation favorite for about another 10 percent, with 7 percent looking at Örebro. It sounds about right to me. I'm looking right now at a top-4 (in order) of: AIK-Elfsborg-Malmö-Kalmar, though movement between those 4 wouldn't shock me, or for that matter, Helsingborg, Djurgården or Göteborg moving into top-4. First season at the top worries me as it regards BP. Assyriska were in that same situation a couple seasons ago, and the payoff was 2 straight relegation seasons. I'm going with the "experts" here, Brommapojkarna for the drop. Surprises either way? Gefle in the top-4 hunt late in the season, and Helsingborg flirting with relegation. I highly doubt either of these will happen, but there usually is a surprise one way or the other, so there you go.
My predictions for the season: * Djurgården go all the way against the odds, last year was a monumental failure...that won't happen again. * Malmö FF are overrated, weak defense means a finish outside the top 5. * Hammarby will finish 10th, they've lost way to much and their new manager is all talk. * AIK, f**k that lot of c**ts... Perhaps a bit rose tinted, but that's what it's about.
Really? Do you wear your rose-tinted glasses in bed? Malmo are overrated, I don't see too much competition for AIK and Elfsborg. I'd like to see Halmstads do well though. For anyone who watches Finnish football, Magnus Bahne transfered from Inter Turku to Halmstads early in the offseason. Suppose to be the new #1.
Allsvenskan 2007 has started, here the results for the two opening games today: Trelleborgs FF - IFK Göteborg 1-1 IF Brommapojkarna - Djurgården 1-0 Both newcomers got good results today. BP, the most commonly predicted last place finisher, got a great start by winning over Djurgården. Trelleborg was able to equalize in their opening game, and were close to winning. Saturday: IF Elfsborg - Malmö FF Sunday: AIK - Kalmar FF Gefle IF - Örebro Halmstads BK - Helsingborgs IF Monday: GAIS - Hammarby
Round 1 continues... IF Elfsborg - Malmö FF 1 - 1 I a hard-fought game, two gold favorites get a point each.
Allsvenskan på internet... Tja, sitter här i Vancouver å önskar att jag vore i STHLM så här lagom till när allsvenskan börjar. Men men, de blir inget av med de... Fast, kanske man kan kolla på internet? Ere nån som vet hur? Svenska "vanliga kanaler" på internet går inte, de vet att man inte är i Sverige så de har inga rättigheter å sända...
Re: Allsvenskan på internet... Yes, it is extremely annoying. I'm in California myself. The last two years I have been able to see highlights online. But this year, only tv4.se and svt.se has them, and they are blocked from foreign addresses. Who cares if they don't have international broadcast rights ... It's not like anyone has purchased those rights anyway. ^#$%*! I guess I'll have to figure out how to use a Swedish proxy address... or hope some friendly soul can put the clips on Youtube.
I think Canal+ are showing some matches online, might not be for free but you can check it out at canalplus.se.
Excellent game in which MFF was clearly the better team, especially in the first half. Elfsborg should have been down to 10 men after a vicious challenge by Alexandersson on Dixon, a challenge which eventually forced Dixon to abandon the game. Hopefully MFF can keep up this level of play for the rest of the season.
Thanks, frenil! Monday results: AIK - Kalmar FF 0 - 1 Gefle IF - Örebro 0 - 0 Halmstads BK - Helsingborgs IF 2 - 1 None of the predicted champions (except perhaps Kalmar FF) have won their first game. Allsvenskan once again lives up to its "anyone can beat anyone" reputation...