It's going to be a very interesting last 2 rounds of this season, as just about everything is still up in the air... Halmstads BK 1 (Jönsson 18) Kalmar FF 0 Att: 5,629 GIF Sundsvall 2 (Ohlsson 55, Lundqvist 58 [pen]) IFK Göteborg 1 (Mild 46) Att: 8,040 Djurgårdens IF 3 (Johansson 63, 78 [pen], Arneng 74) IF Elfsborg 2 (Berggren 5,57) Att: 5,661 Örgryte IS 1 (Almeida 88) Helsingborgs IF 1 (Karisik 60) Att: 5,389 Örebro SK 3 (Nordback 40, Larsen 57, Costa 90) Trelleborgs FF 0 Att: 7,751 Malmö FF 0 Landskrona BoIS 1 (Nilsson 16, Olsson sent off, 86) Att: 18,824 Hammarby 1 (Jensen 65) AIK 1 (Mrdja 77) Att: 18,234 After the Hammarby goal in that match, the game had to be delayed nearly an hour after AIK fans threw fireworks on the field, and some attempted to rush the field themselves. For players safety, they were pulled, and for a time, the threat of a forefit was held over AIK. There may still be punishment handed out to the club due to the actions of their fans during this match. So, here's how the various races left look at this point, along with their remaining schedules... Race for the Championship: 1- Halmstad; 46 points, +25 goal differential 2- Malmö; 46 points, +21 goal differential 3- Göteborg; 46 points, +14 goal differential Halmstad- at Helsingborg, vs. Göteborg Malmö- at Göteborg, vs. Elfsborg Göteborg- vs. Malmö, at Halmstad It's going to go right down to the wire, and Halmstad might have the inside track, after the other two teams gagged it up this week. For the final Royal League slot... 4- Kalmar; 37 points, +7 goal differential ---------------------------------------- 5- Djurgården; 35 points, +4 goal differential 6- Hammarby; 34 points, +2 goal differential 7- Elfsborg; 32 points, -5 goal differential Kalmar- vs. Örebro, at Hammarby Djurgården- at Sundsvall, vs. Helsingborg Hammarby- at Elfsborg, vs. Kalmar Elfsborg- vs. Hammarby, Malmö It's probably going to come down to Kalmar and Djurgården, and the Stockholm side probably has the easier final match. Hammarby and Elfsborg need to win out and get a bunch of help to have a shot. Between Royal League race and relegation sit Helsingborg (30 points), and Sundsvall (29). Neither team is officially safe, but they probably are going to avoid the fight at the bottom. Relegation and the playoffs: 10- Landskrona; 27 points, -8 goal differential 11- Örebro; 27 points, -16 goal differential ------------------------------------------------ 12- Örgryte; 25 points, -9 goal differential ------------------------------------------------ 13- AIK; 22 points, -11 goal differential r- 14- Trelleborg; 13 points, -31 goal differential Landskrona- vs. Trelleborg, at Örebro Örebro- at Kalmar, vs. Landskrona Örgryte- at AIK, vs. Sundsvall AIK- vs. Örgryte, at Trelleborg AIK probably needs to win out to avoid the automatic drop. They (and Landskrona) are helped by having Trelleborg on their schedule still, but for AIK, the next match is still a must-win. Landskrona, and Örebro will probably wind up safe, I think it'll be Örgryte in the playoff, and I don't think AIK can avoid relegation.
For AIK, it's going to come down to the next match against Örgryte. You can almost automatically pencil in 3 points for the finale at Trelleborg, so it comes down to the next round. They can actually pull their way out with a tie against Örgryte, and then a good win against Trelleborg, if Örgryte loses their finale against Sundsvall. They may pull it off, we'll have to see.
Would be funny if Örgryte beating them is what put them down.... since it was also an Örgryte win that gave them the title a few years back.
There is a chance that the AIK-Örgryte match will be played in an empty stadium. The SFF disciplinary committee is meeting on Friday to discuss the events that caused the AIK-Hammarby match to be delayed for nearly an hour. After the Hammarby goal, AIK supporters, seated in the North Stand at Råsunda started throwing fireworks on to the field, and several supporters attempted to storm the field. It has come out in papers today in Sweden that police in Stockholm found Molotov Cocktails outside the stadium that they beleive are connected to planned violence either during or after the match. The match continued only after a delay of 50 minutes, and a threat of a forefit victory to Hammarby. The disciplinary committee has said that they will announce their penalty late Friday afternoon, after a special meeting. AIK risks a fine of up to 250,000 kronor, a closed stadium for the finale against Örgryte, or having that match moved to another venue altogether. There is no risk of AIK losing points, or of the Monday match being declared a forefit to Hammarby. For their part, AIK has already said that they will accept whatever punishment that the SFF hands out.
Well, now it's hit the fan...(Most, if not all info comes from aftonbladet.se) - Despite it being a longshot, Hammarby officials are looking in to ways to appeal the decision of the referee to restart the match on Monday night, ideally, they are looking to play the last 25 minutes of the match over again, or have the whole thing declared a 3-0 forefit win to Hammarby (From what I've read, this has little-to-no chance of actually happening) - Many at Örgryte feel that the threat of an empty stadium for their match this weekend is no real penalty at all. Many quotes coming out of their camp along the lines of "Given the supporter unrest and protests this season, they [AIK] are under more pressure when the stands are full, as opposed to them being closed". For their part Örgryte fans are trotting out the "AIK are a Stockholm club, so they get special consideration to stay in the Allsvenskan" line. - Trelleborg are apparently looking at ways to VOLUNTARILY close their stands for the season finale with AIK, to avoid more scenes like Monday night, especially if the match ends with AIK's relegation. Looking at fan opinion at the Trelleborg official site they are relatively unhappy with this course of action because... - It cuts them off from seeing the final match of the season. Dissapointing season though it may have been, many fans still want to get behind the team, as much for next season as for this one. - Fan belief also is that AIK "supporter's groups" will make the trip anyway, and if the stands are closed, then that forces them into the city. It's an ugly situation all around, and it's going to take the focus off of what is really a great battle for the championship.
Judgement day... AIK gets hit with a 100,000 kr. fine, and an empty stadium for their next two home matches (this weekend vs. Örgryte, and the if-needed playoff with Superettan 3rd place). If there is no qualifier needed, then the penalty will only be one closed match, however, the SFF disciplnary board did reserve the right to add matches on to this ban at the beginning of the 2005 season if need be. Since Hammarby was the "home" side for the match, security falls to them, and therefore, Hammarby also gets a 10,000 kr. fine. To cap off the lousy day for Stockholm clubs, Djurgården is assessed a 40,000 kr fine for the behavior of their supporters during a Swedish Cup semifinal match at IFK Norrköping. Norrköping recieved no fines.