Göteborg head Swedish hopefuls

By Jan Juhlin

Sweden's winter break has brought to an end a season that has been lengthened by the Scandinavian Royal League, in which IFK Göteborg, Malmö FF, Halmstads BK and Djurgårdens IF are all competing.

Erlandsen success
Göteborg, under new coach Arne Erlandsen, have made a solid start in the competition and currently lead Group 2. Halmstad and Malmö remain in contention for a place in the next round in second and fourth position respectively in Group 3, although Djurgården have collected a single point from three Group 1 games.

Assyriska joy
Elsewhere Assyriska FF were finally able to celebrate promotion to the top flight after Örebro SK's appeal against the Swedish élite licensing committee's decision to relegate them was turned down. Assyriska have now been busy trying to arrange an acceptable stadium to play their games at as Bårsta IP does not meet up to the standards set by the Swedish FA. Chairman Zeki Bisso, who will step down at the end of the year, said: "At this moment we will have two different arenas. If it's a big game we will be playing at Söderstadion, whereas minor games will be played at Tunavallen."

Rosen loss
Another promoted team, Gefle IF, have been mourning coach Kenneth Rosen, who died after a long illness. Rosen, who passed away on 27 December, led the team to second place in Sweden's second division but was hospitalised shortly before the end of the season. Former Gefle coach Per Ohlsson will take over.

Transfer deals
BK Häcken, who won the second division in some style, have been busy in the transfer market, signing Swedish international Teddy Lucic from Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Göteborg's Patric Andersson and Mats Hedén from Västra Frölunda IF, although Peter Vougt, Ulf Hollsten and Ronnie Thygesen have all departed. "We're in a healthy financial situation and we want to make sure that we've got a team capable of establishing us in the Allsvenskan," said Häcken sports director Carl Fhager.

Sauso signing
Örgryte IS coach Zoran Lukic has made FC Hämeenlina's Finnish central defender Jukka Sauso his first signing, while IF Elfsborg, who will play in the new Borås Arena next season, have sold Kristoffer Arvhage to relegated AIK Solna. Djurgården have also been busy in the transfer market, with Congolese pair Rene Makondele and Yannick Bapupa leaving for Åtvidabergs FF and Landskrona BoIs's Jones Kusi-Asare re-signing for Djurgården, where he played between 1999 and 2001.