Age no barrier for AIK and Jildefalk

At the age of 22, AIK Solna's Patric Jildefalk would ordinarily be considered a promising young player – that is, if he were a player. Instead he is the new head coach of the AIK Solna women's team in Sweden's top division, the Damallsvenskan, making him the youngest-ever coach in élite Swedish football.

Early retirement
Jildefalk retired from playing at the age of 19, having spent a week at Chelsea FC four years earlier and enjoyed lunch with Gustavo Poyet and Gianfranco Zola. That gave the then teenager an insight into what life at a professional club could be like. However, four years later, and languishing in the Swedish fourth division, AIK asked him to help out with their youth teams and that is when he decided to call it quits as a player and turn to a career in coaching. "AIK made their choice based on ability, not on age," Jildefalk told uefa.com. "It's the same way that we coaches pick players; we choose the best ones regardless of how old they are."

Sole control
For the 2008 season, Jildefalk has been assisting head coach Benny Persson, helping guide AIK to a fourth-place finish before Persson stepped down to give the young coach his chance. "I've shown that I can do the job," he continued. "Now I need to show that I can do it as head coach too."

'Very experienced' players
Unusually for a coach, many of the players at Jildefalk's disposal are considerably older than he is, with Jessica Julin, Anne Mäkinen and Laura Kalmari all having played more than 100 times for Finland. "They're very experienced and have worked with lots of coaches," said Jildefalk. "But I was quickly accepted by them and the other older players. They could see that I although I'm young, I also have drive and ambition."

Men's success
Founded in 1891, AIK's men's team are one of the oldest and most successful clubs in Sweden with ten league titles. The women are slightly less illustrious, however, having never won a league championship and only recently establishing themselves in the top half of the Damallsvenskan. "Last year the club decided that AIK should be fighting for the title on both levels, men and women," added Jildefalk. To aid that vision, a number of established internationals were brought in, with Sweden's Linda Sembrant, Australia's Lisa De Vanna and Finland's Mäkinen all arriving for the start of the 2008 campaign.

'First step'
The influx of such talent may go someway to helping Jildefalk achieve the club's target for his first season in charge – to bridge the gap to Sweden's best, Umeå IK and Linköpings FC. "Of course this is my first time working at the top level," he said. "Whether in ten years I will be coaching a different women's team, a men's team or the national team, I don't know."