Umeå complete title hat-trick

Umeå IK clinched their third consecutive Swedish championship with an 8-0 rout of AIK Solna on Sunday. Coach Andrée Jeglertz's charges did not look back after going in front after just 15 seconds through Lisa Dahlqvist, who went on to score a hat-trick as Umeå took the three points needed to make mathematically sure of the title.

Team effort
"The girls have done ever so well and I'm very happy," said Jeglertz, whose side have now won six Damallsvenskan crowns. "We lost Malin Moström and Anne Mäkinen ahead of the season and they're not easy to replace but we've handled that, and even though we've struggled in some games I'm very pleased with the season so far." Hat-trick hero Dahlqvist, meanwhile, praised the team effort behind Umeå's triumph, saying: "We've won this title as a team. We haven't got as many stars as we previously might have had, but this has been more of a team effort which makes it even better. We've got a set of young players and we've been forced to work harder this year. It feels great. We've got strong morale and good organisation."

European challenge
Umeå's title success should ensure morale is high heading into their UEFA Women's Cup quarter-final against KFC Rapide Wezemaal next month, with their place in the 2008/09 now ensured. The Swedish club qualified for the last eight as Group B3 winners last week and Jeglertz said that with the domestic championship wrapped up, their focus would now turn fully to the European challenge. "Of course we will celebrate the title, but the UEFA Women's Cup means a lot to us and we're going all out to win it," he said.