The historic final marks a milestone for Swedish women's football, with two Damallsvenskan clubs competing for the title. Hammarby will host the first match at their home ground, while Häcken will welcome the visitors for the decisive second leg. The format has drawn criticism from several Swedish national team players, who have expressed surprise that the final is not a single match at a neutral venue.
Among the young talents to watch is Häcken's Felicia Schröder, 19, who won the Damallsvenskan scoring title last year and was named the world's third best teenage player by Goal. Another is Hammarby's Fanny Peterson, 16, who has broken through this spring with dream goals in both the Swedish Cup and Europa Cup, and scored her first Damallsvenskan goal.
A lot has happened. A lot has happened.
The double-header format has been a point of contention. Several Swedish national team players are critical of the format. Both clubs' sporting directors agree that a single match would be preferable. According to Fotbollskanalen, Häcken's Christian Lundström said that most people want a single match like the Champions League final, but acknowledged that UEFA has fought to get the cup going and that the format may change in the future. Hammarby's Arnor Smárason told Fotbollskanalen that he thinks the same, but that they should focus on enjoying the two crowd parties. Neither club has contacted UEFA about changing the format.
But I told the family beforehand that this is something I've done before, in F19 matches. But then it just happens to be a Europa Cup semi-final or the Damallsvenskan premiere.
Many players have left for Europe and that shows somewhere that it has gone well in Damallsvenskan. It's sad to lose players of course, but then it's fun that others get to show what they can do and take on bigger roles in the teams.
I have seen a lot of Fanny Peterson, she is doing very, very well.
It is something that most people want and strive for.
It's probably that you would of course like to see a single match like the Champions League final. At the same time, we know that UEFA has fought to get this cup going, it went fast and I don't know what their plan looks like for the future.
It might be an economic issue. However, I think you could invest in it in the future. And in the future it will probably be that, it is something that most people want and strive for. I think even UEFA will strive for it in the future. Right now we are happy to play at home.
I think exactly the same. That's how it is. We shouldn't focus too much on this now but rather be happy that there will be two crowd parties.
No, it's so far along now that we've just accepted it. I think it's too big a process to start. We can't place the match at one of the teams, we would never agree on that, which means you need to play at a neutral venue. In the future maybe you can co-arrange it with the Champions League or similar.
It's nothing we have done now so close to the final. In a perfect world, a final is always preferable, but now they have chosen to do it this way. Now you have to see it as we get a home match in the final in Europe and Häcken too. After that, we'll think about how it should look going forward.