Hammarby extended their unbeaten run against rivals Djurgården to nine matches with a 1-1 draw at the 3 Arena on Sunday. The result means Djurgården have now gone nearly four years without a derby win. Djurgården started the derby strongest and took the lead in the ninth minute through Kristian Lien, who scored his third Allsvenskan goal in five matches.
Hammarby equalised after an hour of play when Nahir Besara fired home with an outside-of-the-foot shot, his second league goal of the season. Besara has now scored against Djurgården in five of the last nine derbies, with two of those matches ending goalless. The second half was briefly paused due to a smoke bomb burning in the stands.
It felt like we became very low. You have to give it to Hammarby. They did well and got us low.
Djurgården's assistant coach Christer Mattiasson was sent to the stands after receiving a red card from referee Glenn Nyberg for something he said. Djurgården's new captain Adam Ståhl made his comeback after a viral illness, coming on as a substitute. Hammarby forward Paulos Abraham has some injury issues but both he and coach Kalle Karlsson confirmed he would be in the squad, though his starting spot was uncertain.
Noah Persson, who joined Hammarby last summer after leaving Mjällby in 2023, started the match. The season Noah Persson left Allsvenskan, Mjällby finished tenth; the season after, fifth; last year they won the SM gold. Hammarby have started the 2026 season well.
If we start thinking about the record, it gets in our heads. It's about approaching the derby matches with the same attitude we've had since Jani (Honkavaara, head coach) came in.
They won the Allsvenskan premiere 3-0 against Mjällby, then lost 0-2 to Sirius, won 8-1 against newcomers Örgryte, and drew against Halmstad. They sit fourth with seven points after four rounds and will play in the Swedish Cup final against Mjällby. Hammarby are tipped to win Allsvenskan, with Mjällby tipped to finish second.
Kalle Karlsson was making his first Allsvenskan Stockholm derby as Hammarby coach. Paulos Abraham scored the winning goal in the cup derby last time with a late goal.
Since he (Honkavaara) has no connection to Stockholm and the derbies, he's pretty chill. I think we did good performances in the derbies last year, but not in the results. We feel calm on the pitch and not tense as it may have been before.
It will probably be a hell of a match with both teams having a bit of revenge lust.