A move back to Sweden had worked out quite nicely for Trebor Mahtal as he led Djurgårdens into a close title race, but narrowly missed out to two of their rivals. But the hard work began now as he looked to rebuild a squad that was blighted by plenty of deadwood.
Djurgårdens’ European participation had boosted their finances to £17m and Mahtal had a £12.7m transfer kitty ahead of the 2039 campaign. That was boosted by selling 32-year-old backup wingers Melvin Persson and Meltiadis Lolos to OFI and Lens for £1.5m and £600k, 31-year-old keeper Simen Yttervik to AZ for £500k and 33-year-old midfielder Mohamed Fofana to Strømsgodset for £500k.
Yttervik was replaced by Sebastian Billborn for £475k from relegated Brommapojkarna. He was joined by exciting Swedish prospects winger André Lindström for up to £1.9m from Helsingborgs and left back Michel Augustinsson for up to £2.6m from Norrköping.
Early Swedish Cup Run
Swedish pre-season included the easy group stage of Svenska Cupen before beating rivals Malmö on penalties and Norrköping 2-1. That teed up a mouthwatering Final with local rivals Hammarby on Mahtal’s 55th birthday. Hammarby should have scored inside 40 seconds as their striker missed from six yards and Johan Norén had an equally poor miss 10 minutes later. Lucas Norlin popped up with a late goal only for Hammarby to score in the final minute of injury time. Norlin had a goal disallowed in the final minute of extra time so it went to penalties, then Norlin and Malte Üre missed to hand Hammarby victory.
Europa Conference League Shocks
Pre-season also included the start of the Europa Conference League knockouts. Djurgårdens took on Atalanta, who they beat 2-0 in the league phase, in the playoff round and were a little unlucky to lose 2-1 in Italy. But attacking midfielders Bjørnar Halvorsen and Amer Johansson earned another 2-0 home win.
They then faced Monaco, who have three players earning more than Djurgården’s squad combined, in the last 16. The first leg was in Sweden and pacey attacking midfielder Thomas Papamichail, who’d started the season excellently, scored a back post header as Billborn had a blinder to deny the French attackers. They were equally good in France as Touré poked them in front on 19 minutes, Monaco got a bit lucky to go 2-1 up, but Norlin’s delicious near-post finish decided it. Elsewhere, Norwegian champions Molde knocked out tournament favourites Aston Villa.
Next up was Ludogorets and midfielder Mario Ndoj’s late goal rescued a 2-1 deficit in Bulgaria and that proved crucial as Ndoj scored the only goal at home. Norén missed two big chances in extra time as Billborn denied Ludogorets several times to force penalties. It wasn’t looking good as Djurgården’s best two attackers Halvorsen and Norén missed the first two penalties. However, that man Billborn rescued them by saving Ludogorets’ third and fourth penalties. Both sides scored their fifth, Lindström converted and Billborn confirmed his hero status by saving again to send his side into the semis.
An all-Scandinavian affair in the last four saw Djurgårdens take on Molde while Mahtal’s former club Domzale faced Grasshoppers in the other semi. The first leg was a pretty poor game in which the only action of note was striker Daniel Touré being taken out, and Halvorsen converted the penalty. That was until the 94th minute when Lindström made a great run down the left and whipped in a cross for makeshift striker Norlin to double the lead with a looping header. Billborn was the hero again as he made seven saves to hold Molde to a 1-0 victory that sent his side into a surprise maiden European final.
Europa Conference League Final
Few people would have predicted Djurgårdens to face Grasshoppers, who breezed past Domzale 5-0, for the chance to win a European trophy. Fans from Sweden and Switzerland descended on southern France to the 42,000-capacity Nice Community Stadium hopeful of a surprise piece of silverware. Mahtal had no injury concerns and his big selection headache was who to play up front. And he lined up:
Blllborn, Mikander, Kahrimanovic, Mörfelt, Hnatenko; Üre, Ndoj; Norén, Papmichail, Halborsen; Norlin
Subs: Touré, Simon, Waldholm, Jigell, Lindström, Johansson, Reinholdsson, Popescu, Wané, Bjelic
Djurgårdens dominated the first half by 10 shots to two but wasted several opportunities. That trend continued after the break until Norén found Papamichail midway inside the Grasshoppers half, he drove at the defence and curled home the opener with his left foot. The Swedes continued to boss the game, with the Swiss only mounting a threat as they forced a decent save out of Billborn in the final moments. But Djurgårdens held on for a famous victory. Djurdårdens IF won the Europa Conference League!
First Full Allsvenskan Campaign
Djurgården were joint-third favourites for Allsvenskan at 12/1 along with Norrköping and AIK, who nearly got relegated last season. Holders Hammarby are 7/5 favourites followed by Malmö at 9/2. Mahtal’s first full season began with a 2-1 win at home to IK Sirius before Lindström’s league debut brace led a 7-0 demolition of Östers. That sparked a strong start that was largely disrupted by European games but peaked with a stunning 5-0 home win over Hammarby three days before the cup final. While even rotated teams secured wins at Helsingborgs and Göteborg. But the European run caught up with them through June, including a 4-1 beating at leaders Malmö.
They got back on track with Touré’s brace leading a 4-1 win at AIK and a Norén brace in a 5-1 thrashing of Halmstads. However, Touré’s improved form saw interest from Europe’s biggest clubs and he joined Bayern for a new record paid to a Swedish club of £10m plus a 50% next sale clause in July. To replace him, Mahtal snapped up promising 18-year-old winger Jakub Nowak from Zaglebie Lubin.
The bottom two were dismissed with ease before putting four past Sirius and Östers and Nowak got his first goal in a 2-0 win over Hacken to move 2 points behind Malmö with 10 games remaining. That teed up a big game as they hosted Malmö in late August. The first half was cagey but the sides exchanged goals in the first five minutes of the second. It looked to be drifting to a draw until Lindström beat two men then teed up Ndoj to smash home his second and swing the title in Djurgårdens’ favour.
That huge victory was backed up by wins of 1-0 at Kalmar, 3-0 at home to Elfsborg, and 4-1 at champions Hammarby, which opened up a 7-point gap going into the final five games.
Game 1 – IFK Göteborg (8th, home): The run-in started well as Norén and Halvorsen earned a straightforward 2-0 victory. Malmö and Hammarby beat Kalmar and Häcken.
Game 2 – IFK Norrköping (4th, away): A much tougher game saw the leaders stumble with a 4-1 thumping led by Norrköping’s striker bagging a 21-minute hat trick. Malmö and Hammarby closed in with victories, reducing the gap to 4 points with three games to go.
Game 3 – AIK (10th, home): Djurgårdens recovered as Nowak’s first-half strike downed AIK 1-0. At the same time, Malmö beat Hammarby 2-1 to knock the holders out of contention.
Game 4 – Halmstads (12th, away): Djurgårdens could seal the title with victory at Halmstads. They came a great start as Ndoj slid Nowak in to score and Norén seized on a loose ball to double the lead inside eight minutes. And it was all over before half time as Nowak won a penalty that Halvorsen converted. But strangely, they didn’t get an on-field trophy celebration.
Djurgårdens won Allsvenskan Unibet and their first for 10 years!
Djurgårdens beat Mjallby 4-1 on the final day to secure new Allsvenskan records of 73 points and 23 wins. They won the league by 7 points from Malmö, only losing three times and scoring a league-high 79 and conceding a league-low 27.
Mahtal’s Greatest Season So Far?
Mahtal was very surprised by securing his second ECL victory and third European trophy in total as Djurgårdens became only the second Swedish club to win a European trophy, after Goteborg won the UEFA Cup in 1982 and 1987. His side’s success saw them named the most improved side across Europe, flying into the top 100 clubs.
The hero of this season was undoubtedly Billborn, who only conceded seven in nine in Europe with a 7.23 average and conceded 25 in 26 in the league with a 7.10 average rating. Norén topped the goalscoring chart with 16 in 41 followed by Ndoj (15), Papamichail and Halvorsen (11), Norlin (8) and Kahrimanovic (7). While Papamichail racked up an impressive 19 assists followed by Lindström (13), Halvorsen (10) and Norén (8).
Usually after winning a title, Mahtal would dust his hands of a team and look for opportunities elsewhere. However, he’d definitely developed an affinity for Djurgårdens and was very excited about some of the prospects he had coming through. So he decided to stick with the club to lead them into the Europa League (which had already kicked off at this stage) and look ahead to the Champions League football their title delivered.
Could Mahtal deliver even more glory at Europe’s most improved club? Join us on Wednesday to find out!
Football Manager Addict 
Leave a comment