Our brand new Trailblazer series, our first foray into women’s football, began by introducing you to our new protagonist Freja Holm this morning. Catch up with Part 1 here!
Freja Holm walked into the world of football management as an inexperienced coach with minimal badges and a football career cut short by injury. As such, the 35-year-old Swede was expecting a long wait before finding her first club in women’s football.
However, completely out of nowhere, the rookie coach’s burgeoning reputation as a media commentator in her homeland had clearly worked wonders. As she was swiftly offered an interview by a Swedish top-tier side, who quickly returned with a contract worth £170 per week until November 2026.
Who are Alingsås IF?
Alingsås Idrottsförening is a semi-professional club from the small town of Alingsås, around 30 miles northeast of Gothenburg in southwest Sweden. The club has no major honours and achieved its record high finish of 2nd in the second-tier Elitettan last season, which saw it gain promotion to the top tier Damallsvenskan for the first time. Alingsås IF plays at the 1,500-capacity Mjörnvallen, which was built in 1935 and has adequate training facilities and below average youth facilities.
We previously mentioned Alingsås IF as potentially the most difficult club challenge on FM26 in our Guide to Women’s Football, so Freja faces a massive test in her first role. That challenge is portrayed in-game as, at the end of September, Alingsås IF are bottom of Damallsvenskan without a win and just 9 points after 19 games of the 26-game season. The club is 10 points away from survival with 7 games remaining, meaning relegation is virtually inevitable.
Despite that, the Alingsås IF board requires Holm to attempt to avoid relegation from OBOS Damallsvenskan. So, when the inevitable relegation happened, Holm wasn’t quite sure whether she would survive or not.
Holm Meets Her First Trailblazer Squad
Holm was first introduced to captain and versatie midfielder Tove Lorén and centre back and vice-captain Moa Jarl. They showed her around the town and the training facilities, before being greeted by a buffet lunch to meet the rest of the squad. First up, they introduced Freja to the best player at Alingsås IF in striker Karin Lundin, who assistant manager Ola Karlsson considered to be a decent Damallsvenskan player. She was quickly introduced to a group of players including wingers Ina Österlind and Alma Öberg, midfielders Johanna Barth and Emmaliina Tulkki, goalkeeper Alexandra Blom, defender Ebba Ranieli, who’s out with an ACL, and striker Moa Öhman.
Behind that group lurked a smaller group of younger players who Lorén and Jarl had earmarked as potential stars. That was led by midfielder Isabella Svanström, 18-year-old winger Tilda Karlsson, centre back Malva Larsson and right back Saga Fredgren. And in the youth team, centre back Agnes Björkqvist was worth keeping an eye on.
Holm only had one week to prepare for her first game in management and, based on the limited time on the training ground, she pulled together a wide 4-3-3 that varied in and out of possession. But she was considering going into a 4-2-3-1 to be more defensive.
Holm Gets Thrown Straight Into the Thick Of a Relegation Battle
Holm’s managerial career began with a trip to 6th-place IFK Norrköping, which started well as Lundin stabbed home a corner with a brilliant backpost volley. However, the hosts quickly responded and grabbed the lead just before halftime and – after a second-half kickoff freeze – they lost 4-1.
Holm’s first game at Mjörnvallen was against rivals BK Häcken, and they again started brightly with Österlind having a goal disallowed then shooting just wide before going behind. Alingsås continued to play well and levelled as Öberg played Lundin through to round the keeper and tap in. But Häcken scored straight after halftime through wonderkid Felicia Schroder, doubled their lead through some terrible marking from a freekick and went on to win 4-1. Next up was a huge game at AIK, who scored their first shot and held on despite Alingsås having a late goal dubiously ruled out for offside.
That defeat saw Alingsås relegated to Elitettan with four games remaining, leaving Holm already sweating over her future. They improved slightly in a 2-1 defeat to Växjö, before getting dominated at 13th-place Rosengård and being really unlucky to lose 3-2 at home to 2nd-place Hammarby. But it was very clear that Alingsås were nowhere near good enough to compete in the top tier. However, they came out flying in the final game of the season as, Holm tinkered her tactics to copy the rest of the league with a 3-4-3. Lundin was twice played through to score one-on-one with the keeper and completed her hat trick after 27 minutes… only to inevitably concede from a cross. The dreaded halftime freeze followed, but Alingsås held on to earn Holm’s first win as a Football Manager!
Alingsås finished bottom of the league with 12 points after 1 win, 9 draws and 16 defeats, scoring just 18 and conceding 48.
The Only Way Is Up – Maybe
The lack of talk about a sacking put Holm’s mind at ease that she might get a chance to bring Alingsås back to the top tier next season. The one and only positive about the Alingsås side she’d managed had been striker Lundin, who’d scored 7 goals in Holm’s 7 games, taking her to a total of 10 in 25.
However, Lundin, along with the entire Alingsås squad, was out of contract in December. And she was one of at least 10 players refusing to sign a new deal. So rookie manager Holm would have her work cut out if she did manage to survive the sack.
Would Holm hold onto her job heading into 2026? And could she handle a massive rebuild as players departed the relegated Alingsås? Join us on Sunday to find out!
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