Rookie manager Freja Holm was handed the unenviable task of managing Swedish side Alingsås IF, who hadn’t won in 19 league matches, in her first role as a Football Manager. Unsurprisingly, she wasn’t able to pull off a miraculous survival, but did manage to pick up her first win in the final game of the Damallsvenskan campaign.
Holm was concerned that relegation would mean a sacking, but it eventually appeared the board was happy to give her a chance in the second-tier Elitettan. Holm had another massive test waiting as the entire Alingsås IF squad was out of contract at the end of December. Some players decided they were keen to stay for another year, but 16 others, including star striker Karin Lundin, had zero interest and departed at the end of their contracts.
That forced Holm into the transfer market with limited scouting knowledge, but she did manage to strengthen the squad. The pick of the bunch was 31-year-old Brazilian striker Carol Baiana, who’s arguably even better than Lundin, along with centre back Ellen Andersson and exciting midfielders Anaís Álvarez and Hanna Andreasson, left back Liv-Lilith Falk, right back Josefin Baudou, striker Cynthia Adamu and goalkeeper Ida Frodestedt.
Holm decided to stick with the 3-4-3 she’d switched to for her single win as a manager. Baiana will lead the line flanked by Alma Öberg and Ina Österlind with youngster Malva Larsson coming into the backline.
Freja Holm’s First Full Season in Management
The bookies weren’t backing Alingsås to bounce back to promotion, only predicting a 7th-place finish with 10/1 title odds. Fellow relegated side AIK were 1/91 favourites along with Holm’s hometown club Umeå IK and Eskilstuna United (11/2), KIF Örebro (15/2) and Trelleborgs and Elfsborg (9/1).
Holm’s first full season in management began with a trip to Jitex, and started well as Baiana laid the ball off for Öberg to finish nicely from 20 yards. The winger doubled her tally by finishing off a superb passing move, and the annoying halftime freeze occurred before Baiana’s first goal crowned a 3-0 victory. They were back on the road for a trip to Uppsala, who hit the bar twice after a minute, before Falk scored an absolute worldy from 30 yards. Alingsås doubled their lead straight from the second half kickoff as Baudou crossed for Öberg to head in at the backpost.
The first home game saw Sunnanå come to town, and Alingsås came out flying with 8 shots in the first 20 minutes. And they eventually took advantage as Álvarez curled home a beauty from 20 yards. The visitors followed suit, but Álvarez repeated her feat again on 69 minutes before a clinical Baiana finish and Öberg’s penalty killed the game off. They maintained that strong start with an Österlind brace leading a 4-0 win at Göteborg before coming from behind to beat 3rd-place Trelleborgs 3-1 and a dominant 4-0 win led by an Álvarez brace.
That teed up a big test at AIK, who went ahead from the second phase of a corner. But a wild second half saw Alingsås equalise three times to claim a potentially huge point. Öberg and Österlind nicked a 2-1 win over Eskilstuna, which helped Österlind win the first player of the month award of Holm’s career in May. Österlind and Baiana doubles earned a 4-1 win at bottom side Tyresö before Österlind laid on Baiana to finish superbly before Andersson’s first goal for the club and Baiana wrapped up her hat trick in a 4-1 demolition of Mallbackens.
That was followed by an emotional day for Holm as, for the first time in her managerial career, she headed home to her beloved Umeå IK. To their credit, the home fans gave Holm a warm greeting as she emerged for kickoff and waved as she spotted her family members and friends at Umeå Energi Arena. However, they weren’t happy for long as Alingsås absolutely dominated the early stages, racking up 10 shots to 0 inside half an hour. They eventually made that pressure count as a superb flowing move ended with Baiana coolly passing the ball into the bottom corner. The hosts grew into it after the break but Holm shut it down defensively to hold on for a win that even her Umeå-mad father admitted was deserved.
Those consecutive victories took Alingsås into a month-long summer break still unbeaten and with a 5-point lead 11 games into the 26-game Elitettan. They led the league with 34 goals and had only conceded 8 goals, while Baiana was top scorer with 11 and Österlind led the assists with 8.
Alingsås’ good form this season saw the board agree to Holm’s coaching course request, which saw her begin studying for the Continental C licence, before handing her a new two-year contract on £120 per week.
With that new contract in the bag, could Holm lead Alingsås to an immediate return to Damallsvenskan in her first full season as a Football Manager? Join us tomorrow to find out!
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