A flying start to the Damallsvenskan campaign, including beating the holders and winning 5-1 at last season’s 3rd-place finishers, saw Alingsås IF looking good to survive upon their return to the top tier.
Manager Freja Holm, who took a six-week break from matches to push ahead with her Continental B licence studies, ticked off a milestone with the club’s first-ever cash transfer in July, selling winger Alma Öberg to Stuttgart for £50k. Speaking of finances, that boosted the bank balance to a healthy £241k ahead of the upcoming move to professional status in January 2028. But Holm quickly used some of that to make the club’s first cash signing, bringing in Costa Rican winger Sheika Scott for £12k.
Alingsås Look To Build On A Strong Start
Alingsås resumed the league campaign on a five-game winless streak, but the good thing about this league was a couple of wins could rocket you up the table.
They returned with a trip to Hammarby, where a team completely lacking match sharpness did well to draw 2-2 thanks to a brace by English winger Lexi Lloyd-Smith. The winless streak extended to seven games with a frustrating 1-0 defeat at home to Piteå, despite dominating by 20 shots to 9, before a 2-2 at Kristianstad. But they finally snapped that streak with Baiana scoring twice at struggling Vittsjö and built on that with winger Ina Österlind scoring a late winner in a terrible game at home to fellow promoted side Örebro, in which Baiana was sidelined for up to 8 weeks with knee ligament damage.
Next up was a big test against champions and in-form Hacken, but they started well as midfielder Anaís Álvarez slammed home from 10 yards. Baiana’s replacement, our first newgen of the save, American striker Emily Fryer, headed home a debut goal and Álvarez put them in dreamland with a third after an hour. Österlind and Álvarez earned a comfortable 2-0 win at home to Malmö, and Fryer scored again in a 2-2 at home to Rosengård before nicking a draw at Djurgården. That moved Alingsås 18 points clear of the bottom three and officially safe from relegation with five games remaining.
Outside Shot at the Top 3?
Österlind and a header by centre back Ellen Andersson earned a 2-0 win over Linköpping that lifted Alingsås into the heady heights of 3rd place. Baiana returned to score 23 minutes into a 2-0 win at Brommapojkarna, then made up for lost time with a superb first-half hat trick at home to AIK.
Unbelievably, those wins opened up a faint possibility of a top-two finish. Álvarez curled in a beauty after 11 minutes at Växjö, who equalised with their first shot from the penalty spot after being battered for a half. Baiana swiftly restored the lead, and Blomberg headed a third just after halftime… but they somehow capitulated to draw 3-3.
That set up a final-day battle for 2nd, trailing Malmö by one point. Alingsås hosted 4th-place Hammarby before Malmö travelled to relegated Vittsjö. They started well, missing a few chances before Álvarez nodded in from right back Josefin Baudou’s cross and Baiana slammed home a second around an hour in. Hammarby got one back and Baiana had an insane volley ruled out for offside, but they held out to temporarily move into 2nd place. That piled the pressure on Malmö, who, ridiculously, lost 3-2!
Semi-professional Alingsås went from Elitettan winners… to qualifying for the Champions League!
That final-day victory saw Alingsås leapfrog Malmö to finish 2nd in Damallsvenskan. Impressively, they only lost 3 games, winning 13 and drawing 10 to finish on 49 points, 11 behind champions Häcken. They scored 50 goals but had the best defence in the league, conceding only 25. Baiana was the top scorer in the league with 20 goals in 21 games, Lloyd-Smith led the assists with 12 and Österlind was joint-third with 9 but created the most chances (22) and was the most fouled player (51). Baudou won the most tackles (83) and Ajsa Kalac led the league with 10 clean sheets.
Seismic Shock as Alingsås Could Mix it with the World’s Best!
Alingsås and their enigmatic coach Freja Holm had taken the Swedish game by storm, going from semi-pro relegation fodder to finishing in the top two of Damallsvenskan. That achievement was largely thanks to Baiana who, despite apparently declining, scored 20 goals in 21 appearances with a 7.28 rating. Lloyd-Smith had been a great signing with 9 goals and 14 assists, along with Álvarez (9 goals and 7 assists) and Österlind (6 goals and 9 assists).
However, Holm wasn’t kidding herself that this squad was anywhere near ready to compete with the best clubs in Europe. That said, their Champions League qualification immediately triggered the board to send a message announcing the club had turned professional. But how that would affect the club moving forward remained to be seen.
Could Holm strengthen the Alingsås squad to compete in Damallsvenskan and the Champions League? Join us on Monday to find out!
Football Manager Addict 
Leave a comment