Swedish football/soccer : Allsvenskan League 2012 season preview

Helsingborg claim Allsvenkan title

Helsingborg clinched their seventh Swedish title, and their first since 1999, in September with three matches still to play last season. Having claimed the Super Cup at the beginning of last campaign and retaining the Swedish Cup with a 3-1 victory over Kalmar, Helsingborg have become the first team to win the three Swedish trophies in the same year. Helsingborg's achievement is all the more impressive given that they lost three key players mid-season.

Champions and Cup winners: Helsingborg (UEFA Champions League 2nd qualifying round)
Runners-up: AIK Stockholm (Europa League 2nd qual. round)
Third place: Elfsborg (Europa League 1st qualifying round )
Cup finalists: Kalmar (Europa League 1st qualifying round)
Relegated: Halmstad, Trelleborg
Promoted: Atvidaberg, Sundsvall.

Halmstad and Trelleborg were relegated to the second division, while Atvidaberg and Sundsvall were promoted to the top flight.

team	titles	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
Goteborg	18	1	3	2	7	7
Malmo	16	9	6	7	1	4
Norrkoping	12	-	16	-	-	13
Djurgarden	11	3	12	14	10	11
AIK	11	5	5	1	11	2
Helsingborg	7	8	4	8	2	1
GAIS	6	11	11	11	13	5
Elfsborg	5	4	2	3	4	3
Kalmar	1	2	1	4	9	8
Gefle	-	10	13	10	14	9
Orebro	-	12	7	6	3	12
Hacken	-	-	-	5	8	6
Mjallby	-	-	-	-	6	10
Syrianska	-	-	-	-	-	14
Atvidaberg	-	-	-	-	15	-
Sundsvall	-	-	15	-	-	-

The overall number of titles for each club in Allsvenskan League since 1896 and their standings in the last five seasons. From 1896 to 1925, the Swedish Champions were decided in a knock-out competition (Cup format). The League, Allsvenskan, was not established until the season 1924/25.

Goteborg hire new coach

Goteborg have appointed Mikael Stahre as their new coach for the 2012 season. The most successful club in Sweden with 18 league titles finished a disappointing seventh last campaign and coach Jonas Olsson left after four years in charge. Stahre previously coached Vasby United and won the league and cup double with AIK Solna in 2009, edging out Goteborg in both competitions. In 2010 he took the next step in his career by taking the manager's job at Greek side Panionios. However, his team have won just one of their eight league games and the 36-year-old was fired after a disappointing six-month spell in Greece.

This page contains additional information about the 2012 Swedish First Division season. Latest news, statistics, results and predictions you can find on our main Euro Football > Sweden page.

#	team	points	g.dif.	win-draw-loss
1	Helsingborg	63	26	18-9-3 (30)

2	AIK	58	19	18-4-8 (30)
3	Elfsborg	57	20	18-3-9 (30)
4	Malmo	54	9	15-9-6 (30)
5	Gais	51	13	16-3-11 (30)
6	Hacken	49	20	14-7-9 (30)
7	Goteborg	45	8	13-6-11 (30)
8	Kalmar	44	5	13-5-12 (30)
9	Gefle	41	-8	10-11-9 (30)
10	Mjallby	40	-6	12-4-14 (30)
11	Djurgarden	36	-4	10-6-14 (30)
12	Orebro	36	-9	11-3-16 (30)
13	Norrkoping	34	-17	9-7-14 (30)

14	Syrianska	28	-17	8-4-18 (30)
15	Trelleborg	25	-25	7-4-19 (30)
16	Halmstad	14	-34	3-5-22 (30)

The final league standings for the 2011 season.

Goteborg favored to win Swedish title

Goteborg is the bookmakers' favourite to win the Swedish league trophy. Malmo and Elfsborg are considered as Goteborg's main rivals. It is important to emphasize that the last seven championships have been won by as many different clubs.

team	odds	team	odds
Goteborg	4	Malmo	5
Elfsborg	5	Helsingborg	7
AIK	8	Kalmar	13
Djurgarden	20	Orebro	20
Hacken	20	Mjallby	30
GAIS	30	Norrkoping	50
Gefle	100	Sundsvall	100
Syrianska	100	Atvidaberg	200

The preseason odds for the outright winner of the 2012 Allsvenskan league posted by online bookmakers.

Swedish Cup finals in last five seasons

2007 Kalmar - Goteborg 3:0
2008 Goteborg - Kalmar 0:0 (5:4 on penalties)
2009 AIK - Goteborg 2:0
2010 Helsingborg - Hammarby 1:0
2011 Helsingborg - Kalmar 3:1

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key players
(with transfer market value in m€)

AIK Stockholm

Goalkeeper Ivan Turina (0.6); Defense: Niklas Backman (1.5), Alexander Milosevic (1.5), Martin Lorentzson (0.6), Per Karlsson (0.5), Nils-Eric Johansson (0.4); Midfield: Robert Ahman-Persson (1), Martin Kayongo-Mutumba (0.7), Helgi Danielsson (0.5); Forward: Celso Borges (1.3), Viktor Lundberg (1).

Atvidaberg

Goalkeeper Henrik Gustavsson (0.3); Defense: Jesper Arvidsson (0.4), Daniel Hallingstrom (0.3), Erik Moberg (0.3), Allan Olesen (0.3), Tom Pettersson (0.2); Midfield: Alain Junior Olle Olle (0.4), Christoffer Karlsson (0.3), Kristian Bergstrom (0.3); Forward: Johan Oscar Moller (0.3), Viktor Prodell (0.3).

Djurgarden

Goalkeeper Kasper Jensen (0.4); Defense: Joona Toivio (0.8), Peter Nymann (0.7), Emil Bergstrom (0.5), Petter Gustafsson (0.5); Midfield: Kasper Hamalainen (1.2), Daniel Sjolund (0.8), Sebastian Rajalakso (0.7), Philip Hellquist (0.6); Forward: Ricardo Santos (1), Kennedy Igboananike (0.5).

Elfsborg

Goalkeeper Kevin Stuhr Ellegaard (1); Defense: Jon Jonsson (0.8), Andreas Augustsson (0.5), Stefan Larsson (0.5); Midfield: Niklas Hult (2), Johan Larsson (1.5), Anders Svensson (1), Oscar Hiljemark (1), Stefan Ishizaki (0.9); Forward: Lasse Nilsson (1.5), David Elm (0.6).

GAIS

Goalkeeper Dime Jankulovski (0.4); Defense: Kenneth Gustafsson (0.5), Richard Ekunde (0.4), Jimmy Tamandi (0.2); Midfield: Wanderson (3), Eric Bassombeng (0.5), Richard Spong (0.4), Fredrik Lundgren (0.4), Markus Gustafsson (0.4); Forward: Peter Ijeh (0.2), Joakim Edstrom (0.1).

Gefle

Goalkeeper Mattias Hugosson (0.1); Defense: Par Asp (0.3), Daniel Bernhardsson (0.3), Linus Malmborg (0.2); Midfield: Jonas Lantto (0.7), Marcus Hansson (0.4), Zakaria Abdullai (0.2), Jonathan Hellstrom (0.2); Forward: Jakob Orlov (0.8), Mikael Dahlberg (0.7), Erik Tornros (0.3).

Goteborg

Goalkeeper John Alvbage (1); Defense: Mikael Dyrestam (1), Emil Salomonsson (1), Kjetil Waehler (0.5); Midfield: Pontus Farnerud (1.9), Philip Haglund (1), Nordin Gerzic (1), Daniel Sobralense (1), Joel Allansson (0.8); Forward: Tobias Hysen (2), Robin Soder (1.5).

Hacken

Goalkeeper Christoffer Kallqvist (0.9); Defense: Tom Soderberg (0.8), Emil Wahlstrom (0.4), Kari Arkivuo (0.4); Midfield: Dominic Chatto (0.9), Rene Makondele (0.9), Martin Ericsson (0.4), Josef Elvby (0.3), Jonas Henriksson (0.3); Forward: Dioh Williams (0.4), Abdul Majeed Waris (0.3).

Helsingborg

Goalkeeper Par Hansson (2.5); Defense: Joseph Baffo (0.8), Erik Edman (0.5), Erlend Hanstveit (0.5), Christoffer Andersson (0.5); Midfield: May Mahlangu (2.5), Ardian Gashi (1.3), Daniel Nordmark (0.8); Forward: Thomas Sorum (1), Erik Sundin (0.7), Alfred Finnbogason (0.6).

Kalmar

Goalkeeper Etrit Berisha (0.8); Defense: Paulus Arajuuri (0.8), Mats Goberg Solheim (0.8), Nenad Djordjevic (0.7), Emin Nouri (0.7), Markus Thorbjornsson (0.5); Midfield: Erik Israelsson (0.8), Tobias Eriksson (0.8), Kristoffer Fagercrantz (0.5); Forward: Daniel Mendes (0.8), Abiola Dauda (0.5).

Malmo

Goalkeeper Johan Dahlin (1.5); Defense: Pontus Jansson (2), Ricardinho (2), Markus Halsti (0.8); Midfield: Ivo Pekalski (2.5), Jiloan Hamad (2), Jimmy Durmaz (1.5), Wilton Figueiredo (1), Simon Thern (1); Forward: Daniel Larsson (2), Mathias Ranegie (1.5).

Mjallby

Goalkeeper Mattias Asper (0.1); Defense: Anders Wikstrom (0.5), Daniel Ivanovski (0.2), Robin Cederberg (0.2); Midfield: Dominique Kivuvu (0.5), Haris Radetinac (0.5), Daniel Nilsson (0.3), Daniel Nicklasson (0.3); Forward: Marcus Pode (0.5), Erton Fejzullahu (0.5), Marcus Ekenberg (0.5).

Norrkoping

Goalkeeper Abbas Hassan (0.3); Defense: Morten Morisbak Skjonsberg (0.5), Martin Smedberg-Delance (0.4), Bobbie Friberg da Cruz (0.4), Nikola Tkalcic (0.3); Midfield: Astrit Ajdarevic (1), Andreas Johansson (0.6), Christopher Telo (0.5), James Frempong (0.3); Forward: Gunnar Heidar Thorvaldsson (0.5), Shpetim Hasani (0.3).

Orebro

Goalkeeper Jonas Sandqvist (0.2); Defense: Patrik Haginge (0.4), Magnus Wikstrom (0.3), Samuel Wowoah (0.3); Midfield: Daniel Bamberg (1.2), Armend Alimi (0.5), Tobias Grahn (0.4); Forward: Valdet Rama (1), Marcus Astvald (0.9), Kushtrim Lushtaku (0.6), Paulinho (0.5).

Sundsvall

Goalkeeper Tommy Naurin (0.2); Defense: Christian Brink (0.3), Stefan Alander (0.3), Patrik Rikama (0.3), David Myrestam (0.2); Midfield: Ari Freyr Skulason (0.4), Daniel Sliper (0.4), Nuri Mustafi (0.3), Simon Helg (0.3); Forward: Emil Forsberg (0.2), Johan Eklund (0.2).

Syrianska

Goalkeeper Dwayne Miller (0.4); Defense: Omar Jawo (0.4), Rabi Elia (0.3), Isa Demir (0.2), Haris Skenderovic (0.2); Midfield: Johan Arneng (0.7), Sharbel Touma (0.6), Louay Chanko (0.4), Yussuf Saleh (0.3); Forward: Dinko Felic (0.4), Ozgur Yasar (0.2).

Swedish First Division pages

Swedish First Division statistics, news, predictions
Swedish First Division standings
Swedish First Division transfers
Swedish First Division 2012 preview - key players, 2011 standings