Saturday 5th June 2026 ko 13:00

Division 2 Södra Svealand

ÄNGBY I.F. 1 (Kotiram 69p)

TÄBY F.K. 0

Att 137 at Ängby IP

Entry 80sek

The Swedish Hop cost £360 which included all transport from and to Arlanda Airport and between games, 2 nights bed and breakfast, and any admission fees.

Mornings on the Swedish Hop do tend to be relaxed. A buffet breakfast, why do meatballs seem so appropriate here but nowhere else? Some pickled herrings, why not? Then all aboard the minibus for some fairly random football matches, even by our standards!

Our first stop was Hjorthhagen Idrottsplats in the north-east of Stockholm. You are very close to the Tallink Silja Ferry Terminal, which we’ve used to get to both Helsinki and Tallinn on the overnight “fun” ferries. The ground is noted for two things, its Djurgården’s training ground, and the gas holder behind the goal, Värtagasverket, was designed by Robert Boberg, and was the first major gas works in Stockholm, opening in November 1893 and only closing in 2011. If you want to see an adult game here Värtans IK play here, but we watched one of Djurgården’s youth sides beat Spånga’s 4-1 in a highly entertaining game. Thanks to the people at DIF for their welcome and talk.

We then headed to Vällingby in Stockholm’s north-west. This is very much Brommapojkarna territory, and something of a sentimental journey for organiser Kim Hedwall. His folks used to live in Bromma, and like so many young people in Stockholm he played for one of their myriad of juvenile teams.

Ängby is next door, but rather unusually we battled the local one-way system and parked up at a gap between the houses. There’s a runestone there and like many is a memorial. This one dates from the 11th-century. The stone is inscribed with a Maltese cross surrounded by two intertwining serpents and bears the message: “Ragnfrid had this stone erected in memory of Björn, her and Kättilmund’s son. God and God’s Mother help his soul.” It is a wonderful piece of Norse history, but Kim’s reason for taking us there was more straightforward. It’s where Ängby IF were formed in 1932 and they based themselves at Ängby IP in 1947.

Again we were treated to a talk by two club officials. They explained that in Swedish terms they are at the highest level they can be and be treated as amateurs. Once you go into the third tier Ettan, you are treated as professionals whether you pay the players or not, which means far greater expenditure and administration. It is not a step a club takes lightly as we’ve seen before in these trips before.

We were joined by a friend to Kim and I and a real friend of the hop. Mats Nyström is involved in the Sveriges Fotbollshistoriker & Statistikers Förening- the Swedish Football History and Statistics Club. You think that sounds boring? Try spending a couple of hours in his company- you’ll learn but you’ll laugh too. Just don’t mention the club we watched in the morning.. (he’s an AIK fan!)

I liked the ground, with its quirks. I loved the repurposed railway carriage that serves as a tea bar, but I’m not sure whether the assumption of honesty would work in the UK with the entry fee. In Sweden small transactions tend to be conducted via an App called Swish, the catch if you’re not local is that you need a Swedish National Insurance number to set up an account. We’ve tended to rely on the kindness of strangers to take our cash then play using their own Swish accounts.

As so often the case with the Swedish Hop we sat there and just enjoyed being there, and the excellent company. You can spend your life worrying about where, why and who you are watching when what really matters is the company and the moment. Those two things are what I spend my money on being here.

Ängby won at the expense of a Täby side we’d seen in the very first Swedish Hop courtesy of a penalty, but my enjoyment was about far more than just the game. Who wouldn’t want to sit in the sunshine somewhere pleasant in the company of friends?