The Nordic countries (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Finland) have long been a viable destination for Aussie footballers, and 2021 looks to be no different with over a dozen players choosing the Nordic countries as their playground.
All three of the remaining Nordic leagues featuring Aussies are now in the run home to the end of their seasons. Read on to see how our Aussies fared!
LSK Kvinner‘s second-half heroics finally bore fruit last weekend in their Round 15 Toppserien home game against seventh-placed Avaldsnes. Down 0-3 just after half-time, the team picked itself up and completely turned the game around by scoring four goals in reply, with the last two goals astoundingly coming in the 89th and 94th minutes.
The result kept LSK in third place, five points behind Rosenborg but with a chance to close that gap if they beat them in their midweek Round 12 away catchup game. However, two deflected goals were enough to see Rosenborg take the game 2-1, and with just three games left it will now be almost impossible for LSK to gain the coveted second place and a Champions League berth.
Next weekend finds LSK away to ninth-placed Stabæk, with Karly Roestbakken and two other key injured teammates given the thumbs up to be available, according to the Rosenborg press.
Klepp, still sans Nikola Orgill, had another difficult weekend with a 1-2 home loss against Kolbotn.
Klepp also plays Rosenborg in their Round 16 home game on the weekend.
Round 15 results
Round 16 games
Ladder
In the Swedish Damallsvenskan the top two placings – and next season’s Champions League qualifiers – have been evident for some time. However, positions three through eight have been where the battles are being fought week to week.
In Round 19, leaders FC Rosengård had come off a midweek Champions League game (as reported in the last Nordic Wrap) and brought some changes into the starting lineup against eighth-placed Linköpings FC at home on the weekend. Teagan Micah played a full game in goals for Rosengård, while Charli Grant got a welcome start and 88 minutes in their 2-1 victory.
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No Aussies featured in Rosengård’s 2-4 away Svenska Cup midweek catchup win against second tier side Borgeby FK, with the team fielding a mix of Under 19’s and first-team players.
This coming weekend sees Rosengård away to 10th placed Piteå IF.
Second-placed BK Häcken also had an action-packed week. Dylan Holmes enjoyed a start in their home Damallsvenskan game against sixth-placed Vittsjö GIK on the weekend, playing the first half, while Clare Polkinghorne played the full game for the visitors in this scoreless draw.
A midweek Champions League outing then beckoned, away to German giants Bayern München.
The game resulted in a 4-0 win to the Germans with Holmes not seeing time off the bench.
Häcken will travel to eleventh placed AIK this weekend for their Round 20 clash, while Polkinghorne and Vittsjö take on Hammarby IF at home.
Elise Kellond-Knight‘s Hammarby, for their part, may have been without the services of the injured KK again, but their weekend fixture will live long in their memories as they doubled the attendance record for the league, playing AIK in front of over 18,000 home fans on the weekend.
Rekordsiffran 18.537 på plats och magiskt tryck när @Hammarbyfotboll besegrar @AIKFotbollDam med 4-1 i Stockholmsderbyt!
| #HAMAIK | #rekordmatchen | pic.twitter.com/DyMq6u7b8d
— OBOS Damallsvenskan (@_OBOSDamallsv) October 10, 2021
For the record they also won the game 4-1, keeping them in fifth spot just ahead of Vittsjö.
Växjö DFF celebrated their first win of the season – something that had been bubbling away for a few weeks now – in their 1-0 home win over tenth-placed Piteå IF last weekend.
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Växjö also kicked off Round 20 with a late midweek away game to eighth-placed Linköpings FC, where they suffered a 5-0 trouncing after being four goals down at halftime. Winonah Heatley was not on the card for this game.
Heatley may not have seen time on the park this week but she did a service to the football community in another way by putting together a fascinating ‘Day In The Life’ Instagram video. Atmospheric, factual, and understated, the clip provides some welcome insights not only into the level of professionalism and facilities available in Sweden, but also her training regime and dietary requirements. The viewer gets a real sense of the gulf between where she is and Australia, and also of the courage that our overseas bound players display in following their dream and chasing quite possibly the experience of a lifetime.
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Round 19 results
Round 20 games
Ladder
Ladder
If most Danish Elitedivisionen games involving Fortuna Hjørring feel like Aussie affairs – with Angie Beard, Clare Wheeler, Indiah-Paige Riley and Alex Huynh all regularly on the team sheet – then their Round 9 home game against AGF was even more so as Jenna McCormick lined up against them in the heart of the AGF defence.
While McCormick played her customary 90 minutes for AGF, picking up a yellow card near the hour mark, Riley and Beard started for Fortuna, with Wheeler on for the last half hour and Huynh taking the field in the last five minutes.
Riley made the most of her 85 minutes, scoring Fortuna’s first goal in the 23rd minute.
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The result leaves Fortuna in second place and AGF in seventh.
Sydney FC posted this week that Remy Siemsen is training with Fortuna in the lead-up to the A-League Women season, as is Kyra Cooney-Cross:
💬 “I’ve been approached a few times by locals thinking I’m Danish and having to explain I’m as Aussie as they come!
“I’m missing the coffee back home that’s for sure haha…” ☕@remyysiemsen on her Danish adventure so far..#SydneyIsSkyBlue #Premi3rs
— Sydney FC (@SydneyFC) October 14, 2021
Fortuna is away to 5th placed Nordsjælland next weekend, while AGF takes on Thy-Thisted at home.
Round 9 results
Round 10 games
Ladder
The Úrvalsdeild Kvenna 2021 season is over!
Urvalsdeild Ladder
1.deild Ladder
Follow all our coverage of Aussies and Ferns Abroad here, and Aussies in Nordic football here.
