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. In one of the leagues, two Aussies were crowned champions this week. Read on to see how all our Aussies fared!
Round 16 saw the third last set of Toppserien games played and it was a proud moment for one Aussie with her first appearance of the 2021 campaign.
Karly Roestbakken was given the go-ahead by LSK Kvinner to play this week, but had to wait until the 84th minute to make her first appearance of the season. It has been a long road back to full fitness for Roestbakken after an operation to remove a piece of bone from her injured foot, with her last compeititve appearance coming more than six months ago in Australia’s friendly against Germany.
LSK were up 0-1 at halftime away to ninth-placed Stabæk, despite captain Emilie Haavi limping off the field with a hamstring injury just before the break. The Lillestrom side led 3-0 when Roestbakken entered the field to the applause of her teammates, and finished with a 3-1 victory.
After the game, Roestbakken told media outlet Romerikes Blad, “It’s so nice to be back on the playing field, it’s been tough not being able to play. I have missed it so much, so to get some minutes was fantastic.” On how she felt: “It felt ok but I need to build on my match fitness”, she laughed.
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Roestbakken has since embarked on a flight to Australia for the Matildas series against Brazil, but should be back in Norway for LSK’s away game against Lyn on November 7th.
Nikola Orgill spent the last week sightseeing in Amsterdam and her participation for the balance of the 2021 Toppserien season must be in some doubt, having not played since Round 8 in early July. Her Klepp team lost 0-3 at home against second-placed Rosenborg, who scored this magnificent goal of the round:
Den er grei, Emilie Joramo 😏 @RBKvinner pic.twitter.com/vBiQuraj8g
— Toppserien (@Kvinnefotball1) October 19, 2021
Last on the ladder and facing relegation, Klepp meet leaders Sandviken in their Round 17 game on November 7th. Should Sandviken prevail, they will be crowned 2021 Toppserien champions.
Round 16 results
Round 17 games
Ladder
There were no guarantees that an Aussie would be part of a championship-winning team in the 2021 Swedish Damallsvenskan …
… but now we have two champions!
Congratulations @TeaganMicah and @_charli_grant 🏆@FCRosengard have been crowned Damallsvenskan champions for the 2021 season! #MatildasAbroad #WeAreMatildas pic.twitter.com/593MJML6kL
— CommBank Matildas (@TheMatildas) October 18, 2021
By winning 2-3 away in Round 20 to eleventh-placed Piteå IF, FC Rosengård took an unassailable lead at the top of the ladder with two games remaining. There was action for both of our Aussies with Charli Grant playing almost a full game and Teagan Micah being subbed at halftime.
However, it wasn’t such a stellar week for second-placed BK Häcken as their heavy recent schedule took its toll. Häcken drew 0-0 away to eleventh placed AIK on the weekend (a huge turnaround from the 10-0 victory in their previous encounter) after being convincingly beaten 4-0 by Bayern Munich in their midweek Champions League game. Dylan Holmes was not called from the bench on either occasion.
There was much better news down Vittsjö GIK way. Clare Polkinghorne celebrated her two-year contract extension by scoring Vittsjö’s first goal in their 3-1 home win over a Hammarby IF side still without the recovering Elise Kellond-Knight.
“From the moment I came here, it felt like home. It is a club with a great atmosphere and culture and it is because of the people involved in the club, everything from players and leaders to the fans. We have a talented squad of players who I think have the potential to continue to grow and develop as a team and I want to continue to be a part of that and contribute to that.”
The win lifts Vittsjö to fifth place and drops Hammarby to sixth.
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Last week we reported that bottom team Växjö DFF had lost 5-0 away to seventh-placed Linköpings FC in the round’s early game, with Winonah Heatley absent from the team sheet.
A short international break follows and the final two Damallsvenkan rounds resume on November 1st.
Round 20 results
Round 21 games
Ladder
Round 10 of the Danish Elitedivisionen was played on the weekend and now just four rounds remain in season 2021.
Angie Beard, Clare Wheeler and Indiah-Paige Riley all started for Fortuna Hjørring in their 2-2 away draw to fifth-placed Nordsjælland on the weekend. Beard and Wheeler played full games, Riley was on the park for 71 minutes, while Alex Huynh was on the match card but did not see time off the bench. The club’s match report (Google translate recommended) suggests that the team did not play to their potential in this game.
The result leaves Fortuna in second place and their next game is contested on November 1, away to winless AaB (Aalborg). Both Beard and Wheeler boarded a plane to Australia after the game for the series against Brazil.
In the meantime, here’s another completely unmissable post from Angie Beard’s Instagram account after last week’s win against Jenna McCormick‘s AGF.
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For their part, AGF suffered a narrow 2-3 home loss against fourth-placed Thy-ThistedQ on the weekend, with Jenna once again playing the full game. The result leaves AGF in seventh place, with the prospect of playing sixth-placed Kolding BK away on November 2nd.
Round 10 results
Round 11 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.
