Aussies in Nordic Football – Season 2020 Wrap 18

With up to ten Australians competing in top level domestic Nordic competitions in 2020, Beyond 90 will be keeping readers up to date with how our players and the teams they are playing in are faring.

There are just two matches to report in this week’s edition of the Beyond 90 Nordic Football Wrap, as the majority of the final round of the Norwegian Toppserien was delayed, while the Swedish Damallsvenskan 2020 competition wrapped up. 

In the 24 hours before the final round gameday – when all games were to be played simultaneously – the Toppserien released a statement that COVID-19 concerns in the Arna-Bjørnar camp would force all games that had a bearing on the top three places to be delayed. A player was later confirmed as testing positive.

This meant that only one game would go ahead, that of bottom-placed Røa Dynamite Girls vs Kolbotn. Nikola Orgill was not on the teamsheet for Kolbotn and later posted a photo of herself on a bike at physio in Norway. Her presence was missed as Røa recorded just their third win of the season over their fellow cellar dwellers. 

The result was not enough to save Røa from automatic relegation, which leaves Kolbotn to play First Division runners-up Medkila this weekend for the right to play in the Toppserien next season.

The remaining Round 18 games will now be played on Sunday 6 December, while the NM (Norway) Cup semi-finals will be played as follows:

– Sunday 22 November (02:00 AEDT) : LSK Kvinner vs Sandviken
– Monday 23 November (02:00 AEDT) : Vålerenga vs Avaldsnes

The NM Cup final is now delayed until 13 December 2020.

It appears as if Avaldsnes will be without the services of Matilda Katrina Gorry for their final Toppserien game and remaining NM Cup games, but retain Clare Polkinghorne. Avaldsnes is still mathematically able to win the league.

Beyond 90 learnt this week that the Toppserien finals series which was going to be introduced for the first time in 2020 has been cancelled due to the pandemic situation. 
 

Round 18 results

(teams with Australian players in the squad are shown in bold)

Ladder

The final round of the Swedish Damallsvenskan saw fifth-placed Vittsjö GIK succumb 3-1 away to premiers Göteborg, with Emily Gielnik playing a full game for Vittsjö.

It was a satisfying campaign for Gielnik, and the team’s fortunes rose in step with her stature in the team, from a late substitute in early games when the team was struggling to strike weapon as exemplified by her hat-trick last round.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Vittsjö Dam Officiell (@vittsjodam)

The win leaves Vittsjö in fifth place to close out the season.

Round 22 results

The Úrvalsdeild Kvenna 2020 season has been abandoned due to COVID-19 concerns with two rounds to play. Final standings as at the final played round have been used used to determine premiers, Champions League places, and teams relegated.

Laura Hughes‘  newly-promoted Thróttur Reykjavik finish in fifth place and retain their place in the league. Hughes has just returned to Australia.

Angie Beard‘s KR Reykjavik finished bottom of the league and are one of two teams relegated. Even though they had played two games less than some other teams, they would not have been able to lift themselves out of the bottom two, no matter the results in the two games not played.

Hughes and Beard were solid contributors to their respective teams in a tough, physical league with games often played on artificial surfaces. It was a disrupted season and the scheduling was all over the place; in some weeks there were multiple games, and in others none as COVID interrupted proceedings.

Beard was recently interviewed by Samatha Lewis in an article for SBS and outlined the level of disruption (and the amount of time spent in quarantine) she faced in her time in Iceland. She returned to Australia several weeks ago.

For both, it was a first-time experience playing overseas, and they will have grown from their time in Iceland.

Ladder

Similarly to Iceland, there were no games in the Danish Elitedivisionen, and all remaining games are marked as cancelled for now due to coronavirus concerns.

The official site reads (translated) :

Women’s football on a break.
We play again for the Spring of 2021.

As stated on the official Fortuna Hjørring site, the league’s last two rounds will be held at the beginning of spring 2021. Fortuna at least has the UEFA Women’s Champions League to look forward to, with the first round to be held on a home and away basis in early December 2020.

This article on the league’s official site (translator recommended) in the last week expresses support by all clubs in the competition with the decision to defer the completion of the season until 2021.

And so ends the participation in 2020 of Aussies Indiah-Paige Riley (Fortuna Hjørring, currently third) and Hannah Bacon (AGF Aarhus, currently second last) in their Elitedivisionen campaigns. Of the two, Riley certainly enjoyed more highlights in her stint, including a hat-trick back in Round 7.  

Ladder

Follow all our coverage of Aussies and Ferns Abroad here, and Aussies in Nordic football here.

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