Four Nordic countries (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland) are hosting Aussie players this year. Read on to see how they fared during the past week!
Nearing the halfway mark of the playoffs series, LSK Kvinner (featuring Karly Roestbakken and Julie Dolan medallist Fiona Worts) remain in the reckoning to contest the 2023 Toppserien. LSK drew 2-2 away to Kolbotn in Round 3 of the Relegation playoffs – Worts was named on the bench but didn’t take the field.
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Champions League commitments meant that no games were played in the Toppserien Champions Group playoffs. While Ally Green‘s Vålerenga enjoyed a week off, Tameka Yallop watched on from the bench during Brann Kvinner‘s midweek UWCL return leg game against Swedish powerhouses FC Rosengård. Teagan Micah played the full match for Rosengård, who knocked Brann out of the UWCL and advanced to the group stage with a 3-1 victory in the second leg (4-2 on aggregate).
The teams in the top four of the Damallsvenskan that have Aussies came away with Round 21 wins.
BK Häcken was one of those teams, with Aivi Luik playing a full game as Häcken defeated IF Brommapojkarna 1-0. They were unable to repeat that success against French giants PSG, losing 2-0 in the second leg of their midweek UWCL qualifier. While Lydia Williams didn’t see any time off the bench for PSG, Luik once again played 90 minutes in Häcken’s last hurrah for the 2022-23 UWCL.
Emma Checker played the full 90 as her Umeå IK was defeated 3-1 at home by mid-table Örebro.
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Teagan Micah’s ladder-topping FC Rosengård not only tasted Champions League qualifying success (see the Norway Toppserien coverage above), but also got the job done in their home league fixture against Vittsjö GIK and their Aussie trio of Charli Grant, Clare Polkinghorne and Katrina Gorry. All four Aussies played a full game as Rosengård won 3-2, with Grant picking up a yellow card.
Dropped points in the last couple of games against the top two have seen Vittsjö fall to eighth, but there’s no need for concern given how competitive the team was during those games.
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It’s been a similar tale of late for Hammarby, whose last two matches have resulted in losses to top three opposition. This week it was a slim 1-0 home loss against second-placed Linköping, a game in which Elise Kellond-Knight and Kyra Cooney-Cross received yellow cards. KK played a solid 73 minutes while both Courtney Nevin and Cooney-Cross saw out the whole game.
🎥 @elise_kk8 om kvällens insats hemma mot Linköping.
▶️ https://t.co/rn5izx00v3#Bajen pic.twitter.com/ScP19C4FRu
— Hammarby Fotboll (@Hammarbyfotboll) September 26, 2022
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A narrow loss was also the order of the day for AIK, who lost 2-1 at home against Eskilstuna United, seven places above them on the table. Remy Siemsen played a full game for the hosts.
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Results
Ladder
In the penultimate round – Round 17 – of the Úrvalsdeild, Gema Simon played 66 minutes during fourth-placed Thróttur Reykjavík‘s home 5-0 win over KR Reykjavik. Normally this would be a game laden with Aussies, but neither Susan Phonsongkham nor Margaux Chauvet was on the KR team sheet.
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Melina Ayres was an unused substitute in Breiðablik‘s surprise away 2-0 loss to fifth-placed Selfoss. The loss sees Stjarnan overtake Ayres and company, who now occupy the third rung on the ladder with one round left.
Results
Ladder
Matilda McNamara once again played a full Elitedivisionen game on the weekend, which meant she was on the pitch to witness late drama at Ceres Park & Arena. AGF Aarhus were trailing 3-1 at home to high-flying Brøndby before fighting back to earn a share of the spoils – see below for video of Benedicte Moss’s 91st-minute equaliser.
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The news was not so good at Right to Dream Park, from both a personal and a team perspective: Winonah Heatley didn’t get off the bench as FC Nordsjælland lost 1-0 at home to league leaders HB Køge. Nordsjælland remains in sixth place with one win from their opening six games.
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Fortuna Hjørring started both Angie Beard and Indiah-Paige Riley in their away game against KoldingQ, but went home with no points after two second-half goals consigned the team in green to a 2-0 defeat. Beard played 90 minutes and Riley was subbed off in the 65th minute.
Ahead of Fortuna’s next game against Brøndby, Beard and Riley did their part to support a local breast cancer awareness campaign.
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Follow all our coverage of Aussies and Ferns Abroad here, and Aussies in Nordic football here.
