Långholmen FC and the teams to beat

With The Local's partnership football club Långholmen FC starting their league campaign this Wednesday, Keith Moore takes a look at who they will be facing in the 2009 Division 4 Central.

• Långholmen advance to cup quarter finals (5 Apr 09)
• Långholmen way too hot to Handel for students (8 Feb 09)
• The Local and Långholmen - a winning team (19 Jan 09)

The culturally diverse, English-speaking club have already made it through to the quarter-final of the cup and are unbeaten in pre-season.

“I’m certainly confident that we’ll have a better season than last year,” says Chris Latham, Långholmen’s head coach.

"We have stronger players and a better knowledge of playing at this level than at this time last year.”

“I think that we’ll finish in mid-table at least,” adds Latham.

Björn Dahlman, operator of Avspark Stockholm, a web site reporting on Divisions 4 and 5, comments that Division 4 central is “wide open, with a few teams, including Långholmen, in the running for the title.”

With eleven other teams competing with Långholmen, here we look at the likely candidates for advancement to Division 3 or the short slide down to Division 5.

Ängby

Relegated from division 3 last season, they will be an unknown quantity.

“They have lost a lot of players and will be very young,” says Dahlman, “it’s hard to know at this stage how they will do.”


Boo FF

An academy team for Allsvenskan side Djurgården and fifth placed finishers last season, the young team have high expectations.

“They are very exciting to watch, they’re young and have a lot of pace,” says Dahlman “they may just lack the strength and experience to win the division though.”


Bromstens IK

Promoted after finishing second in division 5 north, Bromsten start the division 4 campaign with a game away to Ekerö.

Dahlman comments that Bromsten will most likely struggle with the step up to division 4 and will spend the season fighting relegation.


Ekerö IK

Under new head coach Matthias Johnsson, Ekerö will be hoping for an improvement on last season's mid-table finish.

“They will be candidates for promotion this season,” advises Dahlman. “Their player Jimmy Suhr is one of the best in the league.”


FC Krukan/Lo Scudetto

FCK/LS will be playing its first season together having merged two teams.

Långholmen coach Latham expects FCK/LS to be a difficult side to beat having put together the best of two teams.

Dahlman says: “it’s hard to tell how they will do, they have a lot of skill and experienced players but they don’t practice much so don’t have as much stamina as other teams.”


Järla IF

Promoted from division 5, Järla scored more than five goals in a game on seven occasions last season.

“They may not be physical enough to be at the top of the table,” adds Dahlman “but they scored lots of goals and have a lot of pace so will do OK.”


Mariebergs IK

Mid-table finishers last season, Marieberg had the division's top scorer. They start the 2009 season with a game at home to Boo.

“Their starting 11 is good but the squad is too thin to make a serious challenge,” says Dahlman.


Olympiacos FC

Exciting Olympiacos finished just four points from the top of the table last season and are amongst the favourites again this time around.

Dahlman cites Claudio Pereyra as a player of real quality and one to watch.


Reymersholms IK

Formed in 1899, Reymersholm have more pedigree than any other team in the league and as such expectations will be high.

“I expect them to be in the top three this season,” says Dahlman “ they were relegated from division three the season before last. They are a big club.”


Skå IK

Skå were promoted to division 4 for the first time and will play under new head coach Björn Dahlman.

“None of our players have played at this level before,” comments Dahlman. “We need to get a good start or we might struggle to stay in the division.”


Stuvsta IF

Promoted to division 4 by default because of the FC Krukan/Lo Scudetto merger, Stuvsta finished third in division 5 south last season.

Dahlman expects Stuvsta, much like Bromsten, to struggle to stay in the division.


Långholmen FC kick off the 2009 season with a south side derby away to Reymersholms IK.

Venue: Zinkensdamms IP (Map)
Kick-off: Wednesday April 15th, 8.15pm