The season began with Elfsborg in the top league and Falkenberg in the second league.
The top league is usually dominated by Malmo (21 titles) with clubs from the other big cities like Gothenburg (18) and Stockholm (AIK, 13; and Djurgarden, 12) also competitive. Norrkoping (13) and Elfsborg (in the city of Boras has won 6 times) have punched above their city sizes and have won some championships.
As an Elfsborg fan, the expectations is that in a typical year they would be mid-table but with an outside chance at getting to play in Europe (need to finish in the top 3). And every few years, there could be some excitement about them winning the whole thing.
This is one of those years!
5 matches to go! Can they catch Malmo?
As for Falkenberg, they have definitely punched above their weight by even making it into the top league after spending their history in the lower leagues. Thus, when they got relegated, the hope was they could bounce back up but the town is just 28 thousand people and it is very hard to keep good players on their budget. This year has been very difficult and they are looking at relegation (15th or 16th place) down to the third tier where they haven't been since 2002. They have 4 matches left and are 6 points from relegation playoffs (positions 13 and 14).
I also follow Vasteras SK. The city is actually the sixth largest in Sweden but the football club doesn't have much of a history of success. They are currently in the second tier but have spent many seasons in the third level of the soccer pyramid and were in the top league back in 1997. They are in the top part of the bottom half of the league and only 2 points away from relegation playoffs. At the moment, 7 clubs have anywhere from 30 to 33 points and occupy positions 8 to 14 in the table.
Anyway, these are the clubs I follow since I married into a Swedish family!
