210822 Elfsborg’s Jeppe Møldrup Okkels celebrates with teammates after he scored 2-0 during the Allsvenskan soccer match between Elfsborg and Hammarby on August 22, 2021 in Borås. Photo: Jörgen Jarnberger / BILDBYRÅN / COP 112 / JJ0113 Published: 2024-09-20 13:21
Hammarby comes to Borås for the 44th time to play in the Allsvenskan against Elfsborg on Sunday. Elfsborg has an advantage in the statistics with 20 wins 11 losses and 12 matches have ended with a shared pot. The goals are 80-58 in favor of Elfsborg. In the SM – playoffs, the teams have also met each other and Elfsborg won the only match, which was a semi-final 1982by 3-1. Hammarby then turned in the return at Söderstadion, 3-0 and went to the final.
The first meeting was in the Allsvenskan GOLDEN SEASON 1939/40 – when Elfsborg won their third Allsvenskan gold – and the match at Ramnavallen ended 2-2. Knut Johansson and Sture Andersson were the home players who managed to outwit the legendary Sven Bergqvist – better known as Svenne Berka – in Hammarby’s goal.
The next time Hammarby came to play against Elfsborg was THE GOLDEN YEAR 1961. The week before, Elfsborg had defeated IFK Norrköping 3-0 in front of 22,654 spectators, which is a crowd record at Ryavallen. Hammarby fought to hang on and with the help of a well-executed tactical match, Hammarby won 2-0. It was Elfsborg’s first home loss in three years and the first time in five years that Elfsborg did not score in a home game.
It would thus take until the third clash before Elfsborg won a home game against Hammarby. 1962 Elfsborg won 4-2 and Ove Grahn scored two goals, Henry Larsson and Stig “Spiken” Johansson (later Talmark) one each.
Hammarby then went uphill between Allsvenskan and Division II and Elfsborg won three straight home victories. 1963 the victory figures were 4-1. 1965 Hammarby had Nacka Skoglund in the team in the Allsvenskan premiere, but that didn’t help. Elfsborg won 2-1, Owe Westerberg and Hans “Lien” Gustavsson were the scorers, and two years 1967 later Elfsborg won again, this time with 3-1 and Roger Carlsson, two goals and Lars Heineman registered as scorers.
1970 Hammarby was back and now something had happened. The audience had flocked to Hammarby’s matches and the team was better than ever and finished in fifth place in the Allsvenskan. The match at Ryavallen in front of 14,600 people ended 1-1 after Rolf Karlsson scored for Elfsborg.
The 1970s were a good decade for Elfsborg. Hammarby won only one match, 1978 then by 3-2. 1974 it was 5-2 when Thomas Ahlström, Tommy Svensson, Christer Hellqvist, Anders Arvhage and Roger Altemark were Elfsborg’s goal scorers in a match where Hammarby had two men sent off. 1979 was an unusual match hero when Leif Målberg scored one of his eight goals in the Allsvenskan which was the only one of the match.
1982 won Hammarby its first Allsvenskan medal. This season it was the playoffs that applied and after Hammarby won in the Allsvenskan with 1-0, the teams were pitted against each other in the semifinals. Elfsborg played very well and won 3-1 after Stefan Larsson and Frank Klarström each scored a goal and Hammarby helped with an own goal. In the return at Söderstadion, Elfsborg had no chance and Hammarby went to the final with a 3-0 victory.
There were four more matches between the teams in the 1980s and Elfsborg won only one. 1983 the winning numbers were 4-2 after two goals by Thomas Ahlström and one each by Lennart Nilsson and Stefan Larsson.
The first match after Elfsborg’s latest comeback was 1998. Hammarby’s Icelander Petur Marteinsson was the match’s only scorer on a penalty kick.
1999 Hammarby visited in the second round and Elfsborg won 3-0. This time it was the home team that had a goalscorer from Sagoön, namely Haraldur Ingolfsson. Fredrik Berglund and Andreas Nicklasson scored the other goals.
2000 it was a very good match. Anders Svensson gave Elfsborg the lead, a lead that Fredrik Berglund extended. Hammarby came back and Kennedy Bakircioglû and Andreas Hermansson equalised. It would still be Elfsborg’s day in the end. Fredrik Mohlin decided with 3-2 and then Anders Svensson received a red card and the ten remaining Elfsborgs held on for a victory.
2001 Hammarby won 1-0 after a goal by Andreas Hermansson. This result was later changed to 3-0 when Elfsborg used Johan Karlsson who was not registered for the game.
Andreas Hermansson liked to score goals at Ryavallen and he did this too 2002 when his goal meant 2-0 after Jonas Starck headed in the first goal. In the second half, Jurica Siljanoski reduced the penalty, incidentally the only penalty Elfsborg had in the whole season.
2003 won Hammarby for the third time in a row in Borås. On a difficult and icy pitch in the Allsvenskan epilogue, Hammarby easily won 2-0 after two goals by Kennedy Bakircioglû. Results were enough for Hammarby to become major silver medalists.
2004 year’s match was the last Allsvenskan match at Ryavallen. Björn Runström was the match’s only scorer in the first half on a playing surface that was difficult to play on due to persistent rain.
2005 Hammarby’s winning streak was broken and how it was done. Elfsborg played brilliant football. Samuel Holmén thundered in 1-0 after five minutes when he hit right from the penalty line after a corner variation. Pablo Pinones-Arce equalised, but the rest of the match was a big night for the newly formed forward pair Hasse Berggren-Joakim Sjöhage. Hasse scored both 2-1 and 3-1 and Hammarby’s defense collapsed due to all the Elfs citizens willing to run. Daniel Alexandersson then set the winning numbers to 4-1 in Elfsborg’s very best game that season.
GOLDEN YEAR 2006 was repeated the margin of victory. It was again a very good football match that Elfsborg decided only in the final quarter. Samuel Holmén scored 1-0 in the 77th minute of the game and Elfsborg continued with just the momentum. Joakim Sjöhage was brought down and Samuel Holmén converted the penalty kick. Leandré Griffith scored 3-0, nicely played by Anders Svensson. Hammarby had no chance to resist Elfsborg’s final forcing and an important building block towards the gold had been laid.
Elfsborg started the match 2007 in a brilliant way. Hammarby was pushed back and Mathias Svensson made it 1-0 after nine minutes had been played. Elfsborg had several chances to extend the lead but it didn’t want to. Instead, it was Hammarby who equalized just before the half-hour mark. It was Sebastian Eguren who was the scorer and he would and would be the one who decided the match when Hammarby received a slightly questionable penalty kick with just over a quarter of an hour remaining. Elfsborg did everything to equalize but the fuel ran out for the day and Hammarby won 2-1.
It was revenge 2008. Elfsborg did win 1-0 after Christian Traoré failed to deflect a cross from Johan Karlsson but hit the ball into his own goal. It was still a Pyrrhic victory. That of the ancient Greek general defeated the Romans in 280 BC and spoke afterwards. “One more such victory and I am lost referring to the enormous losses his troops suffered”. The fact that the Elfsborg win was expensive was because Anders Svensson was injured and would not play another game during the season.
2009 it was the all-Swedish premiere at home against Hammarby. Hammarby – who when the season was over would be relegated to the Superettan – came to Borås Arena and took the lead after a great shot from left-back Emil Johansson. In the second half, Elfsborg were awarded two penalty kicks. Stefan Ishizaki was the executor twice but only managed to score one and the match ended a bit sloppy 1-1. Hammarby was relegated from the Allsvenskan this season.
It would take some time 2015 before Hammarby was back. The green and whites visited in the first home game of the year in the second round. Linus Hallenius gave Hammarby the lead just before the break but Simon Hedlund equalized shortly after this and it ended like 2009 1-1.
2016 it was Elfsborg’s home premiere and match in the second round. It was a successful one. Viktor Prodell headed in the only goal of the first half. In the second, a lot happened. The crowd received something as unusual as three awarded penalty kicks in one half. First, Viktor Claesson was safe from the penalty spot already in the first minute of the half. Just before the hour was played, Hammarby received a penalty and Arnor Smárason reduced. Hammarby then managed to score an own goal before Marcus Rohdén made it 4-1 when he also scored a penalty.
2017 was it a summer match in connection with the series turning. The first meeting was at Borås Arena and here Hammarby had no chance. Elfsborg won 3-0 with two goals from Simon Lundevall and one from Joakim Nilsson.
2018 was also a match in the summer, then in round 13. The match ended 0-0.
2019 it was the all-Swedish premiere at home against Hammarby. Muamer Tankovic gave Hammarby the lead but just before the break Frederik Holst equalized and it ended 1-1.
Hammarby was the first opponent at Borås Arena also in the Corona year 2020. The second round was played on June 17 and Hammarby were (rather unusually) favorites to win in Borås.
Rasmus Alm gave Elfsborg the lead just before the break. In the second half, Hammarby scored two goals within five minutes. First, Alexander Kacaniclic equalized and then substitute Paulinho came in to make it 2-1. It was Per Frick who saved a point by equalizing in the 84th minute of the game and it ended in a draw for the third year in a row.
2021 turned the series against Hammarby. Elfsborg had played a brilliant match and won 2-0 on Tele2.
It looked like it would be the same at Borås Arena. Alexander Bernhardsson made it 1-0 after rem minutes. When substitute Jacob Ondrejka made it 2-0 with barely 10 minutes left, everyone thought the victory was complete. Aljosa Matko reduced just as the extra time had started and just as it came to an end, Hammarby got (a correct) penalty kick which Abbe Khalili managed and it ended neatly 2-2.
2022 Alexander Bernhardsson was the match’s only scorer in the first half. Barely an hour had passed, Joel Nilsson equalized with a header to make it 1-1. It was Elfsborg’s day in the end in the 89th minute Noah Söderberg decided and it was a lovely 2-1 victory.
2023 the match was played in round 13. 13 was a lucky number for Elfsborg that day. Svein Aron Gudjohnsen gave the home team the lead after 12 minutes when he was quickly in front and fired in the rebound after Jeppe Okkels had tried to score. With five minutes remaining of the regular 90 minutes, Johan Larsson made Elfsborg’s victory figures 2-0 with an elegant volley shot.
Text: Mikael Häggström