A championship in which decisions are still open on the last matchday? Not always common practice, but by no means unusual. However, the final matchday of the Swedish Allsvenskan had drama at its very best – at the top and at the bottom of the table
A script like this could hardly have been better devised when designing the fixture list. IF Elfsborg Boras went into Sunday afternoon’s final matchday in first place in the Swedish league. With 64 points and a goal difference of +34, the club from Boras, a city of 70,000 inhabitants, were within touching distance of their dream of winning their first title since 2012.
But lurking just behind them were the reigning cup winners Malmö FF, who have almost always been at the top of the table – and were only three points behind Elfsborg with an identical goal difference
Title decided in direct duel
And unlike on matchday 34 of the last Bundesliga season, when FC Bayern Munich had to rely on Borussia Dortmund to slip up, record champions Malmö (22 titles) had it in their own hands on this final matchday. At home in the Eleda Stadium, the southern Swedes welcomed their rivals for a direct duel.
Malmö dominated their opponents right from the start, but first needed a penalty to take the lead. Isaac Kiese Thelin, who had spent the 2018/19 season at Bayer Leverkusen but had not been happy with the Werkself, stepped up as the fouled player himself and caused ecstasy with his 16th goal of the season. When the final whistle blew, the fans stormed the pitch and celebrated their champion hero
Drama in the basement
The special thing about this Sunday evening: the title win for the favorites, who had been in the chasing pack without interruption since matchday 10, was not even the most spectacular story of this matchday.
There was also drama at the bottom of the table. Varbergs BoIS and Degerfors IF had already been relegated, but the former played a not insignificant role. The relegated bottom team welcomed IFK Göteborg, who were only one point above the bottom line and could not afford to slip up. After all, promoted IF Brommapojkarna could still displace Göteborg with a win against reigning champions Häcken and push the two-time UEFA Cup winners into relegation place 14.
Häckens defeat pushes city rivals to the abyss
Brommapojkarna had nothing to lose, while Häcken’s third place was already set in stone. The visitors let a lead slip and lost 2-1, which meant that Häcka’s city rivals IFK, who had also been trailing after 64 minutes, were suddenly overtaken by Brommapojkarna.
Although the team led by former Mönchengladbach player Oscar Wendt managed to hit back quickly, they then gritted their teeth against the bottom team, who wanted to say goodbye to the league with a respectable win.
Carlen redeems Gothenburg
Even a penalty shortly before the end was not to bring redemption for Gothenburg, with Arbnor Mucolli putting the spot-kick into the evening sky in the 89th minute.
The visitors were already looking ahead to the extra round of relegation, while in Bromma the dream that seemed impossible seemed to become reality. But Gothenburg were granted nine minutes of stoppage time. And so it actually came down to a heart-stopping final at the bottom of the table – with the better end for IFK.
Playing to the fans who had traveled with them, the visitors went on a relentless run. It was already the fifth minute of stoppage time when Adam Carlen, who had just come on as a substitute, volleyed a sharp cross from the right into the net from a turn. The IFK Göteborg fans cheered – and Bromma still had to make the unloved journey to relegation