Hammarby Handball meets Ystad in sold out SM final
However, the hunt for a new SM gold begins with a bus trip of over 60 miles. The final opponent Ystad has, thanks to the winning series home plan advantage in the match series, which is decided in the best of five matches.
– I see it as we have three chances to clinch a victory away, says Hammarby’s Mittnia Josef Pujol.
– Then what are the odds because we do it? Probably not very high. But we have an opportunity to win the SM gold. And then I and we will do everything to make it go.
Even though he has almost played A whole decade in « Bajen » is the first time he is allowed to participate in a final. Pujol was only a teenager and had not yet made his debut in the A-team when the club with well-known stars like Staffan Olsson in the team won three straight SM golds in the early 2000s; 2006, 2007 and 2008.
On the other hand, he has got to know the other that has come to be synonymous with the club ever since – the tangled economy. He was a professional in Denmark when Hammarby 2019 left the Handball League with debt of several million, had gotten rid of the elite license and could not attract any audience.
Every now and then, Josef Pujol thought it meant that it moved home to Sweden he longed for never could get rid of.
– My heart has always been left in Hammarby but then it felt like that door was closed. But we have had a continuous dialogue, and once I moved home two years ago, I was no longer worried.
With the degradation made Hamarby a real turn. Josef Pujol highlights the work Kalle Matsson has done as the first sports manager and then CEO to manage the business. In parallel with him, coach Patrik Fahlgren has meant a lot to gain continuity.
The economy is in order, although it means that virtually all players either study or work alongside the handball to get their lives together. The workouts may be managed in the afternoons and Josef Pujol, who studies law at Stockholm University, will be allowed to start Tuesday by attending a compulsory seminar on criminal justice before sitting on the bus down to Ystad together with the rest of the team for final number one.
The audience has also found Back to Eriksdalshallen. Tickets for the first home finals on Friday sold out in a couple of hours, despite the fact that a temporary extra stand for another 400 people was built up in the classic gym at Södermalm in Stockholm.
– I think it is clear now more than ever really what the potential association has. If we can hold this over time, there are really bricks to build with, says Josef Pujol.
Coach Patrik Fahlgren is not surprised that Hammarby is now playing and playing the SM gold again, even though it was 17 years since the team was last in the final. Just like club manager Kalle Matsson, « Fall » has been involved in the entire journey from the degradation in 2019, via the return to the highest series 2021, and back to the top.
-I mean, we have two cup finals and one SM semi-final for the last three years before this. So we have always felt that we have this level in us when we play the best, says « Fall ».
But the favorite pressure he puts Over at Ystads IF, who became Swedish champion as late as 2022 and was in the final even last year.
– I think everyone agrees that Ystad is the strongest team in the final. Then we still have the chance and we will do everything we can to take it, says Fahlgren.
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