Monday Dispatch: Reflecting on great successes in NWSL and Damallsvenskan
Monday Dispatch: Reflecting on great successes in NWSL and Damallsvenskan
NJ/NY Gotham FC and Hammarby IF both took home historic titles over the weekend. For different reasons, they're both massive achievements...
It was hard not to be pleased at seeing two potentially great stories in the women’s game come to light over the weekend.
At different sides of the world in different continents, both NJ/NY Gotham FC and Hammarby IF closed out historic titles in the NWSL and Damallsvenskan respectively.
The NWSL is one of the showpiece occasions of the year, and would see USA legends Megan Rapinoe and Ali Krieger, of OL Reign and NJ/NY Gotham FC respectively, bow out from fantastic careers, one walking away with one final major trophy.
For Rapinoe, 2023 was not meant to be, tearing her achilles just three minutes into the encounter and being forced to limp out of her final ever match. It was also not to be for Laura Harvey, who lost her third NWSL final out of three and still awaits that elusive first Championship.
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But for Gotham, their first NWSL title represented a massive turnaround. Finishing bottom of the league in 2022 as they struggled to pick up the pieces left over of previous franchise Sky Blue FC, who drew widespread criticism over the years for a lack of support and sub-standard facilities, the appointment of Spaniard Juan Carlos Amoros was a bold one.
Amoros will be a familiar name to English supporters having co-coached Tottenham Hotspur for almost a decade alongside Karen Hills, taking them from the lower leagues to the WSL. While in a much shorter period, this achievement was arguably even more impressive, as Amoros guided NJ/NY Gotham from bottom of the pack to the NWSL title on Saturday night.
Amoros has created a new culture at the club, and must I imagine take immense satisfaction from the players he recruited playing such a huge part in their success. Whether it was rookie of the year Jenna Nighswonger, picked up with the fourth pick of last year’s draft, or Lynn Williams who has been so pivotal all season and popped up with their first goal in the final.
Or that of Esther Gonzalez, who left behind Real Madrid post-World Cup, the experienced Spanish forward heading home the eventual winner, while another Spanish recruit in Maitane Lopez has added plenty to the midfield.
There is also Katie Stengel, signed from Liverpool and returning to the NWSL, who scored a late winner in the team’s semi-final, and that’s before you get to other smart additions such as Kelley O’Hara and Yazmeen Ryan, one of the stars of Portland’s 2022 side.
The NWSL is a topsy-turvy league, none more shown by the fact Gotham have gone from bottom to top, while 2021 champions Kansas City Current have gone the other way. Anyone can beat anyone, and that makes it such a tough league to conquer, even before its brutal knockout style play-offs, and Amoros deserves huge credit.
Across the pond, there was another heart-warming story unfolding earlier in the day in Sweden, as Hammarby IF won their first Damallsvenskan title in 38 years, a wait stretching all the way back to 1985, when current head coach Pablo Pinones-Arce was just four years old.
After beating rivals and defending champions BK Hacken to the cup 3-0 earlier this year, Hacken had the upper hand in the league until they lost in a 3-2 thriller to Hammarby last weekend, giving Pinones-Arce’s side the advantage, relying on a win in their final game and hoping Hacken didn’t outscore them.
In the end, a 2-0 win was enough, beating BK Hacken to the title by just a single goal, as their rivals won out 4-0 in their own game. For a club whose ownership was criticised by previous head coach Olof Unogard for a lack of support and was relegated as recently at 2015, it’s been a colossal turnaround.
It wasn’t until 2017 they were taking under the collective ownership of Hammarby IF itself, one of the giants of Swedish football, and things gradually started to improve.
Pinones-Arce, a former player of the club and an assistant on the men’s side, was given the task of leading the women in 2020 and has created an attractive brand of football, dealing with key losses along the way, such as the deadline day sale of Kyra Cooney-Cross to Arsenal earlier this year.
The scorer of Hammarby’s two goals, Madelen Janogy, is also a lovely story. The tricky winger briefly walked away from football after a spell in Germany with Wolfsburg, before finally returning with Pitea and eventually signed by Hammarby.
The fact the Sweden international is so back on-song and played a huge role in her team’s success shows how football really does come full circle.
The club has also created a fan culture like few others in Europe, and the videos of hundreds of Hammarby fans peacefully celebrating on the pitch was a rare sight in European women’s football, and it should be remembered this was an away game across the country, yet hundreds made the journey to loudly back their team.
Back home in Hammarby, thousands more watched on a big screen at an event in the city, and many clubs could learn many lessons from how the club has both embraced its existing support and nurtured it.
Overall, two fantastic achievements from two clubs who have been on a tough journey to get here.