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PiteÄ IF faces increasing challenges in Sweden's Damallsvenskan due to geographical and financial strains. The club prioritizes cost-cutting over performance as travel expenses rise.
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PiteĂ„ IF are entering their 17th season as a top-division side in Swedenâs Damallsvenskan, but the challenge for them is getting tougher and tougher every year.
And it is not a small budget compared to clubs such as Hammarby and HĂ€cken who have, in recent years, been able to rely on the support of major menâs club, or the rejuvenated Malmö FF side, but geographical issues which have put a strain on club finances.
âWe are prioritising costs over performance, which is the saddest part,â says Emelie Lövgren, the managing director of PiteĂ„ and a former player for the club.
The reality is that PiteĂ„ are now an outlier in the league. Thirteen of the 14 sides are based in the south, with four of those in the Stockholm municipality and three more on the outskirts, plus two in Malmö on the very southern tip of the country. PiteĂ„âs closest away trip is a mere 487 miles by road to Uppsala, while a trip to Malmö stretches to 908 miles, one-way.
The 2018 league champions, who went on to take part in the Womenâs Champions League, are now feeling the pinch of rising travel costs, and at the beginning of last month they were one of six elite clubs across different sports in northern Sweden to issue a joint appeal regarding the rise in costs.
âWhat is changing now, especially since Covid-19, is prices are going up,â continues Lövgren. âItâs increasing every season, getting harder and harder. Teams are developing, itâs been fast-tracked, and that makes it even tougher for us. But if we donât increase salaries and expand the organisation we wonât keep up, itâs an impossible puzzle âŠâ
James Burgin, the clubâs sporting director, and an Englishman who ended up spending many years at the club as a player for the menâs team, adds: âItâs a complete catch-22. Inflation ⊠wages are going up 15-20% a year. From a sporting perspective, from where we are itâs an added challenge to bring players here and have players in our squad from the south.â
Lövgren chimes back in: âI spoke to the Swedish FA, and they asked me, âhow long can we keep going?â I said three years, we canât keep going beyond that at the moment.â
They lay bare some of the realities. An average trip to Stockholm, of which there are half a dozen per season, costs roughly ÂŁ8,000 (95,000KR), while one cup game in recent seasons cost ÂŁ14,000. Costs are even increasing at home games because match officials are largely based further south, with some travel costs for a set of officials now as high as ÂŁ700 per match.

PiteÄ IF is struggling due to geographical challenges and rising travel costs, which force the club to prioritize costs over performance.
PiteÄ IF's closest away game is 487 miles to Uppsala, making travel a significant burden for the club.
PiteÄ IF faces financial issues due to its location in northern Sweden, which results in higher travel costs compared to southern clubs.
In 2018, PiteĂ„ IF won the league championship and participated in the Womenâs Champions League.
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PiteÄ IF have sold several of their best players to balance the books. Photograph: SPP Sport Press Photo./Alamy
Burgin believes the club are spending roughly ÂŁ200,000 on travel right now and have sold several of their best players to balance the books, including goalkeeper Lauren Brzykcy to Bristol City in January. âTo get a player here for more than a year is really hard,â he adds. âThis is seen as a stopgap to go to Stockholm.â
The club have at times been forced to travel with fewer players to save on costs, while they have had travel disasters over the years, including a coach trip to Karlstad to take on Mallbackens IF in the cup: they were only a few miles away when they found out the match had been postponed.
It begs the question, whatâs the solution?
âWeâre not the only elite sport in the north,â says Lövgren. âThere is handball, ice hockey, basketball, they are all in the same boat as us, but without the support from their FAs. Weâre planning to team up with an initiative to increase awareness of the struggles for not just us, but all the other sports too.
âItâs not something that we can just change, it has to come centrally. We have the Athletics Association who lead all the sports and we have sat down with their chairman, so we are raising awareness together because this is going to bring the northern teams down, which will be devastating.â
She adds: âItâs not for me, itâs for the players running around on the pitch, the hundreds of thousands of kids in this part of Sweden dreaming of becoming an elite footballer. If weâre not going to be here there wonât be a team for them, that would be devastating for the region.â
Burgin is hoping that more attention on the issue will force change. âMain TV channels have picked up on it too, so itâs gaining traction here.â
On potential solutions, he adds: âWe have to look at possibilities such as external investment. FC RosengĂ„rd, who have a long history, have been taken over by the Crux Group, but it needs someone to understand the issues we have and the effects of it, it could be fatal for us. Every club has their own intentions, most clubs would happily get rid of us. The fans care, the Hammarby fans are great, but we need wider support.â
Lövgren concludes: âWhat we struggle with compared to England is we are owned by members, so a Michele Kang cannot just come in without agreement with those members. There is the 51% rule [a rule designed to ensure club members retain overall control of club shares], so youâd have to change laws etc. Iâd gladly be bought by an investor, but itâs not possible right now.â
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