Piteå IF feel the pinch as Swedish football’s outlier: ‘It’s an impossible puzzle’

Piteå 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 £200,000 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. “To get a player here for more than a year is really hard,” he adds. “This is seen as a stopgap to go to Stockholm.”

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, what’s the solution?

“We’re not the only elite sport in the north,” says Lövgren. “There is handball, ice hockey, basketball, they are all in the same boat as us, but without the support from their FAs. We’re planning to team up with an initiative to increase awareness of the struggles for not just us, but all the other sports too.

“It’s 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.”

She adds: “It’s not for me, it’s 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 we’re not going to be here there won’t be a team for them, that would be devastating for the region.”

Burgin is hoping that more attention on the issue will force change. “Main TV channels have picked up on it too, so it’s gaining traction here.”

On potential solutions, he adds: “We have to look at possibilities such as external investment. FC Rosengård, 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.”

Lövgren concludes: “What 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 you’d have to change laws etc. I’d gladly be bought by an investor, but it’s not possible right now.”

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