Earlier this week, the traditional kickoff meeting for Allsvenskan, which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year, was held. Sports journalists, club representatives, and partners gathered in Solna to discuss the upcoming anniversary season.
“The interest ahead of this year’s kickoff meeting has been record-breaking, and the number of pre-booked interviews was higher than ever before. It can be safely stated that the Swedish Professional Football Leagues continue to grow in terms of engagement around the league,” says Kaveh Sarvari, head of events at the Swedish Professional Football Leagues.
The kickoff meeting began with a live stage program led by Tommy Åström, Karin Frick, and Jonas Dahlqvist from Warner Bros. Discovery. A total of three different panel discussions were held on current topics such as player transfers, VAR, as well as a discussion on security issues at the Swedish arenas. Participants in the various panels included, among others, Stefan Andreasson, CEO of IF Elfsborg, Andrea Möllerberg, Secretary-General of the Swedish Football Association, and Per Engström, section chief at the Swedish police.
“Similar to last year, we have adapted the topics in the stage program according to the media’s wishes, which this year led to highly relevant topics that there is a great public interest in. It was a good mix, which was appreciated by the audience,” says Kaveh Sarvari.
The impending 100th anniversary of Allsvenskan was also highlighted with the help of the Swedish Football Historians & Statisticians (SFS) and their chairman, Mikael Häggström. Häggström talked, among other things, about Allsvenskan’s first-ever match played between IFK Eskilstuna and IK Sleipner at Tunavallen on August 3, 1924.
Media’s predictions for the season were also presented during the day. Malmö FF was named favorites to win the championship, followed by Djurgården, BK Häcken, and IF Elfsborg. The morning session ended with the head coaches and present players being photographed in their respective match jerseys.
The rest of the kickoff meeting consisted of exclusive interviews where players and head coaches were available for media in their club booths. A total of 521 interviews were scheduled in the rolling interview schedule, ranging from print media to radio, TV, web-TV, and podcasts.
“It is always fun and rewarding to meet all the industry colleagues. It was an intense interview schedule which shows that Allsvenskan as a league creates engagement and that the level of interest is high for the upcoming season,” concludes Viktor Johansson, press officer, IK Sirius.
The kickoff meeting was broadcasted via Swedish Professional Football Leagues own streaming platform, Fotboll Play. The Superettan kickoff meeting took place one day later on Tuesday, March 19, and was also broadcasted live via Fotboll Play.
