Four Swedish clubs are getting ready for this summer’s qualification rounds for the Champions League and the Europa League. To help the clubs prepare for Europe all four clubs receive an important contribution from the main sponsor of the league Svenska Spel. An economical bonus that over the years proved to be a strong contributor to Swedish international success.
Every year Svenska Spel contributes SEK 3 million to the ”European bonus”, but the amount still varies from year to year because any Swedish team that qualifies for the group stage pays back 1.5 times of the received money. Last year, Malmö FF reached the group stage in the Europa League and because of this the bonus is larger this year. The European bonus exists to give the Swedish teams qualifying the best possible conditions to be able to prepare for the qualification rounds and to be able to reach the group stage in either Champions League or the Europa League.
In 2019, the total bonus of SEK 5 millions is distributed as follows:
SEK 2,500,000 – AIK for winning Allsvenskan 2018 and participation in the qualification for the Champions League
SEK 833 333 – IFK Norrköping for second place in Allsvenskan and qualifying for Europa League
SEK 833 333 – Malmö FF for third place in Allsvenskan and qualifying for Europa League
SEK 833 333 – BK Häcken for victory in the Swedish Cup and qualifying for the Europa League
Sweden is currently ranked 22 at UEFA’s league ranking, which is based on the last five seasons, but is currently losing important points when the season 2104/2015 is removed from the ranking. This means, among other things, that Norway will pass Sweden on the rankings even before the summer qualifiers have started and that the summer matches will be extra important for Swedish part in the ambitions to be the best league in the Scandinavia.
