It was a Hollywood style ending.
One year after Swedish soccer club Assyriska FF narrowly missed promotion — and then lost two head coaches and six starters — the small team outside Stockholm secured its rise to Sweden’s third-tier Ettan Norra league.
“Every success sends a message to the world, the message is, ‘We are Assyrians, we exist, and are thriving,’” said club chairman Moussa Esa.
Assyriska FF was formed in 1974 by a group of Assyrian immigrants. The club began in Sweden’s lowest seventh division, and steadily climbed all the way to Allsvenskan, the country’s top league, in 2005. Since then, it had fallen to Sweden’s fourth tier.
Expectations this year were low. The season prior, Assyriska FF had reached the four-team playoff for promotion, winning its first match and drawing its second — only to miss promotion by a single point to United IK Nordic. In the offseason, the team then lost two head coaches and six starters.
“We felt broken and fell out of faith for some weeks,” Esa said.
The club responded by bringing back Albert Krasniqi, who had coached Assyriska FF twice before.
A surprising four-match winning streak to open the season caught the attention of Sweden’s soccer world, but the momentum didn’t last. The team faltered mid-season, including a stinging loss to IFK Haninge — the club to which one of Assyriska’s coaches and several players had departed. Critics again wrote off the team.
“There and then it looked extremely dark,” Christian Hanna wrote on the team’s website. “All of the shortcomings that were pointed out at the beginning of the season and all of the fears were coming true.”
During the summer break, the squad was strengthened with new players. Their next major test was a rematch with IFK Haninge, which entered the game on a four-match winning streak and was widely favored. After a 1-1 draw at halftime, Assyriska FF scored with five minutes remaining to secure the upset victory.
The match was “absolutely decisive” and a “turning point” for the season, Hanna wrote. After drawing their following game, the team finished the season with seven straight wins.
Esa’s aspirations for Assyriska FF are bold. By 2034, he hopes to see the club competing in the Champions League.
“The goal now is to find people with large networks of contacts and engage them in our club, which is the national team of all Assyrians in the world,” he said.
And if the Hollywood script weren’t already enough, next year marks the 50th anniversary of this immigrant club’s entry into Sweden’s soccer ranks.