World Soccer - UK (2019-12)

Nick Bidwell reports

Ostersund, the Swedish Cinderella side

which sensationally went from fourth tier

no-hopers to the upper reaches of the

Allsvenskan, are enduring their own

private nightmare at the moment, forced

to pick up the pieces of an economic,

sporting and institutional cataclysm.

Not so long ago this was a club that

lived and breathed overachievement,

winning the Swedish Cup in 2017,

establishing themselves as one of the

most competitive teams in the country

and reaching the knockout phase of the

2017-18 Europa League.

During those heady European

nights, Ostersund, a team fashioned

from Moneyball scraps, managed to claim

the scalps of Galatasaray, PAOK, Hertha

Berlin and Arsenal, memorably winning

2-1 in North London in a round-of-32

tie. Yet how quickly the dream has

faded, with legal issues bubbling up

and financial ruin on the cards.

Over the last year or so, nothing

has gone right in this corner of central

Sweden. All the club’s best players have

been sold, alchemist coach Graham

Potter has returned to his native England

to take charge of Swansea City and then

Brighton & Hove Albion, and the team

only narrowly avoided relegation from the

top flight this season. And, in the worst

blow of all, chairman Daniel Kindberg

was recently jailed for three years for

“serious financial offences”.

Kindberg, once hailed as a small-town

football visionary, was found guilty of

concocting an unlawful scheme whereby

11.8million kronor (kr) of taxpayer money

was funneled into the club. The scam

involved two other men and three

companies, one of which was the

Ostersund municipality’s housing

corporation – which Kindberg

presided over as chief executive.

Full of innovative ideas and a brilliant

publicist, the larger-than-life Kindberg

was the club’s driving force, the man

behind their repeated exploits in the

bargain-basement transfer market

and off-the-wall methods of player-

personality development, encouraging

the squad to try such performing arts

as stand-up comedy, dancing, painting

and rapping.

Now he has been denied freedom and

is no longer OFK chairman, leaving a

decidedly tainted legacy in his wake.

Not that Kindberg has lost all of his

friends and admirers in the region. Many

still adore him for his part in turning

a predominantly winter-sports town

into a footballing paradise. Ask Linda

Hedenljung, the Ostersunds-Posten

reporter who first broke the story.

“Ostersund is split,” she told Associated

Press in April. “One half say keep digging,

the other half say stop interfering with

our beloved football team.”

The phrase “existential crisis” is wholly

apt in Ostersund’s case. Everywhere

they look they see storm clouds. The tax

man is hammering at the door, budget

forecasts – particularly relating to player

sales and matchday revenues – have

proved delusional, they have lost kr7m

in sponsorship income and face a

gargantuan task of meeting operating

costs. Just to keep ticking over they need

Ostersund

dream is

fading fast

Club that rose rapidly through

divisions is hit by series of blows

eyewitness

SWEDEN

Over the last year or so, nothing has gone right

in this corner of central Sweden

Troubled...OFK’s

Jamtkraft Arena

Disgraced...Daniel Kindberg