Ohtana/Pajala (Skolvallen)Ground: Skolvallen Visits: 1 Date: 28th July 2023 Match: Ohtana/Pajala - Unbyn 9-0 (Division 4 Norrbotten Norra) Attendance: 80 In 2015 I visited this part of Sweden for the first time and one of the clubs I visited was Ohtana/Aapua. Back then the club used Skolvallen in Ohtanajärvi and Byavallen in Aapua, both situated north of the Arctic Circle, for their home games The game I attended back in 2015 was at Byavallen. In 2021 Aapua withdrew from the merger though and the club is nowadays called Ohtana/Pajala. The first two home games of the season were played at the artificial pitch in Pajala but with the pitch in Ohtanajärvi having natural grass the club wants as many games there as possible. Ohtana/Pajala were hosting Unbyn on Friday evening and that was actually the first game of the season at the lovely Skolvallen. With a kick-off time as late as 20.00 (no floodlights needed) there was plenty of time for other activities earlier in the day. I was staying in Tärendö for three nights and in that village there are actually two big rivers, Tärendö älv and Kalix älv, and it is not an exaggeration to say the surroundings are very beautiful. Tärendö älv transports water from Torneå älv to Kalix älv and where the rivers meet there is a so-called river-bifurcation. The bifurcation in Tärendö is actually the 2nd largest in the world. I took a walk along one of the rivers and had grayling (caught in the river) for lunch as well as visiting a few of Leif´s friends. One of them has a daughter who has won three Olympic gold medals! As we arrived at Skolvallen Christian from Munich was already present and we were both looking forward to an interesting game of football. Skolvallen was inaugurated in 1970 and the record attendance is around 500. Nowadays the population of Ohtanajärvi is less than 30 and most players live in Pajala. The referee tonight was Keijo Hyvärinen who was an Allsvenskan referee for nine years. Ohtana/Pajala are top of the table and with Unbyn only bringing 13 players to Skolvallen it was to be a comfortable evening for Felix Pekkari, goalkeeper for Ohtana/Pajala. The final score was to be 9-0 but with their top striker being injured it will be difficult for Ohtana/Pajala to finish ahead of Haparanda. ![]() Tärendö älv ![]() Bifurcation West Stand South End East Stand Dug-out North End Players entering Kick-off East Stand East Stand View of play View of play View of Skolvallen Skolvallen Looking for the ball West Stand West Stand West Stand |