Djurgården

Ground: Tele2 Arena

Visits: 2 (1 for a Djurgården match)

Date: 21st July 2013

Match: Djurgården - IFK Norrköping 1-2 (Allsvenskan)

Attendance: 27 798

When the new Tele2 Arena became a reality Djurgården decided to play there as well. New ground rules from 2014 onwards meant Djurgården could only continue to play at their beloved Stockholms Stadion until the end of 2013. With Tele2 Arena being opened in July 2013 Djurgården, not wanting Hammarby to be the only tenants, decided to play at Tele2 Arena as soon as possible. That meant an opening weekend and an opportunity for me to visit two premieres the same weekend. Hammarby played their first match on Saturday evening and Djurgården on Sunday afternoon. I knew the attendance for the Djurgården match would be very good and I decided to buy a ticket for the opposite stand from where I was at the Hammarby match.

Staying at a hotel near Stureplan, the most posh area in Stockholm, I decided to visit Stockholms Stadion on Sunday morning. It was only a short walk from my hotel and once at Stadion I was yet again impressed with how beautiful this stadium is. My previous visit was in 2008 and I wanted some better pictures of this amazing stadium. Later in the afternoon I once again went to southern Stockholm and the Tele2 Arena. With the the new ground being built in Hammarby´s heartland (Södermalm) there has been a "war" on different fans forum about the (unofficial) name of the new ground and who is the biggest club. When it was decided Djurgården would play a test match at the ground in early July things turned ugly. Someone planted a bomb outside the ground and the test match was postponed. I was a bit afraid of what would happen at the opening matches but both matches went ahead without any problems. I didn´t see any Hammarby supporters at all (at least not in Hammarby shirts) but plenty of Norrköping fans instead. Norrköping brought around 2 000 fans to this match and according to media reports that was the biggest away following ever for IFK Norrköping. Inside the ground I could notice it was a bit different to when Hammarby played Örgryte. For Hammarby matches there are three standing areas: South Lower (away), North Lower and the northern half of West Lower. For Djurgården matches there are two standing areas: South Lower is for Djurgården fans and North Lower is for away fans.

Hammarby fans had a lot of pyros for their opening matches but apart from one from the away supporters Sunday was pyro-free at Tele2 Arena. Djurgården had a big tifo covering most of the Norh Stand and even Norrköping had a decent tifo. The actual match was quite good. Norrköping scored after only four minutes but it was soon 1-1. Both teams then created chances but it was 1-1 at half-time. The atmosphere inside Tele2 Arena was very good for this match as well. In the second half was noise level went down a bit though and when Norrköping made it 2-1 it was the away supporters who dominated at Tele2 Arena. The match finished 2-1 to Norrköping and Djurgården have to practise their finishing. So, the big question before the match was which sets of supporters would create the best atmosphere at Tele2 Arena. The answer has to be both. Djurgården fans reached higher noise levels more often than Hammarby fans but the Hammarby fans sung for the full 90 minutes. That was not the case with Djurgården fans, especially in the second half. A great weekend came to an end for me and hopefully the attendances for both Hammarby and Djurgården will continue to be good. Swedish football need the Stockholm clubs to perform well. Even though they all have some bad elements you can´t deny it is much more fun to watch football with passion and singing.

Between 1936 and (June) 2013 Djurgården played at Stockholms Stadion.

tele2 arena