Allsvenskan or Nothing: AIK Fotboll (Ep. 5)

 

Life has changed a lot for AIK Manager Patrik Maddsson these past few years. Before taking the reins at AIK Fotboll in early 2023, he could stroll down the streets of Stockholm without a care in the world, completely unrecognisable and living as normal a life as anyone in the Swedish capital. Fast forward to 2026 and things have changed drastically; three consecutive Allsvenskan titles, one Svenska Cupen trophy, back-to-back qualification from the Champions League Group Stages and a new wave of superstars gracing the 50,000 seater Friends Arena. Safe to say we are not in Kansas anymore, and while other big European clubs have taken note with the likes of Lazio, Brighton and Eintracht Frankfurt all rumoured to have offered Maddsson their respective vacant manager positions, the Swede remains fully committed to AIK’s mission to restore Swedish football to glory both in Europe and on a global scale. You have to admire his confidence I guess…

 

 

Welcome back!! Though you may have listened to updates on this save via the 5 Star Potential podcast, it’s time we returned to normal business here on the blog and bring you a full Season 4 update where a sh*tload has happened since we spoke last. Let’s start with some brief transfer news – at the end of my last post I spoke about how healthy our finances were with a €14m transfer budget, and though our squad was extremely healthy (at least in terms of the Swedish league standard), we had two key positions in which we wanted to strengthen, namely on the right side of the field where we could do more depth and extra competition at both right-back and right-wing to compete with Valgeir Fridriksson and Noah Jean Holm respectively.

 

First in the door was a familiar face at least for AIK Gnaget fans – the return of Sweden international full-back Joe Mendes for a fee of €6m from Braga after he made a real-life move to Portugal back in January 2023.

 

 

Ahead of him where we usually deploy an Inverted-Winger or Inside-Forward – after a long time searching, scouting and ultimately scouring through a host of European leagues, we identified the perfect candidate who somehow found himself playing second-tier football in Portugal which meant that attracting him to AIK wasn’t actually a problem; the only issue is that we would need to wait for his contract to end in July 2026 (our season starts in April), however looking at his attributes he will be worth the wait as I firmly believe that Joao Marques could become one of the best players in the Swedish Allsvenskan – absolute 🔥🔥.

 

 

In the meantime, we still need a backup to at least cover on that right-hand side, and as is the standard here at AIK we again opt for a Swedish signing in the form of Aaron Stoch Rydell (FC Nordsjælland – €2.2m) who will be a decent option when needed at this level.

 

 

In terms of player sales – our main outgoings were Oscar Pettersson who departed to Salernitana for €3m, along with Emil Højlund who made the move to Norway and Odds BK for €1m.

 

 

Season 4 🚀

 

Our new season starts well. After turning down multiple bids for him during the summer, we are ready for another barnstorming season for our starboy Jonah Kusi-Asare, however before we even kick a ball we receive the news that he will miss the first 5-6 weeks of the season which doesn’t sound too bad initially but in actual fact equates to around 10 league games in Sweden, a third of all our league games!!

 

 

As we play with a lone striker up top, I had never really been too fussed in terms of the quality of our backup strikers – however given that Ioannis Pittas also picked up a 2 month injury back in February, that meant we would start the season with 19-year-old Noel Sergel up front, a player whom we had pretty much overlooked up to this point despite scoring 23 goals for our reserve squad which overall isn’t much when you consider the competition at that level.

 

 

As the saying goes, one man’s problem is another man’s opportunity – this was certainly the case for Sergel, who not only scores a brace on his league debut for AIK, but goes on to score 14 goals in 12 games including 3 hat-tricks, surprisingly keeping a returning Jonah out of the side and helping us to go top of the league with 12 games played. WHERE DID THIS LAD COME FROM 😅.

 

 

June arrives and it’s World Cup time, the 2026 tournament held across USA, Canada and Mexico which largely passes without incident; Ireland fail to qualify, England suffer an embarassing 1-0 Quarter Final defeat to Tunisia and France reclaim the Jules Rimet trophy after a 4-2 victory over Germany thanks to goals from Mbappé, Kolo Muani and Thuram (2). Sweden make it to the knockout stage but are beaten 3-1 by Croatia, and much to our annoyance manager Janne Andersson keeps his job for what the Swedish FA deem to be a successful performance at this year’s tournament (we’ll see about that).

 

The Vultures Close in 😡

 

 

As the season ends in most of the other European leagues and despite the fact that our friend Janne Andersson overlooked Jonah Kusi-Asare for that Swedish World Cup squad, the inevitable flood of offers start to arrive for his signature and this time, they aren’t joking around. Bids of €25 million land in from the likes of PSG and Man Utd, and we start to reach a point where it’s ultimately decision time in terms of Jonah’s future and the fate of this save: is it time to cash in on our starboy before he or our board force our hand? Is there life after Jonah? Think about what we could do with all that cash….

 

 

In the end, Dortmund are the club who agree to match our terms – a €40 million fee UP FRONT along with 40% of any future profit should they sell him on (which is quite likely as per the Dortmund model). They literally make us an offer we can’t refuse, and after 3.5 seasons of gushing over my favourite wonderkid in this year’s game, Jonah and AIK are no more and he moves on to pastures new in Germany where we hope he can help Dortmund improve on their 3rd place finish last season.

  

The Stakes Are Raised 🔥

 

 

It was around this time that while recording an episode of the podcast, our good friend Doop made an altogether outrageous statement; that he would win a Champions League with his non-league Cirencester Town before I would win one with AIK. I mean – I know the guy plays a lot of FM, and at a much faster pace than me, but surely not right? We discussed this at length on Episode 341, particularly how I fear that this save may become a bit stale if we are to keep winning the league each year and simply go from season to season waiting for the Champions League to start, which can be particularly long considering our league season runs from February to November and then our CL run usually takes us up to January (further if we manage to advance past the knockout stages). That said, I do want to maintain as much realism as possible in terms of signings and maintaining our focus on elevating Swedish football – so we find ourselves in a bit of a dilemma..

 

 

With a ridiculous €60 odd million to spend – we have some decisions to make. While the obvious area to focus on is replacing Jonah, we quickly realise that there aren’t really any Swedish strikers who come even close to his quality; outside of Sweden, the top “Slightly Interested” strikers include the likes of Georginio Rutter, Fabio Silva, Luka Jovic and Adam Idah (not to mention an ageing Callum Wilson) however wages among other things will likely prevent us from attempting to sign any of these; also, Noel Sergel surely has earned his chance to replace Jonah, right? Therefore we move our focus in a different direction – our new mission will be to sign quality players, but only ones that are relatively realistic in terms of transfer fee, salary and players who would realistically be interested in a move to AIK.

 

The results are interesting..

 

 

We make not one but two top tier signings in Turkish AMC Can Uzun (FC Nürnberg – €8m) and a player whom I have longed to sign in FM who originated at Barcelona’s La Masia academy Mika Marmol, a left-sided centre-back who arrives from Las Palmas for €8.75m. While both are arguably far too good for Swedish League level, both arrive from clubs who are in the second tier of their respective leagues and therefore it’s understandable that they are interested in playing Champions League football for the mighty AIK 💪💪. We also add a backup striker in the form of Deniz Gül (Udinese – €2.3m), a young Swedish international who remarkably managed to get in that World Cup squad ahead of Jonah even though there is simply no comparison 🤷‍♂️.

 

 

4th Time’s a Charm?

 

We’ve bolstered our squad, we have a striker on fire and I still absolutely love a pair of double mezzalas in midfield. The only downside so far is that we had a REALLY poor Youth Intake, but we might talk about that in my next blog post. After blitzing our way through the Champions League qualifiers with big victories over Latvian champions Riga, Norwegian champs Tromsø and Israeli winners Maccabi Tel Aviv (during which Noel Sergel scores a calm 7 goals), we simply cannot be stopped. Any fears we held over the absence of Jonah quickly start to vanish – even when Sergel started to slow down in the league, the likes of Ayari, Ryddell, Edin Persson, Marques, Okkels, Uzun, Andresen and Gustavo Sá all collectively chipped in as we went unbeaten for the rest of the season and won 13/14 league games, wrapping up the league with 4 games to go and sealing our 4th consecutive Allsvenskan title. YOU’LL NEVER SING THAT 🥳🥳🥳🥳.

 

 

 

 

We rotate for our final two games and lose both, but nonetheless Sergel finishes as the league’s top scorer with 19 goals, 29 for the season overall which is most impressive considering he had VERY big boots to fill (I mean, Jonah is 6’5″ so they must be); it’s crazy really, he wins pretty much every award available yet I am still thinking about who I can replace him with in the next window! #FMThings

 

 

By now you may be wondering how Jonah is getting on at Dortmund as they kicked off their new season in September; don’t worry, as the FM Narrative Gods would have it – well, see for yourself…

 

Champions League 3.0

 

 

WE ARE GOING TO DORTMUND FOR THE JONAH DERBY!!! You couldn’t write it, although he hasn’t yet scored for his new club and remains an understudy for the likes of Sebastian Haller and Youssoufa Moukoko, it will be all to play for on November 4th as Jonah prepares to face his old team in a fixture for which both clubs will be raring to go; in the meantime we have games against Young Boys, Genk and Roma to contend not to mention looking ahead to Benfica and Arsenal at the end of our campaign..

 

 

Things don’t go too well..a really poor defeat at home to Swiss champions Young Boys is followed up by a late 1-1 draw away to Genk in Belgium, and an 83rd minute goal isn’t enough to get us back in the game at home to Roma which leaves our Champions League campaign in precarious circumstances after just three games played. Not ideal preparation, especially when you have a game like this around the corner…

 

 

Borussia Dortmund vs AIK, Champions League Group Stage, 04/11/2026

 

 

The big news coming out of the Dortmund camp is that with Haller and Moukoko both out injured and Karim Adeyemi only fit enough to claim a place on the bench, JONAH STARTS FOR DORTMUND in what must surely be an emotional homecoming for the 18-year-old who now carries the weight of the Yellow Wall on his shoulders. AIK Manager Patrik Maddsson also names a strong team, and interestingly opts for Deniz Gül up front ahead of top scorer Noel Sergel perhaps due to his more physical presence and aerial threat against this big Dortmund side. It’s going to be a belter here at the Westfalenstadion, strap in..

 

0′ – AIK kick off proceedings in front of over 60,000 fans including that ever-raucous yellow wall contingent.

10′ – GOAL FOR DORTMUND!! (Brandt) – the German latches onto a loose ball and drills it home past the helpless Brolin in goal. 1-0 Dortmund!!

24′ – Yellow Card!! (Augustinsson) – a clumsy tackle by the Swedish international on Donyell Malen.

27′ – GOAL FOR DORTMUND!! (Kamiński) – poor defending by Fridriksson who gives Jakub Kamiński far too much space and allows him to slot home at Brolin’s far post, far too easy. 2-0!

45+3′ – HALF TIME. Not a great half for AIK at all who have been unable to match Dortmund’s quality in midfield. Though former player Jonah Kusi-Asare has been kept quiet, AIK simply couldn’t contain the likes of Brandt and Kamiński and will need to do a lot better to have any chance of getting back in this game.

45′ – Looks like a double substitution by Manager Patrik Maddsson who is clearly unhappy with his midfield as both Sá and Uzun are replaced by Ayari and Andresen; meanwhile Giovanni Reyna replaces Donyell Malen for the home side.

47′ – GOAL FOR AIK!! (Marques) – Something has worked for sure!! A well worked short corner finds Marques on the edge of the box, he takes a touch and then slams home past Kobel in goal. Game on!!

62′ – Double substitution for Dortmund as Pobega and Timber replace Emre Can and Nico Schlotterbeck.

72′ – TREBLE SUBSTITUTION FOR AIK!! Maddsson is throwing the kitchen sink here! Sergel, Holm and Pittas replace Gül, Marques and Edin-Persson which means none of AIK’s front 5 who started remain on the pitch; desperate times call for desperate measures I guess…

75′ – GOAL FOR AIK!! (Pittas) – He’s done it again!! Maddsson’s changes have an instant impact, Sergel drifts out wide to receive the ball and Pittas cleverly underlaps to receive the pass and sllide home an equaliser. NOW WE HAVE A GAME ON OUR HANDS, 2-2!!

77′ – GOAL FOR DORTMUND!! (Reyna) – DON’T BLINK HERE FOLKS!! AIK’s euphoria lasts just 90 seconds before Gio Reyna is first to a Brolin save, smashing home the rebound to restore Dortmund’s lead. Is this it?

78′ – GOAL FOR AIK!! (Sergel) – I CAN’T KEEP UP!! Insane scenes as Sabitzer plays a ball back to Kobel but the pass is light and Sergel nips in to slot home an equaliser again!! Dortmund fans are stunned into silence, 3-3!! I get the feeling we aren’t done here somehow…

87′ – GOAL FOR AIK!! (Pittas) – UNBELIEVABLE. WHAT A TURNAROUND THIS IS!! AIK break on the counter, Andresen and Ayari exchanging a quick pass before finding Pittas in space who calmly finishes past the on-rushing Kobel in goals, Dortmund Manager Edin Terzić is fuming!! It’s now 4-3 to AIK with just minutes remaining, can they hold on for a famous victory?

89′ – The fourth official indicates there will be 4 minutes of added time.

90+4 – AIK HAVE DONE IT!!! The final whistle blows and all 1,226 of AIK’s away fans are in ecstasy as they celebrate a historic Champions League victory here in Dortmund. The home side cannot believe they have lost this but take nothing away from AIK, they fought tooth and nail until the end and fully deserve their win. There will be some celebrations in Stockholm tonight, back to you in the studio!

 

 

Wow. An unbelievable win, arguably the best in this save so far given the circumstances not only because we snatched an incredible late win, but also we managed to stop Jonah from scoring or assisting which is almost unheard of when facing a former player in Football Manager 😅. We can now add Dortmund to a list containing Man Utd, Milan, Leverkusen and Ajax as teams we have so far beaten during our Champions League adventures in this save..hopefully this will be the spark needed to help us turn a corner and qualify from the CL group stage for the third season running 🙏.

 

 

I was wrong. While a 2-1 defeat away to Nice in the next round was followed up by a 2-0 win over Union Berlin (which we did with 10 men funnily enough), both Benfica and Arsenal were simply to much for us to handle and we fail to gain qualification to the CL knockout round for the first time in this save so far; highly disappointing considering it was arguably the easiest fixture schedule we have been given so far, but memorable nonetheless and while Doop may be a very happy man knowing we won’t be making him nervous this season, I am now hungrier than ever to build on our exploits and see if we can enhance this squad and mount an upset next season. One thing is for sure – AIK are a club on the up, watch out world 👀.

 

 Thanks for reading.

 

Want to hear more? Jump in my Discord channel or tune into the 5 Star Potential podcast every Monday where I give weekly updates on how the save is progressing.