On April 1, 2024, the Allsvenskan season began in earnest when AIK played its first match at home against Västerås SK. Both the spring and the smoke were in the air about two hours before kick-off when the customary bus reception took place as thousands of supporters gave a warm welcome to the players ahead of the upcoming season. At 4:22 p.m., the whole arena burst into song like so many times before and AIK-Tifo rolled out a powerful painting that represented the supporters’ resistance to modern football.
Henning Berg lined up with the following starting eleven: Kristoffer Nordfeldt – Eskil Edh, Benjamin Tiedemann, Sotirios Papagiannopoulos, Axel Björnström – Rui Modesto, Anton Salétros, Bersant Celina, Taha Ayari – Omar Faraj, Ioannis Pittas.
At 4:30 p.m. today’s referee Granit Maqedonci blew the whistle and Anton Salétros started the Allsvenskan season 2024. Sotirios Papagiannopoulos lifted the ball in the offensive half of the pitch and the fight started at once when Omar Faraj was severely tackled and was left lying down, the referee team however chose to do not intervene. After 2 minutes where Faraj received treatment, the match could return when the referee dropped the ball to the away team, who had to start over from the back line. It was also the away team that would initially own the ball and it was noticeable that they were ready to finally play Allsvenskan football again after 27 years in lower divisions. In the fifth minute of the match, the first finish on goal would come, however, nothing bothered Nordfeldt who easily collected the ball. AIK played up their game and when the match clock approached ten minutes they had taken back some of the ball possession, long balls were set up for the Cypriot striker Ioannis Pittas who worked hard against the away team’s defenders, on the other hand, neither team would have managed to get a proper attacking play this far in in the first half of the match. In the eleventh minute of the match, the next shot on goal came, again this time from the away team when they got around nicely on the right wing and lifted the ball into the far part of the penalty area where Mattéo Ahlinvi was completely unmarked. However, a weak header meant that Nordfeldt once again did not have to make a significant effort to collect the ball in AIK possession. In the 13th minute of the match, the first corner kick would come after Pittas elegantly won a duel after a long kick by AIK’s goalkeeper, they then got into the penalty area and after a tangled situation where both Faraj and Modesto had the opportunity to push the ball in so it would eventually flow over the edge into a fruitless corner kick. AIK had entered the match properly and they had semi-dangerous scoring chances on several occasions. In the 16th minute of the match, Faraj won the ball in midfield and pushed past his opponents and had a finish that was blocked by the defending team – the ball, however, found its way to Modesto who pushed a low cross towards the far post, unfortunately neither Pittas nor Ayari got there and the ball spilled over the line.
In the 20th minute of the match, the away team’s Patric Åslund would have a nice action when he tunneled Celina in the midfield and advanced towards the goal, however, the finish left more to be desired as it ended up several meters over Nordfeldt’s crossbar. It was still the away team that would have the baton this far into the match. The team rolled the ball around nicely and when you lost the ball, you could win the ball back through a good pressing game. In the 22nd minute of the match, they would also be awarded a corner kick after an effective pressing game. The ball was lifted into the penalty area and for a brief period it resembled a game of pinball as the ball bounced on the legs of players from both teams, eventually the ball found its way to a cleared away player outside the penalty area who pulled in a shot that seemed to find its way in at Nordfeldt’s right post, but it ended up narrowly wide. The away team did not break the tempo and in the 26th minute of the match Åslund was at it again when he sent a shot, this time too it looked like the away team would take the lead but after a control on the home player, the final attempt would lead to another scoreless corner.
The first 35 minutes of this match are nothing books will be written about. AIK had a hard time getting hold of Västerås and they had to focus on playing counter-attack football to get into positions, the away team, on the other hand, had good control of the attempts and were able to break the ball on several occasions. VSK continued to win their duels and then distribute the ball on the edges, AIK, on the other hand, defended well enough to be able to deflect the attack attempts.
In the 38th minute of the match, Pittas would have a good finishing position after Faraj once again won the ball in midfield and pushed past his opponent to then distribute the ball to Pittas who was on the left of the penalty area. A few nimble steps into the box later he had a hard shot from a good position, but the ball was blocked out by the away team’s defenders for another goalless corner. Shortly afterwards it was Faraj who had the chance to shoot from outside, but this time too it was blocked by the defending team. AIK had started at the end of the first half and created more dangerous scoring chances than before.
After 45 minutes played, today’s fourth official showed that there were four minutes left to play in the first half. It looked like there wouldn’t be any more opportunities in the first half, but in the 48th minute of the match, Taha Ayari would have a dream opportunity to score the lead after Axel Björnström found his way to him when he was in the penalty area – but the aforementioned Ayari got too much foot under the ball and the finish ended up high over the bar. Shortly afterwards, referee Maqedonci blew the first half and AIK went into the break with a tie.
After a 15-minute break, it was time for the second act of this year’s premier match. At 17:35, Maqedonci blew the whistle and away team captain Simon Johansson started the game. It would be five minutes into the second half before the first goal would come. This after Pittas once again won their running duel against their defender – the ball ended up in the arms of Faraj who advanced towards the goal and had a shot that unfortunately Anton Fagerström in the away goal had no problem saving. AIK were all the more connected at the beginning of the second half and they won many of their duels. In the 52nd minute of the match, this would result in a yellow card for Max Larsson after he demolished Eskil Edh. Shortly afterwards, the lead goal would also come! Faraj elegantly found Modesto who came running into the right of the penalty area and came alone with the keeper, the Portuguese right-winger made no mistake as he safely rolled the ball into the net. 1–0 to AIK and at this point the National Arena was boiling.
After the goal, it was the away team who lit up and during a five-minute period they could threaten AIK’s defense as they got a lot of shots on goal, but these usually resulted in corner kicks that Nordfeldt could either take down or send in way of AIK defenders. In the 64th minute of the match, the home team was awarded their first yellow card after Maqedonci considered that Edh went too hard into a duel. This was not appreciated by the supporters on site as similar pushers were distributed from both teams throughout the course of the match. In the 66th minute of the match, Henning Berg made his first substitution when Omar Faraj, who assisted the lead goal, had to leave the pitch in favor of Ismaila Coulibaly. Two minutes after the change, AIK’s next opportunity came, again this time it was Modesto who got a nice area to the right of the penalty area – but one touch of the ball too much meant that the away team had time to collect themselves and steer the ball out to another fruitless corner kick. Even though it was the home team that came up with the most dangerous scoring chances in the second half, it was the away team that sometimes pushed AIK’s defense down so low that they had almost all players in their own penalty area. But as I said, it was the home team that created the scoring chances and in the 71st minute of the match it looked like Pittas would extend the lead to 2-0, but VSK did as they have done many times before in this meeting and blocked the ball over the line.
In the 72nd minute of the match came the next change for AIK. Taha Ayari had to thank himself and the audience instead welcomed Victor Andersson onto the field. The away team had also made two substitutions on this occasion when Mattéo Alrich Mawulé Ahlinvi and Ibrahim Yalatif Diabate left the field, Henry Offia and Jabir Abdihakim Ali came in instead. In the 78th minute of the match, it was Salétro’s turn to see the yellow card after he expertly brought down advancing VSK players who otherwise would have had an excellent counterattack opportunity. In the same vein, the away team took the opportunity to make further changes – out went Simon Johansson and Max Larsson and in came Alexander Thongla-Iad Warneryd and Pedro Nezio De Araujo Lopes Ribeiro.
A lot happened now in the match as there were a lot of duels and situations from both teams. Pittas would look to break the game in the 81st minute of the match when he broke free in depth to then turn away his defender, however, the next center back would come and save the situation when he disarmed Pittas. VSK, who were chasing an equalizing goal, managed during the final stages of the match to keep the ball and push the home team down. In the 90th minute of the match, the next change would take place – Coulibaly, who had only been on the field for 23 minutes, had to leave the field and Ahmad Faqa came in instead. When the match clock struck 90, the fourth official showed that, just like in the first half, there were four minutes of football left. In the 93rd minute of the match, the situation came for the away team to equalize the match, but the finish ended up straight to Nordfeldt, who was certainly able to glue the ball. It looked like the away team would get a last chance in the final seconds of the match when they pushed the team up for a long throw-in – but the referee chose to blow the match off after 94 minutes and 11 seconds, which meant that AIK won the premiere of Allsvenskan 2024 after goals from Rui Modesto in the 53rd match minute. Not only that the win meant three points in the account in the first match of the year – it was also AIK Fotboll’s 1,000th victory in the Allsvenskan!