The Women’s Swedish Super League is scheduled to start on 26th of September and the Men’s SSL will start on October 3rd. Tobias Josefsson, the head of the content at SSL.se, commented on the preparations for the new season and gave some interesting insights on the Swedish top league.
How is the preparation for the new season going in your Sweden?
– The pandemic is of course affecting everything we do, both on and off the court. The uncertainty is huge, but at the same time we have to do as much as we possibly can to keep things normal. The clubs and teams are doing a great job of staying professional and doing what they do best, keeping SSL the World’s best league.
– The Swedish Super League has signed a fresh five year deal with a new broadcaster for this season, which is a great thing for the league! This gives the league a boost in its development and the partner Bonnier, SportExpressen and its affiliates, will be a major player for the future.
When are the main leagues scheduled to start?
– SSL Women will be starting on September 26 as planned and the SSL Men will start on October 3rd, so it’s quite soon. Unfortunately the pandemic forces us to play with a limited number of spectators if no major changes occur. The games will be a long desired restart, as the last season was abruptly halted before the playoffs could begin. Both leagues, containing of 14 teams each, will this season play 26 rounds before the playoffs.
Are there any winner favourites and major changes in the main leagues/among the teams?
– On the Women’s side it seems to be an open and uncertain race at this point. One reason for this is that the club of IKSU, with seven championship titles, has withdrawn from SSL due to economic problems caused by the pandemic. They are replaced by Team Thorengruppen from the same city, Umeå, and many IKSU players have moved to Thorengruppen. A “rookie” team might be really strong this year.
– Falun and Storvreta are still the two big teams on the Men’s side, with some runner-ups right behind them. It will be interesting to see how the two big ones can handle the transition to letting a younger generation of players taking bigger roles in their game.
Are there any interesting transfers, player news or other facts?
– One of the best players in Swedish Floorball history is making a comeback. Anna Jakobsson has won two World Championships, was elected the best player in Sweden in 2015 and has the record for most goals in one SSL game: ten goals. She’s now joining Endre in SSL and is approaching 500 SSL goals in her career. That is great news for the Visby team.
– You should also keep your eyes on Filip Eriksson, who’s just moved from one Uppsala based team to another, from Sirius to Storvreta. He recently scored a hattrick in a preseason game against Falun, just saying…
How to follow the SSL
The Swedish Super League updates can be found at www.ssl.se
– It is likely that international viewers will be able to watch the games from the Swedish Super League on a Pay Per View basis. Check out the league’s web page www.ssl.se for upcoming news on this.
The IFF has asked all top 10 countries to provide a 2020-21 season preview of their top leagues. More season previews will be published on the IFF website soon. If you want your floorball league or development stories to be featured on the IFF channels you can send your story to media(at)floorball.sport!
