Royal League ready to go

By Jan Juhlin

November is usually a quiet time for Scandinavian football, with the Swedish and Norwegian leagues finished and few teams left in UEFA club competition.

New competition
This winter is different. The Royal League kicks off today featuring the cream of teams from Sweden, Norway and Denmark in a bid to give the clubs international competition and boost finances. If fans brave the cold and the pitches hold out in unfavourable conditions, then the new tournament will be declared a success when the final is played on 26 May.

Two group stages
Four sides from each nation have entered, and have been split into three groups. Clubs will play their group rivals home and away - with three matches before Christmas and three in February - with the top two progressing into two further groups of three teams. Having played the sides in their pool twice, the group winners will compete in the final.

Rosenborg in action
Group 1 sees Norwegian champions Rosenborg BK, under new coach Per Joar Hansen, welcome Sweden's Djurgårdens IF with a feast of attacking football expected between two real contenders for the title. In Denmark, Esbjerg fB, whose domestic season does not reach its winter break until the end of the month, entertain Vålerenga IF, pipped to the Norwegian championship on goals scored by Rosenborg.

Danish contenders compete
In Group 2, Denmark's two most famous names, league leaders Brøndby IF and reigning champions FC København, face Sweden's third-placed side IFK Göteborg and the team that finished fourth in Norway, Tromsø IL. FCK, who are a lowly seventh in the Superliga, have shown scepticism towards the new tournament but will send a full-strength lineup to Göteborg, while Tromsø, who won just two away games in the 2004 Tippeliga, travel to Brøndby.

Malmö title
Swedish champions Malmö FF start against Odense BK in Group 3, while the club Malmö pipped to secure their first title since 1988, Halmstads BK, play SK Brann. Malmö will be without Cameroon wing-back Joseph Elanga, who has gone AWOL since the championship celebrations, but otherwise a first-choice team will meet the side currently third in Denmark.

Coaches excited
Halmstad, meanwhile, have been preparing in Italy and coach Jan Andersson is fully focused on the task ahead. "It is always hard to know how new competitions will be received by the public, but we are fully committed and are raring to go," he said. His Norwegian counterpart, Mons Ivar Mjelde is also enthusiastic, the Brann coach declaring: "Our goal is to make it through the first group stage, and I am happy that I will be able to use a fully-fit squad."