Lotta Schelin criticizes Gothenburg closure

Of: Mattias Karlsson

Published: December 29, 2020, 2:45 p.m.

Lotta Schelin is shocked and questions Gothenburg withdrawing from the damallsvenskan.

She is one of the club’s best players of all time and played there for seven seasons.

– I don’t want to think that I’m lost yet, I don’t really want that, says the former star of the national team.

Göteborg FC shut down its elite operations after recently becoming Swedish champion.

– It was shocking news for me, as for everyone else. As a soccer lover and having lived my whole life in soccer, I feel sad and sad. I read about player transfers last week a week ago. It must have been something that has changed and decisions that have been made in just over a week, the players who signed the contract could not know, says Lotta Schelin.

In 2001, 17-year-old forward Lotta Schelin came to the club then called Landvetter. He stayed until 2008 and won the Damallsvenska shooting league in 2006 and 2007.

In 2004, the team changed its name to Kopparbergs / Göteborg FC. That same year, American star goalkeeper Hope Solo was recruited.

– I love my Gothenburg, it has meant a lot to me for a long time and in an important part of my career. What is special is that I disappeared twelve years ago and the organization looks more or less the same, it has been a very small organization that has worked for a long time for better or for worse. It is tragic enough that even the old club decides to close down, but it is very tragic for all the players, says Lotta Schelin.

“Waiting answer”

After her active career, at the age of 36 she became a soccer expert on TV4 and C More. She does not understand how this could have happened.

– I hope and appeal to other business forces or the city of Gothenburg to resolve this situation. Because there are parties that do not want to continue investing, so I hope there are others that do. This is the pride of Gothenburg. I don’t want to think he’s lost yet, I don’t really want to. I read about an article with President Peter Bronsman a week before they took home the club’s first Swedish Championship gold, where he said that he would never leave the club without creating good conditions for the team to continue living. So this is not really what he said then, says Lotta Schelin.

Photo: NILS JAKOBSSON / BILDBYRÅN

Don’t you really believe what the club has said so far about the closure?

– I have many questions for which I want answers. I would have liked to introduce myself who has done everything possible. I wait for more answers, everything feels so vague. I can’t believe we got the full answer, I really can’t believe it. I am waiting for that.

“It feels completely unreasonable”

What do you think this could mean for women’s football and Swedish football in general?

– My feeling in the body is that it feels very fragile. I wonder if it can be done this way, that it is even possible. Who choose to defeat the most successful team on the women’s side this year. I can’t really understand it, because it is clear that it is not positive for women’s football or for Swedish football.

What else could have a concrete impact on elite football on the women’s side?

– We have players from the national team and some of the best players in Sweden getting this message now, it is the players who should be able to come together to be able to compete in an Olympic game this summer. These are not good conditions, it is frankly unfair to them. That Sweden’s best team at the moment choose to do so feels completely unreasonable.

You want to help them

Have you had any contact with any player you know on the team?

– A little, but not quite yet. Not only do soccer players play their sport, there are also people behind it. All other teams have established their troops and budgets. So we have 18 players who have some of the highest levels in Swedish football on the women’s side who will find new teams and move on. This is not good, but above all I see the situation of the girls and their future conditions. It must be a shock to them to find out that he is totally ill in the here and now. Why did you sign a three-year contract with a national team player a few months or weeks ago?

Perhaps you will have more contact with them in your new role in the players association?

– The idea was that I would work with Gothenburg before next year and be a contact with them in case of problems. I haven’t really started that work yet, but it doesn’t seem like a good starting point for me. I hope they feel that the players association is there for the players, we will help them in whatever they need.

After more matches in Lyon and Rosengård, Lotta Schelin ended her football career on August 30, 2018, after long-term injury problems due to a head injury.

Published: December 29, 2020 at 2:45 p.m.

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