Our next opponents: The Wasps love to attack

Position

The Bollklubben from Gothenburg founded in 1940 were the surprise winners of the Swedish championship last season for the first time in the club's history. BK Häcken finished twelfth in the Allsvenskan top division the year before. BK were bottom on matchday eight in 2021 but managed to avoid relegation under the former Norway coach Per-Mathias Högmo. And Häcken hit the heights in 2022. A 4-0 victory in the derby against IFK Göteborg on the penultimate matchday secured the first championship title and the biggest success in the history of the club from the district of Hisingen. The Wasps – so-called because of their black and yellow striped shirts – won the Swedish cup competition for the third time after 2016 and 2019 in May of this year with a 4-1 win against Mjällby AIF.

BK Häcken are again competing for top spot in the league and have a good chance of defending the title. After two defeats in succession away to IFK Göteborg (2-4) and Degerfors IF (0-1), the Högmo team clocked up a 3-2 win last weekend in a home game against Halmstads BK. The winner was scored by central defender Even Hovland in the first minute of added time. Häcken are third in the table after 23 games, one point behind second-placed IF Elsborg and two behind league leaders Malmö FF. 16 teams play in the Allsvenskan with the season in Sweden starting in April and ending with matchday 30 in the middle of November.

BK Häcken beat the New Saints from Wales in this year's Champions League first round qualifier but they were then knocked out in the second round by KI Klaksvik from the Faroe Islands 4-3 on penalties (0-0, 3-3 aet). The Swedes beat FK Zalgiris Vilnius from Lithuania (3-1, 5-0) and Aberdeen from the Scottish Premiership (3-1, 2-2) in the third qualifying round and the play-offs for the UEFA Europa League. The team from Gothenburg played a German club in the second qualifying round in the Europa League in 2018/19. They went out against RB Leipzig (0-4, 1-1). For the Wasps, reaching the group stage this season is only the second time they have competed in a European competition after the 2007/08 season. Back then they lost in the first round to Spartak Moscow (0-5, 1-3).

Personnel

This summer, BK Häcken lost their three most prolific strikers in Ibrahim Sadiq (AZ Alkmaar), Bénie Traoré (Sheffield United) and Lars Olden Larsen (NEC Nijmegen). The Ghanaian Sadiq scored eight goals in eight games in the qualifiers in the Champions League and Europa League and he played a big part in beating Aberdeen to progress to the Europa League group stage with three goals and one assist in the two games. The Ivorian Traoré (24 goals and nine assists in 57 games) and the Norwegian left-winger Olden Larsen (12 goals and nine assists in 36 games) were also often on target for the Wasps. The Black and Yellows have lost a lot of quality in attack.

The new signings Amor Layouni (from the Norwegian club Valerenga IF) and Srdjan Hrstic (Spartak Subotica) have already revealed their goal threat. In addition, the Bollklubben have brought in three young talents in attack in right-winger Edward Chilufya, centre-forwards John Paul Dembe and Severin Nioule but they have hardly appeared to date. Other additions to the attack are Ola Kamara, who played in Bundesliga 2 for 1860 Munich, Tobias Sana (IFK Göteborg) plus homegrown players Filip Trpcevski and Momodou Sonko.

The most experienced players in the team are goalkeeper Peter Abrahamsson, who has been at BK for ten years, the defenders Johan Hammar, Even Hovland and Simon Sandberg plus the captain and midfieldersowie Samuel Gustafson. The Sweden international is the leader of the team and earlier played for Torino and Hellas Verona in Serie A. The best provider for Häcken is the Dane Mikkel Rygaard with 17 assists in this calendar year. The central midfielder is also capable of scoring and has found the back of the net twelve times in 2023, most recently in last Sunday’s 3-2 win against Halmstads.

Performers

The club has played very attacking football for years. BK Häcken scored 69 goals in 30 games in winning the league title last term and that was by far the highest number of goals in the Swedish league. The Black and Yellows, who usually play in a 4-3-3 formation, are again top scorers with 55 goals in 23 games. Even in this 2021 season, when the Bollklubben only finished twelfth, they scored the fourth most goals of the 16 top-flight teams.

Problems

The best strikers have left the club. The trio of Traoré, Sadiq and Larsen scored almost half of all the BK goals in the current campaign. Whether the many new signings can fill the gaps in attack remains to be seen. The team under Per-Mathias Högmo is also susceptible to conceding goals. Häcken let in 37 goals when they won the league title – that put them eighth in that ranking. The club have already conceded 29 goals in 23 games in the current season.

Prediction

It could be difficult for the Swedish champions to progress from the group stage. There have been big losses up front and the defence is not always solid. However, the Wasps can be a tricky opponent as they proved in progressing in the Europa League qualifier against Aberdeen. They were third in the Scottish top flight last season. BK Häcken are now in the closing stages of the Swedish championship. They have seven games to play. The focus for the team from Gothenburg could well be on defending their title.