When Hammarby beat league leaders Sirius on Thursday, the Uppsala club’s lead in the Allsvenskan shrank to three points with four games left to play.
Hammarby, known as “Bajen”, are now level on 55 points and top the table on goal difference - at least until Tuesday. Sirius have played one fewer match and will host bottom-placed Halmstad at Studenternas then.
“Very important”
“We’ll see if Sirius drop points, but this was very important,” says Madjed.
Behind the two, Djurgården are still in the title race. The Stockholm club are third on 52 points after beating Degerfors 2-1 at home.
Hammarby’s path to the three points was thorny.
Malmö took the lead in the seventh minute. Otto Rosengren delivered a perfect cross, and Diego Garcia gave MFF the lead with a well-timed header.
“We’re clearly better. We’re in control of the game and have a few chances, but we concede a very unnecessary goal. Now it’s going to be an uphill battle,” Hammarby’s Paulos Abraham told TV4 during the break.
Hammarby player Sead Haksabanovic agreed with that assessment.
“We score a goal, then it feels like we’re just trying to survive. We lose second balls and they have to attack a lot,” Haksabanovic says.
The second half was only seven minutes old when “Bajen” got their reward. Centre-back Victor Eriksson appeared at the far post from a corner and headed in the equaliser.
Djuric sent off
Five minutes later, Hammarby had turned the game around. Montader Madjed scored a stunning goal against Sirius last time out - now the 21-year-old curled a superb shot past Robin Olsen to make it 2-1 against MFF.
The goal proved decisive at Eleda Stadium. In the closing stages, MFF’s Andrej Djuric was sent off for headbutting Hammarby veteran Nahir Besara.
Henrik Rydström coached MFF to Swedish championship titles in 2023 and 2024, but was fired in 2025. This summer, he took over at Hammarby after Kalle Karlsson left the coaching position, and his team have now taken three vital points in Skåne to put pressure on Sirius in the title race.
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