At the annual meeting on March 22, Fredrik Reinfeldt's two-year term as chairman of the Swedish Football Association (SvFF) expires. In November, the former Prime Minister announced that he is running for re-election.
Now, Simon Åström is stepping forward as a counter-candidate, the election committee announces on the association's website. Åström has been the chairman of the elite clubs' interest organization Svensk Elitfotboll (Sef) since May 2022 and was previously the CEO of Örebro SK. He sits on the SvFF board with a mandate from Sef.
Will step down if rejected
The last day to nominate a candidate for the chairmanship is January 15, and on February 15, the election committee will present its proposal. If the election committee proposes another candidate, Reinfeldt will step down.
I think that's quite natural. An election committee has to find out who has support. I will respect that. Even if it goes against me, Reinfeldt said according to TV4's Fotbollskanalen during the representative meeting at the end of November.
According to information from Fotbollskanalen, support for Åström is expected to be around 60 percent of the votes. It is the districts and elite clubs in the two highest series on the women's and men's sides that are eligible to vote at the annual meeting.
The election committee states that seven districts, as well as the clubs AIK, Hammarby, Västerås SK, and Kristianstad, are nominating Åström.
Reinfeldt has received much criticism during his nearly two years as chairman. Most recently in December, when Sweden gave the green light for Saudi Arabia to host the 2034 Men's World Championship.
National team player Kosovare Asllani was critical, and lawyer Kerstin Elserth resigned from her role as chairman of the appeals committee. She called the decision "spineless".
Now it's enough, I think. I don't want to have any connection to Swedish football when it's like this, Elserth told Fotbollskanalen.
Turbulence in the association
Hammarby has an annual meeting decision to "at every given opportunity work for its own or another suitable candidate" other than Reinfeldt, and he received early criticism for expressing positive views on the video assistant referee (VAR) system in Swedish football.
During the autumn, there has also been turbulence in the association after the newspaper Offside reported that current and former employees are directing heavy criticism at the working environment and association leadership.
The election of the chairman of the Swedish Football Association will take place at the annual meeting on March 22. Currently, Fredrik Reinfeldt (running for re-election) and Simon Åström are the only candidates.
The nomination period ends on January 15. The election committee will now interview Åström and assess whether he is eligible for the chairmanship.
The election committee will present its proposal to the eligible voters on February 15.
The following have nominated Åström: clubs AIK (team in both women's and men's Allsvenskan), Hammarby (do), Kristianstad (women's Allsvenskan), and Västerås SK (Superettan). Districts: Dalarna, Gästrikland, Medelpad, Norrbotten, Västerbotten, Västmanland, and Uppland.
It is the 24 district associations and clubs in the two highest series on the women's and men's sides (a total of 60 clubs) that are eligible to vote.
The clubs in the men's and women's Allsvenskan have two votes each, while the clubs in Superettan (men) and Elitettan (women) have one vote each.
The districts have a total of 172 votes. Three votes per district, and then 100 additional votes that are distributed proportionally according to how many league licenses the district has.
At the 2024 annual meeting, for example, Stockholm had a total of 20 votes, Skåne 16, and Småland 13 votes, while smaller districts like Dalsland and Medelpad had only a total of 4 votes each.
