Felicia Schröder finished decisively with a right-footed shot from a pass by Monica Jusu Bah in the 22nd minute of the match in Stockholm.
The national-team duo celebrated the counter-attack goal with a coordinated and practiced goal celebration.
"We made that goal gesture a few days before. We said that if we score a goal, we will score it," Schröder told Aftonbladet.
"Slowing down"
In the second half, Häcken came close to extending the lead to 2–0 through Anna Anvegård, but the team captain's long-range shot hit the post. Hammarby also hit the post through Svea Rehnberg.
After the match, Schröder was critical of Häcken's second-half performance.
"I think we slowed down in the second half. We have to take that with us to the home game and push even harder, to just run them over," she says.
With the 1–0 victory, Häcken has the advantage ahead of the final return match between the top Swedish women's teams at Hisingen on Friday, May 1st.
"We have a really good starting position. But it's only half time," says Monica Jusu Bah.
"Cursed"
In Hammarby, the tone was different.
"A big disappointment. We had more to give and I think we are the better team over both halves. We knew they are dangerous on the counterattack and that is where they punished us today," Sofia Reidy told Aftonbladet and continued:
"We are incredibly disappointed and pissed off. But I also think deep down we feel we are the better team. We just have to gather this frustration and get it out on Friday."
The European Cup winner receives the equivalent of around 860,000 kronor - a small prize compared with the prize money in men's tournaments that the European Football Association (UEFA) also organizes.
"It's a joke. It feels more like you're losing in these two games than you get when you win," said Hammarby's Stina Lennartsson before Saturday's final match.
The 2025–2026 season is the first season of the European Cup, UEFA's second-most prestigious women's club tournament after the Champions League.
