Damallsvenskan — Swedish League Feature

Daniel Huledal opens a series on leagues around the world with the Damallsvenskan, watching the 2012 title decider in which visiting Tyreso beat LDB Malmo 1-0 through Madelaine Edlund’s 82nd-minute header, before a crowd of more than 4,000 and 200,000 on live television. Created in 1988, the twelve-team league has no play-off; the top two enter the Champions League. Huledal charts a decade of growth in attendance, budgets and wages, from a negligible 3,500 kronor a year in 2001 to an average of 91,000 in 2011, crediting Umea with driving professionalisation. In 2012 it held 69 foreign players from 16 countries, though sponsorship has tightened and several clubs face cuts.