The Rise and Fall of Östersunds FK: Fairytale or Corruption?
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- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
- From 2011 to 2016, Swedish minnows Östersunds FK climbed from Sweden's amateur and regional fourth division all the way to the Allsvenskan, the top flight of football in Sweden. In the 2017-18 Europa League, Östersund defeated the likes of Galatasaray, Hertha Berlin, and even Premier League giants Arsenal.
This rise was orchestrated by the management of current Brighton head coach Graham Potter, operating under director of football Daniel Kindberg. However, Östersunds FK's remarkable rise has been followed by a sudden fall, and not just because of Potter's departure.
In this short documentary, HITC Sevens takes a look at the rise and fall of Östersund, what they got right, what they got wrong, and how it fell apart in dramatic fashion.
Props to Alfie for doing his research and learning how to pronounce "ö"
Such a rare moment, props to alfie
Too bad he botched the second part. There is no sch/sh sound when pronouncing sund. Props anyway
@@kuzz4587 Nah, he got that right. Local pronunciation in Jämtland actually is ”Östershund” with a Swedish tj-sound in the middle. He screws up though when he says ”Östersunds” in instances that are not in the genitive case.
He don't miss!
@@Z1m0nN more like ästershund
Hi, Swedish guy here. Answer: Corruption, but Potter is a great coach.
He must have been shocked too learn his friend and business partner was that corrupt
Kindberg was skimming tax payer money and was also with a crime-partner involved in black market construction.
The black money was put into the club as a endless series of short term loans and then returned to Kindberg as white washed money. The taxes on the transactions Kindberg payed with the clubs money. Thus creating the debts ruining the club.
They are currently £1 Million in the red, but there are still legal working of additional debts up to £6 Million.
Sweden really needed a northern club, so it was very upsetting it was build on a lie. Hopefully the club can survive but they have no finances on their own to run a high level club, when they played my club there was only 5 Östersund away fans in a 7000 attendence.
Can back that, as a Brighton fan Graham Potter is a fantastic manager
@@kden8743 Agreed, it's a shame that with how knee-jerk football is these days that he probably won't make it to next season unless results dramatically turn around though. Nothing wrong with his managerial style but damn we need some new players.
I wouldnt say corruption more like loaning money from random people without asking
Can you do a video about the rise of Bodø Glimt in Norway? They went from a avrage side in the second tier to the best team in Norway breaking every record in Norwegian football.
That would be a great video!
+1 this, they’ve done wonders for the league too, breaking the norm; also I’m hoping the north will get the recognition it deserves now
Its even better now look at their conference run
But it looks like they won’t win the league again
++1, this would be a great video
I love how Alfie knows these videos will fail but still puts in all of his effort into making them as best as possible
I mean in my opinion this is really interesting
I wish they did better cause these are my personal favourite kind of videos that he makes
As a Swedish guy I really appreciate this video really interesting
No you silly man
I remember when they nearly knocked out Arsenal from Europa League.
That happens every other month tbh
They didnt nearly knock us out .we went 3-0 up in the first leg
@@achyutanandjha2964 and they beat you 2-1 at the emirates
@@leifixan_1961 yeah so what? 4-2 on aggregate
Yeah
Do one for Hajduk Split, a club ran by the streets like Schakle, hannover...
The streets 😂
Lol I used to manage hajduk split on sensible world of soccer many years back.
Dino ostavi drogu
Even though östersunds are not going that well at the moment, here in sweden we seem to have a fascination of what graham potter is achieving at Brighton
We went from nearly not a club (needed fund raising from fans to survive) to a Premier League team. The owners knew that if the club were not a professional team they could sell the stadium and not need it to go back in to the club but could go straight to their pocket, earning them a lot of money so they tried to get us relegated. Survived last day of the season with a 1-1 draw against the team you we were in a relegation fight with, needed a draw to stay up. Went 1-0 down to them due to an own goal by Kerry Mayo (ended up having a 14 year career at the Albion and is the biggest Legend of my lifetime at the club, not because of his skills like Zamora but his heart for the club). We then had to play our home games 70 miles away at a stadium where we were not allowed to use the full stadium and paid so much they were able to build a new stand (But serioulsy thank you Gillingham without you we might not be a club anymore). Then moved to a temporary stadium called the withdean that had no hot running water as it was the local athletic track and had such poor drainage for most of the winter the pitch was half sand and most of the seating was not undercover (had my school sports day there), 12 years without a permanent home because getting somewhere where we could build in Brighton (packed city surround by a green belt) and getting our council to help was a complete nightmare as they didnt care about football (no council buying our stadium and renting it back to us :D) we then got a big stadium, new owner who had the extra cash (and has been loaning it into the club unsecured, which think shows his love for the club) its a really interesting story. As for Potter honestly he at the point where fans are starting to lose some patience been some great performances this year but has made some unusual picks next 2 games think will either get fans behind him as they want to, or the pitchforks might start coming, if we lose them be in the relegation zone probably. Edit: Other fun moments of note during those seasons: Under the table payment scandal (memory fails me slightly here think it was Chesterfield) who we were in a promotion race with and were being investigated for dodgy off the book payments to players, brought a player for a Coke can (Colin Kazim Richards, who ended up playing for Turkey at Euro 2008), brought another legend of the club (Gary Hart) for 0.001million and a set of kits, Leon Knight ordeal who was brought with money raised by the fans then forced a transfer as he was too good for us then his career just kept plummeting, a single was realised to help fund the club, sold a player to Celtic who wore a blue shirt to the signing (which I sold him, and still one of the funniest pranks of my life), dabbled in star name managers and nearly got relegated both times, once sponsored by a restaurant not a chain just a local one. Been a fun club to be involved with over these years
@@PlayThenSay As a yeovil fan i know exactly what you went through with dodgy owners. We had similar ones at yeovil who didn't invest enough to stabilize us in the championship when we got up there and then decided the club could just rely on free's but mostly loan signings. all culminating in us being back in the 5th tier after 3 relegation's in 6 seasons.Which has now led (partially due to covid) to us soon selling are stadium to the council and renting it until we can buy it. Which sounds fine until you think the council ignored are requests for extensions to the stadium , new buildings (club house etc.) to make more money to become sustainable for years. Now we are staring down the barrel of a relegation to the conference south for the first time in 20 years with an owner who doesn't have the funds. To think only 6 years ago we were playing each other in the championship.
👏👏
@@fmtaketheballpasstheball4994 yeah I was quite interested in Yeovil and how you guys made it to the championship. I remember going to a game where you had some decent players. Next thing I see is that you're in the conference.
From a Swede, nice pronounciation of Östersund! I can tell that you practiced the "ö" :D
The important part, and what most english speakers miss, is dropping the genetiv-s in the clubs (short) name.
I've visited Östersund quite a few times when visiting family there. Went skating on the massive lake/river and also did some cross country skiing.
Good times - worth a visit if you're in the area. Its a dry cold there so not too bad. Never went in the summer oddly.
Anyhoos - good story again Alfie.
I’m from Östersund and i have seen a few videos of our europa league campain but i can honestly say that this was by far the best. One thing worth mentioning is the loss of key players, Ken Sema and Saman Ghoddos. I think after Sema moved to watford he became a posterboy for ÖFK in England and abroad. But here in Sweden it was clear that it really was Ghoddos who was the real star. He didn’t quite make it in france so i really hope he finds his form in Brentford and show his quality.
Saman Ghoddos går på vatten
They won at Emirates, who remembers?
@Basil II the Basileus of the Romans true that
@Basil II the Basileus of the Romans as an arsenal fan, I agree
It isn't hard to win against they're shit
Well, at least they're still in the Allsvenskan. I have seen more dramatic falls in my life, mostly in German football.
Only just, most bets are on the team falling back into the Swedish Third Division, if they're lucky.
Dnipro had it rough too
Heck, he even made videos about Kaiserslautern and more recently Schalke, so avid HITC viewers might know exactly what you're talking about
As of yesterday they're not in Allsvenskan anymore 🥳 the rest of Swedish football are celebrating
they just got relegated.. would not be surprised if they're relegated this season too
As a swede, I really appreciated this. Great video!
De e vackert o se asså
@@kanelbullen6992 sant är det
As a breathing human being, I watched this video.
Turkish guy here. When Galatasaray got Östersunds I was like, who are these guys? You showed us how good you guys were. Big respect. And I hope to come to Sweden one day
This is the best type of video from hitc sevens, this short documentary was really good
The first part sounds like something I would do in Football Manager :D :D
Nice video from a Chelsea fan trying to understand the history of the new head coach.
Day 55: Final East German First League teams, where are they now?
I'm surprised this still hasn't been done
Still in East Germany I think
@@SantomPh He meant in terms of the league they're in now.
Not really the largest city in Northern Sweden, there are bigger cities such as Umeå
Sundsvall to
Det är i mitten av Sverige ju, norra Sverige börjar vid Ume/Skellefte
@@kagge2120 Och då har de ju Sundsvall, Falun, Borlänge, Gävle etc som är större städer sett till befolkning.
I believe he was supposed to say "largest non-coastal city of northern Sweden", which would have been correct.
I would guess it was an editing error of some sort.
My apologies! Yes, I believe I was supposed to throw the world central in there at some stage, but non-coastal would have been a better descriptor.
Sadly, Östersund is still kicking on in the Swedish 2nd tier, much to the annoyance of 95% of Swedens football fans. This damn horse refuse to die and despite the fact that ÖFK every year are in heavy debt, they somehow manage to print enough bills the night before the license hearing to slither over the line one more year.
It's very frustrating for the rest of the clubs who wasnt built on fraud and criminal behavior.
One of your best Alfie, and your pronunciation was better than most non-Swedes, especially when you mentioned Norrkopping.
Great vid from a swedish subscriber. I have always wanted a video on a swedish team and this one was great
Now potter is Chelsea manager
I've asked before mate but doing a doc on chester city fc during the vaughan era believe me pure gold for your channel. Cheers mate always enjoy ur work.👍👍
Beating Arsenal at the Emirates is hardly an achievement anymore
Burnley just did it yesterday lol
Yes
Lol
I am a ÖFK fan so I really liked and enjoyed this video. The problem with the club right now is of course the financial part, but also the problems on the pitch. In The middle of the season we won a ton of games but then it dropped of, we arent consistent enough to challange for the places were we can get the money we need to pay our depth
Will you get relegated again?
Day 4 - The demise of Rhyl FC, from playing in Europe to the collapse in 2020
In which league do they play?
@@saeed_05 I'm guessing they're Welsh.
@@saeed_05 yeah the welsh league.
They played in Cymru Premier (Welsh top tier) before relegating down to Cymru North (3rd tier)
@@thegloriouspyrocheems2277 2nd tier
Whoa!! A video about a Swedish club!
Watching all this good and bad happen and being there when ÖFK won svenska cupen , this is a good documentary, thank you!
Props for the generally correct pronunciations of quite difficult Swedish names!
Would have been interesting if you would have mention how the 51% rule works in Sweden. So you can't just transfer money in to the club like other leagues in the world.
In Sweden the "51-per cent rule" says that only non-profit clubs can play in the Swedish league systems, and if the club owns a company handling economic activities, the club must own at least 51 % of that company. This rule is decided by the Swedish Sports Confederation and is valid for all sports with teams and league systems.
This is so crucial yet people tend to ignore it.
Please do a video on the rise of sassuolo this season, their coach seems to have been breaking orthodox defensive football to play attacking football which has resulted in them scoring goals left and right
I believe Sassuolo was mentioned in one of his most recent 7s, so a video might be out soon.
Love this content. How about one on what happened to Panathinaikos?
Why what happened mate? Is everything OK?
@@WOOOPdoctorFROGhere financial mismanagement, banned from European competition. Interesting story.
These documentaries are truly amazing and really enjoyable 🔥
Swedish cities above gävle usually invest in a hockey team, it’s unusual they have good football clubs, only other exception i can think of is GIF Sundsvall
We have many teams like this in Romania, Astra Giurgiu, Unirea Urziceni, Otelul Galati
Make a vid about The rise of My local team FK Bodø/Glimt, alfie!
The kings of everyone’s weekend Accumulators
The number of goals that team is scoring is insane
As an Östersund FK fan i really appriciate this video
Kag hejar också på dem 🖤❤🖤❤🖤❤
yo is this who i think it is?
@@Teta906 Do you mean him or me?
@@Teta906 Ok, thanks for letting me know!
I cant put into words how much I love this Kinda shit. My obscure football triva has went through the roof since watching hitc vids 🙌. Keep up the good work. Love it. Also cant wait to see Brightons xmas play this year coming
Love this channel such original content, keep it up!
As a swede i appreciate seeing stuff like this, would love to see more stuff in relation to Swedish football!
Tip if you like an story of a underdog achieving a major rise I recommend checking out Ljungskile SK, not sure how much is documented in English but an amazing story nonetheless.
Interesting as the Swedish version of sky (Viasat) just had a Östersund player in the studio to talk about this situation
The rise and fall of my local team Rushden and Diamonds would be nice
Yes! I would also like that!
And now they are dead last in the 2nd division, on the way to the 3rd tier with 2/3rds of the season played :( I think it might be over for them unfortunatelly
This is a well put together good video
Östersund 11 that won at the emirates where are they now!
Ghoddos: Brentford Sema: Watford Pettersson: Downgraded to Cincinatti (MLS) Still in Sweden: Hopcutt: Sundsvall (Östersunds rival) Widgren: Hammarby (Stockholm) Edwards: Djurgården (Stockholm) Aiesh: Göteborg Bergqvist: Kalmar Papagiannopoulos: AIK (Solna) Mukiibi and Keita still at Östersund
@@tubros solna is stockholm
@@svenkaasik9868 Well not geographically, administratively, legally or physically. So no they are not the same place =/
@@tubros solna is a part of stockholm look it up
@@svenkaasik9868 I did. They are not the same. They dont even share the same concil. =)
Wow , I put this as my ultimate team logo and didn’t know what club it was... now I do and it’s interesting history
fun fact it was the club Isak debuted and scored in Allsvenskan against at the age of 16
Video suggestion, Norways new league champion, calles the new hipster club of Europe by german media and full length article in New York Times: FK Bodø/Glimt? First team north of the arctic circle to win a top division with a 10th of the budget of the bigger teams in Norway, and giving AC Milan a run for their money in the EL qualification this year.
The reason Swedish football supporters really hate Östersund has to do with how the league and its clubs are run. Allsvenskan and all clubs in Swedish sports have to be owned to 51% by the supporters, and we hold this system on a pedestal. While Kindberg didn't, from what we know, break this rule, he definitely went above the supporters' head and destroyed the club from within. Swedish supporters stand for a no-corruption policy and any club that encroaches on this destroys the very foundation of our modest and honest league. A common slogan between clubs and supporters are "mot den moderna fotbollen" or in English "against modern football". A common depiction of modern football in Sweden is Manchester City's owner Sheikh Mansour, and owners like him. The only reason our league works is because we don't let people take over clubs in any way. Football in Sweden is about entertainment, not monetization.
I like them you probably support aik who is owned by the maffia
@@lucasahlberg4736 I don't, and that has nothing to do with it.
@@tjenagrabbar5183 Well Kindberg did not make money for himself, but for the team. If its true. If so, it wasnt astonishing sums. (not in in europa leuges or swedish top leuges anyways) half of the debt was from aborted trasfer of Goddos, who changed his mind, and the club got a large fine for it. Ostersund has like 45000 residents, and its the only city in Jämtland. 49 341 km² Yes It was wrong, but they did alot with little. That we can newer take away.
@@tjenagrabbar5183bullshit
As a Öfk supporter (I live in Östersunds) I can say that the starting eleven from there's time in the Europa League was seen by other clubs and every one execept 4 players was moving. That is why all the new Öfk had no experience from Grshsm Potter
You could do the rise and fall of wigan athletic. The administration alone is worth a 20 minute video
Starting the video with the impressive rise of this team and then the sudden twist came, club's hero went to jail and their manager now coaches Brighton.
NIGHTMARE
Such a massive shame that things have turned out this way. Hopefully they get a change at having a redemption arc because who doesn’t love a underdog.
Well the entirity of sweden hates them so im glad that they are falling
To add some more juicy details. ÖFK also sold and signed the contract to sell one of their top players Ghoddos to Huesca in Spain for 4m euro, but then tore the contract when it already had been signed and sold Ghoddos to Amiens in France for 5m euros. Huesca appealed to Fifa who suspended Ghoddos from playing for 4-6 months and locked Östersund from buying players for two windows. Östersund appealed their sentence and were able to buy players this year due to the fact the appealment paused the transferban while it was looked at again. They got the same sentence again, and are also fined together with Ghoddos 4m euros to Huesca.
They were also supposed to be relegated due the minus bank acount as you mentioned, but they lied to the swedish court and claimed they had a sponsor who would give them 3m euros to stay afloat. Months went by and they would keep declining to announce who was this secret sponsor. Which also was super weird since in Swedish football, that's maybe the highest sponsor contract ever. Why would a company want to stay anonymous?
No money arrived and once journalists found out it was ANOTHER shady investing company based in Cyprus, they declined the rumors but later revealed it really was the case.
If not for Corona, they would have been relegated. But since the season got suspended for months they managed to scrape together enough money to survive the season. And as a supporter for another team. We have been yelling and calling out ÖFK for years. It has been shady since the beginning, and to be honest. If something seems to good to be true - It usually is.
Glad to see them go. Hope they dissappear forever.
I would like to point out that there is little sunlight during the winter which means that theres a lot of sunlight during summer so in july I think theres about 3 hours of night in Östersund while up north where's theres no sun during winter it is also always sunny during summer
Thank You for making these documentaries 😁 please make one about Sheffield Wednesday FC 😇
I really enjoyed the video, but you missed one of the more interesting stories of Östersund: Saman Ghoddos. An outkast from other Swedish clubs that came to Östersund and became a Iran international playing in the world cup 2018 against spain and brazil. But then being first sold by Östersund to Spanish Huesca while himself signed with french Amiens, and became the 3rd highest player sale from Sweden before Huesca sued Östersund and took them to CAS
Playing against Span and Portugal*
Also as someone who had watched Allsvenskaven for a number of seasons, these type of stories are becoming all too common in Swedish football with some teams that I remember as giants of Swedish football now being a midtable team and Europa being a pipe dream at this point
I mean alot of big teams in sweden are not in allsvenskan anymore
So glad you have made video about a swedish team, big ups new sub!
Should make a ranking of every champions league’s captain by playing ability
Ps: I love all your content!
As a swede appreciate that you did this
The ins and outs, ups and downs aso of this club are so complicated. And, at the end of the day it's one of the reasons why more transparency is needed in modern day football. Coaching staff and players alike from those 'golden years'are not to blame, obviously, as their achievement was one for the history books..... But the club is shambolic! And they are, sadly, not the only one in swedish football today with a few more acting suspiciously in the shadows of what is really allowed, and what is morally correct. Difference being, ÖFK has survived relegation, the others haven't and they are certainly facing tough times ahead.
Suggestion:
Ranking every premier league club's most expensive player
Those things are so tedious. They're as boring as "combined elevens" that most UA-cam channels and sky sports are obsessed with
Hey Alfie! Great vid! Maybe a future idea could be a video about the Dassler brothers feud? Or Bernard Tapie? The owner of Marseille during their golden period but had to sell the club due to legal issues.
Amazing research buddy
They just played the last game of the season, hope they can make it back soon
Yes, there was corruption, and sadly it will always overshadow everything with ÖFK. BUT, the world is not black and white, and although the economics were shady, there was so much more to Östersund. The cultural projects and the creative scouting were still phenomenal. I mean, they won against Galatasaray and Arsenal with a team of players who previously played semi-professional and sometimes even amateur football. They bought players like Sema and Ghoddos from the lower tiers of Swedish football and turned them into players in the top 5 leagues with national caps. That's still huge.
Do a video on afc Wimbledon and my dons pls
Nice video here
I like Alfies videos and all of European football, but had never heard of the rise nor the fall nor the existence of ostersunds
Östersund is The most hated team in sweden btw
@@fredsgatan4b can't people distinguish the club from the rogue owner? What this club did with small means is incredible.
Lets just say buying sucess with illegal money does not go down well here in sweden. Cheating team with no history
Day 10
Petition for an HITC Sport x Sevens crossover episode
I love these types of videos
Great video, but as a nothern swede i'd like to point out that umeå is the largest northern city with a population around 100k.
I would love to hear this same style of video for either Southend United or Bolton Wanderers
I am sorry but Östersund is not the biggest city in northern Sweden, it's the fourth biggest. Umeå with over 80, 000 people is the biggest city in Norrland.
Do a video on the best football club owners of all time
Love these videos would like to see a version for Gretna fc
I see some parallels with AZ alkmaar. Owner took them from tier 2 to tier 1 and even championship . He was corrupt too, the club went into solvency. But he had built a good organisation, the club survived and are still a top4 team.
Great video alfie, as a swede I’d say mostly corruption and I hope they lose their Elite License so that my team can get promoted
You forgot the funny Restaurant Hörnsparken (corner kick). They basically scammed their way to a pro license. 😂 Great video
this was a huge thing in sweden and its fun too se it getting some recognition internationaly
You should do the rise of Danish club FC Nordsjælland or Farum BK, as they were known previously. The mayor of the town ended up getting sent to jail for corruption and the club changed their name to distance themselves from their shady past. Today they have Michael Essien in their youth development staff.
From coaching Östersund in amateur to Chelsea ... Damn. 👍👏
Can you do the fall of Roda JC? Played against AC Milan and won in san siro in europa cup in 2002, but now playing 2nd division
That's so sad
It was one of the best fairytail story of theses last years
Can you do what is going on at arsenal
Arsenal are shit not much to explain
Yup I agree they're just shit. But I'm a spurs supporter so I could be biased. Na they're shit.
@@donaldmacdonald3563 I would be worried about your club especially that you have a bank loan from the bank of England and especially with Brexit coming up I suspect Spurs will be in trouble so don't be so cocky
@@evonneokafor We'll be fine. I have no doubts. I have no worrys. After all our owner is very rich. And is quiet prudent with his money. So I doubt they'd get themselves into something that they themselves couldn't control.
can you please do a video on beerschot incredible rise from the third division of belgian amateur football to currently 3rd in the pro league
Why not the Rise and Fall of Helsingborg? Much bigger club and not top flight anymore
not much of a rise tbh
Fall -> concil bailout -> Rise -> Overspending -> Fall -> concil bailout -> Rise -> Overspending -> Fall -> concil bailout -> Rise -> Overspending -> Fall -> concil bailout -> Rise -> Overspending -> Fall -> concil bailout -> Rise -> Overspending -> Fall -> concil bailout -> Rise -> Overspending -> Fall -> concil bailout -> Rise -> Overspending -> Fall -> concil bailout -> Rise -> Overspending -> Fall -> concil bailout -> Rise -> Overspending -> Fall -> concil bailout -> Rise -> Overspending -> Fall -> concil bailout -> Rise -> Overspending -> Fall -> concil bailout -> Rise -> Overspending -> Fall
the only thing i remember about helsingborgs was when Celtic beat them in a champions league qualifying
@@isakhansson6653 i mean, i doesnt have too be a rapid rise
@@berzerkisnotaqt1250 well we did beat inter over 2 legs in the champions League in 2000
Excellent video
sick video!
I'm surprised you have so many pictures of this club
Do you do Asean football?
If you do, could you consider a video on the topic of Singapore Football?
Very interesting!
6:05 You’ve done Graham Potter dirty there mate, you’ve really done him dirty
Why?
Should do a video on the fall of Bradford city
How about a video about the fall of football in ex-Yugoslavua after the yugoslavian league broke up
Make one with the rise and fall of Strømsgoset
Oy! As a swede its cool that you cover an entire video dedicated to a team in my country! Even though i dont support them haha
You should make a video of the fall of Gefle IF because they have a similar story to Sunderland in England
Aint nobody caring about gefle like cmon man
Could you also do one on Unirea Urziceni?