Royal tussle over baby’s loyalties
While most Swedes try to guess the name of their new princess – Alicia and Anna are the odds-on favorites – several football clubs want to know what color nappies the baby will wear.
Within minutes of her birth, AIK and Djurgården rolled out the welcome mat, ready to provide diapers in black and gold or blue and. AIK made the strongest pitch, pointing out that King XVI Gustaf is an honorary board member and patron of the club.
Djurgården, however, was quick to point out that the king – the princess’ grandfather – is really a DIF fan. Crown Princess Victoria, meanwhile, is a regular at AIK matches. Just to add to the football family intrigue, Prince Daniel, the baby’s father, played as boy for Brommapojkarna’s youth team.
So far, however, the royal family has yet to sign the still days-old princess up for a club membership.
No, we have not received any requests as yet for a membership,” AIK membership manager Mona Lyfors told Swedish football Web site Fotbolldirekt.com.
Djurgården was equally as mum.
“No, we have no information on this yet,” the club’s information department said.
The Royal Family has a long history of supporting football, starting with King Oscar II, who backed now-defunct side Göteborg IF. That back in 1903 – before the Allsvenskan even began. Since the league kicked off in 1924, the Royal Family has long been tied to AIK and the Solna-based club is confident it is in line to receive a new royal fan.
“The princess's grandfather, Carl XVI Gustaf, has been the patron since 1974 and an honorary member of the AIK Board and both the Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel visit AIK's events at regular intervals. AIK Football is looking forward to welcoming the new Swedish princess to our matches,” the club said on its Web site.

Elfsborg set take on ‘Idol’
This won’t be the average “American Idol” knock-off. No Simon. No J.Lo. No Steven Tyler and (thankfully) no hip-hop wannabes clogging up the stage. Instead, it’s going to be an all-out, old-fashioned fight-to-the-finish battle for a professional football.
Allsvenskan club Elfsborg is teaming up with Swedish TV station TV4 this spring to launch “Pro Dreams,” which is to give a group of aspiring football players the chance to land a professional contract with the Boras side.
According to Borås Tidning, players from around Sweden are to audition in four different cities, with a total of 24 making the final cut. The judges – as yet unannounced – would then cut the field down over four weeks until they find the one player with the talent and moxie to make the big club.
We look at a project whether it has potential and seems interesting and this does,” said Elfsborg president Stefan Andreasson. “There are still some financial pieces we have to get together, but club and people around the project are very positive. It would put both the club and the city even more on the map.”
Club officials said they expected the show to begin late this Spring.

by Chipp Reid