Huddinge IF Girls are Sweden’s representative in the MTG United for Peace Cup 2010

Photo by: Expressen/Joel Wennberg

MTG Sweden has nominated Huddinge IF’s Girls to become Sweden’s MTG United for Peace representatives. It is a team that is well prepared for the cup in Oslo, since they received a special training session with Champions Leagues experts Ola Andersson and Ola Wenström in the historical Söderstadion in Stockholm. The nomination was decided with the help of the evening paper Expressen.

The girl’s team from Flemingsberg/Vårby Gård has never been able to participate in a tournament outside Stockholm. They have not even been able to participate in normal league matches because they have not had means of transport. It is therefore with great pleasure that MTG Sweden, in collaboration with Expressen’s football tournament St. Erikscupen, gives the 12-year-olds the opportunity to go on their first ever international tournament.

Huddinge IF is one of Stockholm’s and Sweden’s biggest youth organisations, working in several districts of the city. A few years ago the Stockholm police and authorities asked Huddinge IF to start a club in Vårby Gård and Flemingsberg, two suburbs in south Stockholm with crime problems. Huddinge IF’s chairman Per Brick says: “It got so bad that ambulances sometimes didn’t dare to enter the area without a police escort.”

Huddinge IF therefore decided to start an initiative they called “Friday Football” where police and firemen play football with the local youths. The initiative became a success and brought authorities and locals closer together.

One of the success stories of this initiative was the establishment of a football team of girls from different backgrounds who had never before had the opportunity to use the football pitches in the area. The girl’s team went on to become a member of Huddinge IF and is now a multi-ethnic and multi-religious team that has fun together.

The photos show how much the team enjoyed their training session led by Viasat Champions Leagues experts Ola Wenström and Ola Andersson on Söderstadion, the home ground of Hammarby. Midfielder Ola Andersson himself played Champions League matches against both Barcelona and Arsenal when he played for AIK in Solna.