Malmo IP
Pildammsvägen 10
Ground Number: 1315
Saturday 1st June 2024
Ariana - BK Olympic
Saturday 1st June 2024
Ariana - BK Olympic
Ettan Sodra
ARIANA FC - A BRIEF HISTORY
The club is a fairly modern one, having been established in 2015. They had lofty ambitions, aiming to get to the top level of Swedish football - the Allsvenskan.The initiative for the formation was taken by young people in Malmö, and the club has described itself as an association that will add colour to Swedish football. The club has been called Malmö's first Afghan football club and was founded by players with Afghan roots, including Norlla Amiri, Omid Hushmand and Saber Azizi. The name Ariana is an old name for Afghanistan. They started out in the reserves leagues at first before joining the 9th tier Division 7 Sydvästra Skåne which they won in in 2017. It has been a rapid rise from there as they finished as runners-up behind Liria IF in the 2018 Division 6 Sydvästra A Skåne. They then beat IFK Rössjöholm in a playoff game to win promotion. The next year they won the Division 5 Södra Skåne the following year. In 2020, they had to setttle for a runners-up spot behind Åkarp IF in Division 4 Sydvästra Skåne but won Divison 3 and Division 2 Södra Götaland in successive seasons to reach the third tier Ettan Södra where they finished 8th last season.
MY VISIT
When planning this trip, this was initially the standout stadium. The design was very nice and although it had a running track around the pitch, I thought it was well worth a visit. I learned in my research that it was used during Euro 92, the last international tournament that I didn't watch. Retrospectively I watched the last-ever Saint and Greavsie show that previewed Euro 92 and it looked a clean and pleasant country. I had some memories of Sweden at my first international tournament of USA 1994, especially their balding but excellent goalkeeper Thomas Ravelli. They finished a credible third place at that tournament. In more recent times, I have met a few Swedish hoppers. One, Kim Hedwall, has organised groundhops in Sweden for a number of years but I have never taken the plunge due to what I thought was high accommodation prices should I wish to have a single room. I would probably think differently now but have been thwarted by work forcing me to book my holiday months in advance. I was a couple of weeks too early for this year's event but I still managed to plan a pretty decent weekend.
From the game at Heleneholms, it was a half-hour walk to the Malmo Stadium where Futbology had the game listed as being played. However, when I saw the place was deserted, I double checked. It turned out the game was being played at Malmo IP. It wasn't a problem though as due to Malmo's compact size, it was only 20 minutes walk away. I was at the stadium 20 minutes before kickoff. I'd purchased my ticket online at the great price of £4.50. My ticket was scanned and I went in and had a look around. It was disappointing not to be seeing a game at a former Euro 92 venue but it was still a great ground.
Ariana were 6th in the the table and had lost their last three games prior to their game on Tuesday. Last Friday they had lost 3-2 to Torns IF. Visitors BK Olympic were in 14th and their last couple of games, most recently 2-1 against Lunds BK. BK Olympic had a lot of pressure early on. They took the lead on 4 minutes, a shot followed up after the ball was not cleared properly, Joshua Silvertson the scorer. On 15 minutes, Ariana equalised, Andre Reinholdsson turning in a cross from close range. BK Olympic continued to have the better of the game and they went ahead, this time a cross from the left was bundled home at the back post by Okland Spelare. Following a rough challenge, the Ariana keeper had to go off on a stretcher with five minutes remaining, an outfielder replacing him in goal. There was still a twist in the tail as they pressed for and got an equaliser in the 6th minute of injury time. BK had been playing keep ball down one end of the pitch. Ariana broke and equalised after a smart move and finish by man of the match Reinholdsson. A frentic finish ensued, real end to end stuff. BK Olympic had the ball in the net but it was ruled out for offside. It was Ariana that looked most likely in the 11 minutes of injury time, but the goal wouldn't come.
It was something of a Malmo derby and the home fans especially created a great atmosphere. I'd really enjoyed my visit and the good thing was, the change of the venue brought me closer to my room. It was only 25 minutes walk back to my hotel. My phone battery was almost dead so I stayed in for a while and charged it while I had a shower. With it up from 12% to 64% I headed out for a few drinks and something to eat. The Malmo Brewery Taproom was around 25 minutes walk away and the benefit of it's isolation was that it was easy to get a table. I had a couple of ciders from the Ability Micro Brewery, some hot chilli beef jerky and a great bacon cheese meatloaf burger. It was very messy and served with crisps strangely but it was enjoyable. From there, I headed back to my room. Despite the prevalence of Kopparberg in the UK, there were not many places that did cider in Malmo. I did consider Brewdog but the prices were npt great. It did me no harm to go back and have a soft drink whilst watching the Champions League Final and typing my blog before a fairly early start tomorrow.
THE GROUND
MALMO IP is a charming venue with every stand different. They do all have supporting pillars but this means the designs vary wildly. The main stand also houses a basic cafe and this holds a few thousand seated. Opposite is a smaller attracdtive stand along with a disabled enclosure and a terrace. This is matched by one end which is also a terrace whilst the other end is bench seating. No souvenirs were on sale for Ariana when I went but I saw people wearing scarves. The ground is well located, around 20 minutes from the centre of Malmo.
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