Football Season Guide

Varnamo got promoted to the top flight for the first time in 2022 and they enjoyed 2 very good years since. Last term some solid defending and lots of narrow wins led to the best-ever season in the history of the modest club. Varnamo finished in fifth place and only the 4 teams above them had more than their 14 league wins. This success attracted attention and the mastermind behind Varnamo’s promotion to the top flight in 2021 and the 2 successfully years in Allsvenskan was tempted to take a new role elsewhere. This means that Varnamo’s new head coach is the ex-assistant coach Anes Mravac. He is only 34-years-old so he lacks experience but at least knows the club well. The team captain Johansson and a few other important players also left this winter. Varnamo struggled to replace them and none of their new signings is expected to become a regular starter. Up front things should still be decent as long as the trio of Bustos, Engvall and Zeljkovic stay healthy. Thern and Wenderson will be providing stability in midfield and it seems the new manager’s preferred formation is 4-3-3. Experienced goalkeeper Rasheed assume the starting role late last season and now it’s clear that he will be the main goalie. Eriksson will be missed in defence, but the versatile Näsström played many minutes as part of the back line during the recent Swedish Cup with great success and the natural holding midfielder could end up filling that void pretty well. Varnamo don’t hope to repeat their top 5 finish in 2024 but if their inexperienced manager manages to earn enough home wins they should be able to stay out of trouble again.