Afterwards, young people told how they heard shots in the middle of the match. On the floor lay their beloved leader.
Saba Abraham turned 24. She was previously employed in Hammarby football's social project Samhällsmatchen and then wrote on Instagram:
"My passion in life is that I love helping people and especially young people."
She wanted…
"...can inspire young people to enter the labor market and reduce the crime that affects our society."
The community match's spontaneous football took place on a pitch in Kämpetorpshallarna last Friday. Saba Abraham was there in her new role as recreation manager for the City of Stockholm in Älvsjö.
The sports field, or hall, is the heart of the Swedish sports movement.
A place that pulses with emotions and creates energy that gives as much to individuals as to society at large. The importance cannot be overstated. Therefore, the murder of Saba Abraham affects the entire sports movement
That it is not more often also the site of serious crime is remarkable but not inexplicable.
Where there are young people, there is the risk of recruitment into crime. The bait is flattery and false promises of money that is allegedly easy to earn.
There are thousands of young people at sports fields. That the sports ground is not more often also the site of serious crime is remarkable but not inexplicable. The (often non-profit) leaders of the clubs do everything they can to keep track of who moves there.
Last week there was a press release from Swedish elite soccer, Sef:
"When elite football makes headlines, it's usually about messes in the stands. But the rest of the week something completely different is going on. The 32 clubs together reach 217,000 young people a year, with 6,000 leaders and 170,000 hours of community work. Night football on Friday nights, reading in the classrooms, a first job for young people who were left out."
It is possible to understand the easily resigned tone in the attempt to lift the "Football Effect" report.
An interrupted Allsvenskan match gives more attention than a thousand hours of spontaneous football on weekend evenings.
The year didn't get there before such a business got attention no one wanted.
To highlight the clubs' social work, Sef ensures that the "Football effect" is noticed on billboards in Stockholm during weeks 43 and 44.
The year didn't get there before such a business got attention no one wanted.
Hammarby was early on working far outside the Allsvenskan arenas. In 2018, the club brought together the weekend evenings' spontaneous football with other ongoing social work under the name "Samhällsmatchen". In the project, Hammarby collaborates with schools and participates in training adults in how to detect criminal recruitment among young people.
In 2025, Samhällsmatchen received the City of Stockholm's Safety Award.
Last Friday, the security was shattered by deadly violence during Samhällsmatchen's spontaneous football.
The thing that the project is for to keep children and young people away from hit full force.
One theory the police have is that the murder was an act of revenge against a relative who has known connections to the criminal environment.
In that case, the reprehensible cowardice has now struck in a sports hall. As it previously did in homes and in pizzerias, on the streets and in hairdressing salons.
The 2020s have been the decade of fatal shootings. The sports movement, together with other social actors, has ensured that the sports ground has usually been a protected zone.
But not always.
In March, a teenage boy was shot to death next to Vårbyparken's IP in Huddinge.
Three years ago, Mälarhöjden's IP was a place of deadly violence.
Then as now, children fled in panic on a sports field. Then the sports field was closed for two days and I wrote that a closed sports field is like a blocked up church. That was an understatement. It was a long time ago that the church was society's main gathering place. The sports field has taken over. With young people as the driving force.
On the third day, Mälarhöjden's IP was opened again.
In Älvsjö, sports were already underway the day after the crime. SvD spoke to a young guy who was inside the hall when the shots fell in Älvsjö, he had returned to collect things that were left inside when he fled. He did not know if he will return to play football.
During a train journey somewhere in Sweden, I heard a radio reporter talking to other guys outside Kämpetorpshallarna in the headphones. They had returned for the football the day after the murder. One said it felt hard, a little scary, scary. Yet they were there playing.
- There are not that many options, he said.
The ever-ongoing match in society is bigger, harder and more important.
Hammarby's men's team will face Mjällby in Blekinge on Sunday.
The constantly ongoing match in society is bigger, more difficult and more important than all in the Allsvenskan. Many clubs play it.
