Did not take place in Hammarby - now Siriusbacken meets his former team in the gold fight

Sirius took the lead in the Allsvenskan already in the second round and since then they have held first place. When the autumn season – after a three-week national team break – restarted at the beginning of October, Sirius led by eight points ahead of closest chasing Hammarby. Now the margin to Hammarby has shrunk to six points.

On Thursday evening, the difference may narrow further. Then Sirius meets Hammarby at 3 Arena in Stockholm. If the Uppsala team loses, their buffer is halved. If they win, they can get the chance to secure the SM gold at home as early as next week.

- It has been quite a long time that "Bajen" has been at the top (closest behind Sirius), so you have been looking forward to this match for a long time and it will be incredibly fun to finally get to play it, says Sirius' 27-year-old left-back Oscar Krusnell.

He joined Sirius in the summer of 2025 and this season he has been in the starting eleven in all but one of the team's Allsvenskan matches, when he was suspended due to having collected three yellow cards.

Krusnell is from Stockholm and he grew up south of the city. As a 13-year-old, he left parent club Enskede IK for AIK's academy. In the summer of 2015, when he was 16 years old, he moved to English Sunderland, but after two years in England he returned to Sweden and in 2017 he signed for Hammarby as an 18-year-old.

Now a lot of water has flown under the bridges since Krusnell played in "Bajen", but there is one ingredient that makes Thursday's series finale a little extra special for him.

- It's probably mostly that I have many friends and a few relatives who are "badass" because I grew up south of Stockholm. But there aren't that many people I know in the club anymore.

It was in Hammarby that Krusnell became a senior player. The first Allsvenskan match from the start came against Sirius at 3 Arena on 23 October 2017. It was also the only match from the start for Krusnell in Hammarby. He left the club when his contract expired after a few seasons on loan.

- As I remember it, Sirius probably didn't have as many people with him then as we have tomorrow, he says during Wednesday.

That memory is definitely correct. The local newspaper UNT is reporting that the 3,000 Sirius supporters who have decided to watch Thursday's game in place will constitute a new record in terms of attendance for Sirius.

Despite the weight of the match in the fight for the SM gold and the great interest surrounding it, Oscar Krusnell says that the nervousness beforehand is not significantly different from other matches.

- I think I'm more nervous than people think before matches in general, but I get a little less nervous than people think before matches like this. For me, a little nervousness is always good. Then you are focused and engaged. I see it more like you get a little more energy from the adrenaline in a match like this than you get nervous.

When there are now five rounds left for Sirius in the Allsvenskan and the series is seriously to be decided, a discussion has arisen about whether Sirius has something to lose.

- I understand that the question will come, but I can't really understand the question, says Jonathan Ederström, who is manager of the men's team in Sirius, and elaborates:

- We have the Allsvenskan's ninth largest economy and in round 26 we go and meet Hammarby away and lead the Allsvenskan with 6 points. I think that speaks volumes for what this group has accomplished.

Left back Oscar Krusnell partially agrees.

- But it is clear that we want to win the league, so we have that to lose, he says.