Gothenburg is chasing replacements for Rubensson and Kollmats - 16-year-old en route

Gothenburg FC was highlighted last winter as a gold candidate but then came two heavy breakdowns. On March 14, Beata Kollmats was hit by a cruciate ligament injury and this week Elin Rubensson announced that she will be a mother. Both are away from the whole season. Now the club feverishly looks abroad for replacements for two of the club's heaviest pieces.

- Obviously, there are two class players so it is not so good sporting, says sports manager Lasse Svensson.

- We'll see what we can find for replacements. 

You don't sound particularly worried?

- Well, worried and worried. But we will probably solve it in a good way.

Svensson says that the club is working too hard to find players and that you already have some names to work with. But nothing is clear and it is quite urgent. The transfer window closes on June 13, the day before it is free to play training games for the team. Damallsvenskan starts on June 27.

Two hectic weeks?

- Yes, we are in the middle of planning and everything should be resolved. It's not so easy to find in Sweden, most people already have contracts. We have to look abroad. We are looking around the world, both in the US and in Europe, says Svensson, who believes that the corona pandemic makes it extremely difficult to scout players and know what form they are in.

- Absolutely, it's much more of a gamble now.

First and foremost, the club should find two players to replace Rubensson and Kollmats with, but the club really needs additional refills ahead of a season that will be very compressed.

- What you are most worried about is the tough game program. The tight game schedule in allsvenskan and being in the European Championship qualifying, it will be very tiring. We have a lot of national team players so there will be a lot of matches.

- The wish situation had been (more players) but there is finances to relate to.

Therefore, in parallel with the attempts to recruit a replacement for Rubensson and Kollmats from abroad, work is underway to lift players from the club's F19 squad.

- Our F19 players have been with and trained with the A-team, says Svensson and thinks that someone or some people are relevant to getting up.

- We haven't talked to the players yet, but we have a girl named Hanna Wijk who showed her forefoot and probably we will lift her up.

Wijk is an outfield midfielder, born in 2003 and comes from Lerums IS. The 16-year-old made his A-team debut last winter during a training match and scored in the victory against Norwegian Vålerenga.

Svensson hopes that the team's gold chances have not decreased as much with the loss of Rubensson and Kollmats.

Are you still aiming to challenge gold?

- Yes absolutely, we do. We have quality in the squad.