An advancement to the group stage in the Conference League would mean at least SEK 30 million for AIK.
But for AIK to get their hands on that amount, a turnaround in the final qualifying round against Czech Slovacko is required.
For the first meeting at the Mestsky stadium, Miroslava Valenty ended with a superior home victory.
Slovacko took the lead midway through the first half through 39-year-old veteran Milan Petrzela.
Two goals in four minutes
After that goal, it was Slovacko for all the money, despite that, AIK managed to avoid conceding more goals - until the end.
Because in the space of four minutes Slovacko went from 1-0 to 3-0.
First, recently substituted Vlasiy Sinyavskiy made it 2-0 and shortly afterwards it was time again when Petr Reinberk extended from the short line.
A shot that went via Kristoffer Nordfeldt's heel into the goal.
AIK never managed to clean up the numbers and now instead a huge turnaround in the return is required for the European adventure to continue.
The return match will be played at Friends Arena on Thursday.