Malmo. When Father Frances fell ill, Sophie Bridgaard had no other choice but to be close to her family.
The club’s title has become Rosengård and when she stands here now as a Swedish champion, tears roll down her cheeks as her father embraces her.
Everything you fought for just came out, she says.
A week after Rosengård won the jackets championship, they finally celebrated with each other and with fans at home at Malmö IP.
– That was great. It’s fun to win your first real title. It was very good, says Sophie Bridgaard.
After the victory over Djurgården, dinner waited for the players and people around the team. Celebrated in the early hours in the club’s VIP building, parts of the entertainment were provided by the club’s newcomers during the traditional talent show.
Emma Berglund was looking forward to seeing Sophie Bridgaard with Rebecca Knack.
“I’ve heard they have something special going on,” said Berglund regarding the gold plate.
When Sportbladet talks to Bredgaard the next day, she laughs at the comment.
– I don’t know how good it was, but we’ll sing a little. It turned out to be fine.
For 20-year-old Dane who came to Rosengård this spring, this was his first SM gold. She chose to move to Skåne and the Masters Club to be closer to the family when her father Frans fell ill.
– As soon as I saw them, tears began to flow. It was a relief.
What does that mean to you?
It means a lot because they are part of this journey that I’ve taken and all that we fought for. If they weren’t there, I wouldn’t be here either.
He previously told Bredgaard about his father’s illness. It’s only been a few weeks since he received the heavy news that doctors found out he had cancer, but now the 20-year-old says he’s almost done the first part of his treatment and everything has gone well far.
So cuddling him, wearing her gold hat, at Malmö IP while celebrating gold was a plus.
– I don’t even know how to describe it. She was very special. I think we both know how much that means for him, for me, for the family and for the club. It was just a relief, a feeling that is hard to describe.
– It wasn’t easy. It has been very challenging for large parts of the season.
How is she now?
After Monday, when we won the league and everything was ready, I felt very comfortable. It was a lot of pressure. It was very difficult to perform consistently, but it was worth all the work I put in. It feels good to finally feel like you don’t have the same pressure on you.
During his first year at Rosengård, Bredgaard won the Swedish Cup, became the Swedish champion and propelled the club to the group stage of the UEFA Champions League.
– It’s been a very good season and you are looking forward to the next one and hopefully we can do it again.
So how will you top next season?
– it’s the truth. It’s going to be hard, but I think once you get a feel for how much fun it is, you just want to do it again and you want to do it better. So I think we can do it again and play a little bit better football as well, then you’ll feel really good.
