Kim Anderson vs. Christian Svensson.
17 years after this picture, they met again in the final of the championship in Sweden.
“Being here again is satisfying fun,” says Svensson before tonight’s final between IFK Skövde and IF Ystads.
The year was 2005 and the Swedish Handball Championship final was to be decided in a single match for the first time.
Ahead of the packed Globen final (14,327 spectators – still the last record) between IK Sävehof and IFK Skövde, it was apparent that Sportbladet brought together Kim Andersson and Kristian Svensson for a “duel photo” with SM dent in the background – two World Cup players , two right-handers and two Premier League stars who played their last game for each team before a career abroad awaited.
After 17 years, they will meet again in the final of the Swedish Championship. Both are chasing their first gold with the club in their heart: Anderson, who will turn 40 this summer, with Ystads IF Svensson, who turned 41 in May, is with IFK Skövde.
Don’t treat it with gold.
We weren’t able to get them together before the first final tonight as it’s now a game series and so the team doesn’t collide until tonight’s return in Skövde. In addition, the distance between Ystad and Skövde is too far to see and take a picture.
Anderson just laughs when he sees the photo and reads the article.
– I don’t remember this. But then I have a memory like a goldfish when it comes to things like this.
Svenson:
– (Laughter) It’s interesting to read now that it’s been a few years.
Andersson appears to be gaining an advantage in the picture while Svensson is a bit more defensive.
– I’m not conceited as a person. I don’t feel like Kim is, but it might have been a little more at the time, says Svenson.
Kim:
Christian is a wonderful person. I can’t say anything bad about him. But I don’t treat him with any gold. I don’t indulge anyone else either, I never do.
“I was really bad”
Anderson and Savehoff won the final in 2005 and won their second gold medal in a row.
– I remember the match already. I was really bad in that final, he says.
Ten years later, having been a professional in Germany and Denmark, Anderson returned to the handball league. Now to Ystads IF where he became a standout player in the years 1998-2001 after leaving parent club Kävlinge HK to go to high school in the city and bet on handball.
Svensson also turned professional in Denmark and Germany. In 2013, he returned to the parent club. He retired after a recent loss last year but returned last fall.
“For my part, I feel comfortable up front because this is a bonus for me,” he says.
So the odds are that you’ll both be here again in the last 17 years after that?
– Of course, they would have been high, had it not been for SM-SM (laughs). Being here again is a satisfying pleasure. Kim came out victorious most of the time too when we met in Germany. Svensson says it would be fun to turn it around in the end.
“Skövde is my favourite”
IFK Skövde has never won a gold medal and it has been 30 years since Ystads IF.
Fun with “new” teams, as Sävehof or Kristianstad doesn’t win every time, says Svensson.
Sävehof and Kristianstad grabbed the last six golds and if we add Alingsås to the equation, we’ll actually have to back the squad for 2007 to find a final where none of those three teams took part.
Kim Andersson was quick to transfer favorite pressure to Skövde 17 years ago and he does now too.
– I’m not saying that because we should be weak. But they finished second in the series and we are four. They felt very stable and had the advantage of the land over their own land. We really have nothing to lose. We were in the final when people thought we were going on vacation 1.5 months ago.
Svenson:
Of course he puts our favorite…
What do you say then?
These are two of Sweden’s strongest handball teams who will meet in a series of five matches. I expect the match to be tight and I wouldn’t be surprised if I go for five games, and of course we have an advantage at home.
What will determine the matches?
— Details and everyday look, says Svensson.
Small tactical details. Anderson says there are two good coaches.
Svensson noticed a special circumstance for IFK Skövde in the final of his third Sweden Championship.
– This will be the first association final match on its home soil with an audience. In 2005 and 2007 it was a world final and last year we didn’t have an audience.
