Swedish Allsvenskan 2024 starts - who will win and who will be the top scorer?

On Saturday it is time for the Swedish top tier league Allsvenskan to start its season 2024 when IFK Norrköping are hosting the reigning champions Malmö FF. It is followed up with three games on Sunday and four games on Monday. Here are all the matches with kick-off time in the premiere:

IFK Norrköping v Malmö FF - Saturday 15:00
Gais v Brommapojkarna - Sunday 14:00
Hammarby v Kalmar - Sunday 14:00
Häcken v Mjällby - Sunday 16:30
IFK Gothenburg v Djurgården - Monday 14:00
Sirius v Halmstad - Monday 14:00
AIK against Västerås - Sunday 16:30
Elfsborg against Värnamo - Monday 16:30

Here we go through the teams that can win the gold this season, and of course we take a closer look at who can become the league's top scorer.

Malmö big favourites

Favourites by far this season are Malmö FF. There is no expert who would tip any other team as champions, and the reason for this is not only the top players they have but also the how good players they Malmö has on the bench. Regardless of which players they put on the field, basically everyone sitting on the bench would go straight into the opposing team's starting eleven. This means that even if Malmö were to lose some players in the next transfer window, they already have the replacements ready in the squad. In addition, they have the financial muscle to replace lost players with new signings.

So, is there anything that speaks against Malmö? Well, one thing could be precisely the many qualitative players they have. Only eleven players can start a game and those who don't get to play are guaranteed not to be happy, at least if they sit on the bench match after match, and this is something that could create some turmoil in the squad. They also have Champions League qualifiers to focus on, which is always something that takes focus from the league. One last thing is that they by far had the best squad last season as well, but they only managed to secure the title by winning the last game of the season against Elfsborg, which if anything is proof that it is not always enough to have the best the players on paper.

Who can challenge Malmö?

Although Malmö are obviously big favourites, there is no lack of challengers. The first challenger is Djurgården, who also have a strong squad, although they do not have the same quality squad depth as Malmö. They have a very strong midfield, where Albin Ekdal and Samuel Leach Holm have strengthened the team, and they also have the super talent Lucas Bergvall who will stay until the summer before he leaves for Tottenham. What they lack are really high-quality strikers. Sure, Deniz Hümmet is a good striker that Djurgården strongly believes in, and the new Norwegian striker Tobias Gulliksen could be a success, but the attack has more depth rather than edge.

Last season, Elfsborg performed way above everyone's expectations, even if they unnecessarily and painfully missed out on the gold in the final match. However, they have lost many of last year's most important players such as Gustaf Lagerbielke, Jacob Ondrejka, Hákon Rafn Valdimarsson (Allsvenskan's best goalkeeper last season) and Jeppe Okkels. They have been replaced with good players such as Arber Zeneli and Icelandic great talent Eggert Aron Gudmundsson, but the large rotation of players will make it difficult to repeat last year's performance.

Häcken have been strong for several years now but they too have lost many of their key players. Above all, the loss of the midfielder Samuel Gustafson becomes particularly noticeable, as well as the loss of the brains behind the team, coach Per Mathias Høgmo. The new signings they have made do not really make up for the losses and most likely Häcken will not maintain the same high class this season.

AIK had a horrible season last season but managed to save the contract in good time before the last round. It was a messy year for AIK with a new sporting director and new coach in the middle of the season and reasonably they should be more stable this season. AIK have a starting line-up that has reasonably high class, but the question is whether they have enough player depth. They have signed many new players in recent months (second half of last season included) and if most of them are performing as AIK hopes they can be a top contender this season, if they can avoid the turbulence in the club that is so common with AIK.

Hammarby is also a team that has a starting line-up that, on paper at least, could place them high in the table. However, it is not often that Hammarby lives up to expectations and they have not looked so strong during the pre-season under new coach Kim Hellberg. But a pre-season does not mean everything and if Hellberg can get the team together in a good way, Hammarby can surprise.

Who will win the golden boot title in Allsvenskan 2024?

We will also look at which candidates we have who can become leagues the top scorer in Allsvenskan season 2024. Last season, Häcken's Bénie Traoré was at the top of the scoring list when he left for Sheffield United, which opened the way for Isaac Kiese Thelin to win the top scorer title comfortably with his 16 goals, and Bénie Traoré actually finished second with his 12 goals he scored in the first half of the season.

As usual, it is in the top teams that we most likely will find the golden boot winner, and as a rule he plays in the champions' team. Both of the two favourite's we list below therefore play in Malmö, but you have to remember that with the width they have in the squad, their focus they will have on the Champions League qualification which will mean a lot of rotation in the squad, as well as the fact that they have many dangerous players who will share the goals, means that it is not at all certain that the winner will come from Malmö.

Anyway, here is our ranking of players who can win top scorer title this season.

Isaac Kiese Thelin - here playing in the national team

1. Isaac Kiese Thelin, Malmö FF

As said, Isaac Kiese Thelin won the title last season, which was the first time he won a golden boot title. The 16 goals he scored is a very good result and given that he plays in Malmö in particular, he has great opportunities to repeat the feat this season, and maybe even score a few more goals.

2. Erik Bothheim, Malmö FF

One of Malmö's new signings, the 24-year-old Norwegian Erik Botheim, is a great Norwegian talent who has had a somewhat checkered career. He had great success with Bodø/Glimt in the 2021 season in the Norwegian top league, scoring 15 goals, prompting Russian side Krasnodar to sign him. Before he could make his debut for them, Russia started their war against Ukraine, which meant that he ended up in Italy's Salernitana instead. He mostly had to act as a substitute there and was hardly successful, only one goal in two seasons. But he has looked very strong in the Swedish Cup and the friendlies in the pre-season and Malmö's coach Henrik Rydström seems to have great confidence in him. This, in combination with the fact that he plays in Malmö, means that he is placed high on this list.

3. Ioannis Pittas, AIK

AIK's Cypriot Ioannis Pittas was signed last summer, and he was a big reason why AIK secured the contract. He scored in his debut and then scored another eight goals, including a hat-trick in the last round against Värnamo. A total of 9 goals in 13 games is an impressive result in a new club and if AIK's will be a top team this season, he can probably score upwards of 20 goals.

4. Deniz Hümmet, Djurgården

Deniz Hümmet had a perfectly ok season in Kalmar last season and scored 9 goals there in 30 games. Now he has upgraded himself to the main title contenders Djurgården and that could be just what both need. Djurgården has lacked a real "killer striker" in recent seasons, and this is exactly what Hümmet is. He is not an elegant player, but he is often positioned right. With the creative midfield that Djurgården has, the Hümmet-Djurgården combination can be perfect, which bodes well for many goals from his side.

5. Christopher Nyman, IFK Norrköping

IFK Norrköping is not the same strong team that they have been at times during the 2000s, but they have one of the Allsvenskan's absolute best strikers in Christoffer Nyman. That several players from other teams mention him as a player they want in their own team says a lot about his quality. Of course, Nyman is hampered by the fact that Norrköping is not a top candidate, but we should still see a lot of goals from his side.

Other candidates

In addition to these five favourites, it is difficult to pick out someone who is guaranteed to score a lot of goals, but having said that, it must still be said that there are several players who have the potential to score a lot of goals. We start by looking at the other top teams' best strikers and their chances of winning the top scorer title.

Häcken has many talented and interesting strikers, but it is doubtful if any of them will score a lot of goals. Edward Chilufya is a very good player but not a great scorer and the same goes for Amor Layouni. Julius Lindberg scored 11 goals for GAIS in the second-tier league Superettan last season and could be a nice signing for Häcken in time, but it is doubtful if he scores enough goals to fight at the top of the scoring list this season.

Elfsborg completely lack strikers with a goal guarantee, although they are not bad players for sure. There are high hopes for the talent Dion Krasniqi, who was signed in from Varberg, but it is doubtful if he is seriously a candidate to win the title this year. Elfsborg will certainly score many goals, but the goals will probably be well distributed among several different players in the team.

If Hammarby has a good season, Hammarby's midfield star Nahir Besara will probably score a lot of goals. Hammarby also has the two great attacking talents Viktor Djukanovic and Jusef Erabi, both of whom could explode this season.

Players from other teams then? Players like Gustav Engvall in Värnamo (11 goals last year), 21-year-old Joakim Persson in Sirius (10 goals last year), highly interesting Arbnor Mucolli in IFK Göteborg and Kalmar's Finn Simon Skrabb are all talented players who will score several goals, but as they play in clubs that are no top teams, it is extremely doubtful that any of them will score enough goals to become the league's top scorer.