How Ostersunds FK Reached The Europa League By Doing Things Differently
Graham Potter
The architect of the club’s success is its English head coach Graham Potter. English coaches have changed Swedish soccer in the past  with Bob Houghton and Roy Hodgson introducing a more direct English style of soccer to the country  and winning a host of titles between them  Houghton even leading Malmö FF to the final of the European Cup. Their legacy has endured in the way many clubs in Sweden play their soccer  but when  Graham Potter  joined Östersunds   he  wanted the club to change its soccer philosophy away from the direct style of many Swedish clubs  and introduce a more tactically flexible  possession-based style of play where players have the chance to develop.
Moving to Sweden was a risk. Before  joining Östersunds FK  Potter  had been coaching with the relatively safe confines of university-level soccer in England.  He  moved to Sweden for the challenge of coaching in professional soccer and the opportunity to create an identity for the club.  Potter  was attracted by the chairman’s vision for Östersunds  but  he  joined a side that had just been relegated  and was low on morale. The job was made harder by the club’s location in the small town of Östersund in central Sweden  a quiet backwater of 50 000 people  far to the north of Stockholm  Malmö and Gothenburg on Sweden’s southern coast. When Östersunds were outside Sweden’s top two tiers  getting players to move up north was a challenge  so Potter changed the club’s recruitment strategy  even bringing in some young  hungry players from England who had fallen through the cracks of the English system.
One of those players was Jamie Hopcutt. He scored in Östersunds’ Europa Cup qualifying match against Galatasaray  but before joining the Swedish club  he was playing his football for Tadcaster Albion in the ninth tier of English soccer. Hopcutt got an email from LFE  a program that helps players who have been released from professional teams  offering him a place on a trial day at Östersunds. He told me that  Graham Potter  had coached  him  when he was a young boy at York City  and as being a professional soccer player was Hopcutt’s ‘ultimate dream’  the then-19-year-old didn’t take much convincing to up sticks and move to Sweden’s ‘winter city’.
 Graham Potter  has tried to make Östersunds FK a low-pressure environment-- no easy thing in the results-driven soccer business. Supported by club chairman Daniel Kindberg  who says soccer ‘is a mental game about decision making and courage’   Potter  built confidence and team spirit through some surprising methods  such as getting the players to perform ‘Swan Lake’ to fans and locals. His aim is to create players that are brave and can think clearly in a stressful situation.
Rather than focusing solely on results   Potter  says  it ’s more important to create a good environment where players aren’t afraid of losing and have responsibility for their own decisions.
Even without the Europa League  Östersunds FK’s journey has been an incredible achievement. When  Potter  joined the club  it was at  its  lowest ebb  with less than a thousand people turning up to cheer on the team. Now around 6 000 fans attend Östersunds FK’s matches and some of its players  like midfielder Ken Sema  are pushing for a place in Sweden’s World Cup squad. Östersunds’ Europa League journey saw the side knock out Galatasaray and Greek side PAOK  and in the group stage Östersunds only missed out on top spot to Athletic Bilbao on goal difference. Whether Östersunds win or lose against Arsenal  the last few years have been a fairytale for the small club from central Sweden  but it’s a fairytale based on creating the right environment for players to succeed   and showing trust and faith in players that other clubs might not have considered.
The architect of the club’s success is its English head coach Graham Potter. English coaches have changed Swedish soccer in the past  with Bob Houghton and Roy Hodgson introducing a more direct English style of soccer to the country  and winning a host of titles between them  Houghton even leading Malmö FF to the final of the European Cup. Their legacy has endured in the way many clubs in Sweden play their soccer  but when  [TGT]joined Östersunds   [TGT]  wanted the club to change its soccer philosophy away from the direct style of many Swedish clubs  and introduce a more tactically flexible  possession-based style of play where players have the chance to develop.
Moving to Sweden was a risk. Before  joining Östersunds FK  [TGT]had been coaching with the relatively safe confines of university-level soccer in England.  [TGT]  moved to Sweden for the challenge of coaching in professional soccer and the opportunity to create an identity for the club.  [TGT]was attracted by the chairman’s vision for Östersunds  but  [TGT]  joined a side that had just been relegated  and was low on morale. The job was made harder by the club’s location in the small town of Östersund in central Sweden  a quiet backwater of 50 000 people  far to the north of Stockholm  Malmö and Gothenburg on Sweden’s southern coast. When Östersunds were outside Sweden’s top two tiers  getting players to move up north was a challenge  so [TGT] changed the club’s recruitment strategy  even bringing in some young  hungry players from England who had fallen through the cracks of the English system.
One of those players was Jamie Hopcutt. He scored in Östersunds’ Europa Cup qualifying match against Galatasaray  but before joining the Swedish club  he was playing his football for Tadcaster Albion in the ninth tier of English soccer. Hopcutt got an email from LFE  a program that helps players who have been released from professional teams  offering him a place on a trial day at Östersunds. He told me that  [TGT]had coached  [TGT]  when he was a young boy at York City  and as being a professional soccer player was Hopcutt’s ‘ultimate dream’  the then-19-year-old didn’t take much convincing to up sticks and move to Sweden’s ‘winter city’.
 Graham Potter  has tried to make Östersunds FK a low-pressure environment-- no easy thing in the results-driven soccer business. Supported by club chairman Daniel Kindberg  who says soccer ‘is a mental game about decision making and courage’   [TGT]built confidence and team spirit through some surprising methods  such as getting the players to perform ‘Swan Lake’ to fans and locals. His aim is to create players that are brave and can think clearly in a stressful situation.
Rather than focusing solely on results   [TGT]says  it ’s more important to create a good environment where players aren’t afraid of losing and have responsibility for their own decisions.
Even without the Europa League  Östersunds FK’s journey has been an incredible achievement. When  [TGT]joined the club  it was at  [TGT]  lowest ebb  with less than a thousand people turning up to cheer on the team. Now around 6 000 fans attend Östersunds FK’s matches and some of its players  like midfielder Ken Sema  are pushing for a place in Sweden’s World Cup squad. Östersunds’ Europa League journey saw the side knock out Galatasaray and Greek side PAOK  and in the group stage Östersunds only missed out on top spot to Athletic Bilbao on goal difference. Whether Östersunds win or lose against Arsenal  the last few years have been a fairytale for the small club from central Sweden  but it’s a fairytale based on creating the right environment for players to succeed   and showing trust and faith in players that other clubs might not have considered.