Published 2024-04-02 11.17
share-arrowDela
unsaveSpara
AIK’s supporters boycott the meeting with Brommapojkarna on Saturday.
With four days to go, only 30 tickets have been sold for the away stand at Tele2 Arena.
– It will be something completely different, says Axel Björnström.
BP has moved the home opener against AIK from Grimsta to Tele2 Arena in order to accommodate a large audience. But at the end of February, AIK’s supporter groups called for a boycott after BP went against other Stockholm clubs on the VAR issue during the Stockholm Football Association’s annual meeting.
It thus appears to echo empty on Tele2 on Saturday. With four days to go, 3,000 have been booked for the match, but only 30 for the away stands.
– If we rewind the time to before the Stockholm Football Association’s annual meeting, we had expected between 10,000-15,000. After that, we have expected between 3,000-5,000. It will be noticeable that AIK players are not in place, but it still means that there is an opportunity for more neutrals to see the match. We know that AIK is boycotting and we respect that, but our own and neutral ones are selling at roughly what we thought. We still think it will tick this week, says BP’s communications manager Peter Liljegren Appelquist.
expand-left
fullscreen Sotirios Papagiannopoulos. Photo: Jesper Zerman / Bildbyrån
“Getting boring”
AIK had over 36,000 in the home opener against Västerås SK at Friends and are used to large away crowds. Now the conditions will be different.
– We focus on playing, but it will be something completely different than here. It becomes more boring to play, but it is done for something greater. It’s the supporters’ thing, says Axel Björnström.
You understand that they do that?
– That is perhaps a question for others in the club. Our supporters are our club, so that’s my answer.
Sotirios Papagiannopoulos is not fully aware of the issue.
– I don’t really know what has happened and why, but they have a good reason. It’s incredibly sad of course (if no fans come), but it’s their decision, he says.
AIK won the opener against Västerås 1-0 and BP beat Gais 4-0 away from home.
– I didn’t see anything from the match, but BP has looked good in the cup. They are very skilled so then we really have to work on the defensive game so that we don’t let them have too much of the ball, says Björnström.
