I've described the derbies against our true antagonists Djurgården and Hammarby as the Battle Ryales of Swedish soccer. A derby against Brommapojkarna never truly reaches the same levels of anticipation and hysteria. This is a instead a game that I've dubbed the Novelty Derby. It's a novelty because it's a rather new derby as Brommapojkarna is only playing their second season ever in Allsvenskan.

As July ends so does the ability for Swedish teams to acquire new players. The Swedish transfer window closed this past Tuesday, which allows us the opportunity to review the most significant Allsvenskan signings. It's been a fairly interesting shopping window for the Swedish clubs with a few foreign additions as well as one major move between Allsvenskan clubs.

And so it was made official. Antonio Flavio Aires dos Santos, formerly of E.C. Santo Andre, has signed on for our beloved AIK. It is still unclear when the 22-year old attacker will be available for play, but early August is the most likely timeframe for his debut in AIK.
Antonio Flavio made it known through AIK Fotboll's official website that he is looking forward to getting to know the club and its supporters.

The game against Trelleborg meant another 1-0 game win for AIK. But it wasn't just another 1-0 win in the sense that AIK played one of their best games of the season. Great play along the wings for once and Antonio Flavio proved that he can perform at a level above the opposition. Excellent technique from the young Brazilian tonight.

The semi-final game in the Swedish Cup will be a game that will live on in the memories of AIK supporters for a long time to come. One of the most mind-boggling last minute turnarounds brought AIK to a sixteenth cup final with a solid chance at an eight cup title.
AIK was the best team over 90 minutes and it looked like it was going to be yet another 1-0 win following an early goal from Ivan Obolo.

The Good:
1. Extended records and league lead for AIK
2. Ivan Obolo's world class finish
3. Antonio Flavio's first goal
4. Solid performances from the entire team
The Bad:
1. We won't get to play Häcken anymore this year
The Ugly:
The stadium, Rambergsvallen, should be torn down.

AIK managers Mikael Stahre and Björn Wesström are currently spending some time in exotic Brazil, the crown jewel of South America. They are there to meet interesting and stimulating people of an unfamiliar culture... and possibly sign someone to AIK.
Björn Wesström traveled to Brazil earlier in the year with the obvious goal of finding a replacement for Ivan Obolo in case our Argentinean star ends up leaving AIK this season.

Normally I wouldn't cover these type of training matches, but the mid-season friendly against AIK's feeder-club Akropolis IF on Wednesday is of special interest. The match will see the a non-official AIK debut for exciting new Brazilian signing Antonio Flavio.
The game will be played in a rather unusual location in the northern Stockholm suburb of Akalla.

Monday's game against Halmstad is yet another crucial match for AIK, but one that wouldn't raise my pulse much at all if wasn't for the fact that AIK is involved in an intense title race. Halmstad is after all a pretty dull club. They show up twice a season as an opponent, but they usually fail to leave much of an impression or elicit very strong emotions.

The nineteenth round saw just the expected amount of shuffling at the top and the bottom of Allsvenskan. New league leaders AIK have only scored an average of one goal per game and have had to fight extremely hard for almost every single point they've racked up so far. But an impressive display both defensive strength and team morale has brought the team to the very top.

If I were to put a positive spin on this game I'd say that AIK is still the team with the longest undefeated streak in Allsvenskan. Oh, and that AIK still remains in first place for another day or two. But if I had to level with you, I would say that the draw against Kalmar still feels like a bit of a letdown.

In all my years as an AIK supporter there have been two particular signings that have left me ecstatic and wondering how in the world AIK managed to sign players of such high class. The first time was when AIK brought home Andreas Andersson from Newcastle United and the second time was the purchase of Derek Boateng from Panathinaikos.

Two full weeks have passed since the transfer window opened in Sweden and several players have left Allsvenskan for foreign clubs. Still, many of the top targets for transfer speculations remain available for moves in the near future. While transfer activity is likely to remain high in the coming weeks, here's a rundown of the most significant moves so far this summer.

AIK supporters all over the world are walking around with a smile on their face right now. Among all the supporters in Sweden there are none as starving for success as AIK fans. For the moment we're on the very top of Allsvenskan. This despite a horrendous away record against Halmstad, an early Halmstad goal in the first half and a heavy rain that almost ruined everything.

AIK won't enjoy any sort of peace and quiet at the top of Allsvenskan. Their pole position will immediately be threatened by a very tough opponent as the reigning champions Kalmar FF comes to Råsunda on Saturday. It's a tricky match-up that AIK hasn't won since 2006. But this game could very well mark a negative turning point for Kalmar, a team that has been an unlikely success story for the past few years.

The king-maker, widow-maker 21st round is now behind us. As it turns out no kings were made and no one was widowed after all. Elfsborg failed to beat IFK Göteborg and Djurgården managed to score a draw away against GAIS. As a result, both the top and the bottom remain too close to call and we'll have plenty of new widow-maker games to look forward to this fall.

In all my years as an AIK supporter there have been two particular signings that have left me ecstatic and wondering how in the world AIK managed to sign players of such high class. The first time was when AIK brought home Andreas Andersson from Newcastle United and the second time was the purchase of Derek Boateng from Panathinaikos.

AIK managers Mikael Stahre and Björn Wesström are currently spending some time in exotic Brazil, the crown jewel of South America. They are there to meet interesting and stimulating people of an unfamiliar culture... and possibly sign someone to AIK.
Björn Wesström traveled to Brazil earlier in the year with the obvious goal of finding a replacement for Ivan Obolo in case our Argentinean star ends up leaving AIK this season.