Fanny Almersson on Hammarby, justice, and women's football

Why Hammarby?

Fanny Almersson, a researcher affiliated with the Center for Sports and Business at the Stockholm School of Economics, chose Hammarby because of the club's recent investment in its women's team. She began her dissertation in 2021, just as Hammarby had broken its attendance record on the women's side. 

"I thought Hammarby made a very interesting investment in women's football", she says. "I was very interested in learning more about those aspects and doing a research project focused on women's sport."

A dissertation about justice

At one level, the dissertation is about Hammarby's women's team. But at a broader level, Almersson says, it is about justice. 

"It is about how we distribute money", she explains, "what happens when Hammarby wants to invest in a women's team but also has a men's team in the organization, and how we grow in two different directions at the same time". 

For Almersson, the key point is that justice is not just about redistribution. It is also about how justice appears in practice and about what happens when clubs try to balance ambition, equality, and internal decision-making. 

Resources, recognition, and representation

To explore that question, Almersson uses three perspectives: resources, recognition, and representation. 

Much of the public debate around a women's team, she says, focuses on money. How much should the women's team get? What does it cost? How much should be invested?

Those are resource questions, but they do not tell the whole story. Almersson also looks at recognition: how a club can help raise the status of women's football in Sweden, build a supporter culture, and give the women's team greater legitimacy. And she looks at representation: who has influence, who sits in the room, and whose experience shapes the discussion. 

Why the budget debate can be misleading

One of the most striking findings in the study was how often the discussion stayed at the level of budget and profitability. 

In Hammarby football, the question of the women's team often became a question of whether it was profitable or not, how much it cost, and whether money needed to be taken from the men's side. 

A central example in the research concerns sponsorship income. At the time Almersson began her doctorate, Hammarby's women had recently been moved from being an independent association into the men's club structure and then into elite operations. At that point, the women's team received 10 percent of total sponsorship revenue. 

That meant the women's team looked expensive on the bottom line. They did not appear to make a profit and were seen as an investment. 

But, as Almersson notes, if the allocation key changes, the picture changes too. If the women's team were allocated 20 or 30 percent of the sponsorship revenue, the result would look very different. 

"That becomes very interesting from an economic perspective", she says, "because the whole discussion is based on the cost question."

Her point is that internal allocation decisions shape how clubs understand women's football. That is why, in her view, the debate needs to move away from a narrow focus on cost and toward growth. 

Women's football is a growth story

Almersson argues that clubs need to think about women's football as something that is developing rapidly. 

"It is very difficult to make decisions based on how things looked two years ago", she says, "because women's football is in a growth phase right now". 

She points to the fact that transfer records are being broken, investment is increasing, and costs are rising as the game develops. For that reason, she believes clubs should take a broader, more holistic view and compare women's football more with other women's clubs - in Sweden and internationally - rather than constantly benchmarking against men's football. 

Why Hammarby has become a leader

Hammarby's strong position in Sweden, Almersson argues, comes from a genuine and sustained commitment to women's football. 

"First and foremost, they have made a very genuine investment in women's football all along", she says. "They have invested quite a lot of resources and built a lot around the culture on the women's side."

She points to the club's one-club mindset, where the women are seen as an integrated part of the organization, and to the visible supporter culture that has developed around the women's team. One example was Hammarby's trip to the Women's Champions League, when more than 600 supporters travelled abroad with the team. 

"That is a very clear example of how the status of women's football has been raised within Hammarby football", she says. 

The challenge of the dual-club model

At the same time, Almersson says the dual-club model creates a structural challenge. 

The men's and women's teams can never be fully separated, because the performance of one side affects the other. When the men's team is doing well, there is usually more space to invest in the women's side. When the men's team is under pressure, attention and resources tend to shift. 

She points to 2023 as an example, when the men's team was around seventh place while the women's team was in a position to win Damallsvenskan. At that point, the women had to fight harder to secure the resources and space they needed to perform at that level. 

"That is a very big challenge for the club", she says, "and it will always be a challenge for dual clubs, because they constantly have to adapt."

A different way of thinking about targets

One of the more interesting things Hammarby has done, according to Almersson, is move from thinking about resource allocation based on historical results to thinking about the performance the two teams are meant to achieve.

That means asking what goals the club sets for itself - for example, top three in Damallsvenskan, and perhaps top three or top two in the men's Allsvenskan - and then asking what resources are needed to reach those goals. 

For Almersson, that is a more productive approach than a debate about who deserves what. 

"It is better to focus on what you want to achieve", she says, "and on goal-oriented management, rather than on what something costs". 

What comes next?

Looking ahead, Almersson believes the next step for Hammarby is to think more deliberately about what makes the women's side distinct.

The club has already done a great deal of work integrating the whole organization into one Hammarby. Now, she says, the question is how and when the club dares to do something a little differently on the women's side.

How can Hammarby build a larger supporter base around the women's team? How can it make sure the women have their own supporters - people who care primarily about women's football? And how can the club attract new sponsors and partners?

"I think there is enormous room and opportunity to do something new", she says.

She also points to facilities as a major issue for the next phase. If the club wants to build a stronger supporter culture and unlock new commercial opportunities, it will need to think about how to develop Kanalplan and whether the women's team needs a larger arena.

What sponsors should understand

For potential sponsors and partners, Almersson's message is direct: do not see women's football as CSR.  

"I think you have to take that step and stop seeing women's football as something you do for social responsibility", she says. "Women's sport is growing enormously in Sweden. There is enormous growth potential."

Instead, she argues, sponsors should see investment in women's football and in Hammarby's women's team as a business opportunity. 

"It is a win-win", she says. "It is a business investment, not something you do only to take social responsibility." 

What supporters can take from the dissertation

For Hammarby supporters, Almersson hopes the dissertation will provide a broader understanding of the club and of the challenge of pushing both a men's and a women's team forward at the same time. 

"I hope people get a broader understanding of Hammarby as a club", she says, "and of the challenges Hammarby faces when trying to drive forward both a men's team and a women's team at once". 

Listen to the interview with Fanny Almersson (in Swedish) here

Read Dissertation