The Stockholm Derby is slept on as one of the fiercest rivalries anywhere in European football and Sunday’s match certainly lived up to that billing.
AIK and Hammarby shared seven goals in a game that was decided by a 19-year-old academy graduate who used to stand with the AIK ultras when he was younger. That’s the stuff dreams are made of!
Scroll down to read more about the Stockholm Derby and Sunday’s result meant for the Allsvenskan table.
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Elsewhere, Vietnam retained their ASEAN Championship title against rivals Thailand, Sporting KC held a Ted Lasso Night and Michel’s Ajax are looking seriously slick to start the new season.
Let’s take a look at everything 👇
Something Swedish 🇸🇪
Sixten Gustafsson is 19, not 16 as his name suggests. Nonetheless, it takes something special for a teenager to decide a match like the Stockholm Derby!
Gustafsson scored a stunning volley for AIK to secure a memorable 3-2 win over Hammarby, harming their rivals’ title chances in the process.
Table-toppers Sirius can extend their lead to nine points with a win over Malmo today - read more about their unexpected title challenge here!
Something in the history books
The brand new FAI National League kicked off on Saturday, giving the Republic of Ireland a new third division.
Callum Warfield penned his name in the history books by scoring the league’s first-ever goal for CK United against Newbridge United.
Read more about the new FAI National League here!
Something in the Bundesliga 🇩🇪
Back in April, The Soccer Dispatch covered the story of SV Elversberg as they chased promotion to the Bundesliga for the first time in their history.
Now in the German top flight, Elversberg made a good first impression by beating Bayer Leverkusen in their first-ever Bundesliga game on Saturday. Only a few years ago, Die Elve were in Germany’s regional league system!
Something retained
Ok, so this happened last Wednesday - the best part of a week ago!
However, The Soccer Dispatch did a lot to cover the 2026 ASEAN Championship and so it would feel weird if we didn’t tell you who won the competition.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was Vietnam who retained the title they won two years ago by beating Thailand 4-2 on aggregate.
Wednesday’s match was followed by scenes of celebration on the streets of Hanoi. Nobody can doubt how much the ASEAN Championship means to fans of South East Asian football.
As was explored in a The Soccer Dispatch newsletter last month, the future of the tournament is under threat due to a new ASEAN competition being launched by FIFA.
Vietnam are enjoying a successful period and is tapping into its potential as a football hotbed of the future.
Something 100 years old
Fiorentina celebrated their 100th birthday as a club on Saturday and invited everyone along to the Stadio Artemio Franchi for a party.
Club legends such as Gabriel Batistuta and Rui Costa were present for the occassion which was marked by a giant tifo celebrating La Viola’s founding in 1926. Here’s to another century of purple!
(This newsletter writer has always had a soft spot for Fiorentina and their glorious Nintendo-sponsored kits of the 90s).
Something at the track 🐶
First, we had Zinedine Zidog. And now we have Didier Dogba!
Greyhound racing might be the next global sport. Do Clearlake Capital know that there is a dog named after a former Chelsea striker? Venture capital could take greyhound racing to the next level!
Something in Turkey 🇹🇷
Rafael Leao completed his transfer to Galatasaray from AC Milan last week and nothing has ever feel more right!
The Portuguese winger was destined to play in the Turkish Super Lig at some point in his career. Some players are just meant to play in Turkey. Like Diogo Dalot. It hasn’t happened yet, but it will. Book it.
Leao has yet to make his Galatasaray debut, but still joined in the celebrations after Saturday’s 3-2 win over Göztepe.
Something against a former team
The pressure was on Boca Juniors to get a positive result against Lanus on Saturday, which they did - but only after a winner in the THIRD minute of stoppage time!
Tomas Belmonte scored the game’s only goal against his former club. Despite the importance of the moment, he refused to celebrate out of respect. This was Boca’s first league win in four games.
Something much-needed
Lawrence Shankland eased some of the pressure on Rangers manager Derek McInnes, scoring a penalty to give the Ibrox side a valuable away win over Aberdeen.
Not for the first time recently, Rangers have suffered a dismal start to the season. They crashed out of Europe altogether last week despite spending roughly £30m on transfers this summer!
More on the state of Scottish football in general later this week… 👀
Something top bins 🎯
The best goal of the weekend was scored by Ryoya Morishita for Blackburn Rovers!
Morishita pulled off a chest-and-volley goal reminiscent of James Rodriguez’s stunner for Colombia at the 2014 World Cup. It’s yet to be confirmed if he also had a giant insect on his shoulder…
Something top of the table
Lugano maintained their perfect start to the Swiss Super League season by beating Sion away from home on Sunday.
The Bianconeri haven’t been Swiss champions since 1949. They came close to winning the title two seasons ago and are mounting another challenge, sitting top of the table after four games.
Read more about the American-owned club in this newsletter from 2025 here!
Something with a moustache 🥸
It was Ted Lasso Night at Sporting KC’s game against the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday.
This newsletter writer is attempting to put aside his complex feelings about the cheesiest show on TV to appreciate the sheer number of people in Ted Lasso costume for the game!
Something back from injury
This is a nice story. Perr Schuurs missed nearly THREE YEARS of football due to a terrible ACL injury that could have ended his career.
1,043 days after his last professional game, the defender was subbed on for NEC Nijmegen and scored just three minutes later. Look at what it means to him and his family!
Something slick
Staying in the Netherlands, I’ll need to write something about Ajax soon because they’re a fascinating team under new manager Michel.
Check out this slicking passing move they scored from in the Conference League qualifier against Sion. They followed this up by beating Telstar 4-0 to keep pace with the teams at the top of the Eredivisie.
Something incredible 🤯
We’ve found the Puskas Award winner for 2026. We can call off the search. It’s done.
Francisco Domingues scored this incredible rabona for Moreirense in Liga Portugal over the weekend. Not even Erik Lamela would have the audacity to pull this one off! Sensational stuff.
Some TSD content you might have missed… 🗞️
🇮🇪 Will Ireland’s new third division plug a gap in the country’s football landscape?
The FAI National League will kicked off this weekend with 15 clubs!