In 2013, Djurgården brought in Per-Mathias Høgmo as their new head coach after a miserable start to the season. “Our man” got the club back on track, but was called up as Norwegian national team coach the same year. When Høgmo suddenly became available on the market this autumn after a short visit to Japan as Urawa Red Diamonds coach, the Norwegian was immediately linked with a return to Djurgården, who had fired the coach. On Friday, the next Djurgården coach was inducted, but not one with a Norwegian passport.
Høgmo left Allsvenskan last year after lifting relegation-threatened Häcken to win Allsvenskan in 2021 and has miracle man status in Swedish football. Both Expressen and Fotbolldirekt reported in October that Djurgården had contacted Høgmo if he was interested in the job, where he “is said to have been prepared to listen to the offer”.
Unfortunately, it was only with listening.
On Thursday, Djurgården made it to the round of 8 in the Conference League after victory against Legia, on Friday the proud Allsvenskan club presented Jani Honkavaara as the new head coach on a three-year contract.
The Finn comes from the job as coach of Finnish KuPS, where he led the club to both league and cup titles.
