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COPENHAGEN, Denmark (CN) — Fans from Sweden and Norway are looking ahead to an extra-exciting season as England’s first-tier soccer competition, the Premier League, kicks off Friday with three locals in the running for the league’s top honor.
Not only is the English top tier generally considered the greatest soccer league in the world, it was also the fourth-largest sports competition in terms of revenue globally in 2024, beaten only by the NFL, NBA and MLB.
For many Premier League strikers, the Golden Boot is one of the sport’s most prestigious awards — only the top goal-scorer in a single season gets the coveted trophy.
That adds an extra layer of excitement for Scandinavians, as three strikers from the region have good chances to snatch the Golden Boot.
In the past three years, Manchester City’s Norwegian maverick, Erling Haaland, has won the Golden Boot twice. He missed out last season as English champion Liverpool’s “Egyptian King,” Mohamed Salah, won the honor for a record-tying fourth time.
Haaland, who broke the scoring record by netting 36 goals in a single Premier League season in 2022-23, is the first and only Scandinavian to win the prize since the competition started in 1992.
Even so, another Scandinavian beat the Norwegian’s goal tally last season, finishing second to Salah.
Newcastle’s Swedish striker Alexander Isak has ranked in the top three spots for the Golden Boot for the past two seasons. However, it might prove difficult for the Swede to claim the stop spot this year, as he has refused to play for his current employer, eyeing a potential move to Liverpool this summer.
Newcastle’s head coach, Eddie Howe, has already ruled Isak’s season debut out this weekend, due to the stagnant situation.
“When I don’t have my Arsenal hat on, I’m a massive Alexander Isak supporter, because he played for my local club here in Sweden. I’ve always had an incredibly weak spot for him,” Malin Hägg, chair of Arsenal Sweden, a nationwide fan club, told Courthouse News in a telephone interview.
Isak started his professional career at Swedish soccer club AIK Stockholm, Hägg’s other favorite club.
As chairperson for Swedish Arsenal supporters, this season adds extra flavor for her fellow members, as the London club Arsenal, runners-up for the past three seasons, has signed Sweden’s second prolific goal scorer, Viktor Gyökeres.
“It’s incredibly exciting, not just for our supporters. I can really see a massive uptick in interest in general … . When you have someone from your country in the team, it gives you a deeper connection to the club. It somehow feels more personal,” she said.
Gyökeres is Scandinavia’s third candidate for the Golden Boot. Never before have so many strikers from the Nordic region had such good odds for goalscoring glory in the Premier League.
NBC Sports places Erling Haaland as the favorite to win the Golden Boot, followed by Salah, Isak and then Gyökeres. The top bracket receives significantly better chances of snatching the prize ahead of the rest.
While Haaland and Isak are established and proven Premier League players, Gyökeres is a wild card.
Signing for Arsenal from Portuguese giants Sporting Lisbon this summer, the Swedish goal-getter netted 97 goals in 102 appearances during his stint in Portugal.
Transferring from what some might consider an inferior league, the Swedish addition to top-level English soccer is somewhat of an unknown quantity.
“The excitement among our members is really high,” explained Niklas Lindblad Hegenius, the chairman of Arsenal Malmö, an independent fan club in southern Sweden, to Courthouse News in a telephone interview.
“Many of us think that he may score 25 goals and become the top scorer. Others don’t want to put so much pressure on him, like me. I think he will score at least 15 this season,” Hegenius said.
While both fan club leaders hope he will rack up the goals this season, they highlight the context in which Gyökeres is placed: A new club with a different playing style than he is used to, coming to the world’s biggest soccer league, where he has to convert his incredible tally, and the pressure from fans who long for Arsenal to lift the Premier League trophy again after more than 20 years.
Winning the Premier League and the Golden Boot would earn Gyökeres legendary status. To rob Norway’s Haaland of his title would be extra sweet for Swedish taste buds.
“In Scandinavia, we are a little bit like siblings, and it’s always nice to beat our brother or sister, so if Gyökeres can score more goals than Erling Haaland this season, it would be really good,” Hegenius said.
Courthouse News correspondent Lasse Sørensen is based in Copenhagen, Denmark.
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