Damkronorna players’ boycott is over, a deal has been reached with the Swedish Ice Hockey Association

The boycott is over

Two months after the Swedish national team announced their boycott against the Swedish Ice Hockey Association, the two sides have come to deal.

The Damkronorna players will start training camp in November and will play a tournament against Switzerland, Finland, and Germany in Germany in December.

“It feels really good that we can finally get started on our national team season. We can now, with good conditions, place full focus on the sports league and do everything we can to play good ice hockey and of course to regain our place in the World Cup’s highest division next year,” said head coach Ylva Martinsen in the press release.

Fanny Rask added in the release, “For us players we have always said that there is nothing greater than playing in our national team. It feels like we have taken important steps in the discussions and that we have now been given better conditions for playing in the Women’s Crowns. Now we want nothing more than to look ahead with [head coach] Ylva Martinsen and the other leaders in the women’s crown and finally start the journey towards revenge after last year.”

Among the details of the deal are compensation for loss of salary while with the National Team, medal bonuses, and an additional bonus if the team rejoins the top tier after being relegated at the last World Championships.


For the future: How Team Sweden reached their limit
43 Swedish National Team players to sit out of upcoming training camp, upcoming tournament


On Aug. 14, on the eve of their training camp ahead of Five Nations and to prepare for Four Nations Cup, 43 players released a sweeping statement on social media announcing the boycott. They tagged the posts with #FörFramtiden, which translates to “for the future.”

Two days later, the group released 10 Improvement Points which included issues covered in the new agreement. Other points were as basic as competent travel planning, apparel meant for women (as opposed to the men’s cuts they had been receiving), and player development.

As the boycott wore on, the 2019 Four Nations to be played in Luleå in early November was cancelled.