Saturday was supposed to mark the beginning of a new Swedish soccer season, fuelled by the prospect of big broadcasting revenues from a new domestic TV deal and expectations of another tight title race to match last year’s dramatic finale.
Then, in two months' time, Sweden's national team was supposed to be playing in the European Championship, with confidence high two years after a run to the World Cup quarterfinals for the first time since 1994.
Instead, the rapidly spreading coronavirus has forced a two-month delay to the Allsvenskan campaign - the “early June” start date will now be viewed as optimistic by many - the cancellation of the Euros, and led to some Swedish clubs fearing they might soon go out of business.