"We don't have a lot of people in the stands, but we surely have a lot of scouts," explains Erik Nathorst Windahl, academy manager at Brommapojkarna. "In some games, mainly in the academy, it's the mums, dads... and then scouts."
This is because the Swedish top-flight club Brommapojkarna, though relatively unknown outside their homeland, has become a hub for emerging young talent. Notable alumni include Tottenham Hotspur's Lucas Bergvall and Dejan Kulusevski, along with Borussia Dortmund's Daniel Svensson.
The most prominent former Brommapojkarna player is Viktor Gyokeres, a 27-year-old Swedish striker poised to join Arsenal from Sporting CP in a £63.5 million deal. Gyokeres was not always viewed as a top Swedish prospect, spending his early years at regional side IFK Aspudden-Tellus until he joined Brommapojkarna at 15.
Nathorst Windahl, who has been with Brommapojkarna since 2009 and became academy manager in 2021, admits, "It's really rare that a player can be at a smaller club [until that age] and then go to a big academy. Maybe he would have been even better if he came to us earlier, but he was the top scorer and received all the passes at his club. I can't find a player now in our national team or our club who has been in a smaller club for so long and then joins an academy; it's unique. He was a late bloomer, and many boys born in 1998 in Sweden were ranked higher than him."
At Brommapojkarna, Gyokeres developed into a prolific and determined finisher, debuting at 16 and scoring 25 goals in 67 games, which attracted Brighton's attention. "He played one year in our academy before joining the senior team because he was mentally ready to play against men while still a boy," adds Nathorst Windahl. "When he came here, he was a good striker, but when he left, I think he had the whole package."
Gyokeres is one of many players who have thrived at Brommapojkarna's football school. The club boasts the title of Europe's largest in terms of youth teams, with over 4,500 members across 250 youth teams of various age groups. The process is efficient, ensuring each player maximizes their potential.
Most players start in one of Brommapojkarna's grassroots teams, with the more talented representing the club's A to C teams. In one under-16 division, Brommapojkarna has been limited to three teams. Englishman Shaun Constable managed the Stockholm outfit between December 2019 and December 2020, noting, "When you're driving around the Grimsta or Bromma area, there's never an empty pitch. Normally, you're watching a game with black and red stripes - BP is everywhere. With so many kids and teams in the same age groups, you need pitches everywhere."
Coaches from different age groups, as well as the senior team, collaborate to ensure players transition smoothly. "I would say this kind of work is unique in Swedish football," says BP's sporting director Philip Berglund. "I've worked in several clubs, but none work this way. We've integrated three teams so that under-17 and under-19 coaches also assist the first team, and our first team coaches work two days a week with the youth teams. We don't want them as isolated entities. It also makes it easier to integrate youth players into the first team when the coach knows everything about our top talents."
Another impressive aspect of Brommapojkarna's operations is that many players, like Gyokeres, Kulusevski, and Bergvall, hail from Stockholm or nearby areas. Berglund adds, "It's important to maximize everything in Stockholm before exploring other cities." Nathorst Windahl explains, "Brommapojkarna has always been number one in talent and scouting in Stockholm, which is one of our key successes. Every player knows others who have become professional, crediting their time at Brommapojkarna as the foundation of their success. It's like a religion. If you believe we can help you become a professional player, you have to trust us and follow us. It's rare we bring players in from different cities in Sweden, so when I saw Barcelona bring players from Asia, we brought in a player who was 15 minutes away by bus."
Brommapojkarna has achieved great success against major European teams like Paris St-Germain and Ajax in lower age groups, but Nathorst Windahl acknowledges that beyond age 15, it becomes challenging to compete. For instance, Kulusevski left Brommapojkarna at 15 to join Atalanta's academy, moving on to Juventus and then Tottenham in January 2022. Tipped for greatness by Nathorst Windahl, the 25-year-old has won Sweden's Guldbollen, awarded to the country's best player, in two of the past three years, with Gyokeres taking the prize in 2024.
Bergvall emerged through Brommapojkarna's ranks, helping them secure promotion back to the top flight before joining Swedish champions Djurgarden and then moving to Spurs at 18 last summer. "Lucas is the perfect central midfielder. I think he can play for any club in the world," says Nathorst Windahl. "He is the Swedish player younger boys from Sweden and Scandinavia should admire because he is going to be the best. When you're young, you might like a goalkeeper or a top scorer, but Lucas looks like a model. He can run, shoot, pass, and dribble. We are happy to have helped him from six years old to 17 to reach where he is today. I don't like the word talent, but he was a talent from birth."
Gyokeres, however, is set to become the most expensive player to emerge from the club despite initial struggles after joining Brighton. A move to Coventry helped him regain his scoring prowess, and in Lisbon, he became lethal, scoring 97 goals in 102 appearances for Sporting, prompting Arsenal's interest. "What we've seen at Sporting is what he did in the First and Second Division in Swedish football," says Nathorst Windahl. "The most important thing for Viktor is to be at a club where he starts every game and can be Viktor Gyokeres, not just another player trying to impress the coach. It's not ego, not at all."
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