Alingsås HK Women

Local rivalry in Alingsås runs, above all, through Sävehof and Redbergslid — but for years those derbies belonged to the men, whose two SM-golds, in 2009 and 2014, and four later final defeats gave Alingsås HK a name in Swedish handball that the women's side has had to build without that cushion. Goalkeeper Mikael Aggefors was between the posts for the 2014 title; Glenn Andersson, whose number eight has since been retired, holds the club's appearance record from that era.

The women's team came up a different way. Promotion to the Allsvenskan, the second tier of Swedish women's handball, arrived only in the 2022/2023 season — the first time in the club's history that the women had reached that level. Amanda Forsberg Vallin took them there from Division 1; Johan Petersson has coached the side since 2023. Mikaela Mässing, who had already played for the national team, returned to the club that same year, joining goalkeeper Clara Wolf in a squad still finding its feet a division above where it had spent most of its existence.

They play at Estrad Alingsås, which holds 2,750, a step up from Nolhagahallen, the 1,350-capacity hall the club used before 2013. The nickname Kungarna — the Kings — sits oddly over a team that has never worn a crown of its own: no Swedish Championship, nothing yet to set beside the men's record. What the women's side has instead is the promotion itself, and the years since to prove it belongs there.