2016 was generally a year of decline for BK Hacken, though a cup win did give the club something to celebrate. Five defeats in their opening six matches did not seem like the ideal preparation for a cup final against Malmo, but a come from behind win against the eventual league champions sealed some silverware for the Gothenburg club. That trophy marked the high point of the season and after that a lack of consistency plagued Peter Gerhardsson’s side throughout. After a poor start to the season their best run came either side of the summer break but they were unable to push on in the latter stages of the season and only a win over already relegated Falkenbergs ended a run of seven without a win. Aside from the sale of Simon Gustafson at the start of the season, the transfers made by Hacken did appear to improve the club from their standard last year. However that simply did not translate into results on the pitch. The long term injury to key player Paulinho was a factor in that, but ultimately the coach was held responsible for not being able to push the team forward and his contract will be left to run out this year. One of his final purchases as the Hacken manager was to bring in John Owoeri from 2015 bottom side Atvidabergs. After a slow start the Nigerian really picked up momentum at the end of the year and ended up as league top scorer making him the best player of the season at the club as well. But other players also made solid contributions including Demba Savage, Rasmus Schüller and Nasiru Mohamed. Paulinho himself scored a total of 9 goals in 11 appearances which shows just what the club was missing for the majority of the campaign. As of yet the new manager has not been appointed but he will take over a club which has the potential to break back into the upper echelons of the table, if the club can find some consistency and play to the best of their ability every weekend.
