After their incredible season in 2015, the former champions were always going to have a tough task to try and emulate that campaign. Norrkoping were faced with a number of challenges this season but still managed to take a top three finish in the league to qualify for the Europa League for next season. The most obvious of their challenges this year was with their players being bought up by other clubs and in the course of the season three important players were snatched by teams in major leagues. The most significant of those being Christoffer Nyman and Emir Kujovic who were responsible for the majority of their goals last year and were badly missed. Furthermore the squad faced problems with injuries as three of their regular players were ruled out for long periods of the season including starting goalkeeper David Nilsson as well as utility wide player Nikola Tkalcic. The injuries forced the club into signings that they would have probably not considered at the start of the season. Norrkoping first Champions League campaign was all too brief but also cost them points as they tried to prioritise their qualification round matches, without success. Finally the change of manager half way through the season due to Janne Andersson taking over with the Swedish national team cost them some momentum in the mid part of the season. Ultimately it was a run of four defeats in five games near the end of the year that pushed them out of contention for a retention of their title. The squad were pushed a little too far and the quality was just not there when needed. It will give new manager Jens Gustaffson an interesting task over the winter and he tries to add to the squad in order to maintain their position as a title challenger. With star players such as Nyman, Kujovic and Arnor Trautasson gone in the course of the season the baton for pushing the team forward was passed to the likes of Sebastian Andersson who was signed this season. The striker has been to a few clubs in recent years but it seems at Norrkoping he has found his place and he ended as their top scorer and player of the season. The development of players such as Andreas Blmoqvist and Linus Wahlqvist will be keenly followed as both have shown real potential this year but Andersson was just ahead of them in importance this term.
