GOTHENBURG. Graham Potter coaches West Ham, Ken Sema scores a hat-trick for the national team and Sotirios Papagiannopoulos leads AIK to the top.

Hosam Aiesh, 30, cooks pasta and fries beef fillet with garlic and cream in Nordstan.

– Tobias Sana thinks I’m stupid for giving up football, he says.

The former winger pulls on a pair of thin black gloves and fills the frying pan with ingredients. The pasta is ready to be dropped into the boiling water next to it.

It starts to sizzle and smell good after a minute or so.

– “I’m not a chef, but I’ve learned. If someone gets sick or we’re short on staff, I have to be able to step in everywhere,” he says, while focusing on the beef tenderloin pasta.

Corrupted football

Hosam Aiesh was only 28 years old, it was the spring of 2024 and he, his wife Rima and children Adam and Alya had returned home after a year in South Korea at FC Seoul.

– To be completely honest, I felt like I had lost a bit of the spark around football. There were interested clubs, I had a proposal from IFK Värnamo. Tobias Sana wanted to sign me to Örgryte.

Last fall he trained with Utsikten but did not play any matches due to a calf injury.

At the end of last year, he had made up his mind. At the age of 29, he retired from football.

The same player who won the assist league in the Swedish Super League in 2018, scored an away goal against Arsenal in the last 16 of the Europa League and made his national team debut.

What happened?

– It’s a complex question. When I was at my best in Östersund, I received a contract offer from Columbus in MLS but hesitated. They were going to pay 20 million kronor for me. There were Russian clubs – this was before the invasion of Ukraine – with big salaries and a lot of money but nothing came of it.

– I was close to going to Malmö FF but I chose IFK Göteborg, a dream for me. Then came the pandemic, coach changes and it was chaotic in Blåvitt. I had a few minor injuries and it didn’t work out fully in South Korea.

– I have really experienced the contrasts and also seen the corruption that exists in football. It is all about money, power and friendship. Agents who place their players in certain clubs because they cooperate with the coach and the club director. It is not easy to find your way in that jungle, says Aiesh and actually does not sound particularly bitter.

How did you end up doing what you wanted to do instead?

– I gradually quit football and had a year where I thought and looked at what I wanted to do. In the end, I felt that this might be something fun. I needed to do something completely different. I needed to work, earn money and pay the bills.

The tactics of the new job

So you took over a restaurant…?

– Haha, yes. It may not be the easiest thing, but I like the different parts. The planning, the shopping, standing at the cash register, talking to the guests and being in the kitchen. You can learn to cook, but it’s not my main task.

Since the beginning of the year, Hosam Aiesh has owned and operated Trattoria Prego on the restaurant balcony in the Nordstan shopping center, in the middle of Gothenburg. His wife Rina also runs the salad bar in close proximity to the restaurant. Aiesh’s parents Abdelkarim and Alhem also work in the business.

– I’m a lunch lover myself. For me, it’s important to have a few basic things: that it’s good, without costing a lot, that you’re full, that there’s a fresh salad, that coffee and cake are included. It’s nothing sensational, but that’s what I wanted us to have here.

– When we took over, there was a lot of pork in the food. For many, it doesn’t matter if it’s prime rib instead. Then all religions and cultures can eat here, says Aiesh, whose family is Syrian with Palestinian roots.

– I’m a bit like a coach here. It’s about setting up the tactics and making everyone who works here feel comfortable so that things go well, he says, looking noticeably pleased with the analogy.

How are things going financially?

– It’s going well! It was tough at the beginning and there’s a lot to learn. It still is. But we’ve tripled our turnover. The days are long, but I like it. I’m my own boss. Then there’s no guarantee that this is what I want to work with for many years to come, we’ll see.

– I earn more from running a restaurant than I did in salary at IFK Gothenburg, but less than as a foreign professional in South Korea.

Sana’s honest opinion

For several of the players who were successful with Östersunds FK and coach Graham Potter, their careers have continued at a high level.

Do you ever think, “What if it were me…”?

– Of course that thought has come, but it’s nothing that torments me. This was my destiny. I had my best time as a player in Östersund. We were a family as a team and performed incredible football. It was an incredible story. I’m proud of those achievements.

– Then I got to move back home to Gothenburg and play for Blåvitt. There’s nothing like going in front of a packed Gamla Ullevi stadium to “Snart shiner Poseidon” (Soon to shine). You can ask players in AIK, Hammarby, Malmö FF, they’ll say the same thing. It’s very, very special on many levels. I’m incredibly happy that I got to experience it.

What did your football friends say when you quit?

– They thought I should continue, that I had many more years. Tobias Sana said I was stupid, says Aiesh with a broad smile about the comment from the close friend.

– Sotte (Sotirios Papagiannopoulos) and Brwa (Nouri) said the same thing. There are several of us from the Östersund era who still have good contact with each other.

They will win SM gold

Which team will win the Swedish championship?

– Part of me hopes for Mjällby. It’s wonderful with a smaller club that takes its own path, that builds a team from scratch. It’s great that Tom Pettersson is doing well there too.

– But if I had to choose, none of my Gothenburg teams are up there, so I want AIK to take it home. Sotte and I have talked a lot over the years. I would like him to win the Swedish Championship. He is a fantastic person and footballer. His season so far has been very good. He gets too little credit for what he means to AIK.

– Sotte was here to eat and say hello when AIK met IFK Göteborg. He’s a guy who cares. He’s seen my new life.

What do you feel when you see IFK Göteborg today?

– I like it. I like Billborn and Björklund, how they are and their football. But I feel that it was more Ola Larsson’s coaching recruitment than Håkan Mild’s. They will take IFK Göteborg up, but it may take another two or three transfer windows for them to get the players they need to seriously approach the top.

– This year, Blåvitt will finish where they are now in the table (sixth). There are so many teams that are worse that they should not be further down. I really like the young fullbacks, Noah Tolf and Felix Eriksson.

How do you view the conflict between parts of the fans and mainly Håkan Mild?

– I think Håkan will stay until the end of the season. I think he wants to leave but not in this way, to give way to the supporters. The conflict is not good. There are many who are affected, including the players and the team. IFK Göteborg is largely their supporters and many of them feel disappointed. There are no typhoons and not the same moves at home matches, it affects. As soon as there are any losses, the focus becomes on the conflict. It can’t be like that. There will be zero peace of mind for Blåvitt then.

Hosam likes to whine

Our conversation around one of the lunch tables is interrupted. Aiesh has to jump in and help out at the cash register as the lunch rush approaches.

Some guests ask about details of the dishes on the à la carte menu, a German tourist with his family asks in English for the nearest toilet and shortly afterwards there is an intense dialogue in Arabic with one of the regulars.

Hosam Aiesh’s social skills are on point.

Were you too outspoken as a football player?

– It’s hard to change who you are, but I could have been smarter sometimes. My advice to younger players is to make sure you don’t argue with the coach or the sports director/club director. They are the ones who decide your future on the team.

You were suspended internally for disciplinary reasons at IFK Göteborg in the fall of 2022. Why?

– I left Gamla Ullevi immediately after the first half when I was substituted at half-time. I didn’t stay in the stadium. But I don’t think it was Micke Stahre’s decision to suspend me, it was probably Håkan Mild who decided that. It was stupid of me, but sometimes you’re impulsive. Stahre and I had discussions sometimes but we are definitely not enemies. He wanted to sign me especially when he was a coach in Thailand, but we also had contact when he was in India. I was invited to his 50th birthday party in Marbella recently but I couldn’t go.

Do you miss football?

– A little, sometimes. Maybe if it’s possible to combine, I can imagine playing at a slightly lower level. If I have time.

Fans upload

The wife Rima half-runs past to take care of the salad service a little way away but overhears the discussion:

“Hosam would do well to play some football again,” she says quickly with a wink.

How is the shape?

– I haven’t practiced football since September last year, says Aiesh.

Match weight?

– I’ve gained five, six kilos, but I’m light on exercise. I should get in good physical shape pretty quickly.

In what way do you have contact with football, besides those you have played with?

– I watch a lot of matches on TV, I follow the Allsvenskan, I listen to podcasts. When IFK Göteborg plays at home, many people park here in Nordstan and come here to have a bite to eat before, a lot of families with children. Some have discovered that I work here. They think it’s fun to talk about football, Blåvitt and the other Allsvenskan teams with me and I like to talk. It feels really nice to have that contact with football through the supporters, says Hosam Aiesh.