Former Maidstone winger Blair Turgott could be playing Champions League football next season after title glory in Sweden. Turgott, relegated from the National League with the Stones less than four years ago, helped unfashionable BK Hacken land their first-ever Allsvenskan crown.
Last season, they finished 12th. The Gothenburg-based club will go into next season’s Champions League first qualifying round, with a genuine chance of mixing with Europe’s elite in the group stages.
Indeed, compatriots Malmo - European Cup runners-up to Nottingham Forest in 1979 - were there as recently as last season. Even if Hacken miss out, Turgott could still find himself in either the Europa League or Conference League. “This is the reason I came to this club,” said Turgott, 28, who joined Hacken after three years with Ostersunds ended in relegation last season. “I wanted to win titles, I wanted to play in Europe, I wanted to challenge myself. “To say I’ve come out to a new country and won a title with a team that’s never done it before, it’s been really good. “Some people go through their career, and they’ve had a great career, but they don’t experience that feeling of lifting a trophy. “That’s what inspired me.
I wanted to win something and I felt like this was the perfect place. “I played against Hacken last season and they really wanted me.