A keyhole operation has revealed that the trophy awarded to the champion of the Swedish football league contains a hidden message of support for a Stockholm-based team.
Sweden national team physician Magnus Forssblad opened the trophy on Friday after rumors began circulating last month that Ingemar Eklund, the silversmith who made the silver football had inscribed a secret message of support for his favorite team, Hammarby. But Forssblad instead found the words ''Djurgarden is the best,'' a reference to Hammarby's city rival.
Speculation has mounted that the silversmith's assistants pulled a prank on their boss. Ingemar Eklund died earlier this year, but one of his colleagues set the Swedish football community talking with news of an engraved dispatch inside the country's top football prize.
Forssblad, formerly Djurgarden's team doctor, was visibly pleased with the outcome of the operation.
''No swelling, no bleeding - it'll be back in action tomorrow,'' he told The Associated Press.
The decision to drill a hole in the Lennart Johansson Cup was taken after the former UEFA boss expressed dismay at rumors of a hidden message in the trophy bearing his name.
At the Sophiahemmet hospital, the physician explained that the invasive procedure - an arthroscopy - was normally used to assess knee injuries.
A rapt audience looked on as images resembling a lunar landscape were projected on to a screen. A group of female doctors eventually broke the silence, laughing at the barely legible pro-Djurgarden message.
Djurgarden last won the league in 2005 after a period of dominance that also saw it claim the title in 2002 and 2003. Malmo is the current Swedish champion.
The Swedish Football Association will decide on the future of the trophy, which has been awarded to the Swedish champion every year since 2001.
