Swedish Side Start CROWDFUND To Re-Sign Hero From The National League

A Swedish Side's Crowdfund Successfully Brings Back Hero From Gateshead

"An opportunity has recently opened up to bring former ÖFK player Curtis Edwards here. An addition to the squad that could be crucial for the season. The club informs about this in advance because we need your help to get him here."

That was the plea from Ostersunds FK, a Swedish club who play their trade in the second division, to their fans to help chip in to re-sign Curtis Edwards.

Now at 32-years old, Edwards is something of a veteran in footballing terms, and has plenty of experience in playing in Sweden, having played over 100 games across four seasons for Ostersunds between 2016-2019.

The gamble turned out to be a resounding success, having raised the money in a remarkably short amount of time, which has since seen Curtis terminate his contract at Gateshead.

🇸🇪 10:00am - Östersunds announce they have reached their 200,000kr crowdfunding target in less than a week.

12:00pm - Gateshead announce that Curtis Edwards has left the club by mutual consent.

IT'S HAPPENING! https://t.co/E6z7J0NW99 pic.twitter.com/GydDPHgd3n

— English Players Abroad (@EnglishAbroad1) February 19, 2026

Though there has been no official announcement of his signing, it looks as though he's set to return to Sweden to try to bring Ostersunds back to the first division.

An Unconventional Approach

Ostersunds had not planned on bringing Edwards back to the club when they set out their transfer targets at the start of the window, which ends on March 25th.

Edwards himself had only signed for Gateshead in the summer, following the termination of his contract at League Two outfit Notts County, but had clearly expressed a desire to return to the club where he had become a fan favourite during the years he spent there.

He now leaves Gateshead having made 23 appearances during a tumultuous time at the Tynesiders which has crash to the bottom of the National League, with quite the mounting task to earn survival.

It's not often that we see clubs resort to asking their fans for support in a financial manner beyond the usual matchgoing and merchandising behaviours, but that tells the story about the connection that Edwards has with the fans at Ostersunds.

"Curtis Edwards is very important player for Ostersunds FK and has a great history in the club. Our fans love him," a spokesperson for the club said.

They established a target of 200,000 SEK (£16,400), and their fans wasted no time in pulling together to make their "dream signing" happen, raising more than half of that in under 24 hours.

The club made sure there was even further incentive for each fan who donated, promising a Curtis Edwards scarf from the club shop for anybody who supported the cause.

So Who Is Ostersunds?

Now Ostersunds isn't exactly a household name in European football, but they have played a pretty big part in shaping how the Premier League looks today.

Beyond giving Arsenal a fright in the Europa League in 2018 when they won at the Emirates, the club was home to Graham Potter for seven years between 2011-2018, where he made a name for himself as an exciting and tactically intelligent young coach.

He took the helm when the club were in the fourth division, where he would earn back to back promotions in his second and third season, before taking Ostersunds to the highest tier, Allsvenskan, for the first time in their history.

Potter brought domestic success to the club when they won the Svenska Cupen, which entered them into the Europa League qualification, where they impressively dispatched Galatasaray, PAOK and Fola Esch to make it through to the competition, a huge achievement for a side that had only just turned 20-years old.

Unfortunately, though, since Potter's departure in 2018, life hasn't been quite as sweet for the Swedish side, as they suffered relegation back to the second tier in 2021, where they are now languishing in the lower-middle table.

The return of Edwards, a hero of their glory under Potter, is exactly what the club needs to reignite their hopes of climbing back up to the first tier, and the fans will be delighted to say the least.