2014 Supercoppa Italiana, Background
Juventus was making a record 10th appearance, and seeking a record seventh cup. They had won the last two editions of the Supercoppa, with an overall record of six wins and three defeats, then a joint record with Milan. Both of Napoli's prior appearances had been against Juventus, beating them 5–1 in 1990 but losing 2–4 after extra time in 2012.


2014 Supercoppa Italiana, Match
Carlos Tevez put Juventus ahead in the fifth minute following defensive errors by Napoli. Marek Hamšík and Gonzalo Higuaín both struck the post, but the latter equalised with a header in the second half, and the game went into extra time.


2014 Supercoppa Italiana, Match
Tevez again gave his team the lead in the second half of extra time, but with three minutes remaining Higuaín equalised for a second time to force a penalty shootout. Both of the first kicks in the shootout missed: Tevez hit the post and Jorginho had his attempt for Napoli saved by Gianluigi Buffon. With both teams scoring four in the shootout, it went to sudden death, in which both teams had two consecutive misses each: Giorgio Chiellini had his attempt saved and Roberto Pereyra shot high, while Buffon saved attempts from Napoli duo Dries Mertens and José Callejón. Finally, Kalidou Koulibaly netted for Napoli, then their goalkeeper Rafael saved attempt from Simone Padoin to win the trophy.


2014 Supercupa României
The 2014 Supercupa României was the 16th edition of Romania's season opener cup competition. The game was contested between Liga I title holders, Steaua București, and Romanian Cup winners, Astra Giurgiu. It was played at Arena Națională in Bucharest in July. Astra won the trophy for the first time in history, after defeating Steaua Bucharest, the defending champions, 5–3 on penalties.


2014 Superettan
The 2014 Superettan, part of the 2014 Swedish football season, was the 14th season of Superettan, Sweden's second-tier football league in its current format. The 2014 fixtures were released on 20 December 2013. The season started on 5 April 2014 and concluded on 2 November 2014.


2014 Superettan
Hammarby IF won Superettan this season, their first title and were thus promoted to Allsvenskan after five years absence along with runners-up GIF Sundsvall who returned to the top flight after two years absence. Ljungskile SK advanced to the promotion play-offs but failed to win against Gefle IF.


2014 Superettan
A total of 16 teams contested the league; 12 returning from the 2013 season, two that were relegated from Allsvenskan and two that were promoted from Division 1.


2014 Superettan, Teams
A total of 16 teams contested the league, 12 returning from the 2013 season, two relegated from the 2013 Allsvenskan and two promoted from the 2013 Division 1. The top two teams qualified directly for promotion to Allsvenskan, the third had to play a play-off against the fourteenth team from Allsvenskan to decide who would play in Allsvenskan 2015. The bottom two teams qualified directly for relegation to Division 1, the thirteenth and the fourteenth had to play a play-off against the numbers two teams from Division 1 Södra and Division 1 Norra to decide who would play in Superettan 2015.


2014 Superettan, Teams
2013-champions Falkenbergs FF and runner-up Örebro SK were promoted to the Allsvenskan at the end of the 2012 season. They were replaced by Östers IF and Syrianska FC. Örgryte IS and IK Brage were relegated at the end of the 2013 season after finishing in the bottom two places of the table. They were replaced by Division 1 Norra champions IK Sirius and Division 1 Södra champions Husqvarna FF.


2014 Superettan, Teams, Personnel and kits
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players and Managers may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2014 Superliga Colombiana
The 2014 Superliga Colombiana was the third edition of the Superliga Colombiana.


2014 Superliga Colombiana
Deportivo Cali was the winner and qualified for the 2014 Copa Sudamericana.


2014 Superliga Colombiana, Teams
Since Atlético Nacional won both the Apertura and Finalización, Deportivo Cali qualified as the 2013 Primera A aggregate table second best team.


2014 Supersport World Championship
The 2014 Supersport World Championship was the sixteenth season of the Supersport World Championship—the eighteenth taking into account the two held under the name of Supersport World Series. It was run over 11 rounds, commencing on 23 February at Phillip Island in Australia and ending on 2 November at Losail in Qatar.


2014 Supersport World Championship
The riders' championship title was won for the first time by a Dutch rider, as Michael van der Mark of the Pata Honda World Supersport team won six races, and achieved ten top-two placings en route to the championship. Van der Mark finished 82 points clear of his nearest rival in the championship, MV Agusta Reparto Corse rider Jules Cluzel, who won a trio of races during the season. Third place in the championship went to Florian Marino of the Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres team, who achieved four podiums in 2014.


2014 Supersport World Championship
The season's other winners were van der Mark's team-mate Lorenzo Zanetti at Imola and Kenan Sofuoğlu, who won at Motorland Aragón for Mahi Racing Team India, before parting with the team before the end of the season. In the manufacturers' championship, Honda finished 70 points clear of the next best manufacturer, Kawasaki. The Pata Honda World Supersport team won the teams' championship by over 100 points ahead of the Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres team.


2014 Supersport World Championship, Race calendar and results
The Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme released a 13-round provisional calendar on 29 November 2013. The 12-round updated version of the calendar, issued by the FIM on 12 April 2014, saw the cancellation of the Russian round and the inclusion of Qatar as the venue of the last event of the season.


2014 Supersport World Championship, Race calendar and results
On 31 July 2014, the Qatar round was confirmed by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme, and was to be held under floodlights for its return to the calendar. On the same date, it was announced that the South African round – due to be held on 19 October at Phakisa Freeway in Welkom – was cancelled due to delays in achieving the FIM homologation requirements. It was later announced that the round would not be replaced on the calendar, reducing the season to 11 rounds.


2014 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira
The 2014 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira was the 36th edition of the Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira. It featured the winners of the 2013–14 Primeira Liga and 2013–14 Taça de Portugal, S.L. Benfica, and the runners-up of the Taça de Portugal, Rio Ave F.C. The two clubs also met in the 2014 Taça da Liga Final, also won by Benfica.


2014 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira
Benfica featured in their 16th Super Cup and Rio Ave played in the fixture for the first time.


2014 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira
The game finished goalless after extra time, and Benfica won 3–2 on penalties for their fifth Supertaça victory, achieving a Portuguese record of all four domestic titles won in a year.


2014 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira, Background
Benfica's last appearance was in 2010, where the Portuguese champions lost to 2009–10 Taça de Portugal holders Porto 2–0, also at the Estádio Municipal de Aveiro. In 15 Supertaça appearances prior to 2014, Benfica won 4, in 1980, 1985, 1989 and 2005. Rio Ave made their first Supertaça appearance.


2014 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira, Background
In Benfica's and Rio Ave's entire history, the two teams had met on 47 different occasions. Benfica had obtained 35 victories, while Rio Ave had won 3 times, with 9 encounters ending in a draw. Before the Supertaça, the last meeting between both sides was in the domestic cup final, on 18 May 2014, with Benfica defeating Rio Ave 1–0 at the Estádio do Jamor. A first-half strike from Argentine winger Nicolás Gaitán granted Benfica a 25th cup trophy which would cap off a treble-winning season for the club.


2014 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira, Broadcasting
Once again, RTP broadcast the Supertaça on television and radio (RTP1 and Antena 1, respectively), doing it for the fourth consecutive year. As in previous years, an HD broadcast was available on 1080i resolution on RTP HD, which was available on most pay-TV providers.


2014 Suruga Bank Championship
The 2014 Suruga Bank Championship (Japanese: スルガ銀行チャンピオンシップ2014; Spanish: Copa Suruga Bank 2014) was the seventh edition of the Suruga Bank Championship, the club football match co-organized by the Japan Football Association, the football governing body of Japan, CONMEBOL, the football governing body of South America, and J. League, the professional football league of Japan, between the winners of the previous season's J. League Cup and Copa Sudamericana.


2014 Suruga Bank Championship
The match was contested between Japanese team Kashiwa Reysol, the 2013 J. League Cup champion, and Argentine team Lanús, the 2013 Copa Sudamericana champion. It was hosted by Kashiwa Reysol at the Hitachi Kashiwa Soccer Stadium in Kashiwa on August 6, 2014.


2014 Suruga Bank Championship
For the fifth consecutive year, the match was won by the Japanese host team, as Kashiwa Reysol won 2–1 to earn their first Suruga Bank Championship.


2014 Suruga Bank Championship, Format
The Suruga Bank Championship was played as a single match, with the J. League Cup champion hosting the match. If the score was tied at the end of regulation, the penalty shoot-out was used to determine the winner (no extra time was played). A maximum of seven substitutions may be made during the match.


2014 Suruga Bank Championship, Match details
Assistant referees:Yang Byoung-eun (South Korea)Yoon Kwang-yeol (South Korea)Fourth official:Hiroyuki Kimura (Japan)


2014 Sutton London Borough Council election
The 2014 Sutton Council election took place on 22 May 2014 to elect members of Sutton Council in England. This was on the same day as other local elections.


2014 Sutton London Borough Council election, Results
The Liberal Democrats retained control winning 45 seats (+2) with the Conservatives winning 9 seats (−2).


2014 Sutton London Borough Council election, Ward results, Beddington North
In January 2016, Cllr Mattey was expelled from the Liberal Democrats after sighting his vocal opposition to a proposed incinerator which is set to be erected in the ward.


2014 Suzhou Ladies Open
The 2014 Caoxijiu Suzhou Ladies Open was a professional tennis tournament played on hard courts. It was the second edition of the tournament which was part of the 2014 WTA 125K series. It took place in Suzhou, China, on 1–6 September 2014.


2014 Suzhou Ladies Open, Singles draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2014 Suzhou Ladies Open, Singles draw entrants, Other entrants
There was no qualifying draw due to insufficient number of players


2014 Suzhou Ladies Open – Doubles
Tímea Babos and Michaëlla Krajicek were the defending champions, having won the event in 2013, however both players chose not to participate.


2014 Suzhou Ladies Open – Doubles
Taiwanese duo Chan Chin-wei and Chuang Chia-jung won the title, defeating Japanese duo Misa Eguchi and Eri Hozumi in the final, 6–1, 3–6, [10–7].


2014 Suzhou Ladies Open – Singles
Shahar Pe'er was the defending champion, having won the event in 2013, however she chose not to participate.


2014 Suzhou Ladies Open – Singles
Anna-Lena Friedsam won the title, defeating Duan Yingying in the final, 6–1, 6–3.


2014 Svenska Cupen Final
The 2014 Svenska Cupen final was played on 18 May 2014 at the national stadium Friends Arena in Solna, which hosted the final for the second time. The stadium is the home of the Sweden national football team and Allsvenskan club AIK. The final made its return to Solna for the second consecutive year. The final was the culmination of the 2013–14 Svenska Cupen.


2014 Svenska Cupen Final, Road to the Final
Note: In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first.


2014 Svenska Supercupen
Svenska Supercupen 2014, Swedish Super Cup 2014, was the 8th Svenska Supercupen, an annual football match contested by the winners of the previous season's Allsvenskan and Svenska Cupen competitions. The match was played at Malmö Stadion, Malmö, on 9 November 2014, and was played by the 2014 Allsvenskan champions Malmö FF and the 2013–14 Svenska Cupen champions IF Elfsborg. The match was IF Elfsborg's second in the competition and their first since 2007. It was Malmö FF's second successive appearance and third in total, it was also the first time that the competition was hosted at Malmö Stadion and the first time the competition was hosted at an alternative home venue.


2014 Svenska Supercupen
In Sweden the match was broadcast live on TV12. Martin Strömbergsson from Gävle was the referee for match, his first time officiating the competition. His older brother Markus had previously officiated three Svenska Supercupen matches. Malmö FF won the match on penalties 5–4 after the match had ended 2–2 after extra time. IF Elfsborg took the lead through Viktor Claesson in the first half, Malmö FF equalized Elfsborg's lead in the 89th minute of ordinary time.


2014 Svenska Supercupen
Malmö FF then took the lead through Emil Forsberg in the second half of extra time, only to have their lead equalized by Viktor Prodell on a penalty in the last minute of extra time. The match proceeded to penalties which Malmö FF won 5–4 after Elfsborg had missed their last two penalties. This was the first time Svenska Supercupen went to extra time and penalties in its eight-year history.


2014 Svenska Supercupen, Background
IF Elfsborg qualified for Svenska Supercupen on 18 May 2014 when they won the 2014 Svenska Cupen Final against Helsingborgs IF 1–0. Elfsborg had one previous appearance in the competition, the inaugural edition of 2007 when they won the title after beating Helsingborgs IF 1–0 at Borås Arena. Malmö FF qualified for the competition of 5 October 2014 when they secured the 2014 Allsvenskan title in the 27th league round in the away fixture against AIK at Friends Arena with a 3–2 win.


2014 Svenska Supercupen, Background
Malmö FF made their second successive appearance in the competition, being the current holders of the title after defeating IFK Göteborg in last year's competition. The match was Malmö FF's third appearance in total for Svenska Supercupen. Malmö FF had home advantage in the competition as league champions. Malmö FF chose to play the match at the clubs alternative home venue Malmö Stadion.


2014 Svenska Supercupen, Background
The two clubs met in league play during the season, Malmö FF defeated Elfsborg at Borås Arena 1–0 on 1 June 2014 and Elfsborg defeated Malmö FF at Swedbank Stadion 2–1 on 18 October 2014 in the 28th league round. The last time the two clubs faced each other in a domestic cup match was in the semi-finals for Svenska Cupen on 31 May 1984, a match which Malmö FF won 2–0. Malmö FF and Elfsborg had never met each other in a cup final prior to this match. Prior to the match both teams declared that, regardless of which team won the match, they would donate the entire prize-sum of 250,000 SEK to a trust fund in the name of Klas Ingesson, former manager of Elfsborg who died on 29 October 2014.


2014 Svenska Supercupen, Background
For Malmö FF two players from the starting line-up, goalkeeper Robin Olsen and defender Erik Johansson missed the match due to injuries sustained in Malmö FF's match in the UEFA Champions League against Atlético Madrid on 4 November 2014. Club captain Guillermo Molins was also missing from a long-term injury that made him miss the second half of the 2014 season. IF Elfsborg had forward Lasse Nilsson, defender Sebastian Holmén and midfielder Anton Andreasson missing due to injuries before the match and defender Jon Jönsson missing for an undisclosed reason.


2014 Svijany Open
The 2014 Svijany Open was a professional tennis tournament played on clay courts. It was the 2nd edition of the tournament which was part of the 2014 ATP Challenger Tour. It took place in Liberec, Czech Republic between 28 July and 3 August 2014.


2014 Svijany Open, ATP entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2014 Svijany Open – Doubles
Roman Jebavý and Jaroslav Pospíšil won the title, beating Ruben Gonzales and Sean Thornley 6–4, 6–3


2014 Svijany Open – Singles
Andrej Martin took the title, beating Horacio Zeballos 1–6, 6–1, 6–4


2014 Swedish Football Division 2
The 2014 Division 2, part of the 2014 Swedish football season, was the 9th season of Sweden's fourth-tier football league in its current format. The season started on 12 April 2014 and ended on 11 October 2014. The teams promoted to Division 1 were: Piteå IF, Akropolis IF, Södertälje FK, Carlstad United BK, FC Höllviken, and Eskilsminne IF.


2014 Swedish Football Division 2, League tables, Relegation play-offs, First round
The first legs were played on 8 October, and the second legs were played on 11 and 12 October 2014.


2014 Swedish Football Division 2, League tables, Relegation play-offs, Second round
The first legs were played on 18 and 19 October, and the second legs were played on 25 and 26 October 2014.


2014 Swedish Football Division 2, Player of the year awards
Ever since 2003 the online bookmaker Unibet have given out awards at the end of the season to the best players in Division 2. The recipients are decided by a jury of sportsjournalists, coaches and football experts. The names highlighted in green won the overall national award.


2014 Swedish Golf Tour
The 2014 Swedish Golf Tour, known as the Nordea Tour for sponsorhip reasons, was the 31st season of the Swedish Golf Tour, a series of professional golf tournaments held in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Germany and Thailand with a winter series in Spain.


2014 Swedish Golf Tour
Most of the tournaments also featured on the 2014 Nordic Golf League (NGL).


2014 Swedish Golf Tour, Schedule
The season consisted of 18 events played between April and October with a winter series in February.


2014 Swedish Golf Tour (women)
The 2014 Swedish Golf Tour, known as the Nordea Tour for sponsorship reasons, was the 29th season of the Swedish Golf Tour, a series of professional golf tournaments for women held in Sweden and Norway.


2014 Swedish Golf Tour (women)
A number of the tournaments also featured on the 2014 LET Access Series (LETAS).


2014 Swedish Golf Tour (women), Schedule
The season consisted of 11 tournaments played between May and September, where one event was held in Norway.


2014 Swedish Open
The 2014 Swedish Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts as part of the ATP World Tour 250 Series of the 2014 ATP World Tour and as part of the International Series on the 2014 WTA Tour. It took place in Båstad, Sweden, from 7 through 13 July 2014 for the men's tournament, and from 14 through 20 July 2014 for the women's tournament. It was also known as the 2014 SkiStar Swedish Open for the men and the 2014 Collector Swedish Open for the women for sponsorship reasons. It was the 67th edition of the event for the men and the 6th edition for the women.


2014 Swedish Open, ATP singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2014 Swedish Open, ATP doubles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following pairs received wildcards into the doubles main draw:


2014 Swedish Open, WTA singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2014 Swedish Open, WTA doubles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following pairs received wildcards into the doubles main draw:


2014 Swedish Open – Men's Doubles
Nicholas Monroe and Simon Stadler were the defending champions, but Stadler chose not to participate. Monroe played alongside Johan Brunström and successfully defended the title, defeating Jérémy Chardy and Oliver Marach in the final, 4–6, 7–6(7–5), [10–7].


2014 Swedish Open – Men's Singles
Carlos Berlocq was the defending champion, but lost to João Sousa in the semifinals. Pablo Cuevas won his first ATP World Tour title, defeating Sousa in the final, 6–2, 6–1.


2014 Swedish Open – Men's Singles, Seeds
The top four seeds receive a bye into the second round.


2014 Swedish Open – Women's Doubles
Anabel Medina Garrigues and Klára Koukalová (formerly Zakopalová) were the defending champions, but they chose not to participate. Andreja Klepač and María Teresa Torró Flor won the title, defeating Jocelyn Rae and Anna Smith in the final, 6–1, 6–1.


2014 Swedish Open – Women's Singles
Serena Williams was the defending champion, but withdrew before the tournament began. Mona Barthel won the title, defeating Chanelle Scheepers in the final, 6–3, 7–6(7–3).


2014 Swedish general election
General elections were held in Sweden on 14 September 2014 to elect all 349 seats in the Riksdag, alongside elections for the 21 county councils, and 290 municipal assemblies.


2014 Swedish general election
The centre-right Alliance for Sweden coalition (comprising the Moderate Party, Liberal People's Party, Centre Party, and Christian Democrats) sought a third term in government. In contrast to the previous election, the three largest parties on the left (the Social Democrats, Green Party, and Left Party) ran independent campaigns, as did the far-right Sweden Democrats. The left-wing party, Feminist Initiative, did not pass the 4% threshold.


2014 Swedish general election
The election result saw the largest three parties on the left outpoll the Alliance for Sweden, with the two blocs respectively winning 159 and 141 seats. The Sweden Democrats doubled their support and won the remaining 49 seats. The party's biggest gain came from gaining about the same number of the vote share as the Moderate Party lost but also made strong inroads into traditionally red municipalities in the central region of Svealand. The Sweden Democrats also became the largest party in two rural municipalities in Scania in the party's southern heartlands.


2014 Swedish general election
Fredrik Reinfeldt, the incumbent prime minister, lost his bid for a third term. On 3 October, he was replaced by Stefan Löfven, who formed a minority government consisting of the Social Democrats and Greens. With the result being a hung parliament, this led to the December Agreement to allow the red-green government to pass its budgets after a government crisis later in the autumn.


2014 Swedish general election
The leftist parties became the largest courtesy of the collapse of the Alliance vote share into the Sweden Democrat fold, rather than making any sizeable gains. As a result, very few counties returned other results than hung parliament delegations, even historical Social Democratic strongholds such as Blekinge, Dalarna, Södermanland and Västmanland saw the red-greens failed to secure an outright majority in spite of the election win. The 138 seats for the government (37 short of a majority), made it the cabinet with the lowest seat share in Swedish history to begin a term.


2014 Swedish general election, Background
The 2010 general election saw the incumbent Alliance for Sweden coalition returned to power, though it lost its majority in the Riksdag and had to continue as a minority government. The coalition relied on ad hoc support from the opposition to pass legislation, particularly the Green Party. Immigration critics Sweden Democrats entered the Riksdag for the first time in 2010 and was an isolated part of the opposition, in many cases voting with the government when the two blocs were divided. The Alliance got its budget passed on all occasions, but suffered a key loss when the opposition 'took out' a passage regarding the increased cutoff for when state income tax should be paid in late 2013.


2014 Swedish general election, Background
The previous parliament had also passed some amendments to the Constitution of Sweden. Election days were moved from the third Sunday of September to the second Sunday of the same month. Another change was that the incumbent Prime Minister of Sweden, should he or she not resign immediately after the election, must be approved by the new Riksdag.


2014 Swedish general election, Incumbent parties
The Social Democratic Party (S; Socialdemokraterna) was the largest political party in the Swedish Riksdag with 112 of the 349 seats. The Social Democratic Party had led a single-party government from 1994 to 2006, and had been the major political power of Sweden for much of the 20th century. For the 2010 general election the Social Democratic Party collaborated with the Green Party and the Left Party and sought to form a Red-Green coalition government. Similar cooperation did not take place prior to the 2014 election. Their current party leader Stefan Löfven has said they could potentially collaborate with the Centre Party and the Liberal People's Party in a future government. By the 2014 general election the Social Democratic Party had been in opposition for eight years, the longest such period in over 100 years.


2014 Swedish general election, Incumbent parties
The Moderate Party (M; Moderaterna) was the second-largest party in the Riksdag with 107 seats. It was the largest governing party under Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, who was also its leader. Prior to the 2006 general election the Moderate Party had formed the Alliance for Sweden coalition, together with the Centre Party, the Liberal People's Party and the Christian Democrats. After the 2006 election they were able to form a majority coalition government. The Alliance successfully sought re-election in the 2010 general election, but were reduced to a minority coalition government.


2014 Swedish general election, Incumbent parties
The Green Party (MP; Miljöpartiet) was the third-largest party in the Riksdag with 25 seats. They are the only Swedish party to have two spokespersons, currently Gustav Fridolin and Isabella Lövin. The Green Party had participated in the Red-Green coalition prior to the 2010 general election. The coalition, however, lost that election, although the Green Party itself gained seats. The party has shown interest in participating in a future government, but has not made clear with whom.


2014 Swedish general election, Incumbent parties
The Liberal People's Party (FP; Folkpartiet Liberalerna) was the fourth-largest party in the Riksdag with 24 seats. The party had since 2010 been the second-largest governing party under Prime Minister Reinfeldt. Current party leader Jan Björklund was Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden and Sweden's Minister for Education. Prior to the 2006 general election the Liberal People's Party had formed the Alliance for Sweden coalition together with the Moderate Party, the Centre Party and the Christian Democrats. They formed a majority coalition government in 2006 and a minority coalition government in 2010.


2014 Swedish general election, Incumbent parties
The Centre Party (C; Centerpartiet) was the fifth-largest party in the Riksdag with 23 seats. The party had since 2010 been the third-largest governing party under Prime Minister Reinfeldt, having been the second-largest from 2006 to 2010. Current party leader Annie Lööf was Sweden's Minister for Enterprise. Prior to the 2006 general election the Centre Party had formed the Alliance for Sweden coalition together with the Moderate Party, the Liberal People's Party and the Christian Democrats. They formed a majority coalition government in 2006 and a minority coalition government in 2010.


2014 Swedish general election, Incumbent parties
The Sweden Democrats (SD; Sverigedemokraterna) was the sixth-largest party in the Riksdag with 20 seats. In the 2010 general election, the party had for the first time ever passed the 4% election threshold and entered the Riksdag. The party leader was Jimmie Åkesson. The other Riksdag parties have repeatedly stated that they will not cooperate with the Sweden Democrats in a future government.


2014 Swedish general election, Incumbent parties
The Left Party (V; Vänsterpartiet) was the seventh-largest party in the Riksdag with 19 seats. The current party leader was Jonas Sjöstedt. The Left Party had participated in the Red-Green coalition prior to the 2010 general election which sought confidence to govern Sweden; however, this coalition lost the election. The party has shown interest in participating in a future government consisting of the Red-Green parties. The party has said that it will not support a future government of which it is not a part.


2014 Swedish general election, Incumbent parties
The Christian Democrats (KD; Kristdemokraterna) was the eighth-largest party in the Riksdag with 19 seats. It was the fourth-largest governing party under Prime Minister Reinfeldt. The current party leader Göran Hägglund was Sweden's Minister for Health and Social Affairs. Prior to the 2006 general election the Christian Democrats had formed the Alliance for Sweden coalition, together with the Moderate Party, the Liberal People's Party and the Centre Party. They formed a majority coalition government in 2006 and a minority coalition government in 2010.


2014 Swedish general election, Incumbent parties
"Partiledardebatt" Aftonbladet, 1 September 2014. Present party leaders: Fredrik Reinfeldt (M), Stefan Löfven, Gustav Fridolin (MP), Jan Björklund (FP), Annie Lööf (C), Jimmie Åkesson (SD), Jonas Sjöstedt (V) and Göran Hägglund (KD). Moderators: Karin Magnusson and Malvina Britts.


2014 Swedish general election, Incumbent parties
"Partiledardebatt 2014" Expressen, September, 3rd 2014. Present party leaders: Fredrik Reinfeldt (M), Stefan Löfven (S), Åsa Romson (MP), Jan Björklund (FP), Annie Lööf (C), Jimmie Åkesson (SD), Jonas Sjöstedt (V) and Göran Hägglund (KD). Moderator: Niklas Svensson.


2014 Swedish general election, Incumbent parties
"Partiledardebatt" SR P1, 10 September 2014. Present party leaders: Fredrik Reinfeldt (M), Stefan Löfven (S), Åsa Romson (MP), Jan Björklund (FP), Annie Lööf (C), Jimmie Åkesson (SD), Jonas Sjöstedt (V), Göran Hägglund (KD). Moderators: Monica Saarinen and Lasse Johansson.


2014 Swedish general election, Incumbent parties
"Debatten" TV4, 11 September 2014. Present party leaders: Fredrik Reinfeldt (M), Stefan Löfven (S), Åsa Romson (MP), Jan Björklund (FP), Annie Lööf (C), Jimmie Åkesson (SD), Jonas Sjöstedt (V), Göran Hägglund (KD). Moderators: Jenny Strömstedt and Anders Pihlblad.


2014 Swedish general election, Incumbent parties
"Slutdebatten" SVT, 12 September 2014. Present party leaders: Fredrik Reinfeldt (M), Stefan Löfven (S), Gustav Fridolin (MP), Jan Björklund (FP), Annie Lööf (C), Jimmie Åkesson (SD), Jonas Sjöstedt (V), Göran Hägglund (KD). Moderators: Anna Hedenmo and Mats Knutson.


2014 Swedish general election, Leadership changes
The election took place with several changes in party leadership from the 2010 election.


2014 Swedish general election, Leadership changes, Social Democratic Party
Social Democratic party leader Mona Sahlin stepped down after her party's poor election results in 2010. She was replaced by Håkan Juholt at the party congress on 25 March 2011. Juholt was previously the chairman for the parliamentary committee on defence issues (försvarsutskottet), and a 16-year MP representing Kalmar. At the time of his appointment, Juholt was considered by political commentators to represent the more traditional left wing of the Social Democratic Party.


2014 Swedish general election, Leadership changes, Social Democratic Party
However, Juholt's time as party chairman only lasted ten months before he resigned on 21 January 2012 amid controversy surrounding a political affair. The party executive board announced their endorsement of Stefan Löfven as the new party chairman on 26 January 2012; he was elected chairman of the party by members the following day. Löfven was the chairman of IF Metall until his appointment and has had a long career as a trade union leader. As Löfven was not an elected MP, he remained unable to participate in the day-to-day activities and debates in the Riksdag.


2014 Swedish general election, Leadership changes, Green Party
The Green Party's co-spokespeople both stepped down, having both served the maximum nine years allowed by the party's constitution, and were officially replaced by a party congress in May 2011. A nominating committee nominated Gustav Fridolin (MP for Skåne Northern and Eastern) and Åsa Romson (party spokesperson for environmental and climate policy, and MP for Stockholm Municipality). However, economic policy spokesperson Mikaela Valtersson also expressed her intention to challenge Romson for the nomination. Other candidates identified by the press included Yvonne Ruwaida and Carl Schlyter. On 21 May 2011, the party congress elected Fridolin and Romson as the party's new co-spokespersons.


2014 Swedish general election, Leadership changes, Centre Party
In June 2011, Maud Olofsson announced that she would not stand for re-election as leader of the Centre Party. On 23 September 2011, Annie Lööf was elected as the party's new leader.


2014 Swedish general election, Leadership changes, Left Party
In August 2011, Lars Ohly, the leader of the Left Party, made public that he would step down after the party's poor showing in the election. Ohly stated he would remain an MP. Jonas Sjöstedt was elected new party leader at the party congress on 6 January 2012.


2014 Swedish general election, Leadership changes, Christian Democrats
At the national party conference in January 2012, the Christian Democrats leader Göran Hägglund was challenged for the leadership by MP and former cabinet minister Mats Odell. The leadership battle ended in a vote at the conference, where Hägglund prevailed. Afterwards, Odell announced that he would resign as leader of the party's parliamentary group, and not seek reelection in 2014.


2014 Swedish general election, Results, Results breakdown
The election was apart from the sharp decline of the Moderates and the sharp rise of the Sweden Democrats very similar to 2010. The Feminist Initiative numbers in addition to the other three left of centre-parties indicated a further difference not shown in the division of the mandates, due to FI missing the cutoff point. Still, the Sweden Democrats formally held the balance of power, but neither bloc was willing to go to government with their active support. The Social Democrats got the first go at forming a government after eight years in opposition as Moderate prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt resigned on election night.


2014 Swedish general election, Government formation
The Social Democrats declared that they would seek to form a government, but would not work with the Sweden Democrats. Fredrik Reinfeldt announced he was stepping down as leader of the Moderate Party. The Centre Party and Liberal People's Party rejected the Social Democrats' overtures for a coalition, and the day after the election Stefan Löfven ruled out the possibility of forming a government with the Left Party. This raised the possibility of a minority coalition of the Social Democrats and Greens alone.


2014 Swedish general election, Government formation
On 2 October 2014 the Riksdag elected Löfven as Prime Minister, heading the Löfven Cabinet consisting of the Social Democrats and the Greens.


2014 Swedish general election, Government formation
On 3 December 2014 the government failed to push through its budget after the Sweden Democrats voted with the centre-right opposition, that along with the Sweden Democrats had a sizeable majority for the budget in parliament (those five parties won 190 seats to 159 for the government and the Left Party). Löfven told in a press conference, that an extra election were to be expected and to be held on 22 March. According to the Swedish constitution this election could not be called until 29 December. On 27 December, this new election was cancelled as the Social Democrats and the Greens made an agreement with the Alliance parties which will allow the government's subsequent budgets to pass the Riksdag in return for concessions regarding immigration policy, defence and pensions.


2014 Swedish government crisis
The 2014 Swedish government crisis (Swedish: Regeringskrisen i Sverige 2014) started on 3 December 2014 after the Riksdag rejected the  proposed government budget in favour of a budget proposed by the centre-right opposition.


2014 Swedish government crisis
The Sweden Democrats declared at a press conference on 2 December 2014 that they would secondarily vote for the government budget proposed by other opposition parties in the centre-right Alliance, thus securing a majority for that budget and a defeat for the budget proposed by the Red-green Löfven cabinet. After a meeting between the Social Democrats, the Green Party and the parties of the Alliance did not lead to any solution or any plans of further negotiations, the Alliance's budget passed in the Riksdag on 3 December with a margin of 182 to 153 (14 parliamentarians not attending the meeting).


2014 Swedish government crisis
The same day Prime Minister Stefan Löfven declared that the cabinet would call a snap election to be held on 22 March 2015. For constitutional reasons the snap election could not be called until 29 December 2014. If held, the election would have been the first snap election and the first election not held in September since 1958.


2014 Swedish government crisis
On December 27, 2014, Prime Minister Löfven announced the snap election would not be held, following a six-party agreement on future budget procedures involving all major parties but the Left Party and the Sweden Democrats.


2014 Swedish government crisis
The Agreement fell in October 2015 when the Christian Democrats decided to leave it. However, the centre-right parties Moderate, Liberals and Centre allow the centre-left social democrat minority government continue to govern.


2014 Swedish government crisis, Background
The 2014 Swedish general election led to a situation where no political block gained a majority on their own. Löfven formed a minority government consisting of his Social Democrats and the Green Party, which was supported by the Left Party. However, the three parties do not hold a majority in the Riksdag and would need support from at least one opposition party in order to pass legislation. In the opposition, the centre-right Alliance consisted of the Moderate Party, the Centre Party, the Liberal People's Party and the Christian Democrats. The balance of power was held by the Sweden Democrats, a nationalist party. The other parties maintain a policy of refusing to co-operate with the Sweden Democrats.


2014 Swedish government crisis, Background
The budget proposal from the Löfven Cabinet was made in co-operation with the Left Party. The budget was presented to the Riksdag by Minister for Finance Magdalena Andersson on 23 October. The Alliance presented an alternative budget proposal on 10 November. Their budget was practically similar regarding migration, the main issue for the Sweden Democrats. The Sweden Democrats presented their own alternative budget proposal.


2014 Swedish government crisis, Background
The usual practice in the Riksdag is that parties only vote for their primary budget proposal. During the autumn session, the Sweden Democrats said that they would consider deviating from the practice by voting for the Alliance budget after their own proposal failed. Their party leader Jimmie Åkesson was on sick leave due to burnout in October leaving Mattias Karlsson as acting leader. Several political commentators expressed doubts that the Sweden Democrats would be prepared to cause a cabinet crisis and a potential extra election. By November, it looked likely that the Sweden Democrat representatives would ally themselves against the Löfven Cabinet. A poll the same month found that 71% of the Sweden Democrats' voters were in favour of the party voting for the budget proposal from the Alliance.


2014 Swedish government crisis, Rejection of the budget
On the morning of 2 December 2014, Löfven said he and the cabinet would not continue to govern if their budget proposal was defeated.


2014 Swedish government crisis, Rejection of the budget
In the afternoon, the Sweden Democrats held a press conference led by acting leader Mattias Karlsson and spokesperson on economic issues Oscar Sjöstedt, which ended with a statement that the party would vote for the Alliance's budget proposal the next day after their own proposal had failed. The party declared that they found it unacceptable that the expenses to asylum seekers were increasing from what they considered an already too high level and therefore wanted a cabinet crisis even though the Alliance's alternative budget included the same expenses regarding migration. They further declared that they would be prepared to vote down all future budgets from a potential new cabinet from the Alliance in a similar way, and that their main goal was to reduce what they saw as the Green Party's influence over Swedish immigration policy.


2014 Swedish government crisis, Rejection of the budget
Following the press conference Prime Minister Stefan Löfven invited the four leaders from the Alliance to a meeting the same evening at Rosenbad to discuss the situation. All parties accepted the invitation. For the Moderate Party group leader Anna Kinberg Batra attended instead of the party leader Fredrik Reinfeldt, who had declared his intention to step down from politics on the 2014 election night. The other parties were represented by their party leaders, Annie Lööf (Centre Party), Göran Hägglund (Christian Democrats) and Jan Björklund (Liberal People's Party). The cabinet was represented by Prime Minister Löfven, Minister of Finance Magdalena Andersson, both Social Democrats, and the two spokesperson for the Green Party, Deputy Prime Minister Åsa Romson and Minister for Education Gustav Fridolin.


2014 Swedish government crisis, Rejection of the budget
The Alliance leaders signaled before the meeting that they did not want to negotiate about the budget and stood fully by their own budget proposal. The meeting lasted somewhat over an hour and in interviews immediately afterwards the Alliance leaders confirmed that there had been no negotiations on the budget matter; the Alliance had, however, expressed wish to co-operate about procedural changes regarding decision making in the Riksdag to avoid similar situations in the future and make it easier for minority cabinets to govern.


2014 Swedish government crisis, Rejection of the budget
The same evening Löfven held a press conference with the three other cabinet ministers who had attended the meeting where he expressed regret that no progress had been made in talks with the Alliance. He stated that he had not decided whether he would resign or call a new election and that there might be "other alternatives".


2014 Swedish government crisis, Rejection of the budget
On 3 December, the Riksdag debated the three budget proposals from the cabinet, the Alliance and the Sweden Democrats and in the afternoon voted over which budget to approve for 2015. According to voting procedures, the parliament first voted over the proposal from the Sweden Democrats, which only got their votes. As they had planned, the Sweden Democrats then voted in favour of the budget proposal from the Alliance. The latter gained 183 votes against 153 for the cabinet's proposal.


2014 Swedish government crisis, Plans for a snap election
The budget voting was followed by a press conference by Löfven and Fridolin where Löfven said the cabinet would call a snap election to the Riksdag to be held on 22 March 2015. According to the Constitution of Sweden a snap election can not be called before three month after the Riksdag has convened after the ordinary election, therefore the election could not be called until 29 December. In addition, the new Riksdag would only be elected to serve the rest of the existing Riksdag's term; the date of the 2018 general election would not be changed.


2014 Swedish government crisis, Plans for a snap election
In his statement, Löfven said the Sweden Democrats had declared they would be willing to overthrow every cabinet they disagreed with on immigration politics and said this caused a new political situation in Sweden. He further said he regretted what he saw as the Alliance's rejection of a closer co-operation with the cabinet. In a later press conference the leaders of the Alliance blamed the crisis on Löfven. The Sweden Democrats welcomed the plans for a new election and said they would focus their campaign on immigration.


2014 Swedish government crisis, Plans for a snap election
In a poll conducted via web 69% said they believed that the decision to call an election was right under the circumstances, while 29% disagreed. 48% held Löfven responsible for the situation, 47% held Åkesson responsible, while the share who held the leaders in the Alliance responsible varied from 30 to 38%.


2014 Swedish government crisis, Plans for a snap election
The Moderate Party had been preparing to hold a party congress in March to elect a new leader after Reinfeldt had stepped down. On 3 December 2014, they announced that the congress would take place on 10 January 2015 due to the snap election. On 9 December, the party declared that the nomination committee had nominated Batra for new leader.


2014 Swedish government crisis, Analysis
Löfven formally could have chosen to govern if the Alliance's budget was passed into law, and proposed relatively minor changes to the budget in the Spring when the budget is adjusted. However, this option had been rejected by Löfven beforehand and was seen by political commentators as politically impossible.


2014 Swedish government crisis, Analysis
There has been some debate among politicians and political commentators over whether it would have been more correct and appropriate of Löfven to ask the Speaker of the Parliament to explore the possibility of forming another cabinet instead of announcing a new election. The Löfven cabinet would then have functioned as a caretaker government in the interim.


2014 Swedish government crisis, Analysis
According to Swedish media, the Alliance had been prepared to form a minority cabinet after their budget was adopted and said that they were surprised by Löfven's decision to call an extra election. However, the Sweden Democrats had said they would be prepared to use similar tactics against an Alliance minority government.


2014 Swedish government crisis, Resolution
On 27 December Löfven called off the snap elections after six-party talks had resulted in agreements where the government and the opposition would seek common ground on policy. Named the "December Agreement" (Decemberöverenskommelsen), the deal effectively lets a minority coalition govern without needing to form a parliamentary majority through a loyal opposition, with the only requirement being to become the larger of the two main blocks. The opposition would not vote on their own budget, in order to prevent the Sweden Democrats to be able to put political pressure by threatening to make the opposition budget win.


2014 Swedish government crisis, Resolution
The agreement was so controversial, as 34% of respondents believed the deal to be "undemocratic" according to a survey. The deal was also met with strong criticism from senior politicians of both blocks, including former Moderate Party leader Ulf Adelsohn denouncing it as "an unconditional capitulation", former Culture Ministers Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth and Cecilia Stegö Chilò, and former Defence Ministers Anders Björck and Mikael Odenberg, the latter describing the deal as "a defeat for democracy and parliamentarism".


2014 Swedish government crisis, Resolution
Green Party MEP and former spokesperson Peter Eriksson stated the deal to be "a huge democratic problem" that "in its very function bypasses the usual rules of democracy". Eriksson also remarked that in most democratic countries making such a deal would not be possible. The agreement was dissolved in 2015, however the centre-right parties Moderate, Liberals and Centre allow the centre-left social democrat minority government continue to govern.


2014 Swedish government crisis, Resolution
The "December Agreement" was cancelled on 9 October 2015. The continued resolution of the crisis was done by having the alliance parties propose each their own budget. That way no opposition budget could together with the Sweden Democrats win the Riksdag voting.


2014 Swedish heat wave
The summer of 2014 in Sweden was unusually warm, especially in the northern parts of the country. July was the warmest ever month on record in the north-west.


2014 Swedish heat wave, Events
The July heat wave started after a week, when Härsnäs in Östergötland County recorded 30.1 °C (86.2 °F) after hot continental air came into the south of the country. The southerly coastal areas recorded particularly warm nights, with Karlskrona recording a night minimum of 21.6 °C (70.9 °F) on 9 July. The heat remained stabled and quite normal until the second half of the month, when heat warnings were released by the Meteorological Office. The heat affected all of Sweden, but was particularly abnormally hot in the north.


2014 Swedish heat wave, Events
Tropical nights were recorded in the coastal north and by the Atlantic in the south on 22 and 23 July Umeå had its warmest temperature since 1882 with 32.2 °C (90.0 °F). The temperature record of nearby islet Holmön was beaten by more than three degrees and topped 30.8 °C (87.4 °F) on an outlying island north of 63 degrees latitude. Several thunderstorms struck the country in some areas at this time, with the precipitation being unevenly distributed. 67 millimetres (2.6 in) fell on the same day in Motala, whilst nearby Linköping only had 4 millimetres (0.16 in) of rainfall in all of July – akin to mediterranean climates. The highest figure was 76 millimetres (3.0 in) on the same day in Emmaboda in the southern inland areas.


2014 Swedish heat wave, Events
The temperatures started to rise to new exceptional levels the final week of July and first week of August. Small islets Storön and Rödkallen on the central Norrland coast had a night minimum at 22.6 °C (72.7 °F) on 26 July. The  intense sunshine and warm winds brought temperatures to 33.9 °C (93.0 °F) in Hökmarksberget in Skellefteå Municipality the following day, with even a marine station (Bjuröklubb) going above 32 °C (90 °F) for the first time ever.


2014 Swedish heat wave, Events
As seen in this official picture, temperatures were a lot warmer than usual with daily means being above 20 °C (68 °F) in the most southerly areas, with temperatures approaching such means even far north. Even gloomy mountain areas such as Östersund and Storlien had warm months. Although the temperatures in the mountain ranges topped 23 °C (73 °F) on average, more significant though was that both locations significantly bettered the July sunshine records.


2014 Swedish heat wave, Events
In August the heat wave in the far north got somewhat tempered, but for the first week the heatwave got new proportions in the southern and central parts of Sweden. After a few relatively calm days around 25 °C (77 °F) a high-pressure system originating in the Baltic states came into the eastern parts of the country on 3 August, ensuring new nationwide high temperatures for the heatwave, although not matching the historic all-time highs. Härsnäs once again tied for warmest in the country with 33.9 °C (93.0 °F), matching the values from Renbergsvattnet.


2014 Swedish heat wave, Events
4 August was the hottest day of the year and for a few years before when far inland town Falun recorded 35.1 °C (95.2 °F), Other areas got affected by thunderstorms moderating temperatures the same day, but Örebro recorded 33.7 °C (92.7 °F) – the highest temperature in that city for decades, as well as Uppsala setting a new August record with 33.3 °C (91.9 °F). The highest overnight low was reached on 3 August on the uninhabited isolated island of Gotska Sandön with 23.6 °C (74.5 °F) a mere 0.1 °C below the nationwide all-time record for warmest low.


2014 Swedish heat wave, Events
Following this event, the heat cooled off and August in general was quite normal in terms of temperatures, with plentiful of precipitation. The warm waters surrounding Sweden during the autumn still led to thunderstorms happening as late as early November, something that is highly unusual.


2014 Swedish heat wave, Milestones
Several heat records were broken and the summer was unusually warm by such northerly marine standards. Apart from in neighbouring countries the heatwave was very much localised, and average temperatures were somewhat neutered by cooler spells interrupting the various intense bursts of heat, as well as the cool nights in Sweden that bring average temperatures down. In a Swedish context this was still a remarkable event, in particular the extremely warm temperatures far north.


2014 Swedish heat wave, Milestones
Small village Kvikkjokk north of the Arctic Circle had a July average high of 25.4 °C (77.7 °F) and Luleå had a daily mean of 19.5 °C (67.1 °F) in a coastal location north of the 65th parallel. Sweden's second city Gothenburg tied for the warmest July month on record with a high of 26.2 °C (79.2 °F), a low of 16.3 °C (61.3 °F) and a resulting mean of 21.2 °C (70.2 °F). Gothenburg's mean was the warmest in the country, but the warmest high mean was 27 °C (81 °F) in Falun. The all-time record of the 21.9 °C (71.4 °F) mean for Linköping a 100 years earlier did however stand. A July average low of 17.9 °C (64.2 °F) was measured at Måseskär off the west coast, where temperatures never fell below 14.4 °C (57.9 °F) all month.


2014 Swedish heat wave, Milestones
The warm and dry local weather also contributed to intense wildfires in Västmanland County in early August that took several weeks to get under proper control.


2014 Swedish heat wave, Milestones
With the heat wave as a contributing factor along with the following mild autumn, 2014 was the warmest year on record in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö – the three largest cities in the country. The yearly mean of 10.4 °C (50.7 °F) in Falsterbo was also the highest on record for the official stations mentioned every month in SMHI's data report. Lund recorded an average year high of 13.9 °C (57.0 °F). Among other unusual consequences of the heat wave was that Kiruna had a yearly mean of just above the freezing point, and Luleå's mean topping 4 °C (39 °F) for the first time.


2014 Swedish heat wave, Regions, Skåne
Skanör med Falsterbo set a new Swedish record for warmest yearly mean with 10.4 °C (50.7 °F). Its marine features rendered less severe daytime heat during the heat wave, but rather very warm nights. Daily July means went above 20 °C (68 °F), but the temperature record and individual monthly record both stood, with Falsterbo only once recording 30 °C (86 °F) in its recorded history (as of 2016). In spite of the hypermarine features of the climate Falsterbo recorded 20 days above 25 °C (77 °F) during the summer. In the wake of the heat wave Falsterbo had an October average low of the very mild 11.3 °C (52.3 °F).


2014 Swedish heat wave, Regions, Skåne
Lund in Skåne had its warmest year on record, but its extremely warm July still did not match its 2006 record for the warmest month. Lund recorded 33 days with temperatures above 25 °C (77 °F). Its July mean of 20.8 °C (69.4 °F) was also the warmest in the country, due to the very warm nights by Swedish standards, averaging around 16 °C (61 °F). Unlike areas further north, Lund did not experience a summer drought.


2014 Swedish heat wave, Regions, Eastern Götaland
Norrköping and the surrounding coastline through Västervik to the south Nyköping to the east had a very warm summer in spite of the near-coastal location. Norrköping had a yearly mean of 8.7 °C (47.7 °F), a new all-time record. Although the year was record warm, July did not beat the 1994 records, but it was still far warmer than a normal year. In total, 32 days of the year reached 25 °C (77 °F) in Norrköping.


2014 Swedish heat wave, Regions, Svealand
Falun in Dalarna saw the warmest temperature of the year in the country with 35 °C (95 °F) in early August. Its July was also the hottest in Sweden during daytime. July was so dry that it could easily be compared to mediterranean climates. August compensated for that with heavy rainfall.


2014 Swedish heat wave, Regions, Svealand
Örebro, (namesake county) had a very warm year with uneven precipitation patterns, with a summer drought and heavy rainfall in many other parts of the year.


2014 Swedish heat wave, Regions, Northern Norrland
Luleå (Norrbotten), recorded the warmest month in Northern Norrland since 1925 with a July mean of 19.5 °C (67.1 °F). Considering the airport being in a rural setting, the urban area may well have surpassed Haparanda's 1925 19.6 °C (67.3 °F) reading. In spite of the high means a mere 14 days above 25 °C (77 °F) was recorded in Luleå. The warm temperatures both in July means and yearly means were due to the mild summer nights by the coastline.


2014 Swedish heat wave, Regions, Northern Norrland
Lycksele saw a record warm summer with an extremely hot July considering its northerly latitude with summer highs approaching 26 °C (79 °F). As many as 31 days reached or went above 25 °C (77 °F).


2014 Swedish local elections
Local elections were held in Sweden on 14 September 2014 to elect county councils and municipal councils. The elections were held alongside general elections.


2014 Swedish local elections, Results, County councils
The total number of seats increased nationwide to 1,678, up from 1,662 in the 2010 elections.


2014 Swindon Borough Council election
The 2014 Swindon Borough Council election took place on 22 May 2014 to elect members of Swindon Borough Council in England. This was on the same day as other local elections. The Conservatives gained 1 seat to retain control of the council.


2014 Swiss Figure Skating Championships
The 2014 Swiss Figure Skating Championships took place between 5 and 7 December 2013 at the Patinoire des Mélèzes in La Chaux-de-Fonds. Skaters competed in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing on the senior level. The results were used to choose the Swiss teams to the 2014 Winter Olympics, 2014 World Championships, and the 2014 European Championships.


2014 Swiss Indoors
The 2014 Swiss Indoors was a men's tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It was the 45th edition of the event known as the Swiss Indoors, and part of the 500 series of the 2014 ATP World Tour. It was held at the St. Jakobshalle in Basel, Switzerland, from 20 October through 26 October 2014. First-seeded Roger Federer won the singles title.


2014 Swiss Indoors, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2014 Swiss Indoors, Doubles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following pairs received wildcards into the doubles main draw:


2014 Swiss Indoors – Doubles
Treat Huey and Dominic Inglot were the defending champions, but Huey decided to compete in Valencia instead. Inglot played alongside Florin Mergea, but lost in the semifinals to Vasek Pospisil and Nenad Zimonjić. Pospisil and Zimonjić went on to win the title, defeating Marin Draganja and Henri Kontinen in the final, 7–6(15–13), 1–6, [10–5].


2014 Swiss Indoors – Singles
Juan Martín del Potro was the two-time defending champion, but withdrew because of a wrist injury. Roger Federer won the title, defeating David Goffin in the final, 6–2, 6–2.


2014 Swiss Junior Curling Championships
The 2014 Swiss Junior Curling Championships, Switzerland's national Junior curling championships, were held from January 24 to February 2 at the Curlingzentrum Region Basel in Bern, Switzerland. The winners represented Switzerland at the 2014 World Junior Curling Championships. 8 teams each took part in the men's and women's events.


2014 Swiss Junior Curling Championships
In the men's final, Yannick Schwaller and his team of Reto Keller, Patrick Witschonke and Michael Probst defeated Team Langenthal-Bern Terratex (Simon Biedermann) 9–6. It's the first title for the team Yannick Schwaller.


2014 Swiss Junior Curling Championships
In the women's final, Corina Mani and her team of Briar Hürlimann, Rahel Thoma and Tamara Michel defeated Wetzikon-Dübendorf (Elena Stern) 10-9. It's the first title for the team Corina Mani.


2014 Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold
The 2014 Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold was the third grand prix gold and grand prix tournament of the 2014 BWF Grand Prix Gold and Grand Prix. The tournament was held in St. Jakobshalle, Basel, Switzerland from March 11–16, 2014 and had a total purse of $125,000.


2014 Swiss immigration initiative
In Switzerland, the federal popular initiative "against mass immigration"  (German: Eidgenössische Volksinitiative "Gegen Masseneinwanderung", French: Initiative populaire « Contre l'immigration de masse », Italian: Iniziativa popolare "Contro l'immigrazione di massa") was a referendum that aimed to limit immigration through quotas, as it had been prior to the bilateral treaties between Switzerland and the European Union (EU) launched 2002.


2014 Swiss immigration initiative
The popular initiative was launched by the national conservative Swiss People's Party and was accepted by a majority of the electorate (50.3%, a difference of 19,526 votes) and a majority of the cantons (14.5 out of 23; 12 of 20 full cantons plus five of six half cantons) on 9 February 2014. This initiative was mostly backed by rural parts (57.6% approvals) of Switzerland as well as by a strong majority (69.2% approvals) in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, while metropolitan centres (58.5% rejection) and the French-speaking part (58.5% rejection) of Switzerland rejected it.


2014 Swiss immigration initiative
Swiss-EU bilateral treaties on single market participation are all co-dependent; if one is terminated, then all are terminated. Consequently, should Switzerland choose unilaterally to cancel the free movement agreement, then all its single market agreements with the EU will lapse unless a compromise is found. On 22 December 2016, Switzerland and the EU concluded an agreement that a new Swiss law (in response to the referendum) may require Swiss employers to give priority to Swiss-based job seekers (Swiss nationals and foreigners registered in Swiss job agencies) but does not limit the free movement of EU workers to Switzerland.


2014 Swiss immigration initiative, Context
As of 2014, 23.4% of Switzerland's population are foreigners (9% in Germany). The net immigration is 80,000 people per year, 1% of the total population (three times more than e.g. in Germany, four times more than in the United States). Every year 30,000 to 40,000 receive Swiss nationality (this represents a per capita rate of about three times that of both Germany and the United States). According to the European Commission about 1 million EU citizens live in Switzerland and another 230,000 cross the border daily for work, while 430,000 Swiss live in the EU.


2014 Swiss immigration initiative, Context
Immigrant workers make up a large part of the Swiss workforce in several industries. Scienceindustries, the Swiss association of chemical, pharma, and biotech businesses, emphasized that they rely on highly qualified workers from outside Switzerland to keep an edge over their competitors, and that 45% out of 67,000 people that its member companies employ in Switzerland are from abroad.


2014 Swiss immigration initiative, Context
In 2002, the Swiss People's Party launched a federal popular initiative "against asylum abuse" that was rejected by 50.1% of voters (with a difference of 4,208 votes). In 2009, the referendum on biometric passports required by the Schengen Agreement was also accepted by 50.1% of voters (with a difference of 5,680 votes).


2014 Swiss immigration initiative, Context
More recently, the Swiss People's Party had successfully launched federal popular initiatives "against the construction of minarets" (2009, 57.5%) and "for the expulsion of criminal foreigners" (2010, 52.3%).


2014 Swiss immigration initiative, Reception, National reactions
After the acceptance of the federal popular initiative "against mass immigration", views varied widely as to why the initiative was successful at the polls, and how it might actually be implemented. To some observers, the situation was reminiscent of the referendum held on 6 December 1992, when 50.3% of the Swiss people voted against joining the European Economic Area.


2014 Swiss immigration initiative, Reception, National reactions
The Swiss People's Party, which was the main proponent of the initiative, celebrated the referendum outcome as a major victory. The party's head Toni Brunner stated: "This is a sea change in Switzerland's migration policy. It is clear that immigration will have to be massively restricted."


2014 Swiss immigration initiative, Reception, National reactions
Some commentators fear a slowdown in economic activity due to the enforcement of the initiative. Business and industry groups were opposed to the initiative during the campaign and expressed concern about the measure's impact on their ability to attract and retain top talent from abroad. The Swiss Bankers Association expressed disappointment and concern at the result, saying: "We urgently need to hold constructive talks with the EU to explain our position".


2014 Swiss immigration initiative, Reception, National reactions
Although all governing parties except the Swiss People's Party opposed the initiative, the Federal Council (the Swiss government) announced that it would promptly start implementing the new constitutional provisions and will set to work on re-introducing immigration quotas "without delay". The acceptance of the initiative binds the Swiss government to renegotiate the entire EU labor market agreements with the EU within three years; the current treaties stay in force in the meantime.


2014 Swiss immigration initiative, Reception, European Union reactions
The European Commission issued a statement saying that it was "disappointed" in the Swiss referendum on immigration restriction result but would wait to study how exactly the outcome of the referendum affects the relations between Switzerland and the European Union. European Commission vice-president Viviane Reding stated that the result of the referendum could jeopardise Switzerland's access to the European single market, saying "The single market is not Swiss cheese."


2014 Swiss immigration initiative, Reception, European Union reactions
As of July 2016, negotiations had not led to any change in the EU's position that access to the European Single Market is inextricably linked to the principle of free movement of people.


2014 Swiss immigration initiative, Consequences
Following protracted discussions between Switzerland and the EU, the Swiss government largely climbed down from the initial referendum proposals, adopting instead a "light national preference" to implement the referendum. This outcome was decried as a failure to properly implement the referendum by the Swiss SVP party (which had promoted the referendum) as it fails to put any curbs on immigration. Its leaders are considering a new referendum.


2014 Swiss immigration initiative, Consequences
Their climbdown was largely due to the EU's unwavering negotiating tactic, as it was prepared to put at stake all existing collaborations between Switzerland and the European Union, such as:


2014 Swiss immigration initiative, Consequences, Education and research
In a statement to HINA, EU Commission spokesperson Joe Hennon said that the vote would influence the next round of talks for Swiss inclusion in Horizon 2020 and Erasmus+. The talks were about programmes which could be applied for in 2014. For the academic year 2011/2012, 2,612 Swiss students went abroad, at the same time 2,673 foreign students came to Switzerland with the Erasmus program. Under the Seventh Framework Programme, the predecessor to Horizon 2020, more than one in four Swiss research proposals were funded in a total of 3,000 projects, which was the fourth highest success rate on average.


2014 Swiss immigration initiative, Consequences, Education and research
Swiss researchers secured €1.27 billion in EU funding between 2007 and 2012, including about €356 million in coveted basic research grants from the European Research Council. According to the "Innovation Union Scoreboard 2013" Switzerland was the overall innovation leader before Sweden, Germany, Denmark and Finland. It continuously outperformed the EU27 countries. By 26 February 2014, the EU announced that, at least for 2014, Switzerland's status in Horizon2020 would be downgraded from an associated to third-country and that Swiss-based scientists could not apply for ERC grants.


2014 Swiss immigration initiative, Consequences, Education and research
The referendum did not impact CERN's recruitment as it is an international organisation and does not need Swiss work permits.


2014 Swiss immigration initiative, Consequences, Croatia
Following the referendum the Federal Council was no longer allowed to sign the already negotiated free movement accord with Croatia, which joined the EU in July 2013. The new Swiss constitution article was immediately binding for the Federal Council, which then looked for a way to not discriminate against Croatia. The European Commission connected the negotiations for the 2014 Erasmus program with the signing of the free movement accord for Croatia.


2014 Swiss immigration initiative, Consequences, Croatia
On 4 March 2016, Switzerland and the EU signed a treaty that would extend the accord of the free movement of people to Croatia, something which would lead to Switzerland's full readmission into Horizon 2020. The treaty was ratified by the National Council on 26 April on the condition that a solution be found to an impasse on implementing the 2014 referendum. The treaty was passed in December 2016. This allowed Switzerland to rejoin Horizons 2020 on 1 January 2017.


2014 Swiss immigration initiative, Implementation
The Swiss government had three years to implement the referendum. The government attempted to implement the referendum without endangering its bilateral agreements with the EU, something that generated much controversy.


2014 Swiss immigration initiative, Implementation
On 12 December 2016, the Swiss parliament agreed to a solution on how to implement the referendum, and it formally voted on and approved the implementation on 16 December. The final measure was described as "watered down" or as "a compromise" intended to appease the EU and not harm its relationship.


2014 Swiss immigration initiative, Implementation
Although the 2014 referendum called for quotas, the accepted implementation did not include quotas but rather ordered employers to prioritize Swiss residents rather than foreign workers in locations where the unemployment rate is above average, and it requires foreigners to demonstrate that they are integrated in Swiss society in order to receive a residence permit. On 16 December the Swiss Federal Council also ratified the Protocol on the extension to Croatia of the Free Movement of Persons Agreement between the EU and Switzerland.


2014 Swiss immigration initiative, Implementation
The accepted referendum implementation was harshly criticized by the Swiss People's Party, which sponsored the original referendum. The party called the plan "a betrayal of voters' wishes" surrendering to EU pressure, and unconstitutional. However, the SVP ruled out holding another referendum to force a stricter implementation of the referendum. The media also criticized the implementation proposal for deviating so far from the legally-binding referendum. The European Commission, however, cautiously welcomed the implementation, stating that it "appears to go in the right direction," and about a week later it released a mostly positive statement concerning the implementation.


2014 Swiss immigration initiative, Implementation, Proposed initiatives in response to the implementation proposal
In an attempt to soften the immigration law further, in order to avoid conflict with the EU, the Swiss government proposed two alternatives to a proposed popular initiative to completely repeal the 2014 referendum. The government's counterproposals, if approved by voters, would prohibit changing Swiss law if it would conflict with "international treaties of vital interest to Switzerland" or remove the three-year implementation limit, respectively. On 28 December 2016, a popular initiative to challenge the government's proposed implementation was launched by a Social Democrat-member, acting as a private citizen. It did not reach the required number of signatures in the allotted timeframe. In early 2017, four citizens' committees joined together to challenge the implementation proposal, which they saw as "not compatible with the 2014 initiative."


2014 Swiss referendums, February referendums
Three referendums were held on 9 February on abortion, immigration and the rail network. The abortion referendum proposed that abortions would no longer be funded through health insurance, but should be paid for privately by the mother.


2014 Swiss referendums, February referendums
The anti-immigration proposal was supported by the Swiss People's Party, and opposes the free movement of workers between the EU and Switzerland, which was introduced following a 2000 referendum.


2014 Swiss referendums, February referendums
The rail network proposal combined a number of existing federal and cantonal funds into a single permanent rail infrastructure fund, and defined a programme of upgrade projects of about 42 billion francs over 40 years, with a mechanism for the federal council to present regular updates to the programme. The initial programme includes a number of speed increases to intercity rail routes and S-Bahn expansion around Bern, Basel, and Geneva.


2014 Swiss referendums, February referendums, Results
The abortion referendum, which would have dropped abortion coverage from public health insurance, failed by a large margin,  with about 70% of participating voters rejecting the proposal.


2014 Swiss referendums, February referendums, Results
The immigration restriction proposal passed by a narrow margin, with 50.3% of participating voters supporting the measure; the proposal was also approved by the required majority of cantons. The immigration measure requires the Swiss government to either renegotiate the Swiss-EU agreement of free movement of people within three years, or to revoke the agreement. The proposal mandates re-introduction of strict quotas for various immigration categories, and imposes limits on  the ability of foreigners to bring in their family members to live in Switzerland, to access Swiss social security benefits, and to request asylum. Opinion polls ahead of the vote showed the lead for the opponents of the immigration measure, but that lead began to close as the day of the referendum approached.


2014 Swiss referendums, February referendums, Results
The referendum on public rail passed with 62% of votes in favour.


2014 Swiss referendums, February referendums, Aftermath
Shortly after the Swiss voted in February 2014 in favour of tighter controls on immigration, the Swiss government informed the EU and Croatia that it was unable to sign a protocol to its agreement with the European Commission that would have automatically extended this agreement to the new EU member state. Giving Croatian citizens unrestricted access to the Swiss job market would have been incompatible with the ‘yes’ vote on the ‘stop mass immigration’ referendum.


2014 Swiss referendums, February referendums, Aftermath
As this decision flew in the face of one of the EU's four guiding principles, the freedom of movement (the other three being the free movement of goods, services and capital), the European Commission retaliated by excluding Switzerland from research programmes potentially worth hundreds of millions of euros for its universities and suspended negotiations on Switzerland's participation as a full member in the world's largest and best-funded research and innovation programme, the almost €80 billion Horizon 2020. The European Commission also suspended Switzerland from the Erasmus student exchange programme. According to the ATS news agency, some 2 600 Swiss students took advantage of Erasmus in 2011 and Switzerland played host that same year to about 2 900 foreign students within the same EU-funded programme.


2014 Swiss referendums, February referendums, Aftermath
Thanks to intense diplomatic activity behind the scenes and fruitful bilateral discussions, Switzerland was granted a temporary reprieve, allowing it to participate in Excellent Science, the central pillar of Horizon 2020. This entitled Swiss universities to benefit from grants offered by the European Research Council and by the Future and Emerging Technologies programme, among other instruments, up until the end of 2016.


2014 Swiss referendums, February referendums, Aftermath
On 22 December 2016, the Swiss parliament adopted a bill that gave priority to Swiss nationals and foreigners registered in Swiss job agencies but avoided introducing quotas on EU citizens. The EU approved the law, putting an end to the almost three-year crisis.


2014 Swiss referendums, May referendums
Four referendums were held in Switzerland on 18 May 2014. An initiative on minimum wage proposed that the government should promote the adoption of minimum wages in collective agreements, and set a national minimum wage of 22 francs an hour, which would have been the highest minimum wage in the world. The other referendums included changes to primary health care, a lifetime ban on convicted pedophiles working with children, and the procurement of the JAS 39 Gripen fighter aircraft.


2014 Swiss referendums, September referendums
Two referendums were held on 28 September, with voters asked whether they supported the creation of a unified health insurance fund and the "End to VAT discrimination in the hospitality industry" popular initiative. The health insurance proposal was supported by the Social Democratic Party and the Green Party, together with several user and consumer organisations. The VAT initiative was launched by GastroSuisse, and sought to reduce the level of VAT paid in restaurants from the standard 8% to 2.5%, the same level paid at food stands. However, the Federal Council and the Federal Assembly both opposed the proposal, claiming it would reduce tax take by around CHF 750 million.


2014 Swiss referendums, November referendums
A further three referendums were held on 30 November on the country's gold reserves, abolishing the flat tax and limiting immigration. All three were rejected by voters.


2014 Swiss referendums, November referendums
The gold reserves proposal would have required the Swiss National Bank to have gold reserves of at least 20% of the value of the assets of the Swiss National Bank, and see all Swiss gold currently held in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York returned to Switzerland. The popular initiative was started by Swiss People's Party MP Luzi Stamm and two other MPs, with the 100,000 signatures required for a referendum obtained by early 2013. The proposal was opposed by the Swiss National Bank and the Swiss government, as it would limit the SNB's ability to print money.


2014 Swiss referendums, November referendums
The flat tax abolition proposal called for residents and non-working foreigners to be taxed based only on their income and their assets, whilst the immigration cap proposal put forward by Ecopop called for preserving natural resources by limiting immigration to Switzerland to 0.2% of the population per year.


2014 Swiss referendums, Sources
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2014 Sydney Darts Masters
The 2014 Sydney Darts Masters was the second staging of a tournament by the Professional Darts Corporation, as a fourth and final entry in the 2014 World Series of Darts. The tournament took place at Hordern Pavilion, Sydney, Australia, between 28–30 August 2014. The tournament featured eight top PDC players and eight qualifiers competing in a knockout system.


2014 Sydney Darts Masters
Phil Taylor retained his title by beating Stephen Bunting 11–3 in the final.


2014 Sydney Darts Masters, Qualifiers
The eight PDC players (with the top 4 seed) were:


2014 Sydney Darts Masters, Broadcasting
The tournament was available in the following countries on these channels:


2014 Sydney FC W-League season
The 2014 Sydney FC W-League season was the club's seventh participation in the W-League, since the league's formation in 2008.


2014 Sydney FC W-League season, Players, Squad information
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2014 Sydney FC W-League season, Players, Transfers in
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2014 Sydney FC W-League season, Players, Transfers out
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2014 Sydney Motorsport Park 400
The 2014 Sydney Motorsport Park 400 was a motor race meeting for the Australian sedan-based V8 Supercars. It was the ninth event of the 2014 International V8 Supercars Championship. It was held on the weekend of 22–24 August at the Sydney Motorsport Park, near Sydney, New South Wales.


2014 Sydney NRMA 500
The 2014 Sydney NRMA 500 was a motor race for V8 Supercars held on 5 to 7 December 2014. The event was held at the Homebush Street Circuit in Sydney Olympic Park, New South Wales, and was scheduled to consist of two races of 125 kilometres and one race of 250 kilometres in length. It was the final round of the 2014 International V8 Supercars Championship, and marked the series return of 2003 and 2004 Champion Marcos Ambrose.


2014 Sydney NRMA 500, Report
Will Davison scored the first pole position for Erebus Motorsport after qualifying for Race 36 was suspended with a minute remaining. Champion drivers Craig Lowndes and wildcard entry Marcos Ambrose both drove into the wall at the infamous turn 5, causing the red flag. 2014 series champ Jamie Whincup took the lead from Davison at turn 1 on the first lap. After pit stops, Walkinshaw Racing's Tim Slade took the lead and led for the majority of the race. With a few laps remaining, Whincup reclaimed the lead and won the race ahead of Slade. Rod Nash Racing's David Reynolds finished third, scoring his first and only podium finish of the season.


2014 Sydney NRMA 500, Report
The weather had overshadowed the start of Race 37, possibly recreating a repeat of the 2010 event. The rain held off at the start of the race as Whincup shot from 4th on the grid to the lead after turn 1. Ambrose had a shocking start to the second race after being spun around on turn 1. The safety car was deployed on lap 19 after torrential rain proved hard for the drivers, too hard for David Wall who left it too late change for wet tyres and collected the wall at turn 2.


2014 Sydney NRMA 500, Report
Soon after, the race was red flagged after lightning and thunderstorms rolled in. The race continued under the safety car after the rain died down. Time expired on lap 23 and Whincup was declared the winner, claiming back-to-back wins on Saturday. Shane van Gisbergen and Scott McLaughlin rounded out the podium placings.


2014 Sydney NRMA 500, Report
After Sunday's Top 10 Shootout, McLaughlin scored pole position for the final race of the season. He and Whincup managed to score the most pole positions of the season with 10 apiece. The final race started on a wet track with Garth Tander taking the lead after the first turn. Mark Winterbottom's quest for second in the championship ended early after driving straight ahead at turn 1 on the first lap. At the half-way mark, the race was again overshadowed by severe thunderstorms.


2014 Sydney NRMA 500, Report
As the safety car was called out, Tander locked up and went straight ahead at turn 9, handing the lead to Van Gisbergen. After 44 of 74 laps, the race was suspended and later abandoned after more torrential rain battered down on the circuit, with Van Gisbergen taking the win for the final race of the season having completed over 50% of the race distance, which is required to award points. For the second event in a row, Tander narrowly missed out on a race win and had to settle for second. Teammate James Courtney made it a 2-3 finish for the Holden Racing Team.


2014 Sydney NRMA 500, Report
Whincup collected his sixth championship trophy, a new record for the most championships in the ATCC/V8 Supercars. The race win for Van Gisbergen gave him second place in the standings, with Winterbottom sliding down to third in the championship after a disastrous weekend in Sydney.


2014 Sydney NRMA 500, Report
After nine years since his last V8 Supercar event, Marcos Ambrose finished 20th, 21st and 16th respectively in the three races.


2014 Sydney Roosters season
The 2014 Sydney Roosters season was the 107th in the club's history. They competed in the 2014 National Rugby League season. The Sydney Roosters opened their 2014 season against their long-time rivals the South Sydney Rabbitohs. In 2014, Trent Robinson coached the Sydney Roosters. Anthony Minichiello captained the team in 2014 along with four vice-captains in Boyd Cordner, Jake Friend, Mitchell Pearce and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves. The Sydney Roosters began 2014 by winning the World Club Challenge defeating the Wigan Warriors 36 – 14. The Sydney Roosters completed their 2014 regular season as Minor Premiers for the second year in a row, defeating the South Sydney Rabbitohs 22 – 18. The Sydney Roosters 2014 season ended in defeat against the South Sydney Rabbitohs 32 – 22.


2014 Sydney Swans season
The 2014 AFL season was the 118th season in the Australian Football League contested by the Sydney Swans.


2014 Sydney Swans season, Squad for 2014
Statistics are correct as of end of 2013 season. Flags represent the state of origin, i.e. the state in which the player played his Under-18s football.


2014 Sydney Swans season, Playing list changes
The following summarises all player changes between the conclusion of the 2013 season and the beginning of the 2014 season.


2014 Sydney Swans season, Individual awards and records, Bob Skilton Medal
Dennis Carroll Trophy for Most Improved Player – Ben McGlynn


2014 Sydney Swans season, Individual awards and records, Bob Skilton Medal
Paul Roos Award for Best Player in a Finals Series – Lance Franklin


2014 Sydney Swans season, Individual awards and records, Coleman Medal
Lance Franklin won the 2014 Coleman medal with 67 goals, from Jay Schulz with 64 goals.


2014 Sydney Swans season, Individual awards and records, AFL Rising Star
The following Sydney players were nominated for the 2014 NAB AFL Rising Star award:


2014 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race
The 2014 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, sponsored by Rolex, was the 70th annual running of the "blue water classic" Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. As in past editions of the race, it was hosted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia based in Sydney, New South Wales.


2014 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race
As with previous Sydney to Hobart Yacht Races, the 2014 edition began on Sydney Harbour, at 1pm on Boxing Day (26 December 2014), before heading south for 630 nautical miles (1,170 km) through the Tasman Sea, past Bass Strait, into Storm Bay and up the River Derwent, to cross the finish line in Hobart, Tasmania.


2014 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race
Line honours were claimed by Wild Oats XI in a time of 2 days, 2 hours, 3 minutes and 26 seconds. It was the yacht's eighth win, breaking the record for most line honours victories. The previous record had been set by Morna/Kurrewa IV with 7 victories in 1960.


2014 Sylvania 300
The 2014 Sylvania 300 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race that was held on September 21, 2014, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire. Contested over 303 laps, it was the 28th race of the 36 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season and second race of the ten race Chase for the Sprint Cup. Joey Logano scored his seventh career victory. Kyle Larson finished second while Kevin Harvick, Jamie McMurray, and Jimmie Johnson rounded out the top five. The top rookies of the race were Kyle Larson (2nd), Austin Dillon (11th), and Justin Allgaier (20th).


2014 Sylvania 300, Winner's Words After Previous Weeks Win
Brad Keselowski coasted on to victory lane on the final restart in the MyAFibStory.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway. “I am not really sure what to say,’’ Keselowski said after scoring his second consecutive victory of the season. “I don’t really know what happened. I just know we got to the lead. I saw Kyle and Kevin racing each other really hard, they were aggressively side drafting and I was waiting for an opportunity to strike and it came. The car stuck and everything came together."


2014 Sylvania 300, Report, Background
New Hampshire Motor Speedway is a 1.058-mile (1.703 km) oval speedway located in Loudon, New Hampshire which has hosted NASCAR racing annually since the early 1990s, as well as an IndyCar weekend and the oldest motorcycle race in North America, the Loudon Classic. Nicknamed "The Magic Mile", the speedway is often converted into a 1.6-mile (2.6 km) road course, which includes much of the oval.


2014 Sylvania 300, Report, Background
On September 16, Ontario Country District Attorney Michael Tantillo issued a written statement stating that the findings into the investigation of the Tony Stewart incident at Canandaigua Motorsports Park on August 9 would be sent to a grand jury to determine what chargers if any will be filed against Stewart. The statement reads as follows. “Over the past several weeks, I have reviewed with members of the Ontario County Sheriff’s Department their investigation, as it progressed, in the Tony Stewart matter. Recently that office concluded its work and forwarded the complete case file to me.


2014 Sylvania 300, Report, Background
Upon my review of all of the information contained in the entire investigation, I have made the determination that it would be appropriate to submit the evidence to a grand jury, for their determination as to what action should be taken in this matter. Accordingly, the evidence developed in the investigation will be presented to an Ontario County grand jury in the near future.


2014 Sylvania 300, Report, Background
“As grand jury proceedings in New York State are strictly confidential by law, I am unable to state when the matter will be scheduled, other than to state that I intend to present the matter in the near future. Similarly, because of the confidential nature of these proceedings, I cannot state who will be called as witnesses, or what any witness’s expected testimony will be. When the presentation has been completed and a determination has been made, I will advise the public and the media at that time of the results.”


2014 Sylvania 300, Report, Background
Stewart said he would continue to cooperate in the grand jury proceeding. "I respect the time and effort spent by both the Ontario County District Attorney and the sheriff’s office in investigating this tragic accident," Stewart said in a statement. "I look forward to this process being completed, and I will continue to provide my full cooperation.” Stewart is expected to race this weekend and NASCAR has issued a statement allowing him to do so. "We are aware of the completed investigation and the announced next steps," NASCAR spokesman Brett Jewkes said in a statement. "First, our thoughts continue to be with all who have been impacted by this tragedy. We will monitor this process and stay in close contact with Stewart-Haas Racing. It would be inappropriate for NASCAR to comment on this case so we will continue to respect the process and authorities involved."


2014 Sylvania 300, Report, Background
Also on September 16, BK Racing sidelined Ryan Truex and put Travis Kvapil in the No. 83 car. This was a decision made quietly and wasn't announced till Friday, September 19. No reason was given as to why this happened and the team has not announced the immediate future beyond this weekend. “I didn’t have anything going on this weekend,” Kvapil said. “We had talked about doing something with the 93. These are my guys here. I had been with them for the last two years and feel I had a hand in building this team. I don’t know what the plans are beyond this weekend, but it’s good to be back.”


2014 Sylvania 300, Report, Entry list
The entry list for the Sylvania 300 was released on Monday, September 15, 2014 at 10:01 a.m. Eastern time. Forty-three drivers were entered for the race.


2014 Sylvania 300, Practice, First practice
Brad Keselowski was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 27.516 and a speed of 138.421 mph (222.767 km/h).


2014 Sylvania 300, Qualifying
Brad Keselowski won the pole with a new track record time of 27.090 and a speed of 140.598 mph (226.271 km/h). “Loudon’s always been one of my favorite tracks, and we’ve won a couple poles here before,” said Keselowski. “But this one is a little extra special with everything that’s going on and going through the Chase and what not. I’m ready to get running tomorrow and hopefully, we’ll get another win. I try not to get caught up in statements, I’m just trying to go out there and do our job.


2014 Sylvania 300, Qualifying
The Penske team has done phenomenal this season, and it’s great to keep it rolling." “I thought we had a really good car in race trim,” said Jamie McMurray who qualified second. “We ran a few laps in race trim to start today. Very similar to the same car we had here the first race. We switched over to qualifying trim we were second quick so yeah our car has been good so far. The track will change a little bit tomorrow when the rubber gets laid down, but overall it’s been a really good weekend so far.”


2014 Sylvania 300, Qualifying
“We qualified a lot better this time than we did the last trip here,” said Dale Earnhardt, Jr. “We saved a set of tires in practice too that will be a big benefit tomorrow in race trim. It was a good day.” Forty-three drivers were entered so no one failed to make the race.


2014 Sylvania 300, Practice (post-qualifying), Second practice
Brad Keselowski was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 28.084 and a speed of 135.622 mph (218.262 km/h).


2014 Sylvania 300, Practice (post-qualifying), Final practice
Brad Keselowski was going for the "perfect weekend" (topping the charts in every practice session along with winning the pole), but he came up short as Jeff Gordon was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 28.139 and a speed of 135.357 mph (217.836 km/h). Corey Lajoie, who was making his first Sprint Cup Series start, tagged the wall in turn 4. Greg Biffle spun out exiting turn 2. The only damage that was sustained was a flat right-rear tire. In the closing seconds of the session, Tony Stewart got loose coming off of turn 4 and spun sideways down the front stretch.


2014 Sylvania 300, Race, Start
The race was scheduled to start at 2:16 p.m. Eastern time but started three minutes early with Brad Keselowski leading the way, the first caution of the race flew on lap 36, It was a planned competition caution due to overnight rain. Denny Hamlin took just two tires and assumed the lead after David Gilliland pitted after staying out. Keselowski took four and exited pit road 16th, The race restarted on lap 41.


2014 Sylvania 300, Race, Second half
Kevin Harvick took the lead on lap 71, Denny Hamlin was running second when he made an unscheduled stop for a fuel probe issue on lap 95.


2014 Sylvania 300, Race, Second Caution and restart
Debris brought out the second caution on lap 105. The debris was from a Z-MAX decal that was located on the backstretch wall past the exit of turn 2. A NASCAR official eventually removed the logo. Harvick and Joey Logano traded the lead on pit road because of where Harvick's pit stall was located, The race restarted on lap 113, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was running sixth when he made an unscheduled stop for a loose wheel.


2014 Sylvania 300, Race, Third Half
Debris in turn 3 brought out the third caution on lap 170. Harvick and Logano once again traded the lead on pit road. Only this time, Logano exited first. The race restarted on lap 178, Caution came out for the fourth time on lap 180 when Martin Truex, Jr. got into Cole Whitt and spun out taking David Ragan with him. Denny Hamlin slid into Ragan trying to avoid him.


2014 Sylvania 300, Race, Third Half
"Unfortunately, in this three-race deal you can't make any mistakes," Hamlin said of the new elimination format, in which four drivers will be out of contention after every third race in the 10-race run to the title. "And we didn't. But a parts failure put us down." "I hate to say it, but maybe some guys get some trouble and let us back in it. Other than that, it's going to be hard for us to do it without some help."


2014 Sylvania 300, Race, Restart and big wreck
The race restarted on lap 187, Caution flew for the fifth time on lap 188 for another multi-car crash in turn 2. Matt Kenseth got loose exiting turn 2. He pancaked the front of Kyle Busch and that accordioned into Kasey Kahne and sent Busch spinning down the backstretch.


2014 Sylvania 300, Race, Fourth Half
The race restarted on lap 193 and caution flew for the sixth time on lap 194 when Brad Keselowski, racing for seventh with Kenseth, got loose and turned himself around in turn 2.


2014 Sylvania 300, Race, Restart
The race restarted on lap 198 and caution flew for the seventh time on lap 201 after Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. got turned by a loose Dale Earnhardt, Jr. exiting turn 4, The race restarted on lap 206, Caution flew for the eighth time on lap 211 for debris on the backstretch. Brian Vickers stayed out when the leaders pitted and assumed the lead, The race restarted with 85 laps to go.


2014 Sylvania 300, Race, Midway
Caution flew for the ninth time with 79 laps to go after Kurt Busch slammed the wall in turn 3 following blowing the right-front tire.