Mjällby, the humble Swedish fishing club, conquers the Allsvenskan

Mjällby, a modest team from a remote fishing village by the Baltic Sea, has been crowned champion of the Swedish league this Monday, achieving one of the most remarkable successes in European football. With a 2-0 victory against IFK Gothenburg, Mjällby secured their position at the top with an insurmountable 11-point lead, with three matchdays remaining until the end of the Allsvenskan, the top tier of Swedish football. This unexpected triumph evokes Leicester’s feat, which conquered the English Premier League in 2016. This is the first major trophy for Mjällby, a club from the south coast of Sweden, whose team is mainly made up of local players, plays its matches in a stadium with a capacity of 6,000 spectators in the nearby town of Hällevik, with a population of about 800 inhabitants, and whose budget is significantly smaller than that of the larger teams in the country.

This is something I never thought would happen in my life. I am incredibly grateful to be part of this group. We showed that the collective can take you very far.

Jacob Bergström, Mjällby forward

Just nine years ago, Mjällby was on the verge of being relegated to the fourth Swedish division. The team managed to stay up, achieved consecutive promotions in 2018 and 2019, and has been revitalized thanks to the decisions and strategies implemented by Magnus Emeus, a local entrepreneur who took over the presidency in 2015. This season, Mjällby, led by coach Anders Torstensson, who is also a school principal, has only lost one match and has 66 points, one point away from Malmö’s historical record in the 101-year history of the Allsvenskan. Next season, Mjällby will compete in the Champions League qualifying rounds. It will be the first time the team participates in a European competition.

The match in Gothenburg was briefly interrupted in added time because some Mjällby fans jumped from the stand where the visiting supporters were located, apparently with the intention of invading the field to celebrate. Mjällby players intervened to ask them to return to the stands.

When the referee blew the final whistle, the substitutes, coaches, and members of the technical staff ran onto the field to congratulate the team. Then, they headed towards the fans dressed in yellow and black who were behind one of the goals to celebrate. Founded in 1939, Mjällby has usually played outside the top category, alternating between regional leagues. They play their home matches at the picturesque Strandvallen, with a capacity of 6,000 spectators, located in Hällevik, a rural and remote village by the Baltic Sea, where fishing has traditionally been the main industry. Torstensson is in his third stage as a coach and his assistant is Karl Marius Aksum, who has a PhD in Visual Perception in Elite Football and had never coached at a senior level before joining Mjällby. Last season, Mjällby achieved a club record of 50 points, finishing in fifth place. This season, Mjällby has conceded only 17 goals in 27 matches. Among its most outstanding players are Axel Noren, who recently received his first call-up to the Swedish national team, and defender Abdullah Iqbal, who is the captain of Pakistan.