Mjällby, the humble Swedish club from a fishing village, champion!

The Mjällby, a modest team from a small fishing village by the Baltic Sea, has won the Swedish league title this Monday, in what is considered one of the most remarkable achievements in European football. The 2-0 victory against IFK Gothenburg secured Mjällby an insurmountable 11-point lead, with three matchdays remaining until the end of the Allsvenskan, the top tier of Swedish football. This unexpected triumph has been compared to Leicester’s in the English Premier League in 2016, a footballing fairytale. This is the first major trophy for Mjällby, a club from the south coast of Sweden, whose team is mainly made up of players born in the area. Their home matches are played 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 incredibly far.

Jacob Bergström, Mjällby striker, scorer of one of the goals

Just nine years ago, Mjällby was one match away from being relegated to the fourth Swedish division. The team managed to stay up, achieved consecutive promotions in 2018 and 2019, and has been revitalized by the decisions and strategies implemented by Magnus Emeus, a local businessman who became president in 2015. This season, Mjällby, led by Anders Torstensson, a school principal, has only lost one match and has 66 points, just one short of Malmö’s total record in the 101-year history of the Allsvenskan. Next season, Mjällby will participate in the Champions League qualifying rounds, marking the first time the team has competed in a European competition. The match in Gothenburg was briefly interrupted in stoppage 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. They returned to the stands after an appeal from the Mjällby players.

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 located behind one of the goals to celebrate. Founded in 1939, Mjällby has traditionally played outside the top category, alternating between regional leagues. Plays its home matches at the picturesque Strandvallen, with a capacity of 6,000 spectators, located in Hällevik, a remote rural village by the Baltic Sea, where fishing has long been the predominant industry. Torstensson is in his third term as 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. In the current season, Mjällby has conceded only 17 goals in 27 matches. Among their best players are Axel Noren, who recently received his first call-up to the Swedish national team, and defender Abdullah Iqbal, captain of Pakistan.