Mjällby, the Swedish David: Humble Fishing Village Conquers the Allsvenskan

The Mjällby, a modest team from a small fishing village by the Baltic Sea, has won the Swedish league title this Monday, in what represents one of the most surprising 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 is compared to Leicester’s feat of winning the English Premier League in 2016. This is the first major trophy for Mjällby, a club on the south coast of Sweden, whose team is mainly made up of players born in the region. Their home matches are played in a stadium with a capacity of 6,000 spectators in the nearby town of Hällevik, which has a population of around 800 inhabitants, and their budget is significantly smaller than that of the largest 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 forward

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 thanks to the decisions and strategies implemented by Magnus Emeus, a local businessman who became president in 2015. In the current season, Mjällby, led by coach Anders Torstensson, who is a school principal, has only lost one match and has 66 points, just one point away from the historical record of Malmö in the 101-year history of the Allsvenskan. Next season, Mjällby will participate in the Champions League qualifying rounds. It will be the first time the team competes 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 a request from the Mjällby players.

After the final whistle, the substitutes, coaches, and members of the technical staff ran onto the field to congratulate the team. Then, they went towards the fans dressed in yellow and black who were 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 stadium, with a capacity of 6,000 spectators, located in Hällevik, a rural and remote village by the Baltic Sea, where fishing has long been the predominant industry. Torstensson is in his third period 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. 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, who is the captain of Pakistan.