Mjällby, a tiny team from a remote fishing village next to the Baltic Sea, won the Swedish league title on Monday for one of the most remarkable achievements in European soccer.
A 2-0 win at IFK Gothenburg on Monday ensured Mjällby held an unassailable 11-point lead with three rounds left in Sweden’s top league, Allsvenskan.
The improbable title triumph has been compared to Leicester winning the English Premier League in fairy tale fashion in 2016.
It’s a first major trophy for Mjällby, a club from Sweden’s south coast whose team is made up of mostly locally born players, plays its home games in a 6,000-capacity stadium in the nearby village of Hällevik — population of around 800 inhabitants — and whose budget is far less than the biggest teams in the country.
«This was never something I thought would happen in my life,» said Mjällby striker Jacob Bergström, who scored one of the goals. «I’m so incredibly grateful to be part of this group. We show that the collective can take you incredibly far.»
Just nine years ago, Mjällby was one game away from dropping into Sweden’s fourth tier. The team stayed up, achieved back-to-back promotions in 2018 and ’19, and has been revitalized by the decision-making and strategies put in place by Magnus Emeus, a locally born businessman who became chairman in 2015.
This season, Mjällby — coached by Anders Torstensson, a school principal — has lost just one game and has 66 points, only one off Malmö’s record total in the 101-year history of Allsvenskan.
Mjällby will play in the Champions League qualifying rounds next season. It will be the first time the team has competed in European competition.
The match in Gothenburg was briefly delayed in stoppage time because some Mjällby fans climbed out of the stand housing visiting supporters, apparently ready to run onto the pitch in celebration. They returned to the stands after an appeal by Mjällby’s players.
When the final whistle was blown, substitutes, coaches and members of the backroom staff sprinted onto the field to congratulate the team. They then ran toward the yellow-and-black-clad fans behind one of the goals to celebrate.
Founded in 1939, Mjällby has typically played outside the top flight, flitting around the regional leagues.
It plays home game in the picturesque, 6,000-capacity Strandvallen home, which is located in Hällevik — a remote, rural village beside the Baltic Sea where fishing has long been the predominant industry.
Torstensson is in his third stint as coach and his assistant is Karl Marius Aksum, who has a PhD in Visual Perception in Elite Football and had never coached at senior level before joining Mjällby.
Mjällby achieved a club-record 50 points when finishing in fifth place last season.
This season, Mjällby has conceded just 17 goals in 27 games.
Among its best players are Axel Noren, who recently received a first call-up by Sweden’s national team, and fellow defender Abdullah Iqbal, who is Pakistan’s captain.
