Mjallby, a team from tiny fishing village, win Swedish league title on shoestring budget
The improbable title triumph, achieved with three games to go, has been compared to Leicester’s fairy-tale English Premier League win in 2016
Mjallby, 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 football.
A 2-0 win at IFK Gothenburg ensured Mjallby held an unassailable 11-point lead over second-placed Hammarby 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 is a first major trophy for Mjallby, a club from Sweden’s south coast whose team are made up of mostly locally born players, which play their home games in a 6,000-capacity stadium in the nearby village of Hallevik – 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 Mjallby striker Jacob Bergstrom, 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, Mjallby was one game away from dropping into Sweden’s fourth tier. The team stayed up, achieved back-to-back promotions in 2018 and 2019, and have been revitalised by the decision-making and strategies put in place by Magnus Emeus, a locally born businessman who became chairman in 2015.