Sweden's incredible champion: a club from a village of just 1,500 inhabitants made history
In Argentina, a team with barely a thousand genuine fans and a remodeled stadium with a capacity for 8,000 spectators is having its best season ever and could be crowned champion for the first time in a country of nearly 46 million people. "Making the impossible possible" may be the motto of Deportivo Riestra. But it's the slogan of a Swedish team that got ahead of Malevo 's dream. The modest Mjällby , a club from a small fishing village in southern Sweden with just 1,500 inhabitants in a country of 10 million, was crowned champion of the Swedish League this Monday , with three games remaining.
Barely a thousand fans accompanied the players' bus from Mjällby to Gothenburg , some 330 kilometers away. The opponent was IFK, and when the 2-0 lead was already a given, the majority of the ecstatic supporters wanted to invade the pitch, which is why the end of the match was delayed slightly. Founded in 1939 , it only joined the Swedish first division, known as Allsvenskan, in 2020. The league has won the most titles: Malmö FF (24 times), IFK Göteborg (18), and Örgryte IS (14). In addition, 17 other Swedish clubs have won the championship. Now Mjällby has joined the league.
😲 2016 - 🇸🇪 Mjällby avoided relegation to FOURTH TIER of Swedish football in the last round!
🥳 2025 - 🇸🇪 Mjällby became the CHAMPIONS of Sweden, for the FIRST TIME in their history! pic.twitter.com/FKZim3osxI
"It's truly liberating to be able to experience this," exclaimed his coach, Anders Torstensson, on Swedish radio SR. A few days earlier, in an interview with AFP, he said: "With our modest facilities and a small budget, Mjällby has been the outsider of Swedish football for many years!" The coach, a former army officer, took over in 2023 on a permanent contract and will now play in the preliminary rounds of the Champions League .
"A reasonable objective would be to get through the qualifying rounds" to reach the regular season," believes the coach, who knows he won't be able to play at the Strandvallen, the old 6,000-seat stadium with stands whipped by the winds off the Baltic Sea, where the team has had its base since 1953. He will have to play at another venue approved by UEFA.
🙌 | VI ÄR MJÄLLBY AIF FRÅN LISTERLANDET! #MjällbyAIF #Allsvenskan2025 pic.twitter.com/yYwtFOxNxY
— Mjällby AIF (@MjallbyAIFs) October 20, 2025
Anders Torstensson was born in the village and is born and raised in Mjällby. "I have more experience managing people in many situations, not just during a match or a training session," explained the player who gathers the team, whose average age is 24, around a hearty breakfast each morning, during which he details the training program, which takes place on a field overlooking the sea and... the municipal campsite.
The club's president is Magnus Emeus , a local businessman who took over in 2015 and in a couple of years has cleaned up the finances and managed to take the team to the First Division. In 2024, he presented a budget of 84.7 million kroner (almost $9 million), almost eight times less than the giant Malmö FF, which occupies seventh place in the standings and is competing in the Europa League this season. "The important thing is not to lose our heads and want to become something else: Mjällby is Mjällby, and that's not what Malmö FF or Real Madrid are like," Emeus told AFP.
The entire town celebrated the title in Mjällby, a small fishing village. (Reuters)However, Finnish defender Timo Stavitski is enthusiastic about European participation. "We're a solid club, stronger than many others in Sweden, and many other Swedish clubs that aren't stronger than us have had success in Europe, so why can't we?" he argues.
Mjallby captain Jesper Gustavsson leads the celebrations. (Reuters)Unlike Argentina, whose national team will defend their World Cup title in 2026, Sweden's national team is in crisis and, barring a miracle, will miss the World Cup for the second consecutive time. But that matters little to the modest Mjällby, who will live the dream of playing in an international European competition for the first time in his history. The same dream that Deportivo Riestra pursues in the World Cup.
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