‘Bigger than football’ – how Mjallby gatecrashed Sweden’s elite

‘Bigger than football’ – how Mjallby gatecrashed Sweden’s elite

Football is Everywhere, Michael Smolski

The story of the year has already taken place in Sweden, despite the majority of football fans in Europe still settling into the new year.

Champions League regulars and legendary players like Malmo, AIK, Hammarby, and Djurgarden can be found in Allsvenskan, the nation’s top tier.

Yet with three games left to play in their March to November season, it is Mjallby, based in a town of fewer than 1, 000 people, who have clinched their first top-flight title and a place in Europe.

The merger of two local teams in 1939 led to the formation of Mjallby, who spent the majority of their 86 years atop the Swedish top flight.

A coastal area closely tied with fishing and agriculture, the people of Solvesborg municipality are hard working and proud.

With average attendances more than four times the size of the local population, they appear in the modest 6,500-square home in Hallevik, which has a capacity of just six.

It’s by the sea, but Mjallby and Stockholm and Malmo’s vast arenas are a long way from making up for lost time.

After a joint-best finish of fifth in the 2024 Allsvenskan, they have won 20 of their 27 league games this season and tasted defeat just once. They have also won 22 home league games since May 2024.

Despite having one of the smallest turnovers and budgets in the division, Mjallby have outlasted title rivals Hammarby, who are currently in second place, both home and away this year.

“When I arrived at the club before the 2023 season I saw pretty fast that we had a lot of potential, but I thought that the mental perspective in the club held us back”, 35-year-old defender Tom Pettersson told BBC Sport.

We’ve been working on it for a while, according to the statement. We have been discussing this for a while, so it doesn’t feel like we need to stop using outdated excuses because we have been talking about this for a while.

” We can still win things, even though we don’t have a lot of money, even though we’re a small village and all that.

The locker room players are “amazing,” they said. Everyone in the room brings in energy each day, and there is no ego in the room.

Team-mate Elliot Stroud added: “It’s difficult to take it all in, it’s happened so fast”.

The 23-year-old midfielder, who contributed nine goals and five assists for Mjallby’s top league goal, thrives under the club’s recently implemented, high-energy, high pressing attacking system.

Mjallby fansFootball is Everywhere by Michael Smolski

Karl Marius Aksum is that coach.

He had never previously coached at senior level when he joined Mjallby in January 2024, but his academic work and ideas won over manager Anders Torstensson who continues to manage the team despite a leukemia diagnosis later that year.

The Norwegian has a PhD in elite football visual perception and regularly shares tactical insights on social media.

The active head movements that players make before receiving the ball in order to gather information from their surroundings are the subject of the particular emphasis.

“It’s a critical skill in modern football because the movements of the players are faster and the press is better, so you have to update your surroundings all the time”, Aksum told BBC Sport.

“Players in the middle of the pitch could have important information all around them,” said one expert.

He was given the freedom to apply other rules to revolutionize their attacking play and worked on the players’ scanning to make them “better passers and better players both offensively and defensively.”

A team that once relied heavily on crosses and set-pieces now plays out from the back to keep possession and moves up the pitch as a unit.

I have no doubt about the success of my game model at this level. He described the Euro Leagues on BBC Radio 5 Live as “the players responded very, very well.”

“It starts by controlling the game from the back. Man vs. man starts off by creating [numerical] superiorities at the back.

Because we want to keep the game in check, we are the team in Sweden that makes the most passes on our own third of the pitch. We don’t want chaos, we want control. “

Aksum prefers “game specific” training to drills like rondos, which concentrate on a skill-specific skill without reproducing actual match conditions.

No Playstation training, we only give players simple instructions, never precise solutions. They have to make the decisions, “he added.

“We had to take control,” the statement read.

Making a title charge with an average player age of 24 and just three international players is impressive, but it’s no accident.

In the third tier and on the verge of bankruptcy, consider the year 2016 and Mjallby.

Although they were spared what would have been a fatal relegation to the fourth tier by virtue of victory on the final day, significant adjustments were required.

Swedish clubs are owned by fans because of the 50+1 rule, meaning rich owners cannot bankroll teams to success.

Chairman Magnus Emeus has led the evolution of Mjallby over the past ten years, and it has been organic.

Malmo defender Colin Rosler Getty Images

According to Majlby CEO Jacob Lennartsson, “We took control of our costs, we have one of the lowest turnovers in the league, and we also have one of the lowest costs.”

We ask “Is this making us better” for every Swedish Krona that leaves this club.

“Football is so much about love and passion, but in the end it’s so important that you have a good economy”.

As a way to survive, Mjallby began to concentrate on acquiring and selling young players.

Colin Rosler, the son of former Manchester City striker Uwe, was sold for £950,000 just 18 months after signing on a free transfer. Midfielder Nicklas Rojkjaer – described by Aksum as the best player he has ever worked with – joined Danish side Nordsjaelland in July for about £1.4m.

The 2018 season’s stars, including Swedish midfielder Ludwig Malachowski Thorell, center-backs Axel Noren and Abdullah Iqbal, and Gambian forward Abdoulie Manneh, appear to be headed for significant moves in the near future.

Former players like 30-year-old striker Jacob Bergstrom and captain Jesper Gustavsson, who both participated in that crucial final-day game nine years ago, have gained valuable experience.

Such a strategy appears at odds with challenging for honours, but Lennartsson believes a balance can be found.

The issue is that players start to attract bigger clubs once they start winning. The goal is to convince them that what is best for the club is at play, he said.

“I understand the players ‘ perspective. They will receive a good education and play for one of Sweden’s top teams, but they won’t receive the best salary.

No player ever requests to leave Mjallby and stays for a while. Maybe a half or full season, but they get their dream move in the end. “

Sharing joy after tough times

What has emerged from the near-ruins of 2016 is a club that is still rooted in a tight-knit community, despite continuing to grow.

Where else would a title-challenging squad’s members reside together and frequently interact with fans while shopping?

” If we don’t have anything to do we will have a barbecue, cook out, hang out, “revealed Stroud.

The pitch and follow-on the pitch also help those bonds grow. The secret is in that. We are all so close and that’s special at a fairly small club. “

Sillastrybarna, Mjallby’s official supporters’ organization, has grown from 30 to at least 500 hardcore supporters, while maintaining a welcoming, anti-racist, and anti-sexist atmosphere in the stands.

The Mjallby Tifo group’s choreographies and displays become more elaborate with each new season, not to mention their Stockholm counterparts.

For those who have witnessed their journey, the emotions of this season are hard to comprehend.

The best feeling is being able to share this moment with my teammates who have been with me on this journey, Patrik Thorell, chairman of Sillastrybarna, said.

Mjallby's home stadium, StrandvallenFootball is Everywhere by Michael Smolski

One opposition supporter posted on social media after watching his team play at Mjallby: “Nobody lives here, there is one shop here, and there are only animals.

“You turn right on Strandvallen, a road where the sea meets the world, and Strandvallen is there.” It’s amazing they play elite football there, but they do”.

The club has used those phrases as both a motivating and restorative tool.

Lennartsson remarked, “We are not that big, we need to keep our feet on the ground.”

“We use this to keep our expectations in check”.

Where the sea meets the world, the future appears promising.

Related topics

  • Football in Europe
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Source: BBC

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