2018 Malmö FF season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  FIN Walter Viitala 2 DF  SWE Eric Larsson 3 DF  ALB Egzon Binaku 4 DF  SWE Behrang Safari (vice captain) 5 MF  DEN Søren Rieks 6 MF  SWE Oscar Lewicki 7 MF  COM Fouad Bachirou 8 MF  ISL Arnór Ingvi Traustason 9 FW  SWE Markus Rosenberg (captain) 10 FW  SWE Carlos Strandberg 11 FW  SWE Alexander Jeremejeff 11 FW  SWE Guillermo Molins 14 MF  DEN Anders Christiansen 17 DF  SWE Rasmus Bengtsson 18 MF  USA Romain Gall 20 MF  NGA Bonke Innocent

No. Pos. Nation Player 21 MF  GHA Kingsley Sarfo 22 MF  SWE Isak Ssewankambo 23 FW  SWE Marcus Antonsson 24 DF  DEN Lasse Nielsen 26 DF  NOR Andreas Vindheim 27 GK  SWE Johan Dahlin 29 GK  SWE Fredrik Andersson 30 GK  SWE Mathias Nilsson 31 DF  SWE Franz Brorsson 32 MF  SWE Mattias Svanberg 34 MF  SWE Pavle Vagić 35 MF  SWE Samuel Adrian 37 FW  SWE Tim Prica 38 MF  ALB Laorent Shabani 39 MF  SWE Felix Konstandeliasz 40 DF  SWE Hugo Andersson

As of 17 December 2018

After losing several key players during the off-season, many of whom to free transfers, Malmö FF went into the 2018 season with the expressed strategy of only partially replacing the players who were lost with new signings such as Fouad Bachirou, Arnór Ingvi Traustason and Søren Rieks, and filling the depth of the squad with players from the club's academy.[7]

After an unbeaten pre-season and cup run Malmö FF started their season away to IF Elfsborg on 2 April. Teenage starlet Mattias Svanberg opened the club's season tally less than two minutes into the opener in a game Malmö FF ended up winning 2–1. A week later, MFF played their home opener against AIK, who were widely considered MFF's biggest challenger for the title. Despite conceding a penalty and a red card to Franz Brorsson, MFF were able to secure a point with AIK seemingly unwilling to take initiative in front of the sell-out crowd at Stadion.[8]

Despite encouraging signs early in the season, the AIK match turned out to be the start of a historically bad run for Malmö FF, where they won only two of ten matches between 9 April and 16 May, including an embarrassing 3–0 loss in the final of the Swedish Cup. With the title seemingly out of reach only weeks into the season, Magnus Pehrsson was fired after the 1–0 loss to Trelleborgs FF on 13 May.[9] With the club currently in eleventh place, Malmö FF CEO Niclas Carlnén expressibly revised the club's Allsvenskan target from winning the title to reaching a spot in the top three.[10] Sporting director and former club captain Daniel Andersson stepped in as caretaker manager for the three games that remained before the World Cup break, but was unable to right the ship as the team took four points from those three games.

On 12 June Uwe Rösler was appointed head coach,[11] while Andersson also announced several signings in an effort to move up the table and make a run for the upcoming Champions League qualifiers. The 2017 Allsvenskan MVP Anders Christiansen was reacquired from Gent, former club captain Guillermo Molins was brought in on a free transfer, former Allsvenskan top scorer Marcus Antonsson moved from Leeds, and Sundsvall's breakthrough player Romain Gall was added to the squad.

The changes proved effective and Malmö FF emerged as a new team for the second half of the season, with nine wins and one draw over the first ten Allsvenskan games after the World Cup break. A hectic schedule saw MFF eventually get into a five-game slump in which they only won one game, but the team was able to bounce back and finish league play with three straight wins to reach third place and secure a qualifying spot for the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League.

The tournament continued from the 2017 season.

After beating FC Trollhättan in August 2017 to qualify for the group stage, Malmö FF was drawn into a group with Allsvenskan newcomers IF Brommapojkarna and Dalkurd FF and Superettan side Gefle IF. A late Markus Rosenberg penalty saw Malmö FF win their first game against Dalkurd. In the second contest Malmö FF traveled to Gefle for a game that was postponed four hours because of a snow storm, but when eventually played MFF won comfortably by a score of 3-0.[12] The result set up a group final between two teams that won their first games, where Malmö FF managed to beat Brommapojkarna 3-1 to qualify for the quarter-final in which they beat rivals IFK Göteborg 1-0. In the semi-final the team traveled to Östersund where a late winner from Arnór Traustason sent Malmö FF to the cup final.

The location for the cup final was decided by a draw that took place at an Allsvenskan kick-off event, which awarded home field advantage to Djurgårdens IF.[13] While the competition to this point had been played during the Allsvenskan pre-season, the final was scheduled for 10 May. During the two months that elapsed between the semi-final and final Malmö FF's Allsvenskan campaign had sent the club into a state of crisis, which reached new heights in the cup final where a lackluster performance handed the club a 3-0 defeat which fueled supporter turmoil in the MFF sections with play temporarily suspended in the final minutes.[14]

Kickoff times are in UTC+1 unless stated otherwise.

The tournament continued into the 2019 season.

Malmö FF entered the cup in the second round, where they were drawn against Division 1 club Lunds BK. The game was initially scheduled to be played on 23 August,[15] but was postponed because of Malmö FF's Europa League schedule and eventually rescheduled for 22 November.[16]

Kickoff times are in UTC+2 unless stated otherwise. After changes to the UEFA Champions League qualifying phase, Malmö FF entered in the first round for the first time in 2018. Malmö FF were seeded in the first round, and were drawn against the winners of a preliminary tournament involving the champions of the four lowest ranked associations. The winners ended up being Kosovan champions FC Drita. Since Drita's home stadium did not live up to the standards set by UEFA, the game was played at Adem Jashari Olympic Stadium in Mitrovica, and Malmö FF came away with a decisive 3-0 victory which was followed by 2-0 at home to advance to the second round.

In the second round Malmö FF were once again seeded, but faced a tough draw in Romanian champions CFR Cluj. The first game was played in Cluj-Napoca where Carlos Strandberg scored a crucial away goal in the final minute of the first half which ended up being the only goal of the game. Cluj equalized on aggregate 36 minutes into the return leg in Malmö, but a second half long distance strike from Arnór Traustason sent MFF through to the third round.

The draw for the third round took place before the second round was finalized and the winners between Malmö FF and CFR Cluj were unseeded and drawn against the winners between Bulgarian champions Ludogorets Razgrad and Hungarian champions MOL Vidi FC. Against all odds Vidi ended up knocking out the Bulgarians and traveled to Malmö for the first game in the third round. Recently re-acquired Anders Christiansen opened the scoring an hour into the contest, but Vidi scored an equalizer ten minutes later after a defensive error that would end up as the decisive away goal when the return leg finished scoreless in Hungary.

The tournament continued into the 2019 season.

After being knocked out by MOL Vidi FC in the third round of the Champions league qualifiers, Malmö FF entered the play-off round of the UEFA Europa League where they were seeded and drawn against Danish champions FC Midtjylland. After seemingly being in control of play and with a 2-0 lead an hour into the first game at home, MFF lost control the last half hour and ended up having to travel to Denmark with a tough a 2-2 result. In the return leg however, goals from Marcus Antonsson and Markus Rosenberg sent Malmö FF into the Europa League group stages.

Kickoff times are in UTC+2.

Malmö FF v FC Midtjylland

23 August 2018 First Leg	Malmö FF	2–2	FC Midtjylland	Malmö
19:15	Rosenberg 12' Antonsson 25'	Report	Wikheim 60' Okosun 77'	Stadium: Stadion Attendance: 11,487[23] Referee: Srđan Jovanović

FC Midtjylland v Malmö FF

30 August 2018 Second Leg	FC Midtjylland	0–2 (2–4 agg.)	Malmö FF	Herning
19:15		Report	Antonsson 32' Rosenberg 79'	Stadium: MCH Arena Attendance: 9,175[24] Referee: Serdar Gözübüyük

Malmö FF's home fixture against Sarpsborg 08.

Times up to 27 October 2018 (matchdays 1–3) are CEST (UTC+2), thereafter (matchdays 4–6) times are CET (UTC+1).

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		GNK	MAL	BES	SRP
1	Genk	6	3	2	1	14	8	+6	11	Advance to knockout phase		—	2–0	1–1	4–0
2	Malmö FF	6	2	3	1	7	6	+1	9			2–2	—	2–0	1–1
3	Beşiktaş	6	2	1	3	9	11	−2	7			2–4	0–1	—	3–1
4	Sarpsborg 08	6	1	2	3	8	13	−5	5			3–1	1–1	2–3	—

K.R.C. Genk v Malmö FF

20 September 2018 Matchday 1	K.R.C. Genk	2–0	Malmö FF	Genk
18:55	Trossard 37' Samatta 71'	Report		Stadium: Luminus Arena Attendance: 11,590[25] Referee: Aleksei Eskov

Malmö FF v Beşiktaş J.K.

4 October 2018 Matchday 2	Malmö FF	2–0	Beşiktaş J.K.	Malmö
21:00	53' (o.g.) Rosenberg 76' (pen.)	Report		Stadium: Stadion Attendance: 17,174[26] Referee: Aleksandar Stavrev

Sarpsborg 08 FF v Malmö FF

25 October 2018 Matchday 3	Sarpsborg 08 FF	1–1	Malmö FF	Sarpsborg
21:00	Halvorsen 87'	Report	Vindheim 79'	Stadium: Sarpsborg Stadion Attendance: 8,022[27] Referee: Paweł Raczkowski

Malmö FF v Sarpsborg 08 FF

8 November 2018 Matchday 4	Malmö FF	1–1	Sarpsborg 08 FF	Malmö
18:55	Antonsson 67'	Report	Mortensen 63'	Stadium: Stadion Attendance: 17,601 Referee: Miroslav Zelinka

Malmö FF v K.R.C. Genk

29 November 2018 Matchday 5	Malmö FF	2–2	K.R.C. Genk	Malmö
21:00	Lewicki 65' Antonsson 67'	Report	Pozuelo 42' Paintsil 53'	Stadium: Stadion Attendance: 16,117[28] Referee: Srđan Jovanović

Beşiktaş J.K. v Malmö FF

13 December 2018 Matchday 6	Beşiktaş J.K.	0–1	Malmö FF	Istanbul
18:55		Report	Antonsson 51'	Stadium: Vodafone Park Attendance: 24,955[29] Referee: Luca Banti

Malmö FF kicked of its pre-season with two friendlies at Malmö IP before traveling to Bradenton, Florida for pre-season camp. In Florida, MFF played its final matches before the start of Svenska Cupen against two MLS teams. During the group stage of the cup, Malmö FF scheduled additional friendlies to give players who did not feature heavily in the competition pre-season minutes. The games were played on an artificial practice field near Stadion.

Kickoff times are in UTC+1 unless stated otherwise.

Malmö FF v Fremad Amager

20 January 2018	Malmö FF	1–0	Fremad Amager	Malmö
13:00	Bergqvist 83'	Report		Stadium: Malmö IP Attendance: 2,771

Malmö FF v FC Flora

26 January 2018	Malmö FF	4–0	FC Flora	Malmö
18:30	6' (o.g.) Jeremejeff 8' Strandberg 16' Bergqvist 74'	Report		Stadium: Malmö IP Attendance: 1,527

New England Revolution v Malmö FF

3 February 2018	New England Revolution	0–1	Malmö FF	Bradenton
14:30 UTC−5		Report	Strandberg 57'	Stadium: IMG Academy

D.C. United v Malmö FF

8 February 2018	D.C. United	1–2	Malmö FF	Bradenton
14:30 UTC−5	Mattocks 56'	Report	Strandberg 85', 87'	Stadium: IMG Academy

Malmö FF v FC Roskilde

27 February 2018	Malmö FF	2–2	FC Roskilde	Malmö
14:30	Hansson 20' Brorsson 90+1'	Report	Lindberg 30' Thygesen 40'	Stadium: Plan 9

Malmö FF v FC Nordsjælland

6 March 2018	Malmö FF	2–2	FC Nordsjælland	Malmö
13:00	Rosenberg 32', 74'	Report	Sadiq 18' 42' (o.g.)	Stadium: Plan 9

Kickoff times are in UTC+2 unless stated otherwise.

Malmö FF v Molde FK

20 June 2018	Malmö FF	2–0	Molde FK	Malmö
11:00	Jeremejeff 52' Ssewankambo 79'	Report		Stadium: Stadion Attendance: 792

FC Midtjylland v Malmö FF

29 June 2018	FC Midtjylland	2–1	Malmö FF	Herning
15:00	Sanneh 51' Sparv 73'	Report	Rosenberg 41' (pen.)	Stadium: Vildbjerg Sportcenter

Malmö FF v Torns IF

3 July 2018	Malmö FF	3–1	Torns IF	Malmö
	Strandberg Jeremejeff (pen.) Christiansen	Report	Podsiadly	Stadium: Stadion

Malmö FF v Trelleborgs FF

25 November 2018	Malmö FF	4–1	Trelleborgs FF	Malmö
	Bengtsson Antonsson	Report	Hörberg

Real Balompédica Linense v Malmö FF

5 December 2018	Real Balompédica Linense	0–1	Malmö FF	Marbella
12:30 UTC+1		Report	Rieks	Stadium: Estadio Municipal La Línea