Malmö FF

Malmö IP, the first home stadium for the club between 1910 and 1957

The club arose from a municipal initiative in 1905 to encourage young people in Malmö to play organised football. One of the youth teams, the Bollklubben Idrott, also known simply as BK Idrott, was a predecessor to the Malmö FF. BK Idrott joined the newly created football department of the IFK Malmö in 1909, but soon left because of issues between the two clubs. On 24 February 1910 the 19 members of the BK Idrott founded the Malmö FF; the first chairman was Werner Mårtensson.[12][13]

The club spent its first ten years in local and regional divisions as there was no official national league competition, playing the majority of their matches in the city division called the Malmömästerskapen. They also competed in regional competitions in Scania, and played matches against Danish clubs. In 1916 the Malmö FF reached the final of the Scanian regional competition (Distriktsmästerskapen) for the first time, playing against rival the Helsingborgs IF but losing 3–4.[14] The club defeated local rival the IFK Malmö three times during the season, and thus earned the unofficial but much desired title of Malmö's best football club.[15] In 1917 the Malmö FF competed in the Svenska Mästerskapet for the first time, a cup tournament for the title of Swedish champions, but lost their first match in the second qualifying round 4–1 against the IFK Malmö. The club continued to play in the cup until 1922, reaching the quarter-finals in 1920 when they were knocked out by the Landskrona BoIS. The cup was eventually discontinued and the title of Swedish champions was given to the winners of the Allsvenskan which was first created for the 1924–25 season.[16][upper-alpha 1]

In 1920 the Swedish Football Association invited Swedish football clubs to compete in official national competitions. Malmö FF earned a place in the Division 2 Sydsvenska Serien. They won this division in the first season, and were promoted to the Svenska Serien Västra, the highest level of competition in Sweden at the time. However, they were relegated after a single season, and found themselves back in the Sydsvenska Serien for nearly a decade until they again achieved promotion to the Allsvenskan, in 1931.[17]

The Malmö FF team of 1943–44

The club achieved mid-table league positions for two seasons, but was relegated in 1934 as a penalty for breaking amateur regulations. The club had paid their players a small sum of money for each game. Although against the rules, this was common at the time; Malmö FF was the only club to show it in the accounting records. In addition to relegation to Division 2, the club suffered bans for the entire board of directors and twenty-six players. The version of events told by Malmö FF and local press suggests that local rival, IFK Malmö, had reported the violation to the Swedish Football Association. This belief has contributed to the longstanding competitive tensions between the clubs.[18][19][20]

The club made their way back to the Allsvenskan in 1937 after two seasons in the Division 2. In the same year Eric Persson was elected as chairman after being secretary since 1929, and held the position until 1974. Persson is regarded by club leaders and fans as the most important person in the club's history, as he turned the club professional in the 1970s. Under his leadership the club went from being titleless in 1937 to holding ten Swedish championships by the end of the 1974 season.[21] In 1939 the club reached its highest position yet, third place in the Allsvenskan, nine points behind champions the IF Elfsborg. Malmö FF's first Swedish championship came in 1944, when the club won the penultimate game of the season against AIK before 36,000 spectators at the Råsunda. The last game of the season was won 7–0 against Halmstad BK.[22]

The following nine seasons, Malmö FF finished in the top three in the league. The club won the Swedish Championship in 1949, 1950, 1951 and 1953, and were runners-up in 1946, 1948 and 1952. The club also won the Svenska Cupen in 1944, 1946, 1947, 1951 and 1953, and finished as runners-up in 1945. Between 6 May 1949 and 1 June 1951, the team were unbeaten in 49 matches, of which 23 were an unbroken streak of victories.[23]

Young players in the 1960s

The club finished as runners-up in the Allsvenskan twice more, in 1956 and 1957. The following year the club left the Malmö IP for the Malmö Stadion, which had been built for the 1958 FIFA World Cup, and was to host the club for 50 years. In 1964 Malmö FF contracted Spanish manager Antonio Durán; this was the first of a series of changes that led to the most successful era in the club's history. Young talents such as Lars Granström and Bo Larsson emerged during the early 1960s and would prove to be crucial ingredients in the success that would come in the 1970s. The club finished second in 1964 but went on to win their sixth Swedish Championship in 1965, when Bo Larsson scored 28 goals to finish as the league's top goal scorer. The Malmö FF once again won the Allsvenskan in 1967, after a less successful year in 1966. The club's young players, as well as talents bought in from neighbouring clubs in Scania in 1967, became a team that consistently finished in the top three in the Allsvenskan.[24]

After finishing as runners-up in Allsvenskan for the final two years of the 1960s, Malmö FF started the most successful decade of their history with a Swedish Championship in 1970. The club won Allsvenskan in 1970, 1971, 1974, 1975 and 1977 as well as Svenska Cupen in 1976 and 1978. The 1977 Allsvenskan victory qualified the club for the 1978–79 European Cup, and after victories against AS Monaco, Dynamo Kyiv, Wisła Kraków and Austria Wien, Malmö FF reached the final of the competition, which was played at the Olympiastadion in Munich against Nottingham Forest. Trevor Francis, who scored the only goal of the match, won it 1–0 for Nottingham Forest. Nevertheless, the 1979 European Cup run is the biggest success in the history of Malmö FF.[25] The team were given the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal the same year, awarded for the most significant Swedish sporting achievement of the year, for their achievement in the European Cup.[7]

Malmö Stadion, the home stadium for the club between 1958 and 2008

Much of the success during the 1970s was due to new tactics and training methods brought to the club by Englishman Bob Houghton, who managed the club between 1974 and 1980. Eric Persson was succeeded as chairman in 1974 by Hans Cavalli-Björkman. After the team performed respectably under managers Keith Blunt and Tord Grip in the early 1980s, Roy Hodgson took over in 1985. Roy Hodgson led Malmö FF to two Swedish Championships in 1986 and 1988, and the club won Allsvenskan five years in a row between 1985 and 1989. At the time, the championship was decided by play-offs between the best teams after the end of the regular season; this arrangement was in place from 1982 until 1992. The club reached the play-off final four times between 1986 and 1989 but only managed to win the final twice. Apart from Allsvenskan and Swedish Championships, Malmö FF won Svenska Cupen in 1984, 1986 and 1989.[26]

Other than finishing as runners-up in Allsvenskan in 1996, the team did not excel in the 1990s, as the club failed to win Allsvenskan and Svenska Cupen throughout the entire decade. The 1990s ended with relegation from Allsvenskan in 1999. Hans Cavalli-Björkman was succeeded as chairman by Bengt Madsen in 1999, and former player Hasse Borg was contracted as Director of Sport. These operational changes, as well as the emergence of young talent Zlatan Ibrahimović, led to the return to Allsvenskan in 2001. Ibrahimović rose to fame and became an important player in Malmö FF's campaign to return to the top league. He was later sold to Ajax in 2001, before playing for several European clubs in Italy's Serie A, FC Barcelona in Spain's La Liga, Paris Saint-Germain in France's Ligue 1, Manchester United F.C. in England's Premier League, LA Galaxy in the MLS, and AC Milan again until his retirement in 2023.[27]

Opening game at Stadion

The return to Allsvenskan was the start of the successful early 2000s, under the management of Tom Prahl, when the club finished in the top three times in a row. In 2004, it won Allsvenskan, the club's fifteenth Swedish Championship. In 2005, the club reached the last qualifying round for the UEFA Champions League but were defeated by FC Thun. Successful sponsor work and player sales also made Malmö FF the richest club in Sweden, a position still held since 2013.[28][29] This position was further cemented by the successive Champions League group stage appearances the two following years.[30] Malmö FF moved from Malmö Stadion to Eleda Stadion in 2009, a stadium built entirely for football and located next to the old one.[31]

In 2009, Madsen announced that he would step down as chairman, and was replaced by Håkan Jeppsson early the following year.[32] In 2010, the club marked their 100th anniversary with many celebratory events at the beginning of the season. On the day of the club's 100th anniversary in 2010, the Swedish football magazine Offside declared Malmö FF to be the greatest football club in Swedish history.[33] The season became a great success as the club won Allsvenskan for the nineteenth time and became Swedish champions for the sixteenth time.[34] Unlike in 2004, these successes were achieved without any major transfers before the season, and with a squad consisting mostly of younger players.[35]

In October 2013, Malmö FF won their seventeenth Swedish championship and 20th Allsvenskan title in the penultimate round of the league away from home. Similar to 2010, the title was the result of a young squad. The average age of the squad, 23.8 years, was the youngest team to become champions since the beginning of the 21st century.[36] The following year Malmö FF qualified for the group stage of the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League by beating Ventspils, Sparta Prague and Red Bull Salzburg in the qualifying rounds.[37] This was the first time the club qualified for the competition proper since the re-branding from the European Cup in the 1992–93 season and the first time since the 2000–01 season that a Swedish club qualified. In the following months Malmö FF defended their league title, winning their eighteenth Swedish championship and 21st Allsvenskan title.[38] This was the first time a club defended the Allsvenskan title since the 2003 season.

The 2015 season saw Malmö FF failing to retaining the title and missing out on the top-four for the first time since 2009. However, the club managed to qualify once again to the group stages of the UEFA Champions League in the 2015–16 UEFA Champions League edition, beating Žalgiris Vilnius, Red Bull Salzburg and Celtic in qualifiers. In October 2016, Malmö FF won their nineteenth Swedish championship and 22nd Allsvenskan title.[39] The title was Malmö FF's third in the span of four years. This resulted in the club surpassing IFK Göteborg in terms of Swedish championship titles, indisputably becoming the most successful Swedish football club of all time.

Malmö FF is a dominant force in Sweden. As of the end of the 2021 Allsvenskan season, the club are the leaders of the overall Allsvenskan table maratontabellen.[9] Malmö FF are also the record holders for the total number of Swedish championships, Allsvenskan titles and Svenska Cupen titles.[5][40]

Home kit for the 1910 season

Home kit between 1910 and 1920

Home kit from 1920 to the present

The club colours have not always been sky blue. The predecessor club BK Idrott wore blue and white striped shirts and white shorts, and this kit was still used for the first six months of 1910 after Malmö FF was founded. This was later changed to red and white striped shirts and black shorts to show that Malmö FF was a new, independent club. This colour combination has on occasion been used in modern times as the away kit. The present sky-blue kit was introduced in 1920.[42] Since 2010 a small Scanian flag is featured on the back of the shirt just below the neck.[43]

• 
  1910
• 
  1920
• 
  1920s
• 
  Current crest

The crest of Malmö FF consists of a shield with two vertical sky-blue fields on the sides, and one vertical white field in the middle. Underneath the shield is "Malmö FF" spelled out in sky-blue letters with a sky-blue star under the text. In the top area of the shield is a white horizontal field over the three vertical fields. The abbreviation of the club name "MFF" is spelled out with sky-blue letters in this field. On top of the shield are five tower-like extensions of the white field. The present shield crest made its debut on the shirt in the 1940s.[44] There were other crests before this but they were never featured on the shirt. While the first crest was black and white, the second crest was red and white in accordance with the club's main colours between 1910 and 1920.[41]

In the original shield logo the full club name and sky-blue star beneath the shield were not featured, they were later added when club chairman Eric Persson discovered while abroad that people had trouble identifying what city the club came from just by looking at the club crest. The six-pointed star has its origins from the oldest seal of the City of Malmö.

For the 100th anniversary of the club in 2010, the years 1910 and 2010 were featured on each side of the shield on a sky-blue ribbon behind the shield.[43]

Malmö FF is the only Swedish club to wear two stars above its crest, representing at least 20 domestic championship titles. The stars are only featured on match shirts and are not part of the club's crest.[45]

Because of geographical proximity, minor rivalries exist with Trelleborgs FF and Landskrona BoIS, which are both also located in Scania.[10] The main rivals of the club are Helsingborgs IF, IFK Göteborg and IFK Malmö. The rivalry between Malmö FF and Helsingborgs IF has existed since Malmö FF were promoted up to Allsvenskan in the 1930s, and is primarily geographic, since both teams are from Scania in southern Sweden. The rivalry with IFK Göteborg relates more to title clashes; the two are the most successful clubs in Swedish football history and the only two to have appeared in European cup finals, IFK Göteborg in the UEFA Cup in 1982 and 1987 and Malmö FF in the European Cup in 1979.[10]

During the 2000s, a rivalry between Malmö FF and FC Copenhagen has grown stronger. The rivalry is mainly about geographical proximity and the fact that the teams have played against each other more frequently. During a match in the Royal League in 2005 at Parken Stadium in Copenhagen, the meeting was given greater significance than before, this after Danish police, for unclear reasons, handed out blows with batons to Malmö supporters in the stands.

The rivalry with IFK Malmö is both geographical and historical. The two clubs come from the same city and used to play at the same stadium in the early 20th century. The supposed actions of board members of IFK Malmö in 1933, revealing Malmö FF's breaches of amateur football rules to the Swedish Football Association, further contribute to the competitive tensions between the two clubs.[18][19][20] IFK Malmö have not played in Allsvenskan since 1962; thus matches between the two sides are rare.[50]

As of 12 October 2023[51]

Malmö FF are well known for their large average attendance.[52] Average attendances at Malmö FF's home matches in Allsvenskan and European competitions for the last ten seasons running.

Allsvenskan 2010–2023

Season	Stadium	Capacity	Total	High	Low	Average	Occupancy	Median
2010	Eleda Stadion	24,000[53]	227,904	24,148	9,346	15,194	63.3%	14,149
2011			185,825	23,612	6,715	12,388	51.6%	11,333
2012			221,981	23,638	10,088	14,799	61.7%	14,583
2013			241,395	23,758	9,837	16,093	67.1%	15,560
2014			211,357	20,310	9,336	14,090	58.7%	13,382
2015		22,500[54]	259,973	22,337	12,862	17,332	77.0%	16,215
2016			267,622	21,719	13,747	17,841	79.3%	17,526
2017			273,807	21,354	14,482	18,254	81.1%	18,830
2018			223,822	20,072	11,237	14,921	66.3%	14,745
2019			248,496	21,812	11,521	16,566	73.6%	16,267
2020			0	0	0	0	0%	0
2021			108,115	21,067	0	7,208	32.0%	5,113
2022			261,156	20,231	13,312	17,410	77.4%	17,052
2023			237,322	21,312	17,116	19,879	88.4%	20,082

Correct as of 19 Jun 2022.[65][66] The table shows the position of Malmö FF (highlighted), based on their UEFA coefficient club ranking for 2021, and the four clubs which are closest to Malmö FF's position (the two clubs with the higher coefficient and the two with the lower coefficient).

2023	2022	Mvmt.	Club	2018–19	2019–20	2020–21	2021–22	2022–23	2023 Coeff.
55	60	+5	Krasnodar	11.00	6.00	8.00			25.000
57	78	+21	Real Betis	10.00			11.00	3.00	24.000
57	68	+11	Malmö FF	7.00	8.00	2.50	5.00	1.50	24.000
59	74	+15	West Ham				21.00	2.50	23.500
60	61	+1	Monaco	5.00			15.00	3.00	23.000

Malmö FF line up before a 2011–12 UEFA Europa League group stage match against FC Metalist Kharkiv

As of 2 October 2023[83]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 2 DF  SWE Anton Tinnerholm 3 DF  DEN Jonas Knudsen 4 DF  FIN Niklas Moisander 5 MF  DEN Søren Rieks 6 MF  SWE Oscar Lewicki 7 MF  FRA Mahamé Siby 8 MF  PER Sergio Peña 9 FW  SWE Isaac Kiese Thelin 10 MF  DEN Anders Christiansen (captain) 11 MF  SWE Sebastian Nanasi 13 DF  SWE Martin Olsson 14 MF  DEN Sebastian Jørgensen 15 MF  SWE Joseph Ceesay

No. Pos. Nation Player 17 MF  SWE Otto Rosengren 18 DF  SWE Pontus Jansson 19 DF  CAN Derek Cornelius 20 MF  NOR Oliver Berg 21 FW  SWE Stefano Vecchia 22 MF  SWE Taha Ali 23 MF  NOR Lasse Berg Johnsen 25 DF  BRA Gabriel Busanello 27 GK  SWE Johan Dahlin 30 GK  MLI Ismael Diawara 32 FW  ISL Daníel Guðjohnsen 33 DF  SWE Elison Makolli 37 MF  SWE Adrian Skogmar

As of 2 October 2023[83]

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  SWE Melker Ellborg (to Ariana FC until 8 January 2024) 16 GK  SWE Mathias Nilsson (to Örgryte until 8 January 2024) 17 FW  GHA Malik Abubakari (to Slovan Bratislava until 31 December 2023) 20 MF  SWE Moustafa Zeidan (to Hatta Club until 30 June 2024) 21 MF  SWE Peter Gwargis (to Degerfors until 31 December 2023) 23 DF  CZE Matěj Chaluš (to Slovan Liberec until 31 December 2023) 26 MF  SWE Mubaarak Nuh (to Örgryte until 8 January 2024) 28 MF  SWE David Edvardsson (to Landskrona BoIS until 8 January 2024) 29 DF  SWE Noah Eile (to Mjällby until 8 January 2024)

No. Pos. Nation Player 35 DF  CMR Samuel Kotto (to Landskrona BoIS until 8 January 2024) 36 MF  KOS Patriot Sejdiu (to NAC Breda until 30 June 2024) 38 MF  SWE Hugo Bolin (to Degerfors until 8 January 2024) 39 GK  SWE Viktor Andersson (to Lunds until 8 January 2024) 40 MF  GHA Emmanuel Lomotey (to Ethnikos Achna until 30 June 2024) — DF  SWE Raymond Adjei (to Olympic until 8 January 2024) — DF  SWE André Alvarez Perez (to Olympic until 8 January 2024) — MF  SEN Mamadou Diagne (to Olympic until 8 January 2024) — MF  SWE August Karlin (to Jönköpings Södra until 30 June 2023)

12 – MFF Support[84]

Bo Larsson is Malmö FF's all-time leading goalscorer in Allsvenskan with 119 goals in 302 matches.[85]

Zlatan Ibrahimović started his professional career at Malmö FF. He made 40 league appearances and scored 16 goals for the club between 1999 and 2001.[85]

List criteria:

• player has made more than 500 appearances overall for the club, or
• player has won Guldbollen,[86] an official UEFA or FIFA award,[87][88] or
• player has been picked as one of the 11 best players in the official hall of fame Sydsvenskan team that was selected by the newspapers readers for the club's 100th anniversary in 2010.[89]

As of 16 March 2022[90][91][92]

Name	Role
Anders Pålsson	President
Niclas Carlnén	Chief executive officer
Pontus Hansson	Secretary
Daniel Andersson	Sporting director
Andreas Georgson	Head of sports
Anne-Maj Jansson	Sporting assistant
Robin Asterhed	Chief scout
Alf Westerberg	Sporting co-ordinator
Per Ågren	Sporting director youth

As of 11 March 2023[91]

Name	Role
Henrik Rydström	Head coach
Theodor Olsson	Assistant coaches
Martin Falk
José Martínez	Analysts
Paul Mitchell
Karou Calamy
James Slaughter
Mark Piros-Read	Fitness coaches
Jamie Mackay
Jonnie Fedel	Goalkeeping coach
Alexander Nilsson	Physiotherapists
Jesper Robertsson
Roem Muftee
Pär Herbertsson	Club doctor
Greger Andrijevski	Club masseur
Sverker Fryklund	Psychologist
Daniel Möller	Equipment manager

Bob Houghton won three Swedish championships, four Svenska Cupen titles and reached the 1979 European Cup Final during his time in Malmö.

Roy Hodgson won five consecutive Allsvenskan titles and two Svenska Cupen titles during his five years at the club. He is pictured in 2012 as head coach of England.

This is a list of coaches who have won one or more titles at the club[93]

Name	Years	Allsvenskan	Svenska Cupen
Sven Nilsson	1944 1945–1946 1950	1943–44 1949–50	1944 1946
Kálmán Konrád	1947–1949	1948–49	1947
Bert Turner	1951–1954	1950–51 1952–53	1951 1953
Antonio Durán	1964–1971	1965 1967 1970 1971	1967
Karl-Erik Hult	1972–1973		1972–73
Bob Houghton	1974–1980 1990–1992	1974 1975 1977	1973–74 1974–75 1977–78 1979–80
Tord Grip	1983–1984		1983–84
Roy Hodgson	1985–1989	1985 1986 1987 1988 1989	1985–86 1988–89
Tom Prahl	2002–2005	2004
Roland Nilsson	2008–2011	2010
Rikard Norling	2011–2013	2013
Åge Hareide	2014–2015	2014
Allan Kuhn	2016	2016
Magnus Pehrsson	2017–2018	2017
Jon Dahl Tomasson	2020–2021	2020 2021
Miloš Milojević	2022		2021–22

Malmö FF have won domestic, European, and international honours. The club currently holds the records for most Swedish championships, Allsvenskan and Svenska Cupen titles.[upper-alpha 1] The club's most recent honour was in 2021 when they won Allsvenskan.[2][4] The club first played in Europe for the 1964–65 European season in the European Cup, and most recently in the 2021–22 European season in the group stage for the UEFA Champions League. Including the qualification stages, they have participated in the European Cup and UEFA Champions League eighteen times and in the UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League seventeen times. The club have also played in other now defunct European competitions such as the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and the UEFA Intertoto Cup.[96][97]

The Malmö FF team of 1948–49

• Swedish Champions[2][upper-alpha 1]
  • Winners (22): 1943–44, 1948–49, 1949–50, 1950–51, 1952–53, 1965, 1967, 1970, 1971, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1986, 1988, 2004, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2020, 2021

• Allsvenskan (Tier 1)[2]
  • Winners (25): 1943–44, 1948–49, 1949–50, 1950–51, 1952–53, 1965, 1967, 1970, 1971, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 2004, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2020, 2021
  • Runners-up (15): 1945–46, 1947–48, 1951–52, 1955–56, 1956–57, 1964, 1968, 1969, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1983, 1996, 2002, 2019
• Division 2 Sydsvenska Serien (Tier 2)[98]
  • Winners (1): 1920–21
  • Runners-up (1): 1923–24
• Division 2 Södra (Tier 2)[99]
  • Winners (3): 1930–31, 1934–35, 1935–36
  • Runners-up (1): 1929–30
• Superettan (Tier 2)[100]
  • Runners-up (1): 2000

• Svenska Cupen[2]
  • Winners (15): 1944, 1946, 1947, 1951, 1953, 1967, 1972–73, 1973–74, 1974–75, 1977–78, 1979–80, 1983–84, 1985–86, 1988–89, 2021–22
  • Runners-up (6): 1945, 1970–71, 1995–96, 2015–16, 2017–18, 2019–20
• Allsvenskan play-offs[2]
  • Winners (2): 1986, 1988
  • Runners-up (2): 1987, 1989
• Svenska Supercupen[101]
  • Winners (2): 2013, 2014
  • Runners-up (1): 2011

• European Cup (Champions League)[2]
  • Runners-up (1): 1978–79

• Intercontinental Cup[4]
  • Runners-up (1): 1979

• Allsvenskan and Svenska Cupen[2]
  • Winners (8): 1943–44, 1950–51, 1952–53, 1967, 1974, 1975, 1986, 1989