It’s a story worthy of a movie script, but Anders Torstensson guarantees that he hasn’t received proposals from producers yet. The team he coaches, Mjällby, from a town of 1,379 inhabitants and which until 2018 played in the third division, could become Swedish champions this weekend.
“It’s a fairy tale. Maybe the best in the history of football in Sweden”, said Torstensson to Sheetin half an hour of telephone conversation after training this Friday (17).
Eleven points ahead with four rounds to go, Mjällby (pronounced “Miélbi”) can win the Allsvenskan, the Swedish league, without entering the field, if second-placed Hammarby does not defeat AIK on Sunday (19). Or they can guarantee the title on Monday (20), away from home, against IFK Göteborg.
While recognizing that in football there is a strong correlation between money and results, Torstensson says that Mjällby “adopted a motto” ten years ago: “We have to be the best at things that are free. Being kind to teammates costs nothing. Working hard costs nothing. Being focused in every training session costs nothing. I think that shaped the club.”
Evidently, some money was needed for Mjällby to get there. In 2016, businessman Magnus Emeus invested in the club, taking it to the first division in 2020. It’s no fortune, however. Until last season, Mjällby’s squad, combined, was valued on the specialized website Transfermarkt at R$52 million, less than a quarter of the country’s richest club, Malmö.
With the good results, the appreciation was more than 100%. One of the team’s stars is defender Axel Norén, 26, trained at the club’s youth team and called up this year for the Swedish national team.
The story of coach Torstensson, 59, would seem far-fetched even in a film script. A former youth player, he had sporadic stints as a coach, until he left his job as a school director in 2023 to dedicate himself to football full time. This year, he received a diagnosis of chronic lymphatic leukemia.
“For now, I don’t need treatment. I undergo tests and blood tests every two months. There are people who can live with this diagnosis their entire lives without treatment”, he explains.
There are eight foreigners in Mjällby’s squad, none of them Brazilian. “Many Brazilians have played in the Allsvenskan in recent years, but they have difficulty adapting to Sweden”, analyzes the coach. If he could choose one for his team, he would opt for a name from the past: “I watched the Brazilian team a lot as a child. I really like Sócrates, the midfielder with great shots.”
An admirer of Jürgen Klopp, Liverpool’s former German coach, Torstensson says that his first concern was putting together a solid team in defense, and only then thinking about the attack. “Five years ago I was winning games 1-0. Now, I’m a coach winning 3-0. I’ve never identified with coaches who want to win 5-4.”
He says he prefers not to think about the title, but admits that the club is already preparing the celebration. If they are champions, Mjällby will enter the second phase of the 2026-27 “pre-Champions”, which means having to overcome three knockouts to reach the league stage.
It will be necessary to move from the current stadium, Strandvallen (“Paredão de Areia”, in Swedish, as it is just a few meters from the beach), with a capacity for only 7,500 fans. Torstensson knows that proposals will come from other clubs, but says he is not thinking about it for now. “I don’t have an agent. I don’t promote myself on social media. But when offers come in, you have to really evaluate them.”
The question he hears most these days is whether there is a secret. “There are no shortcuts, there is no magic. It’s a lot of good people working hard day in and day out, staying grounded, being humble, just focusing on developing our style of play and being very meticulous with everything we do.”
