Malmö FF facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Malmö FF

Full name	Malmö Fotbollförening (Malmö)
Nickname(s)	Di blåe (The Blue Ones) Himmelsblått (Sky Blue)
Short name	MFF
Founded	24 February 1910; 115 years ago (1910-02-24)
Ground	Eleda Stadion, Malmö
Ground Capacity	22,500
Chairman	Anders Pålsson
Head coach	Henrik Rydström
League	Allsvenskan
2024	Allsvenskan, 1st of 16 (champions)
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Malmö FF, also known as MFF, is a professional football club from Malmö, Sweden. They play in the Allsvenskan, which is the top football league in Sweden. Their home games are played at Eleda Stadion.

Malmö FF is the most successful football club in Sweden. They have won the Swedish championship 24 times and the Svenska Cupen (Swedish Cup) 16 times. Both of these are national records!

The club started in 1910. They won their first national championship in 1944. The 1970s were their best time. During this period, they won five Swedish championships and four Swedish Cup titles. They also became the only team from the Nordic countries to reach a European Cup or UEFA Champions League final. In 1979, they were runners-up in the 1978–79 European Cup, losing 1–0 to Nottingham Forest. Because of this amazing achievement, Malmö FF received the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal. They were also the only Nordic team to play in the Intercontinental Cup in 1979.

Malmö FF is known as Di blåe, which means "The Blue Ones" in the local dialect. Their team colors are sky blue and white. Their home kit is sky blue shirts, white shorts, and sky blue socks. They have strong rivalries with Helsingborgs IF and IFK Göteborg.

Club History

How it All Started

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

The club began in 1905 when the city of Malmö encouraged young people to play organized football. One youth team, Bollklubben Idrott (BK Idrott), was a big part of Malmö FF's beginnings. On February 24, 1910, 19 members of BK Idrott officially started Malmö FF. Werner Mårtensson was their first chairman.

For the first ten years, the club played in local leagues. They often played against teams from Denmark. In 1916, Malmö FF reached the final of a regional competition for the first time. They played against their rivals Helsingborgs IF but lost 3–4. That year, they beat local rivals IFK Malmö three times. This earned them the unofficial title of Malmö's best football club.

In 1920, the Swedish Football Association invited clubs to play in national competitions. Malmö FF joined the Division 2 Sydsvenska Serien. They won this division in their first season and moved up to the Svenska Serien Västra, which was the top league then. However, they were sent down after just one season. They returned to the top league, Allsvenskan, in 1931.

First Big Wins

The Malmö FF team of 1943–44

In 1934, the club faced a challenge. They were sent down to Division 2 because they had paid their players small amounts of money. This was against the rules for amateur clubs. Malmö FF was the only club to show these payments in their records. Many believe that their rival, IFK Malmö, reported them. This event made the rivalry between the two clubs even stronger.

Malmö FF returned to Allsvenskan in 1937. That same year, Eric Persson became chairman. He led the club until 1974. Many people believe Persson was the most important person in the club's history. Under his leadership, the club went from having no titles to winning ten Swedish championships by 1974.

Malmö FF won their first Swedish championship in 1944. They won the second-to-last game of the season against AIK in front of 36,000 fans. They won the last game 7–0 against Halmstad BK.

For the next nine seasons, Malmö FF was always among the top three teams. They won the Swedish Championship in 1949, 1950, 1951, and 1953. They also won the Svenska Cupen in 1944, 1946, 1947, 1951, and 1953. From May 1949 to June 1951, the team went unbeaten for 49 matches!

Young players in the 1960s

In 1958, the club moved to Malmö Stadion, a new stadium built for the 1958 FIFA World Cup. In 1964, Spanish manager Antonio Durán joined the club. This started a period of great success. Young stars like Lars Granström and Bo Larsson helped the team win their sixth Swedish Championship in 1965. Bo Larsson scored 28 goals that season, making him the league's top scorer. Malmö FF won Allsvenskan again in 1967.

Golden Era: The 1970s and Beyond

The 1970s were the most successful time for Malmö FF. They won Allsvenskan in 1970, 1971, 1974, 1975, and 1977. They also won the Swedish Cup in 1976 and 1978. The 1977 Allsvenskan win allowed them to play in the 1978–79 European Cup. They beat strong teams like AS Monaco and Dynamo Kyiv. Malmö FF reached the final in Munich, but lost 1–0 to Nottingham Forest. Even so, this was the biggest success in the club's history.

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

Much of this success was thanks to English manager Bob Houghton. He brought new tactics to the club from 1974 to 1980. In 1985, Roy Hodgson became manager. He led Malmö FF to two Swedish Championships in 1986 and 1988. The club won Allsvenskan five years in a row from 1985 to 1989. They also won the Swedish Cup in 1984, 1986, and 1989.

The 1990s were not as successful. The club did not win Allsvenskan or the Swedish Cup. In 1999, they were even sent down from Allsvenskan. However, with a new chairman, Bengt Madsen, and former player Hasse Borg as Director of Sport, things changed. A young talent named Zlatan Ibrahimović also helped the team return to Allsvenskan in 2001. Zlatan became a famous player and was later sold to Ajax in 2001. He went on to play for many big clubs in Europe before retiring in 2023.

Recent Successes (2000s to Today)

Eleda Stadion

Malmö FF's return to Allsvenskan in the early 2000s brought more success. Under manager Tom Prahl, they finished in the top three for three years in a row. In 2004, they won Allsvenskan, their fifteenth Swedish Championship. In 2005, they almost reached the UEFA Champions League but lost in the final qualifying round.

Malmö FF became the richest club in Sweden thanks to good sponsors and selling players. In 2009, Malmö FF moved from Malmö Stadion to Eleda Stadion. This new stadium was built just for football.

In 2010, the club celebrated its 100th anniversary. They won Allsvenskan for the nineteenth time and became Swedish champions for the sixteenth time. This was achieved with a team mostly made up of younger players.

In 2013, Malmö FF won their seventeenth Swedish championship. The team was very young, with an average age of 23.8 years. The next year, Malmö FF qualified for the group stage of the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League. This was the first time a Swedish club had qualified since 2001. Malmö FF then won their eighteenth Swedish championship, becoming the first club to defend the Allsvenskan title since 2003.

Chart of Malmö's yearly table positions in the Swedish football league system.

In 2016, Malmö FF won their nineteenth Swedish championship. This was their third title in four years. They now have more Swedish championship titles than IFK Göteborg, making them the most successful Swedish football club ever.

The 2020s have also been very successful. The club won Allsvenskan in 2020, 2021, 2023, and 2024. They have now won a total of 27 league titles. They also reached the Champions League group stage in 2021–22 and the knockout stages of the UEFA Europa League in 2019–20.

Malmö FF is a very strong team in Sweden. They lead the all-time Allsvenskan table, meaning they have won the most matches in the league's history. They also hold the record for the most Swedish championships, Allsvenskan titles, and Swedish Cup titles.

Team Colors and Crest

Malmö FF is often called Di blåe (The Blues) or Himmelsblått (The Sky Blues) because of their sky blue and white colors. Their home uniform is sky blue shirts, white shorts, and sky blue socks. Their away uniform is black. Sometimes, they use other colors for European games, like all-white or all-black kits.

Kit Evolution

Home kit for the 1910 season

Home kit between 1910 and 1920

Home kit from 1920 to the present

The club's colors were not always sky blue. The first club, BK Idrott, wore blue and white striped shirts. For the first six months of Malmö FF, they used these colors. Then, they changed to red and white striped shirts with black shorts to show they were a new club. Sometimes, this red and white combination is used for their away kit today. The current sky blue kit was introduced in 1920. Since 2010, a small Scanian flag is on the back of the shirt.

Crest Evolution

• 

  1910
• 

  1920
• 

  1920s
• 

  Current crest

Malmö FF's crest is a shield with two sky blue sections on the sides and a white section in the middle. Below the shield, "Malmö FF" is written in sky blue letters with a sky blue star. At the top of the shield, "MFF" is written in white. The current shield crest first appeared on the shirts in the 1940s. Before that, there were other crests, but they were not on the shirts.

The full club name and star were added later. This happened after chairman Eric Persson noticed that people abroad did not know where the club was from just by looking at the crest. The six-pointed star comes from the oldest seal of the City of Malmö.

For the club's 100th anniversary in 2010, the years 1910 and 2010 were added to the crest.

Malmö FF is the only Swedish club to wear two stars above its crest. These stars mean the club has won at least 20 domestic championship titles. The stars are only on the match shirts and are not part of the official club crest.

Supporters

Tifo at former home stadium Malmö Stadion.

Tifo at the Swedish Cup final in 2016.

Tifo before a Champions League qualifier in 2018. The red and yellow flag is the Scanian flag.

Tifo before Markus Rosenberg's final home game for Malmö FF in 2019.

Malmö FF has many fan clubs. The biggest official one is MFF Support, started in 1992. MFF Support works against violence and racism. The chairman of MFF Support is Thelma Ernst.

There are also smaller fan groups. Supras Malmö, started in 2003, is one of the most well-known. They are often seen in the main supporter stand at Eleda Stadion with banners and flags. Another group is Rex Scania. MFF Tifosi 96 (MT96) creates amazing tifos (large fan displays) for special games. Malmösystrar (Sisters of Malmö) is the largest female fan group in Europe, with over 200 members.

Malmö FF fans are also friends with the supporters of Hertha BSC from Germany.

Rivalries

Malmö FF has a few rivalries. Minor rivalries exist with nearby clubs like Trelleborgs FF and Landskrona BoIS. The main rivals are Helsingborgs IF, IFK Göteborg, and IFK Malmö.

The rivalry with Helsingborgs IF is old and strong. It started when Malmö FF joined Allsvenskan in the 1930s. Both teams are from the same region, Scania, in southern Sweden.

The rivalry with IFK Göteborg is about who is the best. These two clubs are the most successful in Swedish football history. They are also the only two Swedish clubs to have reached European cup finals. IFK Göteborg reached the UEFA Cup final twice, and Malmö FF reached the European Cup final in 1979.

A rivalry with FC Copenhagen from Denmark has also grown. This is because the cities are close, and the teams have played each other more often.

The rivalry with IFK Malmö is both about geography and history. Both clubs are from Malmö and used to share a stadium. The rivalry became more intense when IFK Malmö reportedly told the Swedish Football Association about Malmö FF breaking amateur rules in 1933. Since IFK Malmö has not played in Allsvenskan since 1962, games between them are rare.

Average Attendances

Malmö FF is known for having many fans at their games. Here are the average attendances for their home matches in Allsvenskan and European competitions:

Allsvenskan 2010–2023

Season	Stadium	Capacity	Total	High	Low	Average	Occupancy	Median
2010	Eleda Stadion	24,000	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	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			301,126	21,612	17,116	20,075	89.2%	20,231

Home Stadiums

Malmö FF's first stadium was Malmö IP. They shared it with their rivals, IFK Malmö. The team played there from 1910 until 1958. This stadium still exists today and is used by the women's team FC Rosengård. Malmö IP is an important part of the club's history. It is where the club started and won five Swedish championships.

A new stadium, Malmö Stadion, was built in Malmö for the 1958 FIFA World Cup. Malmö FF started playing there in 1958. They won their first Swedish championship at this stadium in 1965. The club had its most successful period here, winning ten Swedish championships.

After their 2004 Allsvenskan win, plans were made for a new stadium. In 2005, Malmö FF announced that work would begin on Eleda Stadion. This stadium was designed just for football. It opened on April 13, 2009. The first goal at the new stadium was scored by Malmö FF's Labinot Harbuzi. In 2010, the club won its first Swedish championship at Eleda Stadion. The stadium record for attendance is 24,148 fans. Eleda Stadion is a top-rated stadium by UEFA.

A panorama of Stadion from the Northern Stand, showing from left to right the Eastern Stand, the Southern Stand and the Western Stand

Stadion from the Western stand before a UEFA Champions League play-off game against FC Red Bull Salzburg in 2014

European Football History

Malmö FF has a long history in European competitions since 1964. Their best European performance was in the 1978–79 season. They reached the final of the UEFA Champions League (then called the European Champion Clubs' Cup). They lost 0–1 to English team Nottingham Forest. This makes Malmö FF the only club from the Nordic countries to reach the final of this competition.

Malmö FF is also the only Nordic club to have played in the Intercontinental Cup in 1979. This tournament was the predecessor to the FIFA Club World Cup. Malmö FF is one of only four Swedish clubs to have played in the UEFA Champions League group stages.

Overall Record in European Competitions

Club Management

Organisation

As of January 8, 2024

Name	Role
Anders Pålsson	President
Niclas Carlnén	CEO
Pontus Hansson	Secretary
Daniel Andersson	Sporting director
Ola Toivonen	Assistant sporting director
Anne-Maj Jansson	Sporting assistant
Jeffrey Aubynn	Chief scout
Jaime Segura	Technical manager
Alf Westerberg	Sporting co-ordinator
Per Ågren	Sporting director (youth)
Lars Hallengreen	Chief scout (youth)

Coaching Staff

As of January 8, 2024

Name	Role
Henrik Rydström	Head coach
Theodor Olsson	Assistant coaches
Martin Falk
Tobias Eriksson	Analysts
James Slaughter
Pak Hei Mak
Tom Noon	Fitness coaches
Jamie Mackay
Jonnie Fedel	Goalkeeping coach
Alexander Nilsson	Physiotherapists
Jesper Robertsson
Roem Muftee
Johan Ahlberg
Amanda Lahti	Club doctor
Greger Andrijevski	Club masseur
Sverker Fryklund	Psychologist
Daniel Möller	Equipment manager

Famous Coaches

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.

Here are some coaches who have won titles with Malmö FF:

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
Henrik Rydström	2023–	2023 2024	2023–24

Club Honours

Malmö FF has won many titles in Sweden, Europe, and worldwide. They hold the records for the most Swedish championships, Allsvenskan titles, and Svenska Cupen titles. Their most recent win was the Allsvenskan in 2023.

The club first played in Europe in 1964. They have played in the European Cup and UEFA Champions League 18 times. They have also played in the UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League 17 times.

Domestic Titles

The Malmö FF team of 1948–49

• Swedish Champions
  • Winners (24): 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, 2023, 2024

League Titles

• Allsvenskan (Top League)
  • Winners (27): 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, 2023, 2024

Cup Titles

• Svenska Cupen (Swedish Cup)
  • Winners (16): 1944, 1946, 1947, 1951, 1953, 1967, 1972–73, 1973–74, 1974–75, 1977–78, 1979–80, 1983–84, 1985–86, 1988–89, 2021–22, 2023–24
• Svenska Supercupen (Swedish Super Cup)
  • Winners (2): 2013, 2014

European Titles

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

Worldwide Titles

• Intercontinental Cup
  • Runners-up (1): 1979

Doubles (League and Cup Wins)

• Allsvenskan and Svenska Cupen
  • Winners (9): 1943–44, 1950–51, 1952–53, 1967, 1974, 1975, 1986, 1989, 2024

Images for kids

• 

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

• 

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

• 

  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.

See also

In Spanish: Malmö FF para niños