Djurgarden – Mjaellby

The capital club will beat the still-reigning champion.

Mjällby, for the first time in its history, began the current season as the reigning Swedish champions. Over the past year, the club from Hellevik could even have a film made about it. They sit top of Allsvenskan, a team from a settlement of about 1,500 inhabitants with a seriously ill coach. Mjällby started the new season with a new coach — Karl Axum. Anders Torstensson, the architect of the club’s brilliant success, moved to the post of technical director. Unfortunately, the minds of Mjällby’s players were occupied for the entire first half of the season by the upcoming Champions League qualification. The club’s management, for obvious reasons, was not prepared to keep the team in championship positions. By the nineteenth round of Allsvenskan, Mjällby stands as the eleventh team in the table. The champion’s failure extended not only to the Champions League qualifiers, but also to the Europa League, where in the latter part of August they lost both matches to Salzburg. Fortunately, the European tournament system allows national champions—even after elimination from the Champions League and the Europa League—to end up in the third-tier competition—the Conference League. There, Mjällby earns the right to play in the group stage. The thing is that with their current level of performance there will be no prospects for Mjällby anywhere. A victory over the Allsvenskan leaders Sirius amid a string of August defeats looks like an unexpected event. Its roots lie in Sirius’s own flawed tactical approach, which after the 4:4 draw with Mjällby in the first leg again decided to play a 'kick-and-hope' style against the opponent. Djurgården will not give the reigning champions such pleasure. The Stockholm-based side sits third in Allsvenskan on points dropped. In terms of points, the team sits fifth, two points behind Elfsborg and Häcken, but the rivals have played two more games. Recently Djurgården unexpectedly lost two consecutive matches in the Swedish league, but managed to escape from the mini-crisis by scoring three unanswered goals against Malmö, the most titled club in Sweden. At home, Djurgården has not beaten Mjällby since 2023, but now the best possible moment has presented itself to do so. Let’s bet that the Stockholm-based team will knock out the last Swedish representative in European competitions.