Malmö FF are the 2023 Swedish soccer champions after a dramatic 1-0 victory in an even more exciting match at the Eleda Stadium in Malmö.
The winners of this year’s Allsvenskan are crowned. Malmö FF dethroned reigning champions BK Häcken with their 23rd gold medal and can now call themselves the 2023 Swedish soccer champions.
The first half was a predictable one, with Malmö dominating possession and Elfsborg focusing on counter-attacking. As is often the case in these games, the first half was more about struggle than beauty, with the visitors initially exploiting the right flank with the tenacious play of Per Frick.
Isac Kiese Thelin had a great chance to give the home side the lead late in the first half, but his shot was blocked at the last moment by an Elfsborg defender.
Second half delayed
The second half was delayed by more than an hour due to disturbances in the stands, including the burning of Bengali torches by fans. This caused great concern in the arena as the fire alarm was sounded and the fire brigade was called to assess the situation.
Fortunately, it turned out that the alarm was not caused by a fire, but rather by smoke from the flares. When the game finally resumed, the afternoon clock read 17:05, well after the other games had finished.
JUST NU: Långt stopp i guldmatchen – brandlarmet har gått i Malmö #Elfsborg #Malmö #allsvenskan https://t.co/VxwXwSOsW1 pic.twitter.com/MoyY1e2Ejz
— SVT Sport (@SVTSport) November 12, 2023
Controversial penalty decides match
The second half began in much the same way as the first, with Malmö enjoying most of the possession. In the 55th minute, referee Nyberg awarded a penalty to Malmö after Malmö’s Kiese Thelin and Elfsborg’s Ibrahim Buhari were involved in a challenge where Thelin, according to referee Nyberg, was tripped by the Elfsborg player.
Many believe that this was a 50/50 situation. Not least former referee Jonas Eriksson was critical.
– It’s a situation that I don’t think ten out of ten referees would call, not even one out of ten. It’s 50/50. It’s not wrong, but it’s not crystal clear right either, Eriksson commented in the TV 5 studio.
Glenn Nyberg ska aldrig någonsin få döma en allsvensk match igen. Helt sinnesjukt. https://t.co/9oKfi7CxKl
— Sir G (@HejaDIFFEN) November 12, 2023
The goal proved to be the deciding factor, and Malmö won 1-0 to overtake Elfsborg on goal difference (by two goals) and become the 2023 Swedish soccer champions.
BK Häcken won the Little Silver with their third place finish, and Djurgårdens IF took the bronze. The Allsvenskan is a bit unusual with gold, big and small silver, and bronze (for the fourth-placed team). Otherwise it’s standard for the top three to win medals, but not in Sweden.
Malmö can look forward to qualifying for the Champions League next summer, and Elfsborg and BK Häcken can look forward to qualifying for the European Conference League. DIF can also qualify for the ECL, but only if one of the top 3 teams wins the Swedish Cup next year, or if they win it themselves.
Brommapojkarna will have to play Utsiktens BK from Göteborg in a relegation playoff for a place in the Allsvenskan in 2024.
