2011 Malmö FF season


The 2011 season was Malmö FF's 100th in existence, their 76th season in Allsvenskan and their 11th consecutive season in the league. They competed in Allsvenskan, where they finished in 4th position, Svenska Cupen, where they were knocked out in the quarter-finals, Svenska Supercupen, where they finished as runners-up, the UEFA Champions League, where they were knocked out in the play-off round and finally the UEFA Europa League, where they were knocked out in the group stage. Malmö FF were the reigning champions of Allsvenskan and also returned to European cup play after a five-year absence. Manager Roland Nilsson left the club on 29 May to become the new manager for F.C. Copenhagen, he was replaced by Rikard Norling who officially became the new Malmö FF manager on 3 June.

Summary

Supercupen

The competitive season started on 19 March with Supercupen at Swedbank Stadion against Helsingborgs IF. Malmö FF had qualified for Supercupen by winning Allsvenskan the previous year while Helsingborg qualified by winning Svenska Cupen. The match ended 2–1 in Helsingborgs favour. This was the first time Malmö FF appeared in the competition after its introduction in 2007.

Svenska Cupen

Malmö FF entered their second cup play of the season on 11 May with round 3 of Svenska Cupen against Superettan club Jönköpings Södra IF at Stadsparksvallen, a match Malmö FF won 4–0. The club progressed another round by beating Halmstads BK 3–0 at Örjans Vall before being knocked out of Svenska Cupen in the quarter-finals on penalties by Kalmar FF at Guldfågeln Arena. The result was the best since the 2002 season when the club reached the semi-finals, despite this the result was disappointing since the club had set out to win the cup.

UEFA Champions League

The club entered European cup play on 13 July when they won their home fixture at Swedbank Stadion against HB Tórshavn with 2–0 in the first tier of the second qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League. The away fixture at Gundadalur ended as a draw with 1–1 as Malmö FF progressed to the next qualifying round. Malmö FF were drawn against Rangers F.C. in the third qualifying round and won the first leg 1–0, away at Ibrox. The home fixture at Swedbank Stadion ended as a draw with 1–1 and the club progressed to the play-off round with an aggregate score of 2–1. The club were drawn against Dinamo Zagreb in the play-off round, the first leg of the tie was played at Stadion Maksimir on 17 August and ended 4–1 in Dinamos favour. The second leg was played at Swedbank Stadion on 23 August, the club won the match 2–0, missing out to advance to the group stage by the away goals rule by one goal. Dinamo Zagreb won with an aggregate score of 4–3 and progressed to the group stage of the UEFA Champions League.

UEFA Europa League

Due to being eliminated in the play-off round of the UEFA Champions League, Malmö FF received a place in the group stage of the UEFA Europa League. The group stage was drawn on 26 August 2011. Malmö FF were seeded in the fourth and lowest seeding group and joined AZ, Metalist Kharkiv and Austria Vienna in Group G. This was the first time the club participated in the competition since its re branding and the first time the club participated in the group stage for an official UEFA competition. Malmö FF played their first match on 15 September away against AZ and lost 4–1. The club then played two home fixtures in a row against Austria Vienna, where they lost 2–1 and against Metalist Kharkiv, where they lost 4–1. Malmö FF then travelled to Ukraine to play Metalist Kharkiv away and lost 3–1. The clubs first and only point in the competition would come against AZ at home, a fixture which ended goalless, however the club needed a win to still have the chance to proceed in the competition and were therefore knocked out. Malmö FF's last match in the competition was the away fixture against Austria Vienna who themselves still had a slight chance to proceed. The match ended 2–0 in Austria Viennas favour, however, this was not enough for Austria Vienna and they found themselves knocked out of the competition along with Malmö FF while Metalist Kharkiv and AZ proceeded to the round of 32.

Allsvenskan

League play started on 3 April with the away fixture against Trelleborgs FF ironically played at Trelleborgs reserve stadium Swedbank Stadion due to their own Vångavallen being in an unplayable state, Malmö FF won the game 4–2. The club went on to win the next three games as well to mark their best league start in 60 years. As the season progressed the club started to drop in the table and found themselves in the middle of the table after 15 rounds, having only won three additional matches after the first four record breaking wins. The beginning of the season was shaped by the spectator scandal that occurred in the home game against rivals Helsingborgs IF when the game was suspended and Helisngborg being awarded a 3–0 win after an incident report. The club also had to appoint a new manager after Roland Nilsson announced his transfer to FC Copenhagen, Rikard Norling succeeded Nilsson on 3 June. The second part of the season started with three draws in a row as the club was struggling to score on the chances that were created. The 23 July derby against Helsingborg away ended in a 2–2 draw. The club only lost one match in the second part of the season, away against Gefle IF 0–2, other than that the club played well and finished the league season with five wins in a row. Malmö FF finished fourth in Allsvenskan and were thus given bronze medals for their performance.

Key events

Defender Filip Stenström is loaned to IF Limhamn Bunkeflo for the entire season. The agreement between the clubs allows for the player to return to Malmö FF on a 24-hour basis if necessary.

Squad

Players in/out

In

Out

Squad stats

Disciplinary record

Club

Coaching staff

Other information

Competitions

Overall

Allsvenskan

League table

Results summary

Results by round

Note: Since some matches were postponed, the "position" field has been corrected in hindsight.

Matches

Kickoff times are in CEST.

Svenska Cupen

Kickoff times are in CEST.

Svenska Supercupen

Kickoff times are in CET.

UEFA Champions League

Qualifying phase and play-off round

Second qualifying round
Third qualifying round
Play-off round

UEFA Europa League

Group stage

Key to colours in group tables
Group winners and runners-up advanced to the round of 32

Kickoff times are in CET.

Non competitive

Pre-season

Copa del Sol

Friendlies

Mid-season

Post league-season

Abandoned matches

Malmö FF vs. Helsingborg

Malmö FF vs. Djurgården

Footnotes