Malmö FF, 1949-50

Malmö FF's soccer team won their first Swedish title in 1944. Five years later, they had built such a strong team that they won three titles in a row, and were undefeated for 49 league-matches. The 1949-50 season was their best, winning no less than 20 of their 22 games.

Olympics and World Cup

Life in Sweden just after the Second World War was way better than in most parts of Europe. Sweden stayed neutral, and the country didn’t suffer that much. The league wasn’t postponed and could maintain a higher level than most countries could. Maybe that’s why Swedish soccer had a very successful spell at the world stage, in the years immediately after the war. First they managed to win the Olympic title in London, in 1948. Two years later at the 1950 World Cup, Sweden did lose against host Brazil 7-1, but still claimed the bronze medal at the end.

League title in 1949

Malmö FF, 1948-49

The first great Swedish team from 1945 onwards was Gunnar Nordahl's IFK Norrköping, winning the league four times (1945 until 1948). Then, in the 1948-49 season, Norrköping got off to a bad start and never recovered. Also, star striker Nordahl left for Italy (AC Milan) halfway through the season. This meant Helsingborgs IF and Malmö FF got into a game of musical chairs for the championship. Finally, Malmö FF ended the season with five victories to clinch the title: 2-1, 6-0, 12-0 (three goals by Borje Tapper, Stellan Nilsson and Carl-Erik Palmer, two by Kjell Rosén and one by Egon Jönsson), 5-1 and 4-0.

The 1949-50 season

Topscorer Ingvar Rydell on his way to another goal

At the start of the 1949-50 season, the Swedish Allsvenskan league again lost a few of their best players to Italian clubs. Gunnar Gren (IFK Göteborg) left for AC Milan, and so did Nils Liedholm (IFK Norrköping). Elfsborgs Ake Hjalmarsson went playing for AC Torino. Champion Malmö FF wasn’t affected by this at all, and started the season where they left off a few months earlier: by winning all their matches. On September 11 for example, they crushed IFK Göteborg by 9-2. Only Jönköping Sodra could keep up with Malmö FF. After nine matches, Jönköping Sodra were just four points behind. Then the two teams met on October 9, 1949, at the Malmö-stadium. With a 4-2 win Malmö FF buried all hopes for Jönköping.

Back-to-back victories

Kjell Rosén takes a shot

After that, Malmö FF kept on winning, sometimes by a big margin (5-0 or 5-1), but mostly comfortable with a two or three goals difference. This way the team won seventeen matches in a row. Which gave them a ten point lead over second placed Jonköping Sodra after those seventeen matches. With five matches left, on May 7, 1950 all Malmö FF needed was a draw against Kalmar FF. Of course they won (5-1), and was crowned champion. That victory was number 23 (and number last) in a row. During the rest of the season, Malmö allowed both AIK Solna (3-3) and Helsingborgs (2-2) to take one point away from them. Still, with twenty wins and two draws, Malmö FF was the first team ever to clinch the title without losing a game in the Swedish Allsvenskan (since in 1924). As a matter of fact, until this day no other Swedish team has been able to equal this amazing record. The final standings really show how dominant Malmö was that season:

Malmö FF	22	20	2	0	40 : 4	82 : 21
Jönköping Sodra	22	12	3	7	27 : 17	50 - 37
Helsingborgs IF	22	10	6	6	26 : 18	45 - 38
AIK Solna	22	10	6	6	26 : 18	34 - 31
GAIS	22	7	7	8	21 : 23	34 - 42
IFK Norrköping	22	9	2	11	20 : 24	36 - 45
Elfsborg	22	6	7	9	19 : 25	34 - 45
Djurgårdens IF	22	8	2	12	18 : 26	34 - 39
Kalmar FF	22	5	8	9	18 : 26	25 - 33
Degerfors	22	6	6	10	18 : 26	26 - 35
IFK Göteborg	22	5	5	12	15 : 29	33 - 49
Halmia	22	6	2	14	14 : 30	28 - 46

Erik Nilsson

When looking at Malmö FF’s team roster, it’s remarkable to see that no less than six players were born in 1922, and four in 1921. They were all in the best years of their career, both in experience and in strength. Only goalkeeper Helge Bengtsson and Erik Nilsson (both 33 years at the start of the season) were older, while promising youngster Carl-Erik Palmer (20 years) was the rookie  of the team. Erik Nilsson was voted Swedish player of the year in 1950, Ingvar Rydell was the top goalscorer with 21 goals (number two, Hans Jeppsson (Djurgårdens IF) scored 18 and number three, Karl Simonsson (Jonköping Sodra) managed 16).

Malmö FF’s team roster:

Player	Born	Matches	Goals
Sven Hjertsson	07-03-1924	22
Helge Bengtsson (GK)	19-12-1916	22
Egon Jönsson	08-10-1921	22	15
Karl-Erik ‘Calle’ Palmer	17-04-1929	22	7
Ingvar Gård	06-10-1921	21	1
Arne Månsson	11-11-1925	21
Stellan Nilsson	28-05-1922	19	15
Ingvar Rydell	07-05-1922	19	21
Börje Tapper	20-03-1922	16	11
Kjell Hjertsson	01-08-1922	13	2
Hans Malmström	09-06-1921	13
Kjell Rosén	24-04-1921	10	1
Erik Nilsson	06-08-1916	8
Walfrid Ek	11-07-1922	6	6
Einar Mårtensson	Unknown	2	1
Sune Sandbring	10-04-1928	2
Gustaf Nilsson	20-10-1922	2
Kjell Persson	Unknown	1	2

World Cup 1950

Stellan Nilsson scoring

After the season, the Swedish national team - with eight Malmö FF-players -  left for Brazil, to compete at the 1950 World Cup. They got off to a good start, beating Italy 3-2. Thanks to Hans Jeppsson (2 goals) and Sune Andersson (1 goal) and Helsingborgs goalie, Kalle Svensson, who was nearly unbeatable that day. Svensson also was outstanding in the match against Spain, giving him the nickname ‘Kalle-Rio’.

Although Sweden lost against host Brazil (7-1) and soon to be world champion Uruguay (3-2), they ended the tournament with a bronze medal.

This success immediately started a new exodus of talented soccer players abroad, especially towards Italy. Of the eleven players that beat the Italians in Såo Paolo, two months later six played in Italy, one in France and one in England:

Player	Swedish club in 1949-50	Club in 1950-51
Sune Andersson	AIK Solna	AS Roma (Ita)
Hans Jeppsson	IFK Göteborg	Charlton Athletic (Eng)
Knut Nordahl	IFK Norrköping	AS Roma (Ita)
Lennart Skoglund	AIK Solna	Internazionale Milan (Ita)
Stig Sundqvist	IFK Norrköping	AS Roma (Ita)
Kall Svensson	Helsingborgs IF	Helsingborgs IF
Ingvar Gård	Malmö FF	Sampdoria (Ita)
Stellan Nilsson	Malmö FF	Genoa (Ita)
Lennart Samuelsson	Elfsborg	OGC Nice (Fra)
Erik Nilsson	Malmö FF	Malmö FF
Karl-Erik Palmer	Malmö FF	Malmö FF

Out of the other players of the Swedish squad, Gunnar Johansson (GAIS, to Olympique Marseille, Fra), Brorr Mellberg (AIK Solna, to Genoa, Ita), and Börje Tapper (Malmö FF, to Genoa, Ita) also left Sweden.

The 1950-51 season

So this time around, champion Malmö FF saw three of their international players leaving for Italy. On top of that, Kjell Rosén also said goodbye to Malmö and started playing for AC Torino. Four other players (Hans Malmström, Kjell Hjertsson, Walfrid Ek and Gustaf Nilsson) all packed their bags and left for a club nearby, Helsingborgs IF.  

Even so, the 1950-51 season was always in Malmö's hands, as Karl-Erik Palmer led the team to 21 games without a loss, only losing match number 22 to relegated AIK Solna. A year later, IFK Norrkoping ended Malmö FF’s reign. Still, These three titles in 1948, 1949 and 1950, gave the club two Swedish records, that will be hard to match up to, and probably will never be broken:

* unbeaten during a season;

* 49 consecutive league matches without defeat.