Facts: Swedish teams in the international cup game
Champions League: Malmö FF enters the first qualifying round. MFF has qualified as a league champion and is seeded for all qualifying rounds until the playoffs. If you go out, there is a chance for further games in the Europa League and Europa Conference League.
Malmö is the only team from Sweden that qualified for the CL group games during the 2010s. An achievement you have succeeded with three times: the season 2014–2015, 2015–2016 and 2021–2022.
Europa League and Europa Conference League: AIK, Djurgården and Elfsborg enter the second qualifying round of the Europa Conference League. The Swedish teams are unseeded and are qualified through last year’s league position.
When Malmö also won the final in the Swedish Cup against Hammarby, Elfsborg got the last ticket when MFF will qualify for the Champions League. The last ECL place otherwise goes to the cup champion.
In addition to Malmö – which has reached group games and playoffs twice, the 2018–2019 and 2019–2020 seasons – only Östersunds FK has reached the Europa League group games. The 2017–2018 season was a success for the Jämtlanders before it stopped against Arsenal in the first play-off round.
The Europa Conference League made its debut last year and then no Swedish team made it to the group stage. The closest was Hammarby who fell against Basel on penalties in the playoff round. Elfsborg went just as far but fell clearly against the future finalist Feyenoord.
Champions League:
On Tuesday, Malmö FF’s European adventure begins when the team for the first qualifying round of the Champions League will be drawn from the urns. The draw takes place at lunchtime in Nyon, Switzerland.
In the first round, MFF is seeded, as are HJK from Helsinki and Norwegian Bodø / Glimt. Among the unseeded teams that MFF can face, Polish Lech Poznan with the Swedish duo Jesper Karlström and Mikael Ishak stand out. Win there and qualifying round two awaits. Loss and MFF enter the second qualifying round of the Europa Conference League, the third largest European tournament.
Should Malmö advance to the second qualifying round in the CL, they are seeded there as well, thanks to UEFA’s ranking, the so-called coefficient. The people of Skåne thus avoid greats such as Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia), Olympiakos (Greece) and Viktoria Plzen (Czech Republic). If there is a draw, qualifying round three awaits in the Europa League, the continent’s second largest tournament. That tournament will be drawn later this summer.
The Russian league teams are still suspended from European football – which benefits MFF. Should Malmö make it to the third qualifying round, the team will be seeded as the Russian teams’ direct places will instead be taken by Shakhtar Donetsk and Celtic who would otherwise have been seeded. Regardless of how things go for MFF in the third round, the playoffs await.
In the event of a win, the playoffs await entry into the Champions League group stage, in the event of a loss a match to enter the Europa League. A total of twelve teams will enter the playoffs, which will be decided at the end of August. Like the other qualifying rounds, it is double meetings that apply where the winner is ready for the Champions League group stage.
Europa League and Europa Conference League:
The qualifying game for the Europa League is not quite as big as the one for the big brother tournament. Teams already ready for the playoffs are Ghent (Belgium), Austria Vienna (Austria), Hearts (Scotland), Dnipro-1 (Ukraine), Sivasspor (Turkey), Silkeborg (Denmark) and Omonia (Cyprus). In the group stage, big teams such as Arsenal, Manchester United, Lazio, Roma and Alexander Isaks Real Sociedad await.
The qualifiers for the Europa Conference League are all the more mammoth. A total of 181 teams will fight for 32 group places. It is only in the second round that it becomes really interesting from a Swedish perspective.
That round will be drawn on Wednesday.
Then AIK, Djurgården and Elfsborg enter the tournament. Possibly also Malmö if the CL qualifier goes badly. The three Swedish teams are unseeded and may face seeded teams such as AZ Alkmaar, Basel and Slavia Prague. Should you get further in trouble, a third qualifying round awaits, where you will be joined by failed CL qualifiers.
In the event of a victory even there, a playoff game for a place in the Conference League’s group game awaits. In the playoffs, opposition awaits in the form of more eliminated Champions League teams and five pre-determined big teams in the form of West Ham, Villarreal, Fiorentina, Cologne and Nice. Loss in one of the qualifying rounds and lifelines is over and the European adventure is over.