Last season’s surprise title triumph made headlines around the world, mainly because of Mjallby’s remote location. The club is based in Hallevik, a coastal village in southern Sweden with fewer than 1,000 residents.
As the strongest football team in Blekinge County, Mjallby attract fans from across the region, averaging home crowds of 5,000 last season.
They also attract players such as Bergstrom, who grew up an hour’s drive north in Blekinge’s capital Karlskrona, a naval city where handball and ice hockey are more popular.
When Bergstrom rejoined Mjallby after a brief spell with Stockholm-based Djurgarden in 2023, he and his wife moved to Hallevik. They and their two children now call it home.
Although Hallevik is a sleepy fishing village come the winter, holidaymakers quadruple its population in the summer.
And Bergstrom likes to cycle to games and training at Mjallby’s home ground Strandvallen. It is just 100 metres from the Baltic Sea, nestled between some woods, a campsite and an outdoor swimming pool.
“You have the ocean and the people,” adds Bergstrom. “It’s so beautiful by the water and the beach.
“In the winter there’s not many people here, so it doesn’t fit for everyone, but it fits for us.”