List of Malmö FF seasons
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Malmö Fotbollförening, commonly called Malmö FF, is a Swedish professional association football club based in Malmö, whose first team play in the highest tier of Swedish football, Allsvenskan, as of the 2017 season. Malmö FF was founded on 24 February 1910 by 19 members of a predecessor club named BK Idrott who, for a short time, had been merged with cross-town rivals IFK Malmö.[1] After participating in regional competitions and national cup play in Svenska Mästerskapet during the 1910s, Malmö FF joined Sweden's newly created national league system in 1920, and played in the second tier of Swedish football for the next decade – with the exception of one season in Svenska Serien, then unofficially the top football league in Sweden. Allsvenskan was established as Sweden's official first tier in 1924, and Malmö FF first took part in 1931.[2]
The Swedish Football Association prohibited professionalism until 1967,[3] and Malmö FF were demoted in 1934 for having paid players.[4] They were promoted back in 1936, and have since had several periods of consistent success, most notably in the early 1950s, the 1970s, the 1980s, and 2010s. The pinnacle of the club's history came in 1979, when, as finalists in both the European Cup and Intercontinental Cup, Malmö FF were ranked as one of the strongest clubs in the world.[5] After winning a record five consecutive Allsvenskan titles between 1985 and 1989, the club won nothing during the 1990s and were relegated for the first time in 1999, though they returned to the top flight a year later.[6] They have since remained in Allsvenskan, and won an additional five league titles.[7]
As of the end of the 2016 season, Malmö FF have played 105 seasons, 95 of which have been spent within the Swedish league system. The club have contested Allsvenskan 81 times, and have won the competition on 22 occasions.[8] Malmö FF have been demoted once (in 1934) and relegated once (in 1999); their 63 successive Allsvenskan seasons between 1936 and 1999 is a league record.[9] Their worst league finish to date is sixth in the second tier, their placing at the end of the 1926–27 season. The 1950 season was Malmö FF's best in terms of league performance: the team were unbeaten all year, won 20 out of 22 league games, and collectively scored 82 league goals, a club record which still stands.[10] Hans Håkansson holds the record for most league goals for Malmö FF during a single season; he scored 30 goals in 18 matches during the 1935–36 season in the second-tier.[11] Excluding second-tier seasons, however, the record belongs to Bo Larsson, whose tally of 28 goals in 22 games during 1965 remains unmatched today.[12]