Town of 1,400 praised internationally after winning Swedish football league, small businesses struggling and new security checks expected to halve number of awarded citizenships this year. Here’s Sweden’s news on Tuesday.
Swedish fishing town makes international headlines as team wins Allsvenskan
The Swedish fishing town of Mjällby, which has a population of just under 1,400, made headlines in Sweden and abroad on Monday night as it beat IFK Göteborg 2-0 and won Sweden’s top football league, the Allsvenskan.
During the season, the small town beat major Swedish teams (with much larger budgets) like Malmö FF and Hammarby to secure the title.
German newspaper Bild called it “a football saga which couldn’t be more beautiful”, while Belgian Le Soir described the team’s efforts as “the miracle in Sweden”. Dutch De Telegraaf said it was “the Swedish sensation”.
ESPN described it as “one of the most remarkable achievements in European soccer.”
More than 1,500 fans travelled to support Mjällby in their final match against IFK Göteborg in the Gamla Ullevi arena in Gothenburg ‒ that’s more than the entire population of the town. Based in Blekinge, southern Sweden, fans from all over the surrounding county of Sölvesborg came to show their support.
Swedish vocabulary: svenska mästare ‒ Swedish masters, or winners of Allsvenskan
Sweden’s small businesses experience worst economic situation in 41 years
Sweden’s small businesses have so far experienced falling profits and limited potential for investments in 2025. According to a Small Business Barometer from Swedbank, business organisation Företagarna and bank association Sparbankernas Riksförbund, it’s one of the worst economic situations for this group in 41 years.
The combined economic indicator for this group fell from minus 11 last year to minus 13.4 this year ‒ the historic average is plus 66.
Small business expect the indicator to rise to 60 next year, much closer to the average.
Only 77 percent of companies said they had good profitability, compared to 84 percent last year. 22 percent said that they found it difficult to keep the company going, which is worse than the 16 percent recorded last year.
Almost one in three companies ‒ 29 percent ‒ said they are most concerned about much lower demand.
Swedish vocabulary: småföretag ‒ small company
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New security checks now expected to halve 2025 Swedish citizenships
The new security checks Sweden’s government ordered in January will cut the number of new citizenships awarded in 2025 by almost half, according to a new forecast by the Migration Agency.
In the forecast, the Swedish Migration Agency lowered its predictions for how many citizenship applications it will process in 2025 to 48,000 per year.
This is down from 55,000 in its July forecast, 64,000 in its February forecast and down from 87,000 in the forecast made for 2025 in October 2024, the last forecast before the checks were announced.
“The reason is that some parts of the changes in working methods linked to the assignment to strengthen the security perspective have taken longer to implement than planned,” the agency wrote, explaining the additional drop in awards.
The security checks involve applicants, future and present, answering a detailed set of additional background questions, as well as having to verify their identity in person.
Swedish vocabulary: medborgarskap ‒ citizenship
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Inquiry proposes free training for police officers
The government wants to make it more attractive to become a police officer, announcing roughly a year ago that new police officers should be able to have their student loans wiped or paid back.
Now, an inquiry has proposed exactly how this will happen. Police working at least three years in an eight year period after completing their foundational training would qualify for some repayment, while full repayment would only be offered to those who have worked for at least eight consecutive years counted from the day they completed their studies.
“We’re rewarding those who stay in the job,” inquiry head Jonatan Wahlberg said.
The reforms have a proposed implementation date for January 1st, 2027, although any loans accrued from autumn 2024 would be eligible for repayment. It is expected to cost the state half a billion kronor per year.
Swedish vocabulary: polis ‒ police