From Leicester to Leverkusen, Mjällby join unlikely league champions

There were incredible scenes in the Swedish top flight on Monday as Mjällby AIF, plucky upstarts and heroes of the Allsvenskan season, beat heavyweights IFK Göteborg to clinch the most unlikely of league titles.

The vital 2-0 victory sparked jubilant celebrations on the pitch, as the result cementing an unassailable 11-point lead for Mjällby at the top of the table with three fixtures of the campaign remaining. The team who hail from the small fishing community of Hällevik (population: 800) on the Baltic Sea will play in the UEFA Champions League in 2026-27.

Mjällby's story is made all the more incredible by the fact that they have been guided to glory by Anders Torstensson, a school principal-turned-head coach who had never coached professional football at senior level until 2023. Having almost been wiped out of existence whilst playing in the Swedish third tier in 2016 due to financial issues, the club have also operated on a meagre budget which they have bolstered by nurturing youth talent and moving them on to bigger clubs around Europe.

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Mjällby managed to find their feet and return to the Allsvenskan in 2020, establishing themselves as a midtable outfit. They finished fifth last season, 15 points behind champions Malmö, but an outstanding run of form and results through the 2025 campaign has seen them power to the first top-tier honor in the club's 86-year history.

Of course, Mjällby's underdog heroics have been compared to that of Leicester City, who also upset the bookmakers to win the Premier League in 2015-16.

And, with that in mind, here are some of the other most unlikely title wins ever witnessed in European top-flight football.

Leicester City, 2015-16, Premier League

After finishing in a modest 14th place in 2013-14, their first season back in the Premier League, the Foxes went from 5,000-1 rank outsiders to champions of England. Claudio Ranieii's irrepressible side, fueled by the likes of Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez and N'Golo Kanté, saw off all of the usual contenders to win the Premier League title by a 10-point margin -- the same gap that they then managed to avoid relegation to the Championship the following year.

Hellas Verona, 1984-85, Serie A

Despite the Italian league being graced by the likes of Diego Maradona and Michel Platini, it was the unfancied Hellas Verona who played their way to the Scudetto. The Gialloblu lost two games all season and as Platini's Juventus, Maradona's Napoli, AC Milan and Internazionale all stuttered. It remains the club's first and, as things stand, only Serie A triumph.

Montpellier, 2011-12, Ligue 1

Shortly before Paris Saint-Germain embarked upon their ongoing era of dominance over the Ligue 1 trophy, it was Montpellier who managed to ensure the Parisians' grand, Qatari-backed plan got off to a false start by pipping them to the 2011-12 title. With battering-ram striker Olivier Giroud providing the majority of the goals, Montpellier maintained their impetus all season to finish three points above Zlatan Ibrahimovic & Co. in the final standings. To date, it was La Paillade's first and last major top-flight honor, and last season they were relegated to Ligue 2.

Istanbul Basaksehir, 2019-20, Süper Lig

Following a rebrand and overhaul of the club in 2014, Istanbul Basaksehir shone bright and brief in the Turkish Süper Lig, finishing runners-up in 2016-17 and 2018-19 before going on to win the title in 2019-20 -- becoming only the second club outside of Turkey's so-called "Big Four" (Galatasaray, Fenerbahce, Besiktas and Trabzonspor) to win the league since it was formed in 1959.

Kaiserslautern, 1997-98, Bundesliga

Despite winning the German Cup that same season, Kaiserslautern were relegated from the Bundesliga in 1995-96. Die Roten Teufel were able to bounce back at the first opportunity, only to then further harness their upward momentum in rather spectacular fashion. Otto Rehhagel's side kicked things off with a shock 1-0 win over defending champions Bayern Munich, before narrowly beating them to the title with one game of the season remaining -- the only time on record that a newly promoted team has won the German Bundesliga. Rehhagel then sealed another unlikely title by leading Greece to glory at Euro 2004.

Bayer Leverkusen, 2023-24 Bundesliga

What is considered the greatest modern-day Bundesliga upset came in 2023-24 when Bayer Leverkusen came up on the rails to bring an exhilarating end to Bayern Munich's imperious monopoly over the title. Bayern had previously won 11 titles on the bounce before Xabi Alonso's slick Leverkusen outfit ended that run and permanently consigned their unwanted "Neverkusen" tag to history. Leverkusen were second from bottom in the Bundesliga with just five points from eight games when Alonso took over in October of 2022; the following season he lead them to a league and cup double without losing a domestic game all season.