There is a new way to spell champion in Swedish: M-A-L-M-Ö.
Malmö FF and Malmö LdB took home the top prizes in Swedish football as Malmö FF won the 2013 Allsvenskan title and Malmö LdB claimed the Crown Princess Victoria trophy in the Damallsvenskan.
It is the first time since 2003 that teams from the same city won the championships in the men’s and women’s leagues. Djurgården did the unique double in 2003 when both the club’s teams claimed the titles. The two Malmö teams share a name but are not affiliated.
“I think it’s fantastic, really fantastic,” said Malmö star Ramona Bachmann. “This is a great thing for our city.”
Malmö FF wrapped up its 17th league title with a 3-1 win over defending champions Elfsborg on Oct. 28 and officially lifted the Lennart Johansson trophy Nov. 3 after knocking off Syrianska in a season-ending victory. Only IFK Göteborg, with 18 championships, has won the Allsvenskan more times than Malmö. The two teams square off Nov. 10 in the Super Cup, which pits the league champion against the Swedish Cup holders. Göteborg won the Cup in May.
Title No. 17 came thanks to a dazzling two-goal performance against Elfsborg by Guillermo Molins, who returned to Malmö in August after a disappointing sojourn with Anderlecht and Real Betis.
"I knew we were going to win the title," Molins said.
Molins first found the net in the 36th minute after controlling a deep cross and racing into the penalty area before unleashing a thundering strike that scraped the crossbar as it sailed in the back of the goal.
The 25-year-old, who first debuted for Malmö in 2006, struck again in the match's 70th minute, rounding a defender on the left side before deftly chipping over the Elsborg keeper at close range.
"I'm so glad to have won," Molins said. “(Head coach) Rikard (Norling) believed in me when I came home, I got to play from the first minute. If you're a good player, it eventually shows.”
The title is Norling's first as head coach in the Allsvenskan. He was an assistant under Stuart Baxter with AIK when it won the Allsvenskan title back in 1998.
"I've loved coaching Malmö FF from day one. And I still do," Norling said.

Malmö LdB
The women clinched their title Oct. 13 with a 2-0 win over Umeå IK and finished a comfortable seven points ahead of Tyresö, which won the title last year. The championship marked a football first as Malmö became the only team to claim a league title against a team for which Brazilian superstar Marta plays. Marta broke into professional football with Umeå IK and won four straight titles before moving to the U.S., where she won three titles with three different teams. She returned to Sweden last year to guide Tyresö to its first-ever Damallsvenskan crown.
“This has been a fantastic, fun season,” said Bachmann, who got her start in Swedish football with Umeå.
“We have all worked very hard and there is really nothing better than when it pays off.”
The title is the third in the past four years for Malmö, which has now won the Damallsvenskan a record eight times.
by Chipp Reid