Kalmar FF: The Possession-Hungry Team Playing ‘Sweden’s Best Football’

Kalmar FF are not the biggest club in Sweden. Nor are they the most talked about. Based in the southeastern region of Småland, Kalmar is a small city of roughly 50,000 people. 

The football team is similarly provincial. This isn’t a Swedish powerhouse, it is a relatively small club with a modest history. They’ve won one league title and three Swedish Cups in their 112-year history. But if you are looking for an interesting team to follow in Allsvenskan this season and want to look away from the traditional big boys, Kalmar FF might be the team for you.

Under their manager and club legend Henrik Rydström, Kalmar FF have transformed in little over a year from relegation fighters into a sophisticated, highly attractive side to watch with a modern, possession-focused game model that is winning many admirers.

Rydström played for Kalmar his entire career spending twenty years at the club and was part of the only team to win a league title in the club’s history in 2008. His development as an exciting modern coach however is what is raising eyebrows both for him and this new-look KFF team described as playing “Sweden's best football.”

Put simply, Rydström, named Allsvenskan Manager of the Season in 2021, has developed an uncanny ability to turn the teams he works with into possession-hungry machines. His IK Sirius team of 2020 was an attractive, ball-playing attacking unit that dazzled the league at times. This Kalmar team is no different.

What’s remarkable is the consistency, too. In 2020, Rydström’s Sirius became the best in the league at keeping the ball, registering an average of 57.3% possession according to Wyscout data, better than any other side in Allsvenskan despite the club finishing 10th. 

In a short space of time, his Kalmar team has transformed similarly. In what is almost a carbon-copy, Rydström’s Kalmar emulated his Sirius side by averaging an eerily similar 56.7% possession in 2021, up from a league-low 42% in 2020 before he joined. They finished sixth in the table, their highest position for many years.

Having only joined Kalmar in January 2021, this ability to so quickly transform a team’s playing style and mold a unit in line with his way of thinking is highly impressive, demonstrating in Rydström a strong ability to implement his ideas on the training field. This Kalmar is a team in Henrik Rydström’s own image, executing his vision for how the game should be played and turning heads because of how easy it is on the eye.

The game style for Kalmar is simple. Dominate possession, go forward, attack and create chances. They play a 4-3-3 system with inside forwards, full-backs pushing forward, a false nine-type forward dropping to link play, a short-pass oriented structure seeking to pick holes in opposing teams and a philosophy of winning the ball back high and early to disrupt teams and create higher up the field. 

Sound familiar? It is the very prototype of some of the best teams in modern football today, and at Kalmar, it is working quite nicely indeed.

The team looks to play out from the back. The 4-3-3 system consists of two attack-minded full-backs in new signings Axel Lindahl and David Olafsson, a deeper-lying midfielder operating in the traditional number four role in Carl Gustafsson, two slightly higher number eights in Nahom Girmai Netabay and Romarinho, two inside forwards in youngster Isak Jansson and new signing Simon Skrabb, and star player and captain Oliver Berg in a false nine role.

This combination of a high line, pressure on the ball and dominance of possession also offers a useful defensive foundation. Kalmar’s expected goals against dropped sharply last season from 43.2 to 38.9 - fifth-best in Allsvenskan.

In attack, the front three form the main creative threat. Skrabb joined on a free transfer from Brescia, Jansson is an emerging talent while Oliver Berg was one of the league’s best players last season racking up 12 goals and 5 assists in 30 appearances.

Berg’s role in the team is interesting. In attacking phases Kalmar at times are reminiscent of Tottenham Hotspur under Antonio Conte in that their main forward prefers to drop deeper to bring others into the game, with runners playing off him.

The recent 2-0 win over Degerfors demonstrated this well. Berg occupied positions that would make Harry Kane proud, dropping into pockets of space in central areas to collect possession from the midfielders and play passes in behind for his teammates.