A soccer team from a fishing village off the Baltic Sea is close to a fairytale league title

In a remote fishing village beside the shore of the Baltic Sea, one of the most remarkable achievements in European soccer is close to being realized.

“Make the impossible possible” is one of the mantras found on the walls and the PowerPoint slides at tiny Swedish club Mjällby. And that’s exactly what is happening.

Mjällby holds an eight-point lead with six rounds left in Sweden’s top league, Allsvenskan, and has lost just one game this season. Oh, and it is on course for the biggest points haul in the league’s 101-year history.

Not bad for a team made up of mostly locally born players who play home games in a village of around 800 inhabitants on Sweden’s south coast, whose coach is a school principal and scout is a postman. Just nine years ago the club was one game away from dropping into the country’s fourth tier.

“If we would be able to win the league, I cannot imagine anything has been close to this achievement,” Mjällby chairman Magnus Emeus told The Associated Press. “The size of the club, our conditions, our financial muscle — to one year beat all the others, I think no one has been near this.”

Mjällby’s unlikely journey to the brink of what could be compared to Leicester’s unfathomable Premier League title in 2016 is a tale of hard work, common sense and bold data-driven decisions on and off the field at a club that’s the beating heart of a small, tight-knit community.

There’s been no takeover by a sheikh from the Middle East or American venture capitalists.

Indeed, Mjällby’s turnover last year was around 85 million kronor ($9 million), according to Emeus, who estimates that his club’s budget is an eighth of that of defending champion Malmö, Sweden’s biggest club which is a 90-minute drive west.

“It’s a fairy tale,” Mjällby director Jacob Lennartsson tells the AP in a video call. “We get the question a lot now — how are you doing this? It’s important to say we haven’t just done this from this year, we’ve been working for so many years.”

Emeus is biased, naturally, but he describes Mjällby’s 6,000-capacity Strandvallen home — located in the village of Hällevik — as “the nicest-situated football stadium in Sweden.”

“If you kick the ball really hard and far over the goal, it will not be far from the Baltic Sea,” Emeus said.

Such is its rural and isolated location that visiting teams might feel like they're driving to the end of the world, Emeus said with a smile.

“They're probably sick and tired of never ever getting to the stadium,” he said. “You drive and you drive and you drive and you drive, and then finally you either have to drive into the Baltic Sea or into the arena.”

Fishing has long been the predominant industry in this corner of the world, where there are also vast swathes of farmland and an entrepreneurial spirit helping to drive the local economy.

Founded in 1939, Mjällby has never won a major trophy and has typically played outside the top flight, flitting around the regional leagues.

A big turning point came in 2015 with the arrival of Emeus, a locally born businessman who had moved back to the region after working with companies across Europe. He took up an offer of becoming chairman of Mjällby, which was in the second tier at the time and making year-on-year financial losses, and — in his words — “established a methodology I'd learned in business life.”

Strategic plans and ambitious targets were put in place off the field, while new coaches were hired and a commitment was made to lean on homegrown players who could be sold for a profit.

“Another mantra I talk about is, we need to be best on the things which are free,” Emeus said. “We can have a better team spirit than Real Madrid ... we can prepare better for a game than Manchester United.”

Mjällby won its last match in the 2016 season to stay in the third division, then won back-to-back promotions in 2018 and '19 to return to Allsvenskan.

The unlikely rise to being title contenders has come in the last two years under coach Anders Torstensson, a former youth-team player at Mjällby who spent time in the military before returning to the area, becoming a teacher and occasionally helping out as the club's short-term coach.

Torstensson was hired for the third time in 2023 and was soon joined by an assistant, Karl Marius Aksum, who has a PhD in Visual Perception in Elite Football but had never coached at senior level. Mjällby's leadership noticed that Aksum, a Norwegian, posted his tactical beliefs and principles to a large following on social media and felt he was the coach to help change a team known for being defensively minded to one which played a more expansive game.

Mjällby achieved a club-record 50 points last season, had its highest average possession stats ever (moving up to 51%) and created more chances, Aksum said.

This season, Mjällby has the best defensive record (17 goals conceded), the second most goals (44) and has lost just one of its 24 games. The team's 57 points is a record at this stage of a season and it needs 11 more from its last six games to break Malmö's league record of 67.

“It's no surprise that we're playing a good style of football,” Aksum told the AP. "It’s a surprise, of course, that we're leading the table.

"For everyone around the village, in the shops, in the countryside when I take a walk or a run, they are living a fairy tale. They can’t believe what's happening.”

The only team which can realistically stop Mjällby winning the title is Hammarby, which is eight points back in second place. Another Stockholm-based team, AIK, is a further six points adrift in third.

“I’ve dreamed of qualification to European games at some point in my life and being able to watch Mjällby abroad,” said Mjällby fan Johan Cederblad, who travels for the team's home games from Stockholm, 520 kilometers (320 miles) up the coast. “But winning Allsvenskan has probably never even occurred to me.”

Mjällby has never been in this position. Its squad is full of unheralded players — though Axel Noren recently got a first call-up by Sweden's national team and fellow defender Abdullah Iqbal is Pakistan's captain — who need to handle increasing pressure.

For Aksum, Mjällby is still "far off from winning the league.”

That's not stopping fans believing a dream could turn into a reality.

“We're not here because of luck,” Lennartsson said. “We have belief, we have good people — players, coaches, employees – and I think we're humble and have our own identity. That’s a great strength.”

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Mjallby AIF's Elliot Stroud celebrates with Herman Johansson, Alexander Johansson and Jacob Bergstrom after scoring his side's first goal of the game during the soccer match between Mjallby AIF and Halmstad BK at Strandvallen in Hallevik, Sweden, Saturday Aug. 30, 2025. (Johan Nilsson /TT News Agency via AP)

Mjallby players celebrates after winning their soccer match against IK Sirius FK at Strandvallen in Hallevik, Sweden, Saturday July 27, 2025. (Andreas Hillergren /TT News Agency via AP)

Mjallby's Jeppe Kjaer Jensen drives the ball during the soccer match between Mjallby AIF and Halmstad BK at Strandvallen in Hallevik, Sweden, Saturday Aug. 30, 2025. (Johan Nilsson /TT News Agency via AP)

Fans arrive at the Strandvallen stadium ahead of the quarter-final soccer match of the Swedish Cup between Mjallby AIF and AIK at Strandvallen in Hallevik, Denmark, Saturday March 9, 2024. (Johan Nilsson /TT News Agency via AP)

Mjallby supporters at the stand during the soccer match between Mjallby AIF and Halmstad BK at Strandvallen in Hallevik, Sweden, Saturday Aug. 30, 2025. (Johan Nilsson /TT News Agency via AP)

BOSTON (AP) — A woman who worked as a live-in personal chef for former New England Patriots receiver Stefon Diggs declined to answer questions Tuesday about financial demands made on her behalf, as defense attorneys pressed her over claims she was owed money and inconsistencies in what she said she was paid.

Defense attorneys pressed Jamila “Mila” Adams about money she said she was owed after working as a live-in chef. She testified she was paid about $2,000 a week and believed she had not been fully compensated after being sent home. They pointed to a $19,000 demand made on her behalf and suggested the amount grew over time, culminating in a separate claim that her attorney sought $5.5 million.

Diggs has pleaded not guilty to a felony strangulation charge and a misdemeanor assault and battery charge stemming from a December incident at his home.

When asked about the $5.5 million claim, Adams said, “I can’t speak on that,” and at other points told jurors, “I don’t understand the question” and “I don’t know how to answer the question.”

Defense attorneys also questioned Adams about a public statement she issued Feb. 13 in which she said, “I have never sought money to settle this matter,” and about hiring a lawyer by mid-April. Adams said she retained an attorney for a workers’ compensation claim, saying she believed she had been injured on the job.

They challenged her accounting of what she was owed, presenting records of payments and suggesting she had sought compensation for weeks she did not work. Adams said she had been confused about the amount and “sent the incorrect amount,” maintaining she believed she was owed money.

Prosecutors pushed back on the defense’s financial-motive argument, eliciting testimony that Adams viewed the dispute as a wage issue, not a settlement. She said her statement that she had “never sought money to settle this matter” referred to the criminal case and that she later retained an attorney for a workers’ compensation claim after she believed she was injured on the job.

At times during her second day on the stand, Adams was instructed by the judge to answer questions directly and not include additional details beyond what was asked. Portions of her responses were struck from the record as nonresponsive, with jurors told to disregard them.

“This is not an opportunity for you to interject your own narrative,” Judge Jeanmarie Carroll, told her at one point, warning that continued nonresponsive answers could result in her testimony being stricken.

The testimony followed sharply conflicting accounts presented to jurors a day earlier.

Adams testified Monday that Diggs “smacked me with an open hand” before wrapping his arm around her neck and choking her, leaving her struggling to breathe. She described what she called a “complicated” relationship, saying it had previously been sexual but was not at the time of the alleged assault. She said she lived in his home, preparing meals and snacks, and had known him for more than four years.

Defense attorneys told jurors the alleged attack never happened, pointing to a lack of medical records, photos or video documenting injuries and saying no one else in the home reported seeing or hearing anything unusual. They also suggested Adams had a financial motive.

Prosecutors say the case centers on what happened on Dec. 2, when they allege Diggs entered Adams’ bedroom, slapped her and put her in a headlock that made it difficult to breathe.

A jury was seated Monday in Norfolk County District Court in Dedham.

Former New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs appears in court during his trial at Norfolk County District Court, Tuesday, May 5, 2026, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, Pool)

Witness Jamila Adams testifies during the trial of former New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs at Norfolk County District Court, Tuesday, May 5, 2026, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, Pool)

Witness Jamila Adams, right, walks past former New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs during Diggs' trial at Norfolk County District Court, Tuesday, May 5, 2026, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, Pool)

Former New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs listens to his defense attorney cross examine witness Jamila Adams during his trial at Norfolk County District Court, Tuesday, May 5, 2026, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, Pool)

Witness Jamila Adams testifies during the trial of former New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs at Norfolk County District Court, Tuesday, May 5, 2026, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, Pool)

Judge Jeanmarie Carroll questions potential jurors as the assault trial of Stefon Diggs begins in Dedham, Mass., Monday May 4, 2026. (Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool)

Former New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs leaves Norfolk County District Court, Monday, May 4, 2026, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Stefon Diggs' former personal chef, Jamila Adams, is questioned by Assistant District Attorney Drew Virtue in Dedham District Court in Dedham, Mass., Monday May 4, 2026. (Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool)

Stefon Diggs' former personal chef Jamila Adams is sworn in before giving testimony in Dedham District Court in Dedham, Mass., Monday May 4, 2026. (Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool)

Former New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs returns to Norfolk County District Court, Monday, May 4, 2026, in Dedham, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)