It is always a difficult task to be the one, to sum up, the year in a couple of sentences, but this year it is even harder. It was impossible to imagine that one day we would experience a pandemic like this, but the year was full of positives from a personal point of view.
My name is Marko Johansson, I am 22 years old, and I am a Swede with Serbian origins. I play for Malmö FF, Sweden’s champions, and I represented Sweden in all youth categories since I was 16.
Playing for Malmö FF was always one of my biggest dreams. I was born here, I grew up here, and I started my playing career here. I was five when I had my first training session with Malmö FF, and ten years later, when the club offered me my first professional contract, I felt like I was on the top of the world. But of course, it was just a start, a great start.
I made my first-team debut in 2015 on an extraordinary occasion – I came on as a substitute in a Champions League qualifier against FK Žalgiris. This still makes me the second-youngest goalkeeper of all time to play in the Champions League. But of course, I always wanted to play as much as possible, so I was only 18 when I decided to go on loan to Superettan, the Swedish second division. I played for Trelleborg and helped the team promote to the Allsvenskan, and this is where I made my debut in the Swedish top tier.
After that, I spent a season with GAIS in Superettan but started 2020 by moving to another loan, this time to Mjällby in the Allsvenskan. I was excited for the league start in April, but when the pandemic hit everything was postponed and rescheduled for the summer. I managed to collect only eight appearances for Mjällby before Malmö got into injury troubles and I was called up to return. Of course, the dream was always to play for my hometown club, and I was delighted to be back – I already played more than 100 matches in two top divisions, had a huge experience, and believed I could fight for the number one spot.
Playing for the Himmelsblåt is a completely different experience. Considered to be one of the best clubs in Scandinavia, the ambitions and expectations are always big. Last season the goal was set to reach the Europa League group stages and win the league. However, we failed to qualify for the Europa League, after losing to Granada in the qualifiers. But, back home we dominated the league and became champions of Sweden for 21st time.
As you can imagine, the year behind me has been weird, but the successful one. I started the season on loan, unexpectedly went back to realise my dream with Malmö and won the league at the end. This has been a crazy ride with all the restrictions and problems, but I must say I enjoyed it and I can’t wait for the new season to start!
Happy New Year, everyone, and stay safe!