How did a largely home-grown, part-time team from southern Sweden come within one goal of conquering Europe — and help change the way an entire country played football?

Season 5 of By Far The Greatest Team continues with the remarkable story of Malmö FF between 1978 and 1980.

Jamie Rooney and Graham Dunn are joined by regular guest Phil Craig to revisit a period when ABBA were conquering the charts, Björn Borg ruled Wimbledon and an unfashionable Swedish football club was quietly preparing to take on Europe.

At the centre of the story was young English coach Bob Houghton.

Appointed in 1974, Houghton introduced a clearly defined 4-4-2 system built around zonal marking, collective movement, pressing, physical preparation and an organised defensive line. His methods challenged Swedish football’s traditional reliance on sweepers and man-marking.

Rather than importing expensive stars, Houghton transformed a predominantly local squad. Many of Malmö’s players combined football with other employment, yet together they developed an understanding and tactical discipline capable of troubling Europe’s biggest clubs.

Their extraordinary 1978–79 European Cup campaign took them past Monaco, Dynamo Kyiv, Wisła Kraków and Austria Wien. The semi-final was settled by Tommy Hansson, a player who had already agreed to drop into lower-league football because he needed a secure job.

Malmö became the first — and remain the only — Swedish club to reach the European Cup final.

In Munich they faced Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest. Weakened by injuries but characteristically organised and resilient, Malmö were defeated 1–0 by Trevor Francis’s famous diving header.

Their European adventure was not quite finished. When Forest declined to contest the Intercontinental Cup, Malmö faced South American champions Club Olimpia, losing 3–1 across two legs staged in Sweden and Paraguay.

Jamie, Graham and Phil explore the personalities, tactical innovations and cultural circumstances behind the achievement. They also examine the wider influence of Houghton and fellow English coach Roy Hodgson, whose ideas helped reshape Swedish football and provided foundations later built upon by Sven-Göran Eriksson and IFK Göteborg.

Finally, Malmö FF face the question asked of every team on By Far The Greatest Team.

How great were they?

🔑 Takeaways

• How Bob Houghton transformed Malmö through unconventional British coaching methods
• Why zonal marking and 4-4-2 represented a tactical revolution in Sweden
• The remarkable European Cup victories over Monaco, Dynamo Kyiv, Wisła Kraków and Austria Wien
• How a largely local, partly professional squad reached the 1979 European Cup final
• Malmö’s subsequent Intercontinental Cup matches against Club Olimpia
• The influence of Houghton and Hodgson on the future of Swedish football
• Whether reaching one European final was enough to make Malmö genuinely great

Join Us

Subscribe to By Far The Greatest Team wherever you get your podcasts and visit our YouTube channel for full episodes and additional football-history rabbit holes.

Head to the By Far The Greatest Team website for accompanying stories, typical starting XIs and the growing Greatness Index as we continue asking:

How great were they?

If you enjoy the podcast, please subscribe, leave us a rating and tell everyone about it!

If you enjoy these podcasts, please don't forget to subscribe and give us a rating and also tell everyone about them!

How did one of England’s most famous clubs find itself in the Second Division — and did Tottenham’s year outside the top flight ultimately help transform English football?

Season 5 of By Far The Greatest Team continues with Tottenham Hotspur’s 1977–78 promotion season — a story of relegation, recovery, final-day tension and the beginnings of a new era at White Hart Lane.

Jamie Rooney and Graham Dunn are joined by regular guest Stu Burgess to revisit a moment when Spurs were searching for a way forward.

The glory years under Bill Nicholson were over. Tottenham had finished bottom of the First Division in 1976–77, while the controversial sale of legendary goalkeeper Pat Jennings to Arsenal added to the feeling that the club had lost its direction.

But Spurs kept faith with manager Keith Burkinshaw.

With Steve Perryman providing the leadership and a young Glenn Hoddle revealing his extraordinary talent, Tottenham attempted to return to the top flight at the first opportunity.

They scored more goals than anyone else in the division, including an extraordinary 9–0 victory over Bristol Rovers, during which debutant Colin Lee scored four times. Yet a late-season wobble meant promotion remained uncertain until a tense final-day goalless draw at Southampton secured third place ahead of Brighton on goal difference.

Jamie, Graham and Stu examine the drama of the campaign while asking whether Tottenham’s promotion represented a convincing recovery or simply a narrow escape.

The story then moves into the summer of 1978.

With restrictions on overseas players being relaxed, Burkinshaw and Tottenham made the remarkable decision to sign Argentina’s World Cup winners Osvaldo Ardiles and Ricky Villa.

They were not part of the promotion team, but their arrival became the defining next chapter in the story that promotion made possible — changing Tottenham and helping open English football to a more international future.

Along the way, there are the usual football-history rabbit holes, including changing transfer regulations, wonderfully dated broadcasting and the cultural impact of two Argentine World Cup winners arriving in north London.

Finally, the 1977–78 Tottenham side faces the question asked of every team on By Far The Greatest Team:

How great were they?

Style of Play

Keith Burkinshaw’s Tottenham remained committed to attacking football throughout their season in the Second Division.

Glenn Hoddle supplied vision, creativity and technical class, while Steve Perryman provided energy, intelligence and authority.

Spurs scored 83 goals in 42 league matches and could overwhelm opponents when everything clicked. However, this remained a transitional and occasionally vulnerable side — ambitious, entertaining and rarely inclined to achieve anything the easy way.

🔑 Takeaways

• How Tottenham declined following the departure of Bill Nicholson
• Why Spurs kept faith with Keith Burkinshaw after relegation
• The controversial sale of Pat Jennings to Arsenal
• The emergence of Glenn Hoddle and the leadership of Steve Perryman
• Tottenham’s record-breaking 9–0 victory over Bristol Rovers
• How a final-day draw at Southampton secured promotion
• Why the signings of Osvaldo Ardiles and Ricky Villa changed English football
• Whether a team finishing third in the Second Division can possess genuine greatness

Join Us

Subscribe to By Far The Greatest Team wherever you get your podcasts and head over to our YouTube channel, where you can watch the show and discover additional football-history rabbit holes.

Visit the By Far The Greatest Team website for accompanying stories, articles, typical starting XIs and the growing Greatness Index as we continue asking:

How great were they?

If you enjoy these podcasts, please don’t forget to subscribe, give us a rating and tell everyone about them!

If you enjoy these podcasts, please don't forget to subscribe and give us a rating and also tell everyone about them!