Karin Heri

"Football is an arena for integration"

- MFF in Society is an umbrella organisation under which we’ve gathered all of the club's initiatives that contribute to the Malmö community. It includes things like organising football games in primary school in an effort to fight racism (which has educated 10,000 children and school staff about their rights and rights of others), our Career Academy (Karriärakademin) through which we match Malmö residents looking for jobs with our business partners, Football Academies which gives local students the opportunity to combine football and education, and our collaboration with the Malmö City Mission to address children and food poverty. Everything we do, we do in cooperation with others.

- It’s Malmö FF's DNA to help address current societal challenges. We have an opportunity to reach out because Malmö FF unites and resonates with people. Football is a universal language. It exists all over the world and truly unites. Football is really one massive act of inclusion. The football player is not judged by anything other than what they do on the pitch.

- I've always been curious. And frustrated! In the public debate, there is too much talk but too little is done. My interest in football was very limited when I started at MFF, I had never even been to a game. I think that was really good because I came in with a completely different perspective. But now my soul and my being are the team’s sky blue colours. I came here to use MFF's strong brand to make a difference.

- Many are incredibly proud of what our association does. There is a genuine, deep-rooted interest that makes this work seem obvious. But MFF is a huge association and the demands on us can sometimes seem impossible. We are also responsible for our own operations with young people and elite football, our restaurant, and event operations, with our nearly 100 full-time employees. In addition, we employ about 600 people in connection with each game every year, which is great. We often become someone’s first workplace. We also receive between 800 and 1000 partnership requests every year. It’s an ideal situation, but it also requires us to be clear about what we want, what we can do and how we can do the most good.

- I’d love to get rid of all the complicated red tape that can prevent us from collaborating with other organisations. Last year, the pandemic actually made it possible to do things that had previously seemed impossible. The crisis was so close that it was as if people said, “You know what? Let’s just do it”. It suddenly became much easier to act quickly. I don’t know if that will still work in the long term, but in any case it paid off for the short term.