It was when charges were brought against MFF hooligans in June that it emerged that Malmö's team captain had been involved in a group chat with grossly anti-Semitic content.
It later turned out that Pontus Jansson's responses to some messages had been taken out of context. The chat content in the preliminary investigation was incomplete, which the prosecutor has said was a major mistake.
Jansson was never a suspect, but the damage was already done. He lost the team captain's armband for the rest of the season, while acknowledging that he should never have been part of the group chat.
"Guilt and remorse"
The guilt and remorse I felt – I grew from it. Most as a human being but also as a player. I've probably had my best late summer and autumn in my career. From remorse, something good came out, he says after Malmö secured the SM gold at home against IFK Göteborg via a 2–1 win.
He says that the first time after the incident was tough.
I spent every waking second of my life trying to repair the crap I got myself into, says Jansson and continues:
I felt enormous remorse during those weeks and months. I got maybe a bit too much crap for things, but at the same time, I put myself in that situation.
Substitutes decided
Now, it ended with an SM gold medal in the end, but Jansson didn't believe it himself when MFF were down 0–1 against "Blåvitt", but substitutes Taha Ali and Hugo Bolin fixed the gold party with one goal each.
Doing it on home ground, on our own, against Göteborg and in that way. There were probably many who thought at halftime that it would screw up today as well, but now we're standing here as champions, says Pontus Jansson.
