Middlesbrough Appoints Kim Hellberg as New Head Coach

Middlesbrough has officially appointed Kim Hellberg as their new head coach, marking a significant transition for the club.

The 37-year-old, previously at the helm of Swedish club Hammarby, steps in to replace Rob Edwards, who departed for Wolverhampton Wanderers earlier this month. This role represents Hellberg’s first managerial position outside Sweden, despite recent discussions with Championship rivals Swansea City.

Hellberg will assume his new responsibilities later this week, while Adi Viveash will continue to lead the team on an interim basis during the upcoming home match against Championship leaders Coventry City.

Currently, Middlesbrough sits in second place, trailing Coventry by seven points, having lost only two of their 16 league matches this season.

This marks Boro’s second managerial change in five months, following Edwards’s exit just 14 games into his tenure at the Riverside.

During his two seasons at Hammarby, Hellberg guided the Stockholm-based club to consecutive second-place finishes in Sweden’s top division, the Allsvenskan. A former player in the Swedish lower leagues, he had one year remaining on his contract with Hammarby at the time of his departure.

Hellberg began his coaching journey in the Swedish lower divisions with Kuddby IF and later IF Sylvia. In 2020, he joined the coaching staff at top-tier club IFK Norrköping, eventually taking on his first head coaching role in the Allsvenskan with IFK Värnamo, where he achieved notable success before moving to Hammarby.

Expressing his enthusiasm for the new opportunity, Hellberg stated, “A lot of things make Boro the perfect choice for me. The way they play and want to play, together with the crowd, suits me and how I want to work.”

He will be joined at Teesside by his assistant David Selini, while Viveash will remain part of the backroom staff.

Though relatively unknown to the wider English audience, Middlesbrough’s director of football, Kieran Scott, has been closely following Hellberg’s progress at Hammarby, believing he is an emerging talent in European football. “Kim is someone I’ve been monitoring for a while,” Scott remarked. “He was high on my list of candidates to speak with.”

Meanwhile, Ian Burchnall, a former first-team coach for Wolves and manager at Forest Green and Notts County, is a frontrunner to replace Hellberg at Hammarby. Burchnall has prior experience managing in Scandinavia, notably with Viking in Norway and Östersunds in Sweden, and had recently been working with Jamaica’s national team during their World Cup qualifiers before Steve McClaren’s resignation.