Who is Kim Hellberg? Next Swansea City manager could be unknown quantity from Scandinavia

Swansea City are allegedly making progress in their efforts to appoint Kim Hellberg as their new head coach.

The Championship outfit have been in the market for a replacement for Alan Sheehan, who was removed from his position with the South Wales outfit earlier this week.

While a number of high-profile British names were initially linked with the job at the Swansea.com Stadium, the club's hierarchy seemingly have other ideas.

As per Expressen, Hellberg will be holding meetings with Swansea CEO Tom Gorringe as soon as possible in order to progress with negotiations.

Although finalising a deal is not viewed as a foregone conclusion, it appears likely that Swansea will be appointing their first non-British and Irish manager since Carlos Carvalhal in the 2017-18 campaign.

Here, Sports Mole takes a look at the career of Hellberg and why Swansea could have opted to target him at a time when they want to avoid a Championship relegation battle.

Who is Kim Hellberg?

Hellberg may just be 37 years of age but he has an established career as a coach having started his career on the training ground back in 2011.

During the early stages of his time in the dugout, he led Kuddby IF from the fifth division of Swedish football to the third tier, and it put him on the radar of clubs at a similar level and higher up the pyramid in that country.

Another promotion was earned with IF Sylvia in 2018 before he accepted the opportunity to become an assistant coach at top-flight club IFK Norrkoping in 2020.

That experience ultimately opened doors for Hellberg and he got the chance to become the leading man at an Allsvenskan side when joining IFL Varnamo in December 2021.

In what was their first-ever campaign in Sweden's top flight, Varnamo avoided relegation by a mammoth 20 points, subsequently establishing Hellberg as one of the top emerging coaches in Scandinavia.

He would reject the opportunity to manage IFK Goteborg to lead Varnamo to fifth place in 2023, an incredible feat given that the club had been in the third tier just three years earlier. Varnamo would finish 14th in the season after Hellberg's departure.

Kim Hellberg’s stats are impressive.

Hellberg - currently manager of Hammarby - is only 37, plays an attacking, attractive brand of football, and has done some really impressive things in his young career. pic.twitter.com/umu5JbTnTv

— Dan Evans (@swanseadan) November 8, 2025

Since January 2024, Hellberg has been with Hammarby, where he has recorded a total of 41 wins, 15 draws and 17 defeats in all competitions.

Last season, Hammarby would finish in second place in the Allsvenskan, albeit 13 points adrift of surprise champions Mjallby AIF.

What formation will Hellberg use at Swansea?

In 12 of Swansea's 15 Championship fixtures during 2025-26, Sheehan used a back four as opposed to a back three.

Sheehan only switched to the latter during the back end of his reign, the Swans earning just one point from games against Charlton Athletic, Preston North End and Ipswich Town.

However, Hellberg appears highly likely to deploy a back four having consistently used a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 formation during his time with Hammarby.

They scored 60 goals from their 30 Allsvenskan games in 2025 - three more than champions Mjallby and seven more than the team with the third-best attacking record.

That is a vast improvement on the previous campaign where just 48 goals were scored, and can only have worked in Hellberg's favour when he first entered the conversation to become the next Swansea head coach.

As of right now, Swansea have only scored 15 goals in as many games, the seventh-worst return in the second tier of English football.