It was Chelsea. His favourite player? A certain Frank Lampard.
Tonight, in the mouthwatering top of the Championship clash between Coventry City and Middlesbrough, Hellberg will go up against one of his heroes.
It's another moment that shows just how far Hellberg has come since he started his coaching career part time in the Swedish lower leagues 16 years ago.
But regardless of who is in the opposition dugout at the CBS Arena tonight, there's no chance of Hellberg being distracted from his sole focus of helping Middlesbrough continue their Championship promotion charge. Tonight, they go in search of their seventh successive league win.
"I’m looking forward to every game I play here," said Hellberg.
"I always dreamed of coming to England to coach. English football in Sweden is massive, and everyone has a team. Chelsea were my team and Frank was one of my absolutely favourite players.
"He was great. He was number one. But that won’t change anything on Monday.
"I’ll say hi and wish him good luck ahead of the game, as I do every manager. Then I’m going to do everything, as he will do, to try to win the game."
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Coventry are unbeaten in nine and have won their last six against Middlesbrough, with Boro having never won at the CBS Arena. The last time Boro won at Coventry was in the covid season but the Sky Blues were playing at St Andrew's.
So can Hellberg stop the rot?
"I will try but it would not be me changing it, it will be the players," he says.
"They have been excellent. That's the players doing that, that's not me. And it will be the same thing on Monday.
"They will go there and I think they're going to put up a good performance and if it's enough to win the game, we will see.
"I always believe in my team. I’m trying to find a way for us to play the way we want to play against them.
"That’s always the first thing, that’s how I’m looking at the game. We’re going to go there and try to take control of the game. We’re going to go there to play the way we want to play.
"And from that, we know that if we do that well, we have a big chance of getting a result. But I’m not going there to say, ‘we just need to win’.
"I’m looking at how we train, how we prepare, how we want to be ourselves in a very tough environment against a very good team. That’s what I’m looking at.
"Then the game will probably be decided by small margins. But we will go there and try to be ourselves, that’s the main thing. Because over time that will be the thing that’s going to give us most points over a season, and over the longer term."
Hellberg's approach is undoubtedly working. Last week's statement win at Sheffield United meant Boro displaced Coventry at the top, ending a 127-day run at the summit for Lampard's side.
Coventry have long been the team to catch and beat but are wobbling, winless in three ahead of tonight's game. They couldn't find a way past Oxford last week.
Coventry's stutter and Boro's charge has resulted in Hellberg's side being installed as title favourites with the bookmakers.
Hellberg said: "I have dreamed about the Premier League from a very young age, but that doesn’t change anything we do because I’m not there, we are not there.
"We are in the middle of a season where we are, for the moment, winning games. But that goes fast, and you have a lot of examples of that. We can’t get carried away.
"If I lost track or let my players lose track - which they’re not - then we wouldn’t be the same team that wants to, and needs to, improve.
"I dreamed about it since I was young, but I’m not looking at it now. I’m looking at how we win on Monday."