IFK Göteborg
Full nameIdrottsföreningen Kamraterna Göteborg (officially IFK Göteborg Fotboll)
Nickname(s)
  • Blåvitt (Blue-white)
  • Änglarna (The Angels)
  • Kamraterna (The Comrades)
Short nameIFK
Founded4 October 1904; 119 years ago (1904-10-04)
GroundGamla Ullevi, Gothenburg
Capacity18,416
Coordinates57°42′22″N 11°58′50″E / 57.70611°N 11.98056°E / 57.70611; 11.98056
OwnerMember-owned
ChairmanRichard Berkling
Head coachMikael Stahre
LeagueAllsvenskan
2020Allsvenskan, 12th
WebsiteClub website
Current season
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Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Göteborg (officially IFK Göteborg Fotboll), commonly known as IFK Göteborg or locally just IFK, is a Swedish professional football club based in Gothenburg. Founded in 1904, it is the only club in the Nordic countries that has won one of the main UEFA competitions, having won the UEFA Cup in both 1982 and 1987. IFK is affiliated with Göteborgs Fotbollförbund and play their home games at Gamla Ullevi. The club colours are blue and white, colours shared both with the sports society which the club originated from, Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna, and with the coat of arms of the city of Gothenburg.

Besides the two UEFA Cup titles, IFK have won 18 Swedish championship titles, second most in Swedish football after Malmö FF, and have the second most national cup titles with eight. The team has qualified for four group stages of the UEFA Champions League, and reached the semi-finals of the 1985–86 European Cup. The International Federation of Football History & Statistics ranks IFK Göteborg as the 32nd most successful European club, and the most successful Nordic club, of the 20th century. It is the only sports club to have won the Jerring Award, an award for best Swedish sports performance of the year voted by the Swedish people, for the 1982 UEFA Cup victory. IFK is the most popular football club in Sweden, with diverse country-wide support.

IFK Göteborg play in the highest Swedish league, Allsvenskan, where they have played for the majority of their history. They have played in the Swedish first tier continuously since 1977, which is the longest ongoing top-flight tenure in Sweden. The club won its first Swedish championship in 1908, four years after the founding, and has won at least one championship title in every decade since, except the 1920s, 1970s and 2010s. IFK Göteborg's most successful period was from 1982 to 1996, when the team prospered in European football and won 10 out of 15 Swedish championships.

History edit

Early years and the formation of Allsvenskan (1904–1925) edit

 
A memorial plaque at the place where Café Olivedal was located.

IFK Göteborg was formally founded on 4 October 1904,[1][2] after an initial meeting on 2 October at Café Olivedal—in the Annedal district of Linnéstaden borough in Gothenburg—between two groups of friends,[1][3] including representatives from two existing clubs, Annedals SK and IS Kamraterna.[4][2][A] It was the second attempt at founding a club in Gothenburg associated with the Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna central organisation. The first attempt, founded in 1895 as the 6th circle, had largely ceased to exist by 1899.[14][15] The new club was initially accepted as the 39th circle,[1] but after a complete overhaul of the circle numbering in 1942, as many clubs had been disbanded and refounded, IFK Göteborg was established to be the 11th circle.[16]

A committee for football was created at the historic first meeting; the association's first football match ended in a 4–1 victory against another club from the area, IK Viking.[17] The foundation of IFK Göteborg was important for the development of football in the city, as until that point, Örgryte IS, the largest of Gothenburg clubs, were dominant, with IFK Göteborg offering some needed competition.[18]

In 1907 IFK Göteborg became the first Swedish team in four years to beat Örgryte IS.[19] They then went on to win their first Swedish championship in 1908 by winning the cup tournament Svenska Mästerskapet, and three players from the club were selected to play for Sweden in the national team's first match.[19] That year IFK played teams from outside Sweden for the first time, meeting the Danish clubs Østerbro BK and Boldklubben af 1893.[19]

In 1910, the team played in blue and white striped jerseys for the first time.[20] Two years later the team drew 1–1 in a game against the 1912 Swedish Olympic team, and the newspapers in Stockholm nominated IFK Göteborg as "the best Swedish football club ever".[21] IFK Göteborg won Svenska Serien, the highest Swedish league at the time, but not the Swedish championship deciding competition, for the fifth time in a row in 1917. The early IFK Göteborg team had no trainer; the club gained its first such official in 1921, when Hungarian manager Sándor Bródy was hired.[22] Bródy was appointed manager for IFK two years later. The first Swedish official national league, Allsvenskan, started in late 1924, the year the legendary Filip Johansson made his debut for IFK Göteborg.[23] The club finished second, but Johansson scored 39 goals in 22 games and was the league's top goalscorer.[24]

Gothenburg domination and mixed results (1926–1960???) edit

 
A chart showing the progress of IFK Göteborg through the Swedish football league system. The different shades of grey represent league divisions.

IFK won their first Allsvenskan title in 1934–35, the ten previous seasons of the league saw the club finish in the top four.[25] Swedish football was dominated by teams from Gothenburg during these years,[26] but IFK Göteborg were surprisingly relegated in 1937–38,[27] although the team was promoted back to Allsvenskan the next season. Back in the highest division, IFK finished second, with the league continuing despite the outbreak of World War II. IFK won another title in 1941–42 with a strong team,[27] but the rest of the decade saw mixed results. The 1940s team included the talented Gunnar Gren, who became the top scorer in 1946–47. He was also awarded Guldbollen as the best player in Sweden, and won an Olympic gold medal with the Swedish team at the 1948 Olympics.[28] When Gren left in 1949, IFK were relegated from Allsvenskan the following season. As happened the last time IFK played in a lower league, they were promoted directly back to Allsvenskan after one season in Division 2. IFK went on to compete in a European Cup, the European Champion Clubs' Cup, for the first time in 1958, but were eliminated in the second round by SC Wismut. In 1959, the all-time Allsvenskan record attendance of 52,194 was set when IFK played Örgryte IS at Nya Ullevi.[29]

Second division to the top of Europe (1960???–1987) edit

After an unglamorous decade, IFK were led by manager and retired footballer Bertil Johansson to a surprising championship title in 1969.[27] The following season was one of the darkest in their history.[27][30] IFK were relegated, and unlike previous relegations they did not make an immediate return. After three seasons in the second league IFK had lost all signs of being a team from Allsvenskan,[31] and had still not managed to gain promotion. But after hard work from board member Anders Bernmar and others to get the club on the right track, IFK were promoted to Allsvenskan in 1976.[31] In 1979, IFK hired Sven-Göran Eriksson as manager.[32] He introduced the 4–4–2 system with "pressure and support", called the Swenglish model[33], which would give IFK great success later on, and his first season at the club ended with a second place in Allsvenskan and the club's first gold medal in Svenska Cupen.

 
A sticker showing the scoreboard of Volksparkstadion, commemorating the 3–0 away win against Hamburger SV in the 1982 UEFA Cup Final.

After reinforcing the team with several expensive players[34], including Thomas Wernerson and Stig Fredriksson, IFK had finished second in the league and reached the quarter-finals in the UEFA Cup as 1981 came to an end. 1982 then became a turbulent season as the whole board was replaced and the club almost went bankrupt, even needing to borrow money from the official supporter's association to travel to Valencia to play the quarter-final of the UEFA Cup.[35] After the troubled start IFK won every competition they entered, including Allsvenskan, the Allsvenskan play-off, Svenska Cupen, and the UEFA Cup, defeating Hamburger SV 4–0 on aggregate in the finals.[36] During the following 15 years the club was the leading club in Swedish football,[37] winning the Swedish championship ten times, the domestic cup three times and the UEFA Cup twice.

IFK managed to field a strong team for a couple of years and won gold in the league in both 1983 and 1984, and the cup in 1983. In 1986, the team reached the semi-finals of the European Cup but were defeated on penalties against FC Barcelona.[38] A new team of talents won both the UEFA Cup and Allsvenskan once again in 1987,[39] after beating Dundee United in the UEFA Cup final. The youth manager Roger Gustafsson took over the team from Gunder Bengtsson in 1990, and his time with IFK was to become very successful, winning Allsvenskan five times between 1990 and 1995.[40]

Champions League, national domination, and subsequent fall (1988–) edit

 
IFK Göteborg and their fans celebrate a goal against Örebro SK in 2004.

As IFK won the 1993 Allsvenskan, they qualified for European competition. IFK advanced to the group stage of the Champions League, where they faced FC Barcelona, Manchester United and Galatasaray. Elimination at the group stage was widely anticipated,[41][42] but IFK Göteborg confounded expectations by winning the group and advancing to the knockout stage. However, IFK Göteborg was eliminated in the quarter-finals by Bayern Munich on away goals.

The last years before the new millennium were disappointing for IFK, providing a stark contrast to the earlier success.[43] The team only managed a silver in 1997 and an eighth place in 1998, after buying several expensive players who failed to produce.[43][44] In both 1998 and 1999 IFK changed managers mid-season, something which had previously never happened in the club's history.[43] The last year of the decade ended with a sixth-place finish. The new millennium offered varied results, with the club playing a relegation play-off in 2002, but challenging for the championship in 2001, 2004, and 2005. In 2007, the first title in eleven years was secured in the last round of Allsvenskan. The club then won the national cup Svenska Cupen the next season. IFK Göteborg are still considered to be one of the "Big Three" in Swedish football, along with Malmö FF and AIK, despite only having won the Allsvenskan title once during the last 20 years.[38][45][46][9]

Colours, kit, and crest edit

Colours and kit edit

 
The IFK Göteborg squad in 1905, in the club's original home kit, blue shirt with a single horizontal white stripe and a four-pointed star.

The colours of the central IFK association are blue and white,[47] and IFK Göteborg follows that tradition, additionally using an accenting lion yellow colour from the club crest when needed.[48] According to tradition the blue colour symbolises fidelity and wisdom while white represents innocence and goodness.[47][49] Soon after the club's foundation in 1904, it was decided that the kit should consist of a blue and white striped shirt with blue shorts, but the design was too costly and instead a cheaper alternative was decided on, consisting of a blue shirt with a single horizontal white stripe and a sewed-on white four-pointed star, one of the IFK association symbols, on the chest.[50][51] Each player had to procure the shorts themselves.[51] During the next few years, multiple home kit variants were in use, including white or blue shirts without stripes but with the four-pointed star.[52]

On 3 April 1910,[53] a kit comprising a blue and white vertically striped shirt and blue shorts was used for the first time as originally decided,[20] but also inspired by the kit of Kjøbenhavns Boldklub.[54] This kit has remained as the home colours ever since,[20] occasionally white shorts have been used instead.[55] The longtime use of the same blue and white-striped shirt, and well-integrated sponsor logos,[56] has made the kit a classic in Swedish football.[57][58][59][60] Uniform blue and white-striped socks were first used in 1934, inspired by the introduction of striped socks at Arsenal F.C..[61] An official policy document published in 2019 defines a number of guidelines for the kit. These include stripe design (they need to be of equal width, number seven to nine across the torso, and should not be distorted through gradients or sponsor logos), guidelines for the main sponsor and kit supplier logo, use of accent colours, colours of the shorts and socks, and kit usage in general.[48] The blue and yellow colours used in all kits were standardised in 2020, the blue colour is the result of analysing different blue hues used in home kits from the last 40 years, and selecting the mean colour value.[62]

The most common away kit colour until the late 1970s was white (sometimes with blue details), but blue or lion yellow away kits started appearing in the 1960s and 1970s.[48][63] Red away and third kits in different styles appeared in the late 1970s[63] and were common through the 1980s and 1990s,[64] coinciding with the introduction of ICA as main sponsor.[48] Red has seen continued use as an alternative colour in the 21st century, but a wider variety of away and third kit colours have appeared since the 1990s, including black (blue, white, or pink details), grey (blue or red details), purple (white details), pink (black details), and orange.[48][63] A full white third kit with blue details was re-introduced in 2007 after requests from supporters,[65] a combination commonly used since.[63] The 2019 policy document advises that one or more of the main colours of the crest—blue, white, and lion yellow—should be used for away and third kits, with some leeway for special occasions.[48] The 2020 away and third kits thus were yellow and dark blue respectively. A red kit away kit with white and blue details was introduced in 2021, a throwback to a successful 1990s design.[63][66]

Crest and symbols edit

 
The memorial stone, shaped as a four-pointed star in cross section, in front of the club complex.

Various symbols were used before 1919, with the four-pointed star of the IFK associations featuring on the shirts until 1910.[49] Each point of the star represents a specific ambition; perseverance (ihärdighet), proficiency (färdighet), strength (kraft), and either cohesion (sammanhållande) or comradeship (kamratskap), with the initials of the three first ambitions spelling out "IFK".[47][49][71] Despite no longer featuring on the crest, the comrade star (kamratstjärnan) has seen continued use as a symbol both by the club—for example on the memorial stone raised in front of the club complex in 2012—,[72] and by supporters—for example in tifo displays.[73]

 
The crest introduced in 1919.

The crest introduced in 1919 has its origins in the coat of arms of the city of Gothenburg which in turn is based on several other heraldic arms. The lion on a field of silver and blue is the heraldic arms of the House of Bjelbo, and the lion holds the Three Crowns of Sweden, both symbols being used in the coat of arms of Sweden.[49] This arms was granted to Gothenburg when the city was founded by Gustavus Adolphus in 1621.[74] All elements put together symbolises how Gothenburg would be the "bastion of the realm in the west" ("rikets värn i väst(er)") against Denmark.[49][74] The coat of arms of the city sees the lion facing the sinister (heraldic left, which is viewer's right) side which often is interpreted as a fleeing lion, the normal being a lion facing the dexter (heraldic right) side,[74] IFK chose to use the latter on the club crest.[49] The three letters "IFK" sit on top to finish off the crest.[71]

It is not known why the crest was introduced, speculations include wanting to mark the club's independence from the central IFK association,[71] or instead of using the IFK association crest together with the name of the city, doing it the other way around: using the city coat of arms together with the name of the association.[49] According to the statutes of the central IFK association all member clubs should use one of two mandated crest designs,[75][B] the crest of IFK Göteborg is one of few approved exceptions.[77]

External images
  Coat of arms of the city of Gothenburg.
  Variant crest used in the 1970s.
  Grotesque crest variant dated 1972.
  The 1997–99 "Reebok" crest.
  Penultimate crest, used before 2020.

The crest has been used since it first appeared on the kit in a friendly and on the 15th anniversary booklet in 1919.[49][78] Though the home shirt did not feature any crest between 1910 and 1971,[79][C] some away shirts included the crest during that period.[63] The main elements have not been modified since the introduction, but several different designs of the crest have been used during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, occasionally having the lion facing the sinister side.[49][81] The many variants include a grotesque design only known to have been used in 1972 on the away kit (the home kit used another crest), possibly produced by the kit supplier or a sponsor.[82][83]

The club standardised the design in 1979/80[62] and only minor changes—such as element colours and different hues—have been made since then, with the exception of the years 1997–1999 when IFK, with Reebok as kit sponsors, used a crest with some more distinct changes to the standard elements, including removing the second row of the lion's mane.[62][49][84] Details of the crest were slightly updated in 2020 to increase visibility and clarity, and the blue and yellow colours were modified in conjunction with an introduction of standardised kit colours.[62][85]

IFK Göteborg have worn a star above the crest since 2006, a honour signifying that the club has won ten or more Swedish championship titles. The star is not part of the crest itself and is only featured on match shirts.[86]

Kit suppliers and sponsors edit

 
Pontus Wernbloom in the 2009 kit with ICA as both main shirt and shorts sponsors.

The first official club kit suppliers were introduced in the late 1970s, when Swedish supplier Sportjohan, German Adidas, and British Admiral where used in quick succession.[87] IFK Göteborg then returned to Adidas in 1981, who stayed as suppliers until 2015, only interrupted for some years in the late 1990s by ASICS and Reebok.[88] Italian Kappa replaced Adidas as the club's kit manufacturer in 2016 and were used for four seasons until they in turn were replaced by Craft in 2020.[89]

No sponsors were used on the kits before the abolition of the amateur statutes in Swedish football in 1967,[90] but with that change sponsorship and advertising became more commonplace to match increased player salaries,[91] and by 1972 the first sponsor logos appeared on kits of the Allsvenskan teams.[90] The grocery store chain ICA started sponsoring IFK Göteborg in 1974, and then first appeared on the kit as a shorts sponsor in 1976.[64] The deal with ICA was the first multi-year sponsorship in Swedish football.[91] The grocery store was promoted to main shirt sponsor in 1980[92] and stayed as such until 2010,[64] leading some to consider the sponsor logo to be an integral part of the shirt and tightly associated with the club.[93][59][94][95] At one point the public relations manager of ICA stated that "Blåvitt somehow feels like a subsidiary company".[D][95] The ICA logo was reproduced in its original red colour in 1980,[96] but was then changed to a blue-and-white version to better blend with the kit colours.[93]

A rival to ICA, Kooperativa Förbundet, launched a generic brand in 1979, named "Blåvitt" [sv] and using blue and white packaging. Kooperativa Förbundet subsequently offered IFK a better sponsorship deal than the club currently had, however IFK in turn asked ICA to match the deal from their rivals and decided to stay with ICA for the long term.[92][95] The ICA era continued for more than 30 years, but ended when financial company Prioritet Finans were signed as new main sponsors in a 2011 deal worth 10–12 million Swedish kronor per year,[97][94] at that time one of the largest sponsorship deals ever made within Swedish club football.[94] Before the contract was renewed with Prioritet Finans in 2015, IFK Göteborg played without a main shirt sponsor for the first half of that season.[98] Construction contractor Serneke replaced Prioritet Finans as the main shirt sponsor before the start of the 2019 season, becoming the third main sponsor in the club's history.[99]

Even though the multinational manufacturing company Volvo (and the now separate automotive manufacturer Volvo Cars) has been headquartered in Gothenburg since it was founded, they have never been a major sponsor to IFK, initially rejecting an offer to sponsor the club in 1965,[100] later claiming that they would not sell more cars by sponsoring, and that football supporters were not part of their target group.[101] The minor sponsoring they later did was mainly to "appear as good citizens in the municipalities where we operate".[E][101]

Apart from the Craft brand and main sponsor Serneke, IFK Göteborg have a number of other main sponsors, whose logos are also visibile on the kit in 2021:[102] Atea, an IT-infrastructure company; Elkontakt, an electrical contractor; Länsförsäkringar, an insurance company and bank; Morris Law, a law firm; Nordic Wellness, a chain of fitness centres; Rasta, a chain of road restaurants and motels; Volkswagen Göteborg, the Gothenburg dealership of the German automaker; and league sponsors Unibet, a sports betting company.

Period Kit supplier[103] Main shirt sponsor[103][63] Main shorts sponsor[103]
1904–71 None None None
1972–74 ESAB
1975 EPA [sv]
1976 EPA/ICA[F]
1977 Sportjohan [sv]
1978 Sportjohan/Adidas[G] ICA
1979 Admiral
1980 ICA
1981–93 Adidas
1994–96 ASICS
1997–99 Reebok None
2000–10 Adidas ICA
2011–12 Prioritet Finans [sv]
2013 SEFA
2014 Serneke
2015 None[H]
2015 Prioritet Finans
2016 Kappa
2017–18 Volkswagen
2019 Serneke
2020– Craft

Stadiums and facilities edit

Stadiums edit

 
The original Gamla Ullevi, built in 1916, as it appeared in the 1950s.

Historically, IFK Göteborg's main home stadium has been Gamla Ullevi (built 1916), where the majority of the club's competitive games have been played.[104] The club has played there in two separate periods, most recently after leaving Ullevi (Nya Ullevi) in 1992,[105] although matches attracting large crowds, such as derbies against the rivals Örgryte IS and GAIS and international games, were still played at the larger Nya Ullevi,[106][107] having a capacity of around 43,000.[106] Gamla Ullevi's capacity fluctuated over time, from 30,000 after renovation in 1935 to 17,000 in 2004,[106][108] it was the largest stadium in Sweden around 1930.[109] IFK held the Swedish club attendance record, 24,348, from 1929 to 1937, set on Gamla Ullevi against Helsingborgs IF.[110] In the end of the 1990s, complaints that the arena was not modern enough—in terms of visibility from the stands, spectator services, as well as security—started appearing.[111][112] All three Göteborgsalliansen clubs together with the supporters argued for the construction of a new stadium,[113] rather than a renovation of Gamla Ullevi or modifications, and a move, to Nya Ullevi, as argued for by the municipality.[106][112] In April 2005, municipal commissioner Göran Johansson presented plans to demolish Gamla Ullevi and build a new stadium on the site. The plans were formally decided by the municipal board in June 2005.[114]

 
The home stand of Gamla Ullevi during IFK Göteborg's opening match, on 11 April 2009, against Djurgårdens IF.

Gamla Ullevi was demolished on 9 January 2007 to make place for the new stadium.[115] The new stadium was opened at the start of the 2009 season, and kept the previous name, Gamla Ullevi.[112] The naming question was decided by former secretary of the Swedish Academy, Sture Allén, who stated that the name was too well-established to be replaced.[116][107] During construction, IFK Göteborg played the 2007 and 2008 seasons at the formerly used Ullevi.[115][117] The new stadium has a capacity of 18,100–18,416 when using a combination of seats and terraces, or 16,000–16,596 when used as an all-seater,[118][119] and is owned and operated by Got Event, the event company of Gothenburg Municipality.[119] The original construction budget was substantially increased from 180 million Swedish kronor to almost the double after pressure from the supporters' club Supporterklubben Änglarna, who argued that the improvements would make the difference "not between a good and great stadium, but between a bad or acceptable stadium".[I][112][120] On 11 April 2009 IFK Göteborg played their first game on the new Gamla Ullevi stadium and won against Djurgården with 6–0 in front of 18,276 spectators, the stadium's record attendance.[112][119]

 
Walhalla IP during the 1908 Svenska Mästerskapet Final between IFK Göteborg and IFK Uppsala.

IFK Göteborg have used three other stadia as official home grounds. The first ground was Idrottsplatsen, in use as home ground from the first match on 12 July 1905 to 1915.[121][117] It was built in 1896 for the cycling club Göteborgs Velocipedklubb, and was originally used for track cycling.[122] During the 1909 season IFK Göteborg also used Örgryte IS's then home ground, Balders Hage, due to a conflict with Göteborgs IF with which IFK Göteborg co-owned and operated Idrottsplatsen.[123][117] The third official stadium was Walhalla Idrottsplats operated by Örgryte IS—at its opening the most modern sports ground in Scandinavia—which IFK were forced to use from time to time by the Swedish Football Association between 1908 and 1915, alongside Idrottsplatsen.[124][117] A fourth ground, Slottsskogsvallen opened in 1923, has never been the official home ground, but has nonetheless been used a number of times for IFK Göteborg home matches, mainly in the 1920s and 1930s.[125][117]

Idrottsplatsen fell into decline due to poor leadership and a troubled economy caused by competition from the more modern Walhalla,[122] and a decision was taken to completely renovate the arena with the help of outside sponsorship and funding.[123] A previous attempt at financing the construction failed in 1910,[126] but with the help of Göteborgs IF, construction of a new football ground was started in early 1916 and used the site of Idrottsplatsen as foundation.[127][128] The new stadium named Ullervi, meaning "Ullr's sanctuary",[121] was opened on 17 September 1916.[122] It was renamed Ullevi (the "R" was removed) in 1920 when linguists argued that the original name was incorrect, and again renamed to Gamla Ullevi ("Old Ullevi") when Nya Ullevi ("New Ullevi") was constructed.[121][129][108] IFK Göteborg transfered the ownership of the stadium to the municipality in 1924, but continued using it as the club's home ground until 1958.[129] Nya Ullevi—built for the 1958 World Cup held in Sweden—was opened in 1958, and IFK Göteborg moved there from the smaller Gamla Ullevi the same year.[130]

A number of attendance records in Swedish club football have been set on Nya Ullevi with IFK Göteborg as one of the clubs, including the all-time and Allsvenskan record (52,194 on 3 June 1959), the Allsvenskan play-offs record (38,563 on 3 November 1985), the second division record (50,690 on 20 May 1976), and the record for European football (50,108 on 17 March 1982).[131][132][110] Due to a number of seasons with low attendance in Swedish football in the late 1980s and early 1990s and the reconstruction of Nya Ullevi for UEFA Euro 1992, Gamla Ullevi was renovated and re-opened on 31 March 1992.[111][117]

Facilities edit

 
The memorial stone at Karlsrofältet.

IFK Göteborg played its first match, a training match between the first and second team of the club, at Karlsrofältet. A memorial stone with the caption "Here on Karlsrofältet, IFK Göteborg played their first football match in 1904" (Swedish: "Här på Karlsrofältet spelade IFK Göteborg sin första fotbollsmatch år 1904") has been raised by the field to commemorate the event.[133] The field was renovated in 1906, ensuring correct playing dimensions and regulation goalposts, but was mainly used for training and lower league games despite this, due to the lack of changing rooms and a very uneven pitch.[133][117] IFK stopped using the field completely in 1910 but returned one last time for the 1923 season opening match.[122]

IFK Göteborg acquired a clubhouse called Lilla Sjödala in 1946, located in Pixbo, Mölnlycke, outside Gothenburg. The house was mostly used by the club's orienteering and athletics section, rarely being used by the football section.[134] Due to its relative inaccessibility, several tens of kilometers from Gothenburg, the club started looking for a more central location in the 1950s, and in August 1959, IFK acquired a lease for 2.4 hectares (5.9 acres) of land near Delsjön.[134] The plans for a new home were accepted by the members on 9 October 1959, and on 1 October 1961, a new 220 square metres (2,400 sq ft) complex, Kamratgården, including a football pitch, was officially opened.[135][136] Lilla Sjödala was sold in 1964 as the new facilities also accomodated for orienteering and athletics.[134] A number of additions were made to Kamratgården over the years, including the construction of an administrative building in 1992 which allowed the office and visiting address to be moved from Drottninggatan in central Gothenburg.[135] By 2004 Kamratgården had grown to a floor area of 1,200 square metres (13,000 sq ft), an indoor hall had been constructed nearby, and two full-size grass pitches were available.[137]

Plans for a new arena, due to the high cost of hiring pitches for training and matches in central Gothenburg, were conceived together with the other Göteborgsalliansen clubs, and Gårda BK, in 1937.[137][138] A copartnership was founded and a suitable plot of land was found in Sävedalen, Partille.[137] The plans never came to fruition partially due to the poor economy of the clubs, and Sävedalens idrottsplats—as the pitch was named—was only ever used by the reserve and youth teams of the involved clubs before it was sold off in 1964.[137]

 
The both wings and the main entrance to Kamratgården.

Discussions regarding building a new complex were initiated in 2005, as the stand-alone additions and modifications to Kamratgården over the years had not only decreased the aesthetics but also increased the cost of maintaining and keeping it in repair.[139] With the help of new sponsor SEFA (later renamed Serneke), a construction contractor, the old buildings were demolished in February 2011, and a new two-floor 2,000 square metres (22,000 sq ft) modern facility was opened on 18 March 2012 to a cost of 30 million Swedish kronor.[140] The administrative area has offices, meeting rooms, media room, reception, kitchen and dining room for 140 people. The sports area houses three changing rooms, gym, bath, sauna, offices for coaching staff, a player's lounge and additional rooms.[141][142] Due to weak finances, IFK Göteborg decided to sell Kamratgården to an external partner in late 2015. The agreement released funds needed to secure the economy, while at the same time allowing IFK to rent the facilities without increased operating costs. IFK Göteborg also secured the rights to buy back the complex at any time the club wants to do so.[143]

The football academy of IFK Göteborg as well as Änglagårdsskolan, an elementary school affiliated with IFK, are housed at Prioritet Serneke Arena, a multi-sport complex in the district of Kviberg.[144] The idea to construct the complex was initially developed by Roger Gustafsson, then head of the academy, together with Änglagårdsskolan, and club sponsors Serneke.[145] Construction started in 2012 and the opening took place on 10 July 2015, Serneke and former IFK Göteborg sponsors Prioritet Finans own and operate the facilities.[145] The 45,300 square metres (488,000 sq ft) complex also includes an indoor full-size football pitch, occasionally used for first-team friendly matches,[104] and two sports halls, a ski tunnel, the sports gymnasium Aspero Idrottsgymnasium, a hotel and restaurant with conference areas, a fitness centre, and a sports injury clinic.[145][144]

Supporters, relationships, and identity edit

Supporters edit

Before the foundation of IFK Göteborg, the dominant club in the Gothenburg area was Örgryte IS, which was considered a middle and upper class club. IFK became popular amongst the working class, creating a fierce rivalry based upon both local pride and social class. In the early 20th century, supporters were supposed to act as gentlemen, applauding and supporting both their own team, and the opponents. However, this proved a hard task for supporters of the Gothenburg teams. Local patriotism and class differences sometimes resulted in fights and pitch invasions, making the Swedish press view IFK and Örgryte fans as the scum of Swedish football.[146]

After World War I, the rivalry calmed, and Gothenburg supporters became known as friendly and sportsmanlike fans. However, this only applied to the behaviour on home ground, as IFK supporters continued to behave badly when travelling to away matches by train (called Göteborgstågen, the Gothenburg trains), a phenomenon that grew quickly in the 1920s. This behaviour peaked in 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II, when approximately 1,900 IFK fans travelled to Borås to see IFK play Elfsborg. After a 2–3 loss, the fans fought with the Borås police, before returning home to Gothenburg and disturbing a wartime blackout exercise.[146]

 
IFK Göteborg supporters at the home derby against Örgryte IS in 2005.

As in most other parts of the world, the decades following the World War II were relatively free from football violence and the supporter culture did not change much. Swedish football culture started to change in the late 1960s, becoming heavily inspired and influenced by the English supporter culture. This flourished in the 1970s and 1980s, giving birth to some of the most well-known Swedish supporters clubs, AIK's Black Army, Djurgårdens IF's Blue Saints (later Järnkaminerna), and IFK Göteborg's supporters club, Änglarna (the Angels). The first attempt to found an IFK supporters club was made in 1969, but interest diminished when IFK Göteborg were relegated from the highest league the following year. The supporters club was not re-founded until 1973, which is considered the year of foundation of Änglarna.[147]

As the club gained success in European club tournaments in the 1980s and 1990s, and thousands of IFK fans travelled to Hamburg, Barcelona, Dundee, Milan, Manchester and Munich, the supporters gained influence on the club, for example by lending money to the almost bankrupt IFK Göteborg so the team could go to Valencia to play the quarter-final in the UEFA Cup in 1982, or by being the main force behind the move back to Gamla Ullevi in 1992.[35][148] The early 1990s saw a downward trend in attendance numbers, even though the club was successful on the pitch, but the trend turned in the later years of the decade and the first few years of the new millennium brought the club's highest average attendance since the early 1980s.[149]

In the 2000s, supporter culture in Sweden started to shift from being English-influenced to being more influenced by the Southern European countries and their football culture, making tifos and ultras a common sight in Swedish arenas. From acting as an almost uniform group of fans gathered under the same flag, (Änglarna), IFK fans created separate supporter factions, including Ultra Bulldogs, Young Lions and West Coast Angelz. IFK is the most popular football club in Sweden;[38] a 2004 survey concluded that IFK Göteborg had support from 13% of Swedish football fans,[150] and surveys in 2016 and 2017 again confirmed that IFK was the most popular club in Sweden, with a support of 10%.[151] A majority, 55%, of football fans in Gothenburg support IFK, and the club is the fourth most popular in Stockholm (after AIK, Djurgårdens IF and Hammarby IF) and the second most popular in Malmö, after Malmö FF.[150]

Since 2009, the club's entrance music is "Snart skiner Poseidon" ("Poseidon will soon shine"),[118] referring to one of Gothenburg's landmarks, Poseidon med brunnskar [sv], a bronze statue created by Carl Milles. The song was written by singer/songwriter Joel Alme.

Rivalries and supporter relationships edit

IFK Göteborg have contested derbies with seven other Gothenburg teams in Swedish top tier football over the years, but the main two derbies are played against fellow Göteborgsalliansen members Örgryte IS and GAIS.[152][153] Two other major rivals are AIK—from the capital and largest city Stockholm—and Malmö FF—from Sweden's third largest city Malmö. Together with IFK Göteborg these two also form the Big Three in Swedish football.[45]

 
The first published photo of any kind of disruptive supporter behaviour in Swedish football, picturing IFK supporters invading the pitch after a 1912 derby against Örgryte IS.

The longest-standing derby and rivalry is with Örgryte, the teams first met in 1905 and have since met more times than any other rivals in Swedish football.[154] The early relation between the clubs—described as "inexplicable animosity" by the sports newspaper Nordiskt Idrottslif—was characterised by class differences and constant conflicts both on and off the pitch,[155][156] and included the first football riot in Swedish football caught on camera, as IFK supporters invaded the pitch to attack the Örgryte IS players after a 1912 match.[157] The fierce struggle with Örgryte continued through the 1910s, but calmed down significantly after the creation of Göteborgsalliansen in 1919, and by the 1920s the football audience in Gothenburg was instead described as knowledgeable, impartial and a role-model for the rest of the country.[158] Since then, the derbies against Örgryte IS have largely been peaceful but popular events,[159] both the Swedish club football attendance record (a crowd of 52,194 watched a 1959 match) and the record average attendance for any Swedish derby is held by the fixture.[160]

The second major Gothenburg derby is contested with GAIS,[161] sometimes described as a worker's derby.[162] Standing aside for the constant clashes with Örgryte IS in the early decades of the 20th century,[163] the rivalry with GAIS has grown since,[164] and is the only Gothenburg derby where violent incidents and disturbances are not uncommon,[165] though less frequent than in connection to matches against AIK.[166] The most recent incident between the two clubs occurred in a 2019 Svenska Cupen match—IFK Göteborg supporters lit pyrotechnics and fireworks at the start of the second half, injuring the GAIS goalkeeper and causing the fixture to be abandoned.[167] The attendance record for the derby—50,690 set in 1976—is also the all-time Swedish record for second division football.[168]

Fixtures between IFK Göteborg and AIK sees the largest clubs from the two largest Swedish cities set against each other. The rivalry does not have a unique name but is sometimes called the "Swedish El Clásico",[169] and has been described as the prime rivalry in Swedish football, gathering the largest nationwide interest out of any Swedish club fixtures.[169][170] The origins of the rivalry predates the foundation of both clubs, and is part of a deeper conflict between Gothenburg and Stockholm that has existed within Swedish football since its origins in the 19th century.[171] The clashes between the two clubs is said to symbolise the broader conflict—rooted in historic geographical, political, administrative, and class-based differences—as they are the prime club representatives for each side.[172][173][174] The rivalry gained momentum in the 1910s, matches in Stockholm against a team from Gothenburg were often more popular than any of the Stockholm derbies.[175] With the rise of Swedish football hooliganism in the 1980s the rivalry flaired up again[176]—fixtures since are commonly described as "hate matches",[169] and there are recurrent instances of supporter violence.[176][177] The violent clashes caused the first Swedish death as a result of hooliganism, as the IFK Göteborg supporter Tony Deogan died after sustaining injuries in an arranged fight between the firms of the two clubs in Stockholm in 2002.[178][179] Matches against AIK have been described by players as the most special ones you can play as an IFK Göteborg footballer, pinpointing the Stockholm club as the biggest rival of all.[180]

With 39 Swedish championships and 22 national cup titles shared between them, Malmö FF and IFK Göteborg are the two most successful clubs in Sweden, and share a major rivalry.[169] They are also the only Swedish clubs to have reached the final of a European competition, IFK Göteborg won the UEFA Cup in 1981–82 and again in 1986–87 while Malmö FF were runners-up in the 1978–79 European Cup.[181] Though highly ranked by players and supporters alike, the background to the rivalry is mostly found in the fight for on-pitch results and titles.[180][182][183] As the fight for national titles between the clubs mainly took off in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, the rivalry formed relatively late compared to the other IFK rivalries.[184] Relations between the two clubs and their supporter groups also feature a hint of mutual respect,[183][184] and the encounters have a much lower risk of being marred by violence than for example the Stockholm derbies.[182]

TBD

Ultras Göteborg have a friendship with one of the ultras groups of German football club 1. FC Nürnberg, Ultras Nürnberg. The friendship started in 2001, mainly between individuals of the two groups, but has since developed to a close relation between the groups.[185] The principal hooligan firm of IFK Göteborg, Wisemen, enjoyed close relations with some notorious Chelsea Headhunters members during the 1990s—especially Stephen "Hickey" Hickmott who also lived in Gothenburg in 1995.[186][187]

Club identity and nicknames edit

Right from the start, IFK Göteborg were closely associated with the working class.[188] There were several markers of a working-class club: founded at a café—an important hub in the working youth's leisure time—,[189] and founded in Annedal—a working-class district in Gothenburg at the time—from which one of the two groups of friends and both participating clubs came.[190][191] In reality, IFK Göteborg were more of a cross-class club: the other group of friends were engineering students at Chalmers,[192] and the first clubs connected to the sports society Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna were mainly formed by students at secondary schools or universities, something associated with the middle class.[193] The association with the working class were as much a result of appearing as an attractive alternative, and something opposite, to the older Gothenburg club Örgryte IS, commonly seen as a middle-class and upper-class club.[194][195][196] The majority of players that won the 1910 Swedish championships for the club belonged to the middle class,[196] even though Henning Svensson—who started playing for IFK Göteborg in 1908—described how in IFK "we were all workers".[197]

No matter the people and players within the club, the division and rivalry among the supporters of the two Gothenburg clubs was clear,[192][198] illustrated by the sports newspaper Nordiskt Idrottslif description of a 1912 derby: "When Kamraterna entered the pitch the audience on the terraces cheered, but when Örgryte appeared they cheered on the grandstand".[J][199] This class struggle was amplified by the local geographical identities of the clubs, IFK Göteborg with its geographical focus in the working-class districts of Gothenburg, as opposed to Örgryte IS's residence in the upper middle class municipality of Örgryte, which was not integrated fully into Gothenburg municipality until 1922.[200] The distinct district identities between the clubs—including the third major Gothenburg club GAIS—existed at least into the 1940s,[201] but were mostly gone by the 1960s,[202] in part due to the small size of Gothenburg districts as compared to Stockholm's, making it harder to build identities based on them.[203]

 
The sculptural group Kal å Ada outside Liseberg, depicting the fictional character Kal—a typical Gothenburger and supporter of IFK—and his wife Ada.

Instead of district identities, all three local rivals—and IFK to an even higher degree—have adapted a strong Gothenburgian and local patriotic identity, which has been said to be stronger than the local patriotism in Stockholm and Malmö.[204] The local Gothenburg dialect plays a significant role in the identity of the club,[205] and the local dialect is, as often, strongest among the working class.[206] Humour, and the special kind of Gothenburg humour characterised by word plays and witty remarks, also forms part of the identity not only of the city but of its clubs as well, expressed for example through "Kal"—a recurring fictional character in many of the jokes—a working class IFK supporter and archetypal Gothenburger,[207] or the pseudonym "Gusten från Kusten" who wrote humorous columns in Gotenburg dialect, usually about football, in the local newspaper in the 1950s.[208][209] Somewhat connected to this is also the cliché of a "go' gubbe" ("good guy", local slang for the caricature of a typical Gothenburger—cozy, jolly and harmless), which has been attributed to the club and its supporters, though this has mainly been forced on the club rather than adapted by it.[210][211]

The identities related to social class and politics remain to some degree, IFK being associated with the working and middle class and the political left, more specifically the traditionally ruling Social Democratic Party.[212][213][162] The association with the ruling party was mainly informal, but permeated the whole club all the way from the club administration down to a number of politically active players in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s,[214][215] and the working class association among supporters was supported by a 1975 survey.[216] Rivals GAIS are considered even more left-leaning and lower class, while Örgryte are associated with the upper class and more right-leaning liberals and conservatives.[217][213][195][162]

IFK had long been regarded as the people's team in Gothenburg,[218][219][24] but by the 1970s the epithet "The People's team" ("Folkets lag") came into use as a nickname for the club on national level.[212][220] The international success in the 1980s and 1990s—in particular the 1982 UEFA Cup title—further strengthened the use of that nickname.[221] The club's rising national popularity and use of players from the whole country during that era[222] also meant that the club was sometimes called "IFK Sweden" ("IFK Sverige"),[223][224] in some sense representing all of Sweden.[225] But the success on the pitch and the many new supporters from all over Sweden also led to the club partially losing its identity anchored in the Gotenburg working class strata.[226] Multiple SOM Institute surveys have studied the relations between social class, party affiliation, and team support in Gothenburg during the 21st century, sheding light on some of the stereotypes.[227] While higher education lowered the probability of supporting IFK Göteborg according to the 2012 survey, there was some increase in support if a participant self-identified as standing more to the right politically. In general, IFK Göteborg was found to have broad representation in all groups, being marginally stronger in the lower class of white-collar workers.[228]

The earliest nickname in common use for the club was "Kamraterna" ("The Comrades")—from the full name of the club—,[229] sometimes expanded to "Göteborgs-Kamraterna" to disambiguate it from other teams within the IFK sports society.[230] This original nickname retained its popularity for a long time,[230] but diminished in use after the Second World War. At this time, both the "Blåvitt" ("Blue-white") and "Änglarna" ("The Angels") nicknames where coined and gained popularity both among supporters and the media.[231][230] The club went as far as using "Blue-white" in official marketing material starting in 1955,[232] and registered both nicknames at the Swedish Patent and Registration Office in the 1970s when usage peaked.[233] The exact origins of these both nicknames and when they were first used are not fully known,[K] one story suggests that a high-profile mobile newsagent lay behind both by first painting his bike blue and white, writing "Blåvitt" on it, and at one time also proclaiming that the team were angels after an elegant victory.[229] Other suggested origins for "The Angels" nickname include a 1929 text by Carl Linde that mentioned how the team played at times like devils and at times like angels in a 1911 match,[230] or that the nickname was not coined until 1960.[24] These three form the club's classic nicknames,[229][71] and have—together with the shortened form "IFK"—been the most common ways to refer to the club in informal speech.[234]

IFK Göteborg have traditionally been associated with ingenious, technical, and crowd-pleasing football,[235] and the acceptance for boring football has been proposed to be lower in Gothenburg than in other parts of Sweden.[236] This playing style was prevailing in Gothenburg in the early decades of the 20th century, influenced by the Scottish and Danish styles (especially IFK's impromptu teachers in Kjøbenhavns Boldklub[237]) of the time. This was in stark contrast to the more energic and aggressive play characterising the Stockholm-based clubs.[238] As football influences shifted from British to the quick short-passing play of Central Europe after the First World War,[239] IFK Göteborg contracted Sándor Bródy to coach the club,[240] the first Central European head coach in Swedish football.[241] The playing style around the Second World War followed in the same tradition, never being at either extreme of any scale, but keeping the technical, lively, and bohemic elements.[242][243] By the late 1960s this approach had fallen out of fashion and was deemed ineffective, though crowd-pleasing.[244]

Swedish football as a whole was dominated by two conflicting schools of thought during the 1970s. The offensive and man-to-man marking style favoured by the German-inspired Swedish model—adopted by IFK Göteborg and the majority of clubs as well as the national team—and the English model favouring a systematic and defensive approach, using zonal marking and offside traps—adopted through the English head coaches at Malmö FF and Halmstads BK, Bob Houghton and Roy Hodgson.[245][246] In IFK Göteborg, the offensive style was named "champagnefotboll" ("Champagne football"), and was part of a strategic approach to not only be successful on pitch but also to provide an enjoyable experience for the audience.[247][248] But the results did not fully live up to expectations,[249] and Sven-Göran Eriksson who favoured the English model was hired as head coach in 1979, managed to fuse the two models into one.[250] He combined the defensive approach of the English school with the more offensive Swedish approach,[251] into what became known as "the Swenglish model" ("den svengelska modellen").[245][252] This was initially met with displeasure from both supporters and the media, but the discontent was soon glossed over following the improved results, including the first ever Swedish victory in a UEFA tournament, the 1981–82 UEFA Cup.[253][254] The new approach changed Swedish football from the ground up, and the national team got a new heyday by adapting it in 1983.[255][256] During the successful 1990s, the IFK style of play focused on a disciplined defence with quick counter-attacks, letting the oponents control the game.[257]

In the 2010s, the club has experienced an identity crisis,[225] both within the club organisation and among supporters.[258] Frequent changes to the club management has meant that much continuity has been lost,[259] and the identity of the 1990s when IFK dominated Swedish football and made their mark in European football is no longer representative of the club.[225] The traditional quick style of football was modernised and retained in the 2010s,[259] even though it was also labeled "brottarfotboll" ("wrestling football") by critics.[225] This direction took a sharp turn in 2018 with new head coach Poya Asbaghi who was hired to revolutionise the playing style of IFK Göteborg through a more possesion-based football.[259] After less than three seasons, the experiment was deemed a failure and the club returned to a more traditional approach, again breaking continuity and starting over.[259]

Ownership, organisation, and finances edit

Ownership and organisation edit

 
Pontus Farnerud, current director of sport for IFK Göteborg.

IFK Göteborg is a nonprofit organisation and open member association, and the annual general meeting is the highest decision-making body, where each member has one vote. The meeting approves the accounts, votes to elect the chairman and the board, and votes on incoming motions.[260] All sports clubs in Sweden are subject to the so-called 51 percent rule—dictated by the statutes of the Swedish Sports Confederation—which means that even if IFK Göteborg would create a limited sports company (idrottsaktiebolag) to run its sporting activities, a majority of the voting rights in the company must be retained by the club and its members.[261][262] When the 51 percent rule came into play in 1999, it simultaneously allowed for corporatisation, something IFK considered at the time to raise some 100–150 million Swedish kronor, but ultimately did not go through with as the sporting results were not sufficient to attract investors.[263]

With 1,100 members in 1921, IFK Göteborg were one of the largest clubs in Europe by membership at the time.[264] The number of members in the 21st century have counted around 5,000,[263][265] but through a supporter campaign in 2020, membership numbers soared to almost 10,000, surpassing the previous record of around 7,000 from 1988.[266] The board is the third-highest decision-making body after the annual general meeting and any extra general meetings,[267] while daily operations are run by the club director and the employed staff.[268][269] Key people as of 2021 include chairman of the board Richard Berkling, club director Håkan Mild, and director of sport Pontus Farnerud—the latter two are former players for the club and the national team.[270][269] The longest-serving chairman in the history of the club is Nils Grönwall who held the post for 22 years from 1947 to 1968,[271] while the most successful chairman in terms of trophies won is Gunnar Larsson, under whose stewardship—from 1982 to 2000—the side won the Swedish championships ten times, Svenska Cupen three times, and the UEFA Cup twice.[272]

From the club's inception in 1904 until 31 December 2017, the sections for different sports were part of the same organisation. Starting on 1 January 2018, all sections became separate organisations,[273] under a new parent IFK Göteborg alliance organisation. The previous organisation number was taken over by the new football organisation, officially named IFK Göteborg Fotboll.[12]

 
The official club shop, Blåvittshopen, at Gamla Ullevi is operated as a subsidiary to the club.

Swedish football was entirely amateur until 1967 when the last rules prohibiting professionalism were abolished, but the economical conditions did not allow clubs to go professional right away.[274] IFK Göteborg signed their first semi-professional contracts with ten players in 1978, and Torbjörn Nilsson signed the first fully professional deal—and the first such deal within Swedish football—with the club a year later.[275][276] The road to professionalism was long, and most players in Allsvenskan and IFK Göteborg would continue to have a full-time job outside their playing career for years to come (25 percent of players in Allsvenskan in 1999 did still not have football as their full-time job[277]), but the change meant that the clubs developed economically, by signing sponsor deals and getting better paid for player transfers.[90][274] Glenn Hysén recalls the huge difference between the amateurish IFK Göteborg he won the UEFA Cup with in 1982, and the more businesslike club that he won a second UEFA Cup title for in 1987.[278] After the UEFA Champions League success in the first half of the 1990s, IFK Göteborg finally fully professionalised their squad in 1996.[279]

The club fully owns the limited company and subsidiary IFK Göteborg Promotion AB that handles merchandise and souvenirs, and runs Blåvittshopen, the official club shop at Gamla Ullevi.[280][281] Previously owned subsidiaries include IFK Göteborg Sportskadeklinik AB, a sports injury rehab clinic,[282] and IFK Göteborg Fotboll AB, a venture capital subsidiary created in 2007 to allow external investors to buy shares of future transfer income.[283] Both subsidiaries were liquidated in 2018 after having been dormant for several years.[282] As members of Göteborgsalliansen, the club has a 33 percent share of the trade company HB Alliansen Gamla Ullevi, and own 9 percent of the shares in the limited company Gothenburg Association AB that operates two elementary schools with a sports focus.[284][281][285]

Memberships and partnerships edit

The football club is a member of the IFK Göteborg alliance which organises the various sports clubs of the IFK Göteborg family,[12] and a standalone member—registered as the 11th circle—of the Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna sports society.[16] Within the organisational hierarchy of Swedish sports, the club is a member of the Swedish Football Association and by extension connected to the Swedish Sports Confederation, and also a member of Västra Götaland Sports Confederation (Västra Götalands Idrottsförbund) and the Gothenburg Football Association.[12] As an Allsvenskan club, IFK Göteborg is granted membership in Swedish Professional Football Leagues, an interest organisation that represents the 32 elite clubs in the top two divisions of Swedish football.[286] An associated member of the European Club Association as of 2021, the club is also one of five Swedish members of the body that represents professional football clubs within UEFA.[287]

 
The main entrance to the now demolished Gamla Ullevi, adorned with the crests of the three alliance clubs.

IFK Göteborg took the initiative to form Göteborgsalliansen, an alliance with the other two major teams from Gothenburg: GAIS and Örgryte IS in 1919.[163] The original agreement was made with Örgryte IS while GAIS were admitted as the alliance was formally created in 1921.[198][288] The fierce rivalry among the clubs had a negative impact on the football scene in Gothenburg, and the alliance was created by the clubs as a self-regulatory measure to put an end to the infighting.[158] The alliance is a gentlemen's agreement and has no formal statutes; it originally prevented controversial player transfers between the clubs,[289][290] but also functioned as a common platform in conflicts with for example the district football association.[291] Arranged exhibition games against international opponents have also created an additional source of income for the clubs,[288][290] and the three clubs have shared the original Gamla Ullevi, Ullevi and new Gamla Ullevi stadiums through most of their history.[138] The 1970s and 1980s saw the alliance lose a lot of its power as IFK Göteborg reached international success and distanced itself from the agreement by arranging international friendlies on its own.[288][101] the club also ran a separate marketing organisation for some time—Föreningen Göteborgsidrott ("Association (for) Gothenburg Sports")—together with other Gothenburg-based clubs, including ice hockey club BK Bäcken.[101] Göteborgsalliansen is mostly dormant nowadays, the last alliance exhibition match having been played in 1992.[288]

An occasional partnership with Utsiktens BK has existed since 2015, as the clubs on a seasonal basis have signed an agreement that allows young IFK players to be loaned out to Utsikten to gain first team experience.[292]

Manchester United and IFK Göteborg signed a partnership in the mid 1990s with multiple purposes—the English club would get preemption on player transfers from IFK, in return IFK Göteborg would be the first-hand choice if Manchester United were planning to loan out any young players.[293] Besides official club manangement visits–Alex Ferguson inaugurated IFK Göteborg's new football academy home in 1998—the only agreement ever concluded as part of the partnership was the loan of Erik Nevland to IFK for the 1999 season. The partnership did not have a set end date and has not been cancelled, as such it is still valid no matter 20 years of inactivity.[293]

Academy and women's team edit

 
Prioritet Serneke Arena, home of IFK Göteborg's academy and associated elementary school.

Besides the senior men's team, the club also runs its own youth development programme since 1997, Akademin ("The Academy"), for boys and girls between the ages of 5 and 19.[294][285] The academy, housed in Prioritet Serneke Arena, encompasses football school activities for children aged 5 to 8 and extra training sessions for youths aged 11 to 14—both open for anyone irrespective of club affiliation—, youth teams for boys and girls aged 12 to 19, and other activities such as summer camps.[285] In contrast to many other clubs (including local rival BK Häcken[295] as well as Malmö FF, AIK, Djurgårdens IF, Hammarby IF, and IF Brommapojkarna[296]) IFK does not run a large-scale academy with multiple teams in each age group, instead fielding only one team in each age group starting at age 12, totaling around 70 players in five teams.[295] The stated reasons for this is to be able to better focus its resources, as well as allowing youths to continue to play football with their friends in their local team to avoid impoverishing grassroots football.[295] One of the main goals of the programme is to ensure that at least 50 percent of the first-team squad consists of players that have been developed in the academy.[295][294]

Through IFK Göteborg's partial ownership of elementary school Änglagårdsskolan, youths attending the school follow the IFK Göteborg player training plan, and around a third of the school's students are also playing in the club's youth teams.[285] The academy was once regarded as by far the best in Sweden, but has since fallen in rank.[225] The Swedish Professional Football Leagues certifies all academies each year, and the 2019 certification ranked the IFK academy as one of nine with five stars, and fifth in terms of points scored (which combines scores for the academy operation itself, and scores for players that have attended the academy).[297]

Through mergers with the youth teams Niord and Hermes in 1911, IFK Göteborg created a stable youth organisation.[298] In the 1919 yearbook, IFK prides itself with winning the national league in the past years only with players fostered within the club.[299] The youth teams were successful in the interwar and postwar period as well, both in Gothenburg and on the national scene, producing a number of future senior team and national team players.[300] Alongside the success in the UEFA Cup in 1982, the club board decided to extensively invest in the youth department, and hired Roger Gustafsson to lead the youth operations.[193] A decision to earmark 1.2 million Swedish kronor each year for three years to recruit players to the youth team was taken in 1986, to secure a new base of players to replace the current squad as those players retired or were sold.[301] The experience from the previous years led to a 1995 decision to invest in a full-scale academy setup, financed by the Champions League revenue in the 1990s.[193] The under-19 (under-18 before 2009) boy's team is historically the most successful in Sweden, having won eight official youth championships (in 1986, 1987, 1988, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2013, and 2015) and finished runners-up four times (in 1991, 1993, 1995, and 2017) since the tournament was started in 1982.[302][303]

IFK Göteborg fielded a women's team in the late 1910s, and the first women's match in Gothenburg was played between IFK Göteborg and a combination team in 1918, even though it was more of a frivolous exhibition match than anything else.[304] Plans to merge with Jitex BK to establish a women's team were set in motion in the 1970s, but never materialised.[212] Activities and teams for girls were finally added to the academy programme in 2007,[305] and at an extra general meeting in 2019, the club members voted to create a senior women's team,[306] which administratively remains part of the academy.[307] The women's team started the 2020 season on the lowest level of the league pyramid with a long-term ambition of reaching the highest league, Damallsvenskan, within seven years, a previous cooperation with the senior team of Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC was ended as of this.[306][307] The squad is mainly composed of players from the the under-15 team of 2019.[307] The extra general meeting also decided that the women's team would create its own organisation within the IFK Göteborg alliance organisation at latest on 1 January 2022,[306] a decision that was torn up in the 2021 annual general meeting.[308]

Esports team edit

The club launched an esports team in 2020 to compete in FIFA tournaments from 2021 on, the prospect of venturing into esports having been discussed as early as 2017.[309] The sporting objective to establish itself as a successful team within the esports world is supplemented by additional objectives to spread the club brand to new demographics as well as finding new commercial opportunities.[310] The team is organisationally part of the marketing department, but funded initially by an external partner with the long-term goal to become self-funded.[309][310] The team consists of manager Pontus "GGFrolle" Frostvik and two players—Mattias "OpTolle" Tolinsson (younger brother of former IFK Göteborg footballer Jesper Tolinsson) and Simon "Zimme" Nystedt.[310] They managed to reach the semi-finals in the national league eAllsvenskan and the final in the Nordic Masters tournament (which they lost against Dutch side PSV Eindhoven) during the team's inaugural 2021 season.[311][312]

Finances edit

Club revenue[L] 1908–2019
Year Revenue
1908[313][192] ca 10,500 kronor
1911[313] ca 20,500 kronor
1917[313] ca 57,000 kronor
1919[313] ca. 155,000 kronor
1920[314] ca. 210,000 kronor
1959[100] ca. 500,000 kronor
1987[315] ca. 41 million kronor
1988[316] ca. 29 million kronor
1994[316] ca. 99 million kronor
2003[317] ca. 50 million kronor
2012[317] ca. 110 million kronor
2019[318] ca. 138 million kronor

IFK Göteborg quickly rose to power after its foundation, and along with that the income, even though the 1908 revenue[L] of 10,500 Swedish kronor did not match the 66,500 kronor of the richest Swedish club and Gothenburg rival Örgryte IS.[194] The club had financial difficulties between 1909 and 1911,[313][319] to the point where the club had to forfeit a league match in 1910.[20] 1913 marked the first year since the club's foundation where the economy was in balance,[21] and by 1920 the club had become a financial heavyweight, with a yearly revenue of 210,000 kronor and a profit margin of above ten percent.[314] But as most of the income during the interwar period were gate receipts, AIK—the only major club from the more populous capital Stockholm—were far superior financially by 1934, with cash and cash equivalents of 211,000 kronor, distancing the 54,000 kronor (in 1935) of second-richest IFK Göteborg.[320] The economical conditions were similar some 15 years later, AIK with cash and cash equivalents of 364,000 kronor and IFK with 140,000 kronor in 1947, now rivaled by Malmö FF and Djurgårdens IF with some 197,000 (in 1950) and 145,500 kronor (in 1948) respectively.[321]

The major source of income did not change in the 1950s, and 87 percent of the 500,000 kronor revenue in 1959 came from the main football activities and principally the gate receipts.[100] The first incarnation of the supporters' club Supporterklubben Änglarna was founded in 1969, mainly as an attempt of widening the club network to differentiate the sources of income.[322] IFK Göteborg were relegated from the top league in 1970 and were running a deficit by 1972,[323] and town rivals GAIS and Örgryte IS were also in precarious economical situations, which led the municipality to grant an interest-free loan of 50,000 kronor to all three clubs, as well as a one-time contribution of 75,000 kronor in 1973.[324] Difficult times proved to be the driving factor behund the ingenuity of the coming years for IFK Göteborg,[325] and a three-year plan to return to Allsvenskan was conceived by Anders Bernmar in 1974.[31] The club took several loans—supported by the municipality that guaranteed 500,000 kronor—to finance the venture, and by 1975 the average attendance had risen to over 15,000 from 3,000 the year before. The stir created by the club also attracted sponsors that helped finding jobs for recruited players,[326] and IFK took the lead in introducing modern football marketing in Sweden.[327] The club budgeted for a large loss, but attendances beyond expectation instead meant that the club came out of the fight for promotion almost debt-free.[328]

Back in Allsvenskan for the 1977 season, IFK Göteborg were the first Swedish club to break the 1 million kronor transfer fee threshold by signing Ralf Edström from PSV Eindhoven,[275] but declining attendances again put the club at brink of bankruptcy before the UEFA Cup quarter-final against Valencia C.F. in March 1982.[329][330] A 200,000 kronor advance payment by sponsor SKF and additional support from Supporterklubben Änglarna secured continued play,[330][331] and a 2–2 away result ensured a sold-out Ullevi stadium as well as securing the club's survival.[332] The European success also increased transfer income, twelve players were sold for a total of 33 million kronor between 1982 and 1987, including the record sale of Dan Corneliusson for 4.6 million kronor in 1983.[224] The money was in part spent on new players, including breaking the 1 million kronor threshold for a domestic player transfer for the first time in 1987,[333] the culmination a series of record-breaking domestic transfers by the club in the mid-1980s.[334] IFK Göteborg had by far become the financially strongest club in Sweden by 1987 with a revenue of around 41 million kronor (of which 3.5 million was sponsor income[333]), dwarfing the 16 million of second-strongest club Malmö FF.[335] IFK were not invulnerable though, the mediocre 1989 season—with a 7th place in the league and only two home matches in European competition—meant a negative result of over 12 million kronor.[336]

IFK kept its position through the 1980s and early 1990s,[337] even though the club lost ground in the race for sponsor income, and club chairman Gunnar Larsson said in 1993 that "there must not be too much money involved, which destroys club morale".[M][338] This did not prevent the club from regaining lost ground by 1994—trailing only Helsingborgs IF in sponsor income, reaching just short of a 100 million kronor revenue, and having an equity of 55 million kronor—much in thanks to Champions League participation which accounted for more than three-fourths (78 million kronor) of the income.[316][339] With a record equity of 107 million kronor at the start of 1997, IFK Göteborg was the richest club in Sweden.[340][341] But the Bosman ruling in 1995 had started to change the financial playing field, player salaries increased significantly to keep players from leaving without compensation (salary expense rose from 10 to 27 million kronor between 1995 and 1998), and IFK Göteborg failed to adapt to the new reality of not being able to count on transfer income as well as the increased competitiveness in European football.[342][343] In combination with declining results on the pitch, the economy was in free fall, and the club made a new Swedish record loss of 26 million kronor in 2001,[344][210] and lost another 14 million kronor the next year.[345]

Finances were stabilised by 2003 in part thanks to a club record 24 million kronor sponsor income,[263] but of the 107 million kronor equity from 1997, only around 13 million kronor remained.[346][210] A financial scandal was revealed in 2005, concerning the payment of sign-on fees to players recruited in the previous years, then director of sport Mats Persson and paymaster Janne Nilsson were given short prison sentences, and the Swedish Tax Agency claimed 13 million kronor from IFK Göteborg for withheld taxes.[347] The equity was down to only 300,000 kronor in 2005, but the Swedish championship winning 2007 season put IFK back on solid financial grounds, surpassing 100 million kronor in revenue for the first time (as fifth Swedish club to do so).[348] The first half of the 2010s saw a relatively stable economy with an equity of 10–30 million kronor and a yearly revenue of 90–130 million kronor through the period.[317][349] By 2015 the club had the fifth highest revenue (excluding player sales) in Sweden with 104 million kronor, far behind leading Malmö FF with 415 million kronor (boosted by Champions League revenue),[350] but was second in sponsor income, again behind Malmö FF.[351] A positive 2015 result however was only saved by the sale of the club's training ground Kamratgården.[143]

In 2019, IFK Göteborg had a revenue 138 million kronor, of which 21 percent came from gate receipts, 24 percent from sponsors, and 10 percent from television rights.[352] Almost 40 million kronor came from transfer revenue, securing a positive result of nearly 12 million kronor, and increasing the equity to 22.5 million kronor.[353] In terms of revenue (including player sales), IFK Göteborg ranked fifth in Allsvenskan after Malmö FF (372 million kronor), AIK (198 million kronor), BK Häcken (187 million kronor, of which more than half is related to Gothia Cup[354]), and Hammarby IF (181 million kronor).[355] Malmö FF are also in a league of their own when it comes to equity, with over 500 million kronor, far in front of second-ranked IFK Norrköping at around 100 million kronor, and IFK Göteborg ranking seventh with the 22.5 million kronor of 2019.[356]

Social responsibility edit

Charity initiatives in the early years of Swedish football were mainly endeavours to get acceptance for new sport in society at large,[357] as such IFK played matches for the charity Mjölkdroppen—a forerunner to child care centres—and for the benefit of a sick player of rivals Örgryte IS in 1913 and 1914.[358] Matches raising money for vulnerable groups became even more common in the aftermath of World War I,[357] and as the working class began to leave their mark on the sport, football charity for workers and unemployed increased to meet their interests.[359] IFK played exhibition games as part of workers' festivals (arranged by the newspaper Ny Tid) on at least six occasions between 1916 and 1922,[360] and a 1921 charity match for unemployed against town rivals GAIS raised 4,000 Swedish kronor,[361] nearly two percent of IFK Göteborg's 210,000 kronor revenue.[314] It eventually came to the point where charity organisations overwhelmed the clubs with requests,[357] and IFK Göteborg board member Carl Linde wrote in 1922 that:[N][362]

"Göteborgsalliansen arranged a three-team tournament for De Arbetslösa this spring. Now the turn has come to Distriktet, Rävlanda Sanatory [sv], the Children's Day, Myrorna [sv], Mjölkdroppen and a lot of other charities and institutions are on the football clubs nagging about matches. On Sunday, ÖIS and IFK played a match for Arbetarekommunen."

The events at the time were not limited to local charities—charity matches were played by teams in Malmö to raise money for children in need in Vienna and prisoners of war in Siberia after World War I—,[357] and IFK Göteborg played a match in 1929 for the benefit of Svenskbyinsamlingen, an initiative to help the Swedish community in the Ukrainian village Gammalsvenskby.[363]

IFK Göteborg also invested in grassroots football, and through their campaign "sports for everyone" ("idrott åt alla") fielded seventeen senior, junior and youth teams in 1921.[364] Charity matches were played throughout the 1930s and 1940s,[365] but the main social impact Swedish football had from the 1930s and on through the post-war period was the close alignment to the concept of Folkhemmet.[366] Politician Hilding Johansson [sv] characterised the Swedish sports movement as a "comradeship democracy" in the 1950s,[367] and football was said to be the "people's sport" alongside the "people's party", the Social Democrats.[367] IFK Göteborg were also referred to as the "people's team", and relations with the Social Democrats were nurtured for decades to come,[368] still sometimes being referred to as a "sosseklubb" (colloquial for "social democratic club").[369] Football had such a strong influence that it formed part of society's social structure, and initiatives regarding popular education and temperance were common in the era,[370] though temperance movement leaflets with the message "Sober as guest in Stockholm – a matter of honour"[O] that were distributed to IFK supporters travelling to an away game against Djurgårdens IF in 1959 had limited effect.[371] With the rapid growth of Gothenburg suburbs in the 1950s and 1960s, IFK started a youth section in Kortedala in 1962.[371]

The modern corporate social responsibility programme of IFK Göteborg is collectively known as "IFK Göteborg in society" (IFK Göteborg i samhället, formerly Samspelet[372]) and include a number of activities organised by the club in cooperation with supporters, sponsors, the municipality and other participants.[373] The school tournament Energikicken has been arranged together with Göteborg Energi [sv]—the municipal energy company—since 1996, promoting Fair Play to 5,000 5th graders each year.[372][373] In 2019, the third and final "Cruyff Court" was completed in Bergsjön (together with one in Biskopsgården and one in Hammarkullen), in cooperation with the Johan Cruyff Foundation,[373] and IFK work together with a number of schools each year to promote physical activity and joy through weekly activities.[373]

Media coverage edit

On 5 November 1959, IFK Göteborg's European Cup match against Sparta Rotterdam was the first international match involving a Swedish club to be broadcast live on television (it was televised both in Sweden and the Netherlands).[374] Matches in Allsvenskan were not continuously televised until the late 1990s due to lack of interest,[375] but major matches involving IFK, such as cup finals and European matches, generated nationwide interest and were regularly televised.[376]

IFK Göteborg were the main subject of the documentary film The Last Proletarians of Football released in 2011, centered around the club's success during the 1980s, but also about the development of Swedish society during the same time.[377] The documentary follows how IFK, playing in the second division from 1971 to 1976, get back to Allsvenskan in 1977 and transform into a European football powerhouse during the 1980s.[377] Some of the players—such as Torbjörn Nilsson and Glenn Hysén—alongside manager Sven-Göran Eriksson also appear and get to tell their view of that period.[377][378][379] The film shows the success in the 1981–82 UEFA Cup, which culminated in the 1982 UEFA Cup Final against Hamburger SV. The contrast between the Swedish amateur side and their well-paid opponents is repeated as the documentary ends with the semifinals in the 1985–86 European Cup and the matches against FC Barcelona.[378][379]

As the most popular club in Sweden, IFK have often featured in different media formats, such as in a radio documentary on national broadcaster Sveriges Radio,[380] the children's book Ludde möter Blåvitt ("Ludde plays against Blåvitt") by Viveca Lärn,[381] and a short film following the last days of Håkan Mild's football career.[382] The club is referenced in the film Shed No Tears—based on the lyrics and music by Swedish artist Håkan Hellström—,[383] and in the film Hata Göteborg [sv] ("Hate Gothenburg") where a wannabe hooligan of Helsingborgs IF is chanting the film's title before a match against IFK Göteborg.[384] One of the primary characters in 1995 Swedish comedy show NileCity 105,6 is Veiron, a socialist blue-collar worker whose favourite team is IFK Göteborg, played by Robert Gustafsson.[385]

The IFK supporter website "Where Angels Dare", created by a student at Chalmers University of Technology in 1994, was the first football supporter site on the internet, a first shared with another Swedish site created by a supporter of Hammarby IF the same week.[386][387]

Players edit

First-team squad edit

As of 13 June 2021[388][389]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK   GRE Giannis Anestis
2 DF   SWE Jesper Tolinsson
3 MF   SWE Pontus Wernbloom
4 DF   SWE Carl Johansson
5 DF   SWE Alexander Jallow
7 MF   SWE Sebastian Eriksson
8 MF   SWE Hosam Aiesh
9 FW   SWE Robin Söder (captain)
10 FW   SWE Patrik Karlsson Lagemyr
11 FW   ISL Kolbeinn Sigþórsson
12 GK   SWE Ole Söderberg
14 MF   SWE Gustaf Norlin
No. Pos. Nation Player
15 MF   SWE Jakob Johansson
17 MF   SVK Marek Hamšík
18 MF   SWE Isak Dahlqvist
19 MF   SWE August Erlingmark
20 MF   SWE Simon Thern
21 MF   SWE Noah Alexandersson
22 MF   SWE Tobias Sana (vice captain)
23 MF   SWE Kevin Yakob
27 DF   SWE Yahya Kalley
28 MF   NGA Alhassan Yusuf
29 FW   SWE Oscar Vilhelmsson
30 DF   SWE Mattias Bjärsmyr

Youth players with first-team experience edit

As of 13 June 2021[390][389][P]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
32 DF   SWE Hannes Lennartsson
33 MF   CRO Filip Ambrož
34 FW   SWE Alfons Nygaard
No. Pos. Nation Player
MF   NED Tim van Assema
FW   SWE Lucas Kåhed

Out on loan edit

As of 13 June 2021[388][391][389]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
6 DF   SWE Rasmus Wikström (at AFC Eskilstuna until 31 December 2021)
31 GK   SWE Tom Amos (at Utsiktens BK until 31 December 2021)
No. Pos. Nation Player
MF   SWE Adil Titi (at IK Brage until 31 December 2021)

Notable players edit

As of 5 April 2021[392]
 
Gunnar Gren, playing for IFK Göteborg between 1941 and 1949, has been honoured by a statue outside Gamla Ullevi.
 
Bertil Johansson scored 162 goals in 268 league games for IFK Göteborg between 1955 and 1968.
 
Niclas Alexandersson has played 109 matches for the national team and has won two Swedish championships with IFK Göteborg.

The following players fulfill one or more of these four criteria:

  1. Have been voted for the greatest ever IFK Göteborg team in a 2004 poll by readers of the regional newspaper Göteborgs-Posten (11 players).[393]
  2. Have been chosen for the dream team presented in the club's official 100-year jubilee book published in 2004 (11 players).[394]
  3. Have been portrayed in the 1997 all-star team book "Alla tiders Blåvitt" (11 players and 5 substitutes).[395]
  4. Have gained more than 80 caps for their national team (10 players).[396]
Name Position IFK Göteborg
career[Q]
League record[R] Criteria
Matches Goals 1. 2. 3. 4.
  Erik Börjesson Forward 1907–1910
1912–1920
64 83 x
  Filip Johansson Forward 1924–1932 181 180 x x
  Arne Nyberg Forward 1932–1950 297 131 x
  Gunnar Gren Forward 1941–1949 164 78 x x
  Bengt Berndtsson Forward 1951–1967 348 69 x x x
  Bertil Johansson Forward 1955–1968 268 162 x x x
  Donald Niklasson Defender 1967–1977 189 12 x
  Björn Nordqvist Defender 1975–1978 83 2 x
  Torbjörn Nilsson Forward 1975–1976
1977–1982
1984–1986
212 127 x x x
  Tord Holmgren Midfielder 1977–1987 245 26 x
  Tommy Holmgren Midfielder
Forward
1978–1989 242 20 x x
  Ruben Svensson Defender 1978–1986 195 23 x (x)
  Glenn Strömberg Midfielder 1979–1982 97 9 x x
  Glenn Hysén Defender 1979–1983
1985–1987
155 13 x x
  Stig Fredriksson Defender 1981–1987 179 16 x x
  Thomas Wernerson Goalkeeper 1981–1987 181 0 (x)
  Roland Nilsson Defender 1983–1989 124 7 x
  Peter Larsson) Defender 1984–1987 101 13 x
  Stefan Pettersson Forward 1984–1988
1994–1998
162 58 (x)
  Erik Thorstvedt Goalkeeper 1988 24 0 x
  Kennet Andersson Forward 1989–1991 63 29 x
  Thomas Ravelli Goalkeeper 1989–1997 211 0 x x x x
  Stefan Rehn Midfielder 1990–1995 138 28 (x)
  Håkan Mild Midfielder 1990–1993
1995–1996
1998–2001
2002–2005
252 26 x
  Jesper Blomqvist Midfielder 1993–1996 73 18 (x)
  Magnus Erlingmark Defender
Midfielder
Forward
1993–2004 280 43 x x
  Teddy Lučić Defender 1996–1998 58 2 x
  Niclas Alexandersson Midfielder 1996–1997
2004–2008
2009
176 32 x
  Marcus Berg Forward 2005–2007 53 21 x
  Ragnar Sigurðsson Defender 2007–2011 125 12 x
  Marek Hamšík Midfielder 2021 0 0 x

Supporters' player of the year edit

 
Tobias Hysén in a pre-season friendly in 2009, later that year was awarded the "Ärkeängeln" honorary prize.

The supporters' club Supporterklubben Änglarna award the honorary prize "Ärkeängeln" ("The Archangel") to a player for their great loyalty and sporting merits each year since 1973, the prize can only be won once.[397] The following recipients have been decided by board vote until 1982 and by member vote since 1983.[398][399]

Management edit

Organisation edit

As of 13 June 2021[270][269]
Name Role
  Richard Berkling Chairman
  Peter Brandt Secretary
  Håkan Mild Club director
  Pontus Farnerud Director of sport
  Jonas Olsson Director of youth academy
  Roger Gustafsson Youth academy training manager
  Olle Sultan Head scout

Technical staff edit

As of 13 June 2021[388][269][400]
 
Current head coach of IFK Göteborg, Mikael Stahre.
Name Role
  Mikael Stahre Head coach
  William Strömberg Assistant coach
  Stefan Remnér Goalkeeping coach
  Roland Kaldéus Fitness coach
  Kalle Olsson Strength and conditioning coach
  Calle Persson Physiotherapist
  Fredrik Larsson Physiotherapist
  Jon Karlsson Club doctor
  Rolf Gustavsson Equipment manager
  Håkan Lindahl Equipment manager

Notable head coaches edit

The following head coaches have won at least one major honour with IFK Göteborg as head coach, or have coached the team for 100 or more league matches.[401]

 
Sven-Göran Eriksson coached IFK Göteborg between 1979 and 1982.
 
Jonas Olsson played for IFK Göteborg between 1989 and 1998, and was head coach from 2007 to 2011.
Name IFK Göteborg
career[Q]
League
matches[R]
Swedish
championship
Svenska
Cupen
UEFA
Cup
  Henning Svensson 1924–1929
1930–1932
1943
177
  Eric Hjelm 1930
1932–1938
139 1934–35
  Ernst Andersson 1941–1942 34 1941–42
  József Nagy 1943–1948 110
  Walter Probst 1954–1959 110 1957–58
  Bertil Johansson 1967–1970 88 1969
  Sven-Göran Eriksson 1979–1982 87 1978–79
1981–82
1981–82
  Gunder Bengtsson 1982
1985–1987
95 1982
1987
1986–87
  Björn Westerberg 1983–1984 56 1983
1984
1982–83
  Roger Gustafsson 1990–1995
2002
171 1990
1991
1993
1994
1995
1991
  Mats Jingblad 1996–1998 59 1996
  Stefan Rehn[S] 2007–2010 100 2007 2008
  Jonas Olsson[S] 2007–2011 146 2007 2008
  Mikael Stahre 2012–2014
2021–
90 2012–13
  Jörgen Lennartsson 2015–2017 74 2014–15
  Poya Asbaghi 2018–2020 78 2019–20

Honours edit

Domestic edit

 
Supporters invading the pitch as IFK Göteborg secured its most recent Swedish championship title in 2007.

League edit

Cups edit

European edit

Doubles, trebles, and quadruples edit

Doubles edit

Trebles edit

Quadruples edit

Records and statistics edit

Footnotes edit

  1. ^ There exists some confusion regarding the date of the meeting and the official date of foundation. Some sources give the date for both as 2 October,[5][6][7][8] while other sources give the date for both as 4 October.[2][9][10][11] More recent sources differentiate the dates and place the meeting on 2 October but the foundation on 4 October,[1][4] the club itself considers 4 October as the foundation date.[12][13]
  2. ^ These crest designs in blue with a white stripe[16][76] are used by e.g. IFK Norrköping, IFK Luleå, and IFK Malmö.
  3. ^ The 1959 kit featured an official Swedish Football Association championship badge that was in use in the 1950s, as IFK were reigning Swedish champions.[80]
  4. ^ Original Swedish: "Blåvitt känns på något vis som ett dotterbolag".
  5. ^ Original Swedish: "vill framstå som goda medborgare i de kommuner där vi verkar".
  6. ^ The use of shorts sponsor alternated during the seasons.
  7. ^ The use of kit supplier alternated during the season.
  8. ^ No main shirt sponsor was used for the first half of the season.
  9. ^ Original Swedish: inte [...] mellan en bra och en jättebra arena, utan för att det var skillnaden mellan en dålig och en acceptabel arena".
  10. ^ Original Swedish: När Kamraterna trädde ut på planen hurrade publiken på andra plats, men när Örgryte visade sig hurrade den på läktaren.".
  11. ^ See Andersson 2011, pp. 318, 471, for a thorough review of the conflicting information.
  12. ^ a b Sources for the IFK numbers until 1919 use the Swedish term omslutning[313][192] which means either side of the balance sheet (assets, or liabilities and equity), but the numbers are compared to the revenue (inkomst) of other clubs, and from 1920 one of those sources[314] use revenue for IFK numbers. This article assumes that "omslutning" in the years until 1919 has been used to mean "revenue".
  13. ^ Original Swedish: "det får inte bli för mycket pengar inblandade, som förstör klubbmoralen".
  14. ^ Original Swedish: "Göteborgs-Alliansen gjorde i våras en triangelserie för De Arbetslösa. Nu kommer turen till Distriktet, Räflandasanatoriet, Barnens Dag, Myrorna, Mjölkdroppen och en massa andra välgörenhetsinstitutioner och inrättningar ligga efter fotbollsklubbarna och tjata om matcher. I söndags spelade ÖIS och IFK en match för Arbetarekommunen".
  15. ^ Original Swedish: "Nykter som stockholmsgäst – en hederssak".
  16. ^ Current youth players who at least have sat on the bench in a competitive match.
  17. ^ a b Career years only include years with competitive matches.
  18. ^ a b "League" matches includes Svenska Serien, Fyrkantserien, Allsvenskan, Mästerskapsserien and Division 2 matches as well as qualification and play-off matches.
  19. ^ a b Stefan Rehn and Jonas Olsson shared the head coach responsibility from 2007 until halfway through the 2010 season.
  20. ^ The title of "Swedish champions" has been awarded to the winner of four different competitions over the years. Between 1896 and 1925 the title was awarded to the winner of Svenska Mästerskapet, a stand-alone cup tournament. No club were given the title between 1926 and 1930 even though the first-tier league Allsvenskan was played. In 1931 the title was reinstated and awarded to the winner of Allsvenskan. Between 1982 and 1990 a play-off in cup format was held at the end of the league season to decide the champions. After the play-off format in 1991 and 1992 the title was decided by the winner of Mästerskapsserien, an additional league after the end of Allsvenskan. Since the 1993 season the title has once again been awarded to the winner of Allsvenskan.[403]
  21. ^ The 1992–93 UEFA Champions League group stage was played in two groups of four, the first team in each group advanced to the final. IFK Göteborg finished second in their group, the equivalent of a semi-final appearance.[181]
  22. ^ IFK Göteborg won all tournaments the club competed in in 1982, and also won their group in the 1982 Intertoto Cup.[407]
  23. ^ Also the Swedish club football record.[410]
  24. ^ Also the Allsvenskan record.[412]

Citations edit

  1. ^ a b c d Josephson & Jönsson 2004, p. 9.
  2. ^ a b c Historik över Idrottsföreningen Kamraternas, Göteborg, verksamhet och utveckling 1904–1919 1919, p. 5.
  3. ^ Åkerlund 1954, pp. 11–12.
  4. ^ a b ifkdb.se 2020.
  5. ^ Åkerlund 1954, p. 12.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Alsiö 2011, p. 139.
  7. ^ Jerneryd 1981, p. 156.
  8. ^ Andreasson & Palmström 1976, pp. 16, 28–29.
  9. ^ a b Nylin 2004, p. 47.
  10. ^ Bernmar, Skånberg & Öberg 1979, p. 11.
  11. ^ Persson et al. 1988, p. 75.
  12. ^ a b c d Stadgar för IFK Göteborg Fotboll 2018, p. 3.
  13. ^ Jörnvik 2019a.
  14. ^ Josephson & Jönsson 2004, pp. 9, 15.
  15. ^ Jerneryd 1981, p. 169.
  16. ^ a b c Josephson & Jönsson 2004, p. 16.
  17. ^ Josephson & Jönsson 2004, p. 10.
  18. ^ Josephson & Jönsson 2004, pp. 11–13.
  19. ^ a b c Josephson & Jönsson 2004, p. 13.
  20. ^ a b c d Josephson & Jönsson 2004, p. 19.
  21. ^ a b Josephson & Jönsson 2004, p. 20.
  22. ^ Josephson & Jönsson 2004, p. 25.
  23. ^ Glanell et al. 2004, p. 108.
  24. ^ a b c Nylin 2004, p. 48.
  25. ^ Persson et al. 1988, p. 78.
  26. ^ Glanell et al. 2004, pp. 98–101.
  27. ^ a b c d Nylin 2004, p. 49.
  28. ^ Josephson & Jönsson 2004, p. 55.
  29. ^ Svenska Fotbollförbundet – Allsvenska rekord.
  30. ^ Josephson & Jönsson 2004, p. 88.
  31. ^ a b c Josephson & Jönsson 2004, p. 99.
  32. ^ "Sven-Göran Eriksson". The Football Association. 2006. Archived from the original on 5 March 2005. Retrieved 20 June 2007.
  33. ^ "Bakgrundsfakta till Token från Torsby" (in Swedish). Offside. 2006. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 13 July 2007.
  34. ^ Josephson & Jönsson 2004, p. 109.
  35. ^ a b Josephson & Jönsson 2004, pp. 110–111.
  36. ^ Jönsson – 1978–1982.
  37. ^ Nylin 2004, p. 50.
  38. ^ a b c Cresswell, Peterjon (2003). "Magazine: Gothenburg". UEFA. Archived from the original on 23 June 2007. Retrieved 20 June 2007.
  39. ^ Jönsson – 1983–1989.
  40. ^ Josephson & Jönsson 2004, p. 321.
  41. ^ M.H. (1999). "Nittiotalet är över – men minnena består" (in Swedish). Alltid Blåvitt. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 20 June 2007.
  42. ^ Guslen 1994.
  43. ^ a b c Jönsson – 1997–2003.
  44. ^ Josephson & Jönsson 2004, p. 153.
  45. ^ a b Nylin 2004, p. 10.
  46. ^ Nylin 2004, p. 27.
  47. ^ a b c Josephson & Jönsson 2004, p. 15.
  48. ^ a b c d e f IFK Göteborgs matchdräkt 2019.
  49. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Josephson 2013.
  50. ^ a b Josephson & Jönsson 2004, p. 229.
  51. ^ a b Historiska dräkter 2020, p. 5.
  52. ^ a b c Historiska dräkter 2020, pp. 6–7.
  53. ^ Historiska dräkter 2020, p. 9.
  54. ^ Persson et al. 1988, p. 76.
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References edit

General sports and football books, publications, and magazines
  • Alsiö, Martin; Frantz, Alf; Lindahl, Jimmy; Persson, Gunnar, eds. (2004). 100 år: Svenska fotbollförbundets jubileumsbok 1904–2004 (in Swedish). Vol. 2. Vällingby: Stroemberg Media Group. ISBN 91-86184-59-8.
  • Alsiö, Martin (2014). Derbydags: vänskaper och rivaliteter i Göteborgs fotbollshistoria (in Swedish). Malmö: Arx. ISBN 978-91-87043-49-9.
  • Alsiö, Martin (2011). Persson, Gunnar (ed.). 100 år med allsvensk fotboll (in Swedish). Västerås: Idrottsförlaget i Västerås/Canal+. ISBN 978-91-977326-7-3.
  • Andersson, Torbjörn (2002). Kung fotboll: den svenska fotbollens kulturhistoria från 1800-talets slut till 1950 (in Swedish). Eslöv: Symposion. ISBN 91-7139-565-2.
  • Andersson, Torbjörn (2011). "Spela fotboll bondjävlar!": en studie i svensk klubbkultur och lokal identitet från 1950 till 2000-talets början (in Swedish). Vol. 1. Stockholm: Symposion. ISBN 978-91-7139-868-0.
  • Backman, Jyri (8 April 2009). "Aktiebolag inom svensk elitfotboll" (PDF). Nordisk Sport och fritid (in Swedish). idrottsforum.org. ISSN 1652-7224. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  • Bergsten, Mikael; Esterling, Carlos, eds. (3 April 2020). Hur mår svensk elitfotboll?: en analys av den finansiella ställningen i Allsvenskan 2019 (PDF) (Report) (in Swedish). Stockholm: Ernst & Young. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
  • Cederquist, Jonas (2010). Stockholms fotbollshistoria 1880–2010 (in Swedish). Stockholm: Stockholmia. ISBN 978-91-7031-222-9.
  • Cederquist, Jonas; Persson, Gunnar; Törner, Olle (2016). Derbydags: svenska fotbollsderbyn genom tiderna (in Swedish). Västerås: Idrottsförlaget i Västerås. ISBN 978-91-981488-9-3.
  • Christensen, Love; Svensson, Richard (2012). "Fotbollssupportrar i Göteborg redux". In Bergström, Annika; Ohlsson, Jonas (eds.). Medborgarna om välfärden: samhälle, opinion och medier i Västsverige (PDF) (in Swedish). Göteborg: SOM-institutet. ISBN 978-91-89673-25-0. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
  • Ekman, Tomas; Jansson, Gerhard (2008). Kamp om bollen: brukslagen, arbetarlagen och kamratklubbarna (in Swedish). Stockholm: Bilda. ISBN 978-91-574-7987-7.
  • Frountzos, Andreas, ed. (4 October 2016). Penningligan: en inblick i den svenska elitfotbollens ekonomi (PDF) (Report) (in Swedish). Stockholm: Deloitte. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
  • Glanell, Tomas; Brodd, Tore G.; Hernadi, Robert; Strömberg, Robert, eds. (1984). 80 år med svensk fotboll: jubileumsboken (in Swedish). Stockholm: Strömbergs. ISBN 91-86184-23-7.
  • Glanell, Tomas; Havik, Göran; Lindberg, Thomas; Persson, Gunnar; Ågren, Bengt, eds. (2004). 100 år: Svenska fotbollförbundets jubileumsbok 1904–2004 (in Swedish). Vol. 1. Vällingby: Stroemberg Media Group. ISBN 91-86184-59-8.
  • Havelund, Jonas; Joern, Lise; Rasmussen, Kristian, eds. (2010). Fotboll och huliganism i Skandinavien (in Danish). Malmö: Idrottsforum.org. ISBN 978-91-85645-10-7.
  • Högström, Jesper (2018). Blågult: historien om Sveriges herrlandslag i fotboll (in Swedish). Stockholm: Offside Press. ISBN 978-91-85279-55-5.
  • Jerneryd, Roland (1981). Hur idrotten kom till stan: Göteborgs idrottshistoria 1800–1950 (in Swedish). Göteborg: Göteborgs hembygdsförbund.
  • Jägerskiöld Nilsson, Leonard (2016). Fotbollens heraldik: klubbmärkenas historia (in Swedish). Stockholm: Pintxo. ISBN 978-91-8839-516-0.
  • Leifby, Marcus (2018). "En allsvensk tv-historia". Offside (in Swedish). No. 1. Offside Press. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  • Lindahl, Jimmy (2005). Europacupen 50 år: en statistisk överblick av de svenska klubbarnas insatser genom tiderna (in Swedish). Solna: Svenska FotbollFörlaget. ISBN 91-88474-44-5.
  • Lindahl, Jimmy (2007). "Kan vi ta betalt för detta?: en studie av Svenska Fotbollförbundets inställning till direktsända idrottsevenemang i svensk television under 1950-talet" (PDF). SFS-Bolletinen (in Swedish). No. 1. Sveriges Fotbollshistoriker & Statistiker. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  • Nylin, Lars (2004). Den nödvändiga boken om allsvenskan: svensk fotboll från 1896 till idag, statistik, höjdpunkter lag för lag, klassiska bilder (in Swedish). Sundbyberg: Semic. ISBN 91-552-3168-3.
  • Persson, Gunnar; Glanell, Tomas; Lundgren, Lars; Stark, Janne; Strömberg, Robert, eds. (1988). Allsvenskan genom tiderna (in Swedish). Stockholm: Strömbergs/Brunnhages. ISBN 91-86184-35-0.
  • Persson, Lennart K. (2011). Den hårda kampen: fotboll i Sverige, särskilt Göteborg, före första världskriget (in Swedish). Lindome: Bricoleur. ISBN 978-91-85411-22-1.
  • Peterson, Tomas (1993). Den svengelska modellen: svensk fotboll i omvandling under efterkrigstiden (in Swedish). Lund: Arkiv. ISBN 91-7924-074-7.
  • Stadgar och bestämmelser för Kamratorganisationen (DOC) (Report) (in Swedish). IFK Centralorganisation. 12 March 2011. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
  • Sjöman, Frank, ed. (1983). Fotboll 1982 (in Swedish). Stockholm: Brunnhages. ISSN 0347-2752.
  • Sund, Bill (1997). Fotbollens maktfält: svensk fotbollshistoria i ett internationellt perspektiv (in Swedish). Solna: Svenska FotbollFörlaget. ISBN 91-88474-01-1.
  • Winkler, Lasse (2016). "Den vite mannens klubb". Offside (in Swedish). No. 6. Offside Press. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
IFK Göteborg books, publications, and magazines
  • Andreasson, Kenth; Palmström, Uno (1976). Kamraterna: en bok om IFK Göteborg (in Swedish). Stockholm: Askild & Kärnekull. ISBN 91-7008-652-4.
  • Andreasson, Kenth; Palmström, Uno (1988). Blåvitt: historien om ett mästarlag (in Swedish). Stockholm: Prisma. ISBN 91-518-2232-6.
  • Bernmar, Anders; Skånberg, Alf; Öberg, Ralf, eds. (1979). Blåvitt 75 år (in Swedish). Göteborg: IFK Göteborg.
  • Crusner, Lennart "Duke" (2003). "IFK Göteborg firar snart sina 100 år: valde rätta vägen till Änglamarken". In Jönsson, Stig A. (ed.). Idrottsarvet: årets bok Idrottsmuseet i Göteborg (in Swedish). Vol. 2003. Göteborg: Idrottsmuseet i Göteborg. pp. 60–83. ISSN 0283-1791.
  • Elisson, Johan; Kjäll, Andreas; Pettersson, John (2014). Henriksson, Mathias (ed.). Vi som är från Göteborg åker aldrig hem med sorg (in Swedish). Göteborg: Supporterklubben Änglarna. ISBN 978-91-637-5138-7.
  • Göransson, Mattias (2005). Blåvit gryning (in Swedish). Göteborg: Offside Press. ISBN 91-85279-03-X.
  • Historik över Idrottsföreningen Kamraternas, Göteborg, verksamhet och utveckling 1904–1919 (in Swedish). Göteborg: IFK Göteborg. 1919.
  • Historik över Idrottsföreningen Kamraternas, Göteborg, verksamhet och utveckling 1904–1924 (in Swedish). Göteborg: IFK Göteborg. 1925.
  • Historik över Idrottsföreningen Kamraternas, Göteborg, verksamhet och utveckling 1904–1929 (in Swedish). Göteborg: IFK Göteborg. 1929.
  • Historik över Idrottsföreningen Kamraternas, Göteborg, verksamhet och utveckling 1904–1934 (in Swedish). Göteborg: IFK Göteborg. 1934.
  • Historiska dräkter: IFK Göteborg, 1904–2019 (in Swedish). Göteborg: IFK Göteborg. 2020.
  • Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Göteborg 1904–1944 (in Swedish). Göteborg: IFK Göteborg. 1944.
  • IFK Göteborgs matchdräkt: riktningsdokument (PDF) (Report) (in Swedish). IFK Göteborg. March 2019. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
  • Jacobsson, Ingvar; Larsson, Göran (1977). Vi älskar dom (in Swedish). Bjästa: CeWe.
  • Josephson, Åke; Jönsson, Ingemar, eds. (2004). IFK Göteborg 1904–2004: en hundraårig blåvit historia genom elva epoker (in Swedish). Göteborg: IFK Göteborg. ISBN 91-631-4659-2.
  • Josephson, Åke; Jönsson, Ingemar, eds. (2014). IFK Göteborg 2004–2014: nu fortsätter vi att berätta historien (in Swedish). Göteborg: IFK Göteborg. ISBN 978-91-637-6596-4.
  • Modéer, Marcus, ed. (2021). Verksamhetsberättelse 2020 (Report) (in Swedish). IFK Göteborg. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
  • Persson, Lennart K. (1993). "De blåvita invasionerna 1969–1970: den moderna huliganismens första framträdande i Sverige". In Nilson, Allan T. (ed.). Idrottsarvet: årsbok för Idrottsmuseet i Göteborg (in Swedish). Vol. 1993. Göteborg: Idrottsmuseet i Göteborg. pp. 80–106. ISSN 0283-1791.
  • Stadgar för IFK Göteborg Fotboll (PDF) (Report) (in Swedish). IFK Göteborg. 2018. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  • Statistik 2015–2017 (Report) (in Swedish). IFK Göteborg. 2017. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  • Thylin, Stefan (1976). "Vi älskar dom": boken om Blåvitt (in Swedish). Bjästa: CeWe.
  • Thylin, Stefan (1996). Änglarna: ett europeiskt fenomen (in Swedish). Stockholm: Fischer & Co. ISBN 91-7054-821-8.
  • Thylin, Stefan (1997). Alla tiders Blåvitt (in Swedish). Västerås: Sportförlaget. ISBN 91-88540-67-7.
  • Thylin, Stefan (2009). Guldåren (in Swedish). Västerås: Sportförlaget. ISBN 978-91-85319-58-9.
  • Thylin, Stefan (2011). 100 änglar (in Swedish). Västerås: Sportförlaget. ISBN 978-91-88540-01-0.
  • Verksamhetsberättelse 2018 (PDF) (Report) (in Swedish). IFK Göteborg. 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  • Verksamhetsberättelse 2019 (PDF) (Report) (in Swedish). IFK Göteborg. 2020. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  • Åkerlund, Nils Gunnar, ed. (1954). Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna, Göteborg, 1904 2/10 1954 (in Swedish). Göteborg: IFK Göteborg.
Web pages

  • Jönsson, Ingemar. "1978–1982" (in Swedish). IFK Göteborg. Archived from the original on 17 September 2017. Retrieved 16 September 2017.
  • Jönsson, Ingemar. "1983–1989" (in Swedish). IFK Göteborg. Archived from the original on 17 September 2017. Retrieved 16 September 2017.
  • Jönsson, Ingemar. "1997–2003" (in Swedish). IFK Göteborg. Archived from the original on 17 September 2017. Retrieved 16 September 2017.
News and articles
Offside magazine to check:
  • 4/2000
  • 2/2001
  • 4/2002
  • 2/2010
  • 4/2010
  • 6/2016
  • 1/2018

External links edit


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Category:Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Category:Football clubs in Sweden Category:Football clubs in Gothenburg Category:Allsvenskan clubs Category:Association football clubs established in 1904 Category:1904 establishments in Sweden Category:UEFA Cup winning clubs Category:FIFA (video game series) teams