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Template:Football club infobox
IFK Göteborg is a Swedish football club located in Gothenburg. The club is often refered to as only IFK, although this can be confusing as there are many other clubs in Sweden with that abbreviation as prefix. The club, formed 4 October 1904, has won 17 national championship titles, 4 national cup titles, and two UEFA Cups.
IFK Göteborg, Malmö FF, and AIK are often considered to be the three biggest and most classic Swedish football clubs with 42 championship titles in total. IFK Göteborg is also the only Swedish team to have won a European cup competition, the UEFA Cup in 1982 and 1987. They are currently playing in the highest Swedish league, Allsvenskan, where they have played the majority of the seasons during their existence. The last time they played in a lower league was in 1976.
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History
Main article: History of IFK Göteborg
IFK Göteborg was founded on 4 October 1904, becoming the 39th IFK association. A committee for football was created at the historical first meeting. The first match ever played ended in a 4-1 victory against a club from the local area, IK Viking. The foundation of IFK Göteborg was important for the development of football in the city, as until that point, Örgryte IS, the largest of the area clubs, had dominated the scene. IFK Göteborg represented some needed competition.
IFK Göteborg, became the first Swedish team in four years to beat Örgryte is in 1907. IFK won the Swedish Championships for the first time in 1908 by winning the cup tournament Svenska Mästerskapet, and three players from the club were selected to play for Sweden. IFK played international teams for the first time the same year, meeting the Danish clubs Østerbro BK and Boldklubben af 1893.
In 1910 the team played its first game ever using their blue and white striped jerseys. The team played 1-1 in a game in 1912 against what became the Swedish Olympic team, and the newspapers in Stockholm nominated IFK Göteborg as "the best Swedish football club ever". IFK Göteborg won Svenska Serien for the fifth time in a row 1917. The club gained its first official coach in 1921, Alexander Brody from Hungary. The first Swedish official national league, Allsvenskan, was started in the autumn 1924, the same year as the legendary Filip "Svarte-Filip" Johansson made his debut for IFK Göteborg. The club finished second, but "Svarte-Filip" scored 39 goals in 22 games and won the top-scoring league.
IFK finally won its first Allsvenskan title in the spring of 1935 after eight silver and bronze medals since the league start. Swedish football was no longer dominated by teams from Gothenburg in the later half of the thirties, and IFK Göteborg was relegated in 1937/38, although the team was promoted back to Allsvenskan the next season. Back in the highest division, IFK finished second as it was decided to finish the league, even after the breakout of World War II.
Ifkgoteborg1958.jpg
The 1940s were a sad time for the supporters of the club and the decade was ended by IFK being relegated from Allsvenskan for the second time. The only light in the dark was Gunnar Gren, being the top scorer in 1946/47. He was also awarded Guldbollen as the best player in Sweden, and won an Olympic Games gold medal with the Swedish team in 1948. IFK was promoted to Allsvenskan after one season in Division 2. IFK competed in a European cup (the European Champion Clubs' Cup) for the first time in 1958, being eliminated in the second round. The still unbeaten Allsvenskan record attendance of 52,194 was set when IFK played ÖIS on Nya Ullevi in 1959.
The team suprisingly won Allsvenskan in 1969 after a mediocre decade. What happened next became the darkest year in the history as the team was relegated the year after, in 1970. After three seasons in the second league, IFK had bought 34 players, but still hadn't managed to win Division 2. IFK was finally promoted to Allsvenskan in 1976. In 1978, IFK hired the coach Sven-Göran Eriksson to make IFK Göteborg a top team once again. He introduced the 4-4-2 system with "pressure and support", a system that was going to give IFK great success later on. The 70s ended with a second place in Allsvenskan and the first gold medal in Svenska Cupen.
After reinforcing the team with several good players, IFK finished second in the league and reached the quarter-finals in the UEFA Cup. 1982 became a turbulent season, as the whole board was replaced, and the club almost going bankrupt, having to loan money from the supporter club to be able to go to Valencia and play the quarter-final in the UEFA Cup. After the troublesome start, IFK won everything they could win that year, including Allsvenskan, Svenska Cupen, and the UEFA Cup, defeating Hamburger SV in the finals.
IFK managed to field a strong team for a couple of years and won gold in both the league in 1983 and 1984 and the cup in 1983. In 1986, the team advanced to the semi-finals in the European Cup but was defeated after penalties against FC Barcelona. A new team of talents won both the UEFA Cup and Allsvenskan once again in 1987, after beating Dundee United in the finals. The new junior coach Roger Gustafsson took over the team in 1990, he was very successful and won Allsvenskan five times with IFK between 1990 and 1995. As IFK won Allsvenskan in 1993 they qualified for international play. IFK advanced to the group stage of the Champions League then facing FC Barcelona, Manchester United and Galatasaray. No one really believed that IFK would survive the group and enter the quarter-final stage, but IFK Göteborg won the group, but was eliminated by Bayern Munich after 0-0 in Munich and 2-2 at home.
The last years before the new millennium was a disaster, with "only" a silver in 1997 and an eight place in 1998, after buying several expensive players without success. IFK changed coach in the middle of a season two years in a row, when the club never before had done that even once. The last year of the decade ended with a sixth place. The new millenium has offered varied results, almost being relegated in 2002, but also being involved in the top fight in both 2001 and 2004.
Colours and badge
The traditional colours of all IFK associations are blue and white, and IFK Göteborg is no exception. The first dress used was a blue jersey with a single horizontal white stripe and the regular four-pointed star in white on the chest, used by most IFK clubs. The next few years white and/or blue jerseys without stripes was used. In 1910, the first game was played in the blue and white vertically striped jersey and blue shorts. This dress has been in use as the home kit ever since, without any exceptions. A blue and white logotype of the main sponsor ICA, a grocery store chain, has figured on the dress front since 1982, and has almost become part of the dress. No other major sponsors are seen on the dress which, together with the long time use, has made the dress a classic in Swedish football. The traditional away kit is red and white, in different styles, even though other colour combinations, for example orange and white, have been used, mainly in the 1990s and 2000s. The 2005 away kit once again uses red and white.
The badge of IFK Göteborg 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 Folkungaätt, holding the Three Crowns of Sweden, both symbols being used in the Coat of Arms of Sweden. This arm was granted to the city by Gustavus Adolphus. The coat-of-arms of Gothenburg sees the lion facing the sinister (heraldic right) side which often is interpreted as a fleeing lion, the normal being a lion facing the dexter (left) side, but IFK chose to have the lion facing dexter on the club badge. Adding the three letters IFK on top and the badge used since it first appearance in 1919 is complete.
Stadium
IFK Göteborg's main home stadium is Gamla Ullevi where the majority of the games have been played since 1992 when the club moved back there from Ullevi which had been the home stadium since it was built in 1958. Games attracting large crowd, for example derbies against the rivals Örgryte IS, or international games are still played at the larger Ullevi arena. There are plans for a new arena that will be built on the same spot as Gamla Ullevi, which will be torn down. The new arena, currently nameless, is to be finished in 2007-2008.
Current squad
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Noted players
Listed according to when they debuted for IFK Göteborg (year in parentheses):
- 1910s-1920s: Erik Börjesson (1907), Herbert 'Murren' Karlsson (1917), Gunnar Rydberg (1921), Anders Rydberg (1923), Filip 'Svarte-Filip' Johansson (1924), Ernst Andersson (1927)
- 1930s-1940s: Arne Nyberg (1932), Holger 'Proppen' Bengtsson (1938), Gunnar Gren (1940), Rune 'Killing' Emanuelsson (1941)
- 1950s-1960s: Bengt 'Fölet' Berndtsson (1950), Bertil 'Bebben' Johansson (1954), Nils 'Tidan' Johansson (1955)
- 1970s: Ove Kindvall (1975), Björn Nordqvist (1975), Torbjörn Nilsson (1975), Ralf Edström (1977), Glenn Holm (1977), Tommy Holmgren (1977), Tord Holmgren (1977), Dan Corneliusson (1978), Glenn Hysén (1978), Glenn Strömberg (1979)
- 1980s: Stig Fredriksson (1980), Thomas Wernerson (1981), Johnny Ekström (1983), Roland Nilsson (1983), Stefan Petterson (1984), Klas Ingesson (1987), Mikael Nilsson (1987), Håkan Mild (1988), Kennet Andersson (1989), Pontus Kåmark (1989), Thomas Ravelli (1989)
- 1990s: Stefan Rehn (1990), Joachim Björklund (1992), Jesper Blomqvist (1993), Magnus Erlingmark (1993), Niclas Alexandersson (1996), Andreas Andersson (1996)
- 2000s: Peter Ijeh (2004)
Noted managers
Listed according to when they became managers for IFK Göteborg (year in parentheses):
- 1910s-1940s: Jozef Nagy (1945)
- 1950s-1980s: Bertil 'Bebben' Johansson (1967), Sven-Göran Eriksson (1979)
- 1990s-2000s: Roger Gustafsson (1990), Bosse Johansson (2003)
Achievements
- Swedish Champions:
- Winners (17): 1908, 1910, 1918, 1934-35, 1941-42, 1957-58, 1969, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996
- Allsvenskan:
- Winners (12): 1934-35, 1941-42, 1957-58, 1969, 1982, 1984, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996
- Runners-up (9): 1924-25, 1926-27, 1929-30, 1939-49, 1979, 1981, 1986, 1988, 1997
- Mästerskapsserien:
- Winners (1): 1991
- Allsvenskan play-off:
- Winners (5): 1982, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1990
- Runners-up (1): 1985
- Svenska Serien:
- Winners (5): 1912-13, 1913-14, 1914-15, 1915-16, 1916-17
- Fyrkantsserien:
- Winners (2): 1918, 1919
- Svenska Mästerskapet:
- Winners (3): 1908, 1910, 1918
- Svenska Cupen:
- Winners (4): 1978-79, 1981-82, 1982-83, 1991
- Runners-up (3): 1985-86, 1998-99, 2004
- UEFA Cup:
- Winners (2): 1981-82, 1986-87
- Royal League:
- Runners-up (1): 2004-05
External links
- IFK Göteborg (http://www.ifkgoteborg.se/) - official site
- Supporterklubben Änglarna (http://www.anglarna.se/) - official supporter club site
- Alltid Blåvitt (http://www.svenskafans.com/fotboll/ifkgoteborg/) - supporter site
- Brown Bombers (http://www.angelz.net/) - ultras site
- Ultra Bulldogs (http://www.bulldogs97.com/) - ultras site
- YL/WCA (http://www.younglionsgbg.cjb.net/) - ultras site
References
- IFK Göteborg 1904-2004: en hundraårig blåvit historia genom elva epoker. (2004). Wettergrens bokhandel (distributor). ISBN 91-631-4659-2
Online
- Jönsson, Ingemar (2003). IFK Göteborg (http://www.ifkgoteborg.se/). Retrieved Jun. 7, 2005.
Template:Swedish Allsvenskan Leaguede:IFK Göteborg nl:IFK Göteborg sv:IFK Göteborg