Soccer in Sweden

Alongside ice hockey, football is one of the most popular sports in Sweden . In addition to the state-owned Championships is in Sweden , a strong media interest in the performance of Swedish football player abroad. The reigning champions are Malmö FF for men and Linköpings FC for women.

Association

Logo of Svenska Fotbollförbundet

Today's Swedish Football Association, Svenska Fotbollförbundet , came into being on December 18, 1904, when 77 clubs in Stockholm merged to form the Svenska Gymnastik- och Idrottsföreningarnas riksförbunds section för fotboll och bandy , which was given its current name a year later. However, other associations existed in the early years. One of these associations was Svenska Bollspelsförbundet , founded in 1902 and one of the founding members of FIFA in Paris in 1904 . In the following years Svenska Fotbollförbundet replaced the competing associations and from 1906 was the international representative of Swedish football at FIFA. When the European continental association UEFA was founded in 1954, Sweden was also one of the constituent member associations.

Colorful personality of the early years of the Swedish Football Association was Clarence von Rosen , who is also the namesake of until 2000 when his involvement in Nazism were uncovered, awarded Champion Clubs' Cup was. The sometimes best-known chairman of the Swedish national association is Lennart Johansson , whose name adorns the successor cup. Between 1985 and 1990 he directed the fortunes of the sports association until he was elected to the top of UEFA . His successor was Lars-Åke Lagrell , who is still in charge of the association today.

history

Game scene from the first game according to official football rules between Örgryte IS and IS Lyckan's soldiers on May 22, 1892

In the 1870s, the game of football came to Sweden from Great Britain , although the dispute over the direction between association football and rugby , which took place in almost all European countries, led to games according to different sets of rules.

On May 22, 1892, the first game of the Gothenburg clubs IS Lyckans Soldater and Örgryte IS , founded in the 1880s, took place on the Balders Hage sports field . The game, which Örgryte IS won 1-0, is considered to be the first football game under the association rules between two Swedish teams.

In 1895 the sports association Svenska Idrottsförbundet was founded in Gothenburg, and football teams also joined. From 1896 he organized the Svenska Mästerskapet , whose first championship Örgryte IS won with a 3-0 win over IS Idrottens Vänner . After the founding of Svenska Fotbollförbundet as a special football association in 1904, the championships held to date were recognized retrospectively. At the same time, several competitions such as the Rosenska Cups or the Kamratmästerskapen had established themselves as the championship of the Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna .

Until 1924 the Swedish champions were determined in elimination tournaments and in the following season there was the first time an Allsvenskan (1st Swedish league). Regional leagues had been formed about ten years earlier. Until the late 1950s, the name Allsvenskan (all Swedish) did not correspond to common practice. For example, teams from the far north of the country and the island of Gotland were refused promotion from lower leagues because established clubs did not want to take the long journeys.

For women, a Swedish champion was determined from 1973 and since 1988 there is a first division, the Damallsvenskan .

National teams

Men

Sweden's first national team

The Swedish national team played their first international match in 1908, winning against Norway 11-3. The first success was winning the bronze medal at the Olympic Games in 1924 . At the world championship tournament in Italy in 1934 , the selection team took part in a world championship for the first time .

At the Olympic Games in 1948 , the national team achieved their greatest success to date, when they won the gold medal. This title ushered in the most successful era of the country's selection: at the 1950 World Cup , as well as at the 1952 Olympic Games, third place and in the 1958 World Cup tournament in their own country they reached the final, which was lost to Brazil . At the Nordic Championships , which have been held since 1924 , Sweden also had nine successes in a row between 1933 and 1977.

After the national team was only able to qualify for major tournaments irregularly between the 1960s and 1980s, it experienced a renaissance in the 1990s. At the European championship tournament in her own country in 1992 , she took part in a European championship for the first time and only failed in the semi-finals. Two years later, the same result was achieved at the 1994 World Cup and Bulgaria was beaten in the final game for third place . Although the national team missed the 1998 World Cup , it has taken part in every major tournament since the 2000 European Championship - the five consecutive tournaments are a record for the Swedish national team.

Women

The Swedish women's national team after qualifying for the 2008 Olympic Games

The Swedish women's national team played their first international match in 1974, which was won against Finland . The first success was the triumph at the Nordic Championship in 1977 , after the selection had already finished second three times. By 1981 he had five successes.

The Swedish women's national team took part in the first ever European Championship in 1984 and won the European Championship competition in the finals against England on penalties . The selection team was also able to qualify regularly for the following tournaments.

At the world championship tournament in 1991 , the Swedish selection took part in a world championship for the first time and reached the semifinals, in which they failed to Norway . With a subsequent victory over Germany she reached third place. At the 1996 Olympic Games , where a women's soccer tournament was held for the first time, the team failed in the preliminary round. In the following years, the team took part regularly in final tournaments of both competitions.

The Swedish selection won three second places at European Championships and a silver medal at the 2003 World Cup . The greatest success at the Olympic Games was fourth place at the 2004 Olympic Games , when the team lost to Germany in the game for third place. Since the introduction of an international ranking list, it has been ranked four to seven in recent years.

Today the Swedish women's national team is one of the best teams in the world.

The league system

history

Corner kick in the Allsvenskan game between IFK Göteborg and Hammarby IF in November 2005

The Swedish league system has been reformed several times throughout history. While the national championship was initially played in cup mode, the Svenska series established itself in parallel from 1910, a first national league. This went on in 1924 in the Allsvenskan . After the abolition of the cup championship in 1925, there was no official championship title until 1930, before the title award to the top of the table of the Allsvenskan was introduced at the end of the season. In the early years, the structure of this championship was regionally fragmented and teams from the north were excluded from the higher leagues - long trips were too uneconomical at the time. It was not until 1953 that all Swedish clubs were allowed access to the higher leagues.

In 1981, in addition to the single-track first division, the second division was reduced to one season. Between 1982 and 1990, the champions were played in play-off games following the regular championship. In 1991 the league system was fundamentally reformed again. In the first division, the championship was divided after 18 game days. The best six teams played out the champions and the participants in the international competitions in league form, while the worse teams fought with the best second division teams for further places in the league in the coming season. The second league was divided into four seasons, with the respective champions qualified for the decision-making round for the first league.

However, this system only lasted two seasons. Then the championship was played out again in a 14-team league, while the second division was divided into two seasons. After the end of the 1999 season, these two seasons were combined, so that since then the first two leagues have been single-track again. The last reform in 2005 did not affect these classes. The third leagues were merged from four to two seasons and there were further changes in the regional leagues below. From the 2008 season, the Allsvenskan was expanded by two teams, so that the first two leagues each include 16 teams.

Current league pyramid

step	league
1	Allsvenskan 16 clubs
2	Superettan 16 clubs
3	Division 1 Norra 14 clubs						Division 1 Södra 14 clubs
4th	Division 2 Norrland 12 clubs		Division 2 Norra Svealand 12 clubs		Division 2 Östra Svealand 12 clubs		Division 2 Mellersta Götaland 12 clubs		Division 2 Västra Götaland 12 clubs		Division 2 Södra Götaland 12 clubs
5	Division 3 Norra Norrland 12 clubs	Division 3 Mellersta Norrland 12 clubs	Division 3 Södra Norrland 12 clubs	Division 3 Norra Svealand 12 clubs	Division 3 Östra Svealand 12 clubs	Division 3 Västra Svealand 12 clubs	Division 3 Nordöstra Götaland 12 clubs	Division 3 Mellersta Götaland 12 clubs	Division 3 Nordvästra Götaland 12 clubs	Division 3 Sydvästra Götaland 12 clubs	Division 3 Sydöstra Götaland 12 clubs	Division 3 Södra Götaland 12 clubs
6-10	From division 4 , the leagues are looked after by regional associations

Valid from 2008

The current champions play qualifying matches for the UEFA Champions League , and Allsvenskan is sending two representatives to the qualifying rounds for the UEFA Europa League in addition to the cup winners .

Damallsvenskan

Umeå IK 2008 as Swedish champion in the final of the UEFA Women's Cup against 1. FFC Frankfurt

In 1973 a first national championship was established in Sweden. At that time, the finals were initially determined in regional leagues who played the title in the cup mode.

In 1988 the Swedish Football Association introduced Damallsvenskan as the top division in Swedish women's football. It was played in a twelve-team single-track first division. The four best placed teams then played for the title in play-off mode. From the 1993 season , the play-off games were abolished and the league leader on the last day of the match was crowned champion, before the old mode was briefly reintroduced for the 1998 and 1999 seasons . The champion has been participating in this competition since the UEFA Women's Cup was launched in 2001.

The Damallsvenskan is one of the strongest leagues in the world alongside the German Bundesliga . The Damallsvenskan audience numbers are the highest in Europe.

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ svenskfotboll.se: "SvFF: s tillkomst 1904" (accessed on May 28, 2009)

[1] svenskfotboll.se: "SvFF: s tillkomst 1904" (accessed on May 28, 2009)