IF Elfsborg

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IF Elfsborg
IF Elfsborg.svg
Basic data
Surname Idrottsföreningen Elfsborg
Seat Borås , Sweden
founding June 26, 1904
president Bosses Johansson
Website elfsborg.se
First soccer team
Head coach Jimmy Thelin
Venue Borås Arena
Places 16,894
league Allsvenskan
2019 8th place
home
Away

Idrottsföreningen Elfsborg , usually short IF Elfsborg , is a sports club from the Swedish city ​​of Borås . The club is best known for its football team, which plays in the highest Swedish football league, the Allsvenskan .

history

Early years

The club was founded on June 26, 1904 by 19 young men as Borås Fotbollslag . Two years later, the club joined the Riksidrottsförbundet and changed its name to the name Idrottsföreningen Elfsborg, which is still valid today . A first success could be recorded in 1908, when the district championship was won by a final victory against IFK Mariestad .

On May 26, 1918, a player of the club played for the first time in the Swedish national team . In the game against the Norwegian team, Axel Larsson made his debut in the national jersey and was able to celebrate a 2-0 victory.

First successes in the Allsvenskan

When the Allsvenskan was introduced in 1924, IF Elfsborg missed the qualification and started in the second-rate Västsvenska series . In 1926 the team reached the promotion round and had to compete against Halmstads BK . After a 3-1 defeat in the first game, a 4-2 win in the second leg led to a play-off. On July 4, 1926, striker Nils Hedin shot the club single-handedly to promotion to the Swedish elite series in a 4-2 victory on a neutral place in Ullevi in Gothenburg with four goals.

On the third match day of the 1926/27 season , the first victory in the upper house succeeded when fellow promoted Westermalms IF was outclassed 5-1. At the end of the season the league was managed by reaching tenth rank. In the following years the club was able to establish itself in the Allsvenskan. In the 1930/31 season , the club was in danger of relegation, but was able to prevail in front of the Redbergslids IK tied in tenth place.

In 1934 , the club provided the Allsvenskan top scorer with Sven Jonasson , who, after his first division debut on September 11, 1927, played in 344 consecutive games for Elfsborg, setting a league record that is still valid today. Two years later , IF Elfsborg celebrated their first title win: with four points ahead of AIK , who could be defeated in both clashes, the Yellows won the Swedish championship title. Sven Jonasson crowned the season with another top scorer title.

In 1939 he achieved the second triumph in the Swedish championship. The competition was virtually outclassed, the runner-up AIK was nine points behind at the end of the season. At that time, the team also formed the backbone of the Swedish national team, sometimes up to seven players from the club were on the field at the same time. The title was defended in the following season , but the decision was tight: Competitor IFK Göteborg was tied at the end, but had the worse goal difference.

In 1941 IFE left its old Ramnavallen stadium and moved to the Ryavallen stadium . In the opening game, the club replaced the Finnish national team , which had to cancel due to the war , and beat the Swedish national team 2-1.

In 1942 the club reached the final of the Svenska Cup for the first time , but had to admit defeat 1: 2 in front of 10,000 spectators in Solna GAIS . In 1943 , 1944 and 1945 only second place remained in the league .

Years on average

In the following years IF Elfsborg could not build on the successes. 1947 succeeded once again in fourth place in the league, but in the following season the club was only one point ahead of Djurgårdens IF from relegation.

With Pär Bengtsson , who was in the squad of the Swedish national team, which won the gold medal at the 1948 Olympic Games in London , and Åke Hjalmarsson , two players from Borås followed the call of money from southern Europe in 1949 and, like many of their compatriots, moved in the late 1940s. / In the early 1950s as a professional football player in Italy .

In 1951 , 1952 and 1953 only the third from last place jumped out and in 1954 , as bottom of the table, the crash into the second division followed .

In 1957, the club narrowly missed promotion as a second division second. The game against Örgryte IS at Gamla Ullevi , which ended with a 2-1 win for the Borås team, was watched by 32,357 spectators. A year later, the second division playing club, Ingemar Haraldsson, was a runner-up. However, the third goalkeeper of the Swedish national team remained without an international appearance throughout his career.

The return

In 1960 the promotion and with it the return to the Allsvenskan was made perfect. As the second division champions, IFE won all three qualifying games against Örebro SK , IFK Luleå and IFK Kristianstad . Back in the first division, the team caused a sensation: As a promoted team, they won the Swedish championship title five points ahead of IFK Norrköping . 41,908 spectators followed the 5-5 draw in Ullevi against IFK Göteborg that season .

In 1963 , however, two years after their sensational success, the team found themselves again in a relegation battle, but were able to maintain the class as tenth in the table. Two years later they found themselves in the front of the field and became runner-up behind Malmö FF .

In 1971, IF Elfsborg was relegated for the second time in the club's history. 14 points from 22 games were not enough to keep the class. As a second division champion, however, the direct return to the elite series, which has now been increased to 14 teams, was made. Here the team placed in the middle of the league in the following years.

In 1977 goalkeeper Tore Stenbäcken stayed 674 minutes without conceding a goal and was able to set a new league record. With that he helped the club to a new runner-up and the first qualification for the European Cup. In the 1978/79 UEFA Cup they won 2-0 over Racing Strasbourg in their first game , but lost in the first round with a 4-1 defeat in the second leg in France. Two years later they finished third, then things went downhill again. In 1981 the team had to compete in relegation games against BK Häcken . After a 1-0 away win, a 1-1 draw at home Ryavallen was enough to keep them up. In the same year, the team reached the cup final for the second time in the club's history, but were outclassed 4-0 by Kalmar FF in front of 2,245 spectators. In the following season, the third place and thus the newly introduced finals was achieved again. This was the end of the semifinals against Hammarby IF when a 3-1 home win after the 0-3 defeat in the second leg proved to be too little.

Years in the second tier

In 1984 Elfsborg was only penultimate and had to say goodbye to first division football for the third time. With Simon Hunt , who had come from AFC Wrexham , a foreign player was in the ranks of the club for the first time. In the second division, the championship immediately succeeded and after successes in the promotion round, the return to the upper house.

With one point ahead of Kalmar FF , the yellows managed to stay in the Allsvenskan. However, the team finished far behind in the following season with only ten points and left the Swedish elite series again. In the following years the club bobbed around in the second-rate Division 1 . 1995 succeeded the third place in the second division.

Another return and triumphs

In 1996 IF Elfsborg became champions of Division 1 Södra and thus managed to return to the first division after ten years. After a 3-0 opening win against IFK Göteborg, they finished seventh at the end of the season. The triumph was again missed at the third cup final, AIK managed a 2-1 victory in front of 9472 spectators. In the following years, the club placed in the no man's land of the table.

At the beginning of the new millennium, fifth place in the table was the best result in almost 20 years. On June 25, 2001, the fourth participation in the final in a dramatic game succeeded in winning the Svenska Cup for the first time. After a 1: 1 draw after 120 minutes of play, the players from Borås showed their better nerves and celebrated their first title win in this competition after 24 penalties with a 10: 9 win on penalties . In 2003 the trophy could be won again, this time Assyriska Föreningen was clearly defeated 2-0 with two goals from Lars Nilsson .

Image from the opening game in Borås Arena

In 2005 IF Elfsborg moved. The old stadium has been replaced by the modern Borås Arena , which can seat almost 17,000 spectators. The opening game on April 17, 2005 against Örgryte IS was won 1-0 by a goal from Daniel Mobaeck .

In 2006 IF Elfsborg became Swedish national champions for the fifth time in the club's history after a 45-year break. After an exciting head-to-head race with AIK, which was only decided on the last day of the game, the Yellows under coach Magnus Haglund were able to raise the Lennart Johansson Cup . On March 31, 2007, the Swedish Supercup was won by a 1-0 victory over cup winners Helsingborgs IF .

IFE competed as Swedish champions in qualifying for the 2007/08 UEFA Champions League . After successes against the Northern Irish club Linfield FC and the Hungarian club Debreceni Vasutas SC , the Spanish representative FC Valencia proved to be too high a hurdle with wins in both games. After several seasons at the top of the table, the team won the championship for the sixth time in the club's history after Haglund's departure under new coach Jörgen Lennartsson in the 2012 season , with BK Häcken and Malmö FF being distanced. After a mixed season that followed, Lennartsson had to leave in September 2013, the former national player Klas Ingesson took over as coach and led the team to win the cup in May 2014. He worked there until his death at the end of October 2014.

successes

Trainer

Web links

Commons : IF Elfsborg  - collection of images, videos and audio files