My daughter just moved to Stockholm so I wanted to learn more about Sweden and, in particular, Swedish football. Is there a way to watch matches from the Allsvenskan? Can anybody provide info on the different teams? Thanks!
This will be rather long so I'll write two posts Swedish football overall. Most successful clubs in order of league titles Malmö FF 20 IFK Göteborg 18 IFK Norrköping 13 Örgryte IS 12 AIK, Djurgårdens IF 11 IF Elfsborg 6 Helsingborgs IF 5 GAIS, Halmstads BK, Öster IF 4 Åtvidabergs FF 2 Brynäs IF, Fässbergs IF, IFK Eskilstuna, Göteborgs IF, Hammarby IF, Kalmar FF, IK Sleipner 1 The most popular clubs are Hammarby IF, AIK, Djurgårdens IF, Malmö FF, IFK Göteborg Cmore is the channel that shows Allsvenskan, even thought you could always stream it for free at http://www.hesgoal.com/ , illegal. At the moment Malmö FF is by far the richest club since they managed to qualify for champions league twice and should be able to dominate Allsvenskan even though they have a very bad season atm. Before IFK Göteborg was the big factor in Swedish football even winning the UEFA cup twice. From the three biggest cities the following teams lie Stockholm: Hammarby IF, AIK, Djurgården IF and BP Göteborg: IFK Göteborg, Örgryte IS, GAIS and Häcken Malmö: Malmö FF Since she moved to Stockholm, I’ll focus on the three big Stockholm teams, also a team called Brommapojkarna (BP) exist but they have a very low supporter base. In Stockholm I really recommend you and her to attend a Stockholm derby live since they’re all rather intense, for example I also recommend to see all of the teams at least once to get a feeling about them. In this years Allsvenska the Stockholms clubs are also a lot more interesting to follow since Hammarby If are leading, AIK are in second place and Djurgården IF at fourth (they also won the cup title this year).
Hammarby IF Venue: Tele2 Arena, before Söderstadion Created: 1889, official date 1897 Supporters: Southern Stockholm Colours: Green/white Titles, 1 league title Created as a rowing club in 1887 and did row mostly in Hammarby sjö but changed to a sports club in 1897. Located in the southern parts, mostly Södermalm and its southern suburbs. Have the highest attendances in Norther Europe. Known as the “loser club” and that they “lack a winning mentality”. Since they hardly had any success. Played well in the 80s and begining of the 21th century were they even finally managed to win the league 2001. In the later era they screwed up their entire economy ended up last in the season of 2009, got demoted and played in the second tier (Superettan between 2010 – 2014) The supporters are mostly known to be alcoholics in Sweden and Södermalm was before known as the poorest area in Stockholm. I would today call Södermalm for a SoFo area so it’s a more mixed supporter base today. Were the ones that took supporter culture into Sweden during the 70s when they started to sing a lot during the games. Are inspired by South americans teams and always have a drum at the games, but no “microphone” that is heard for the entire crowd. A Hammarbys supporter quote is “Skit i tabellen, vi är bäst ändå”, translate to – Screw the league table, we’re the best anyways. Djurgården IF Venue: Tele2 arena, before Stockholms Stadion Created: 1891 Supporters: North eastern Stockholm Colours: Blue/red/yellow Titles, 11 League titles and 5 cup titles Created as a sports club in 1891 by 20 youngsters who mostly skied during the winter and rowed at the summer. At the start of the club only people who has lived or did live in Djurgården could be a member of the club. They do play in the same arena as Hammarby at the southern part. According to many Djurgården supporters they are a bit everywhere in Stockholm, therefore entire Stockholm belong to them. However most of them are in Östermalm and the North eastern suburbs. They did have a darker period during the 90s, being mostly in the Swedish second division. Did an amazing comeback at the start of 21th century were they won three titles in 2002, 2003 and 2005. Housing many future Swedish stars like Kim Källström, Andreas Isaksson and Johan Elmander. The supporters are mostly known as the upper-class brats. Are inspired by England and refuse drums at their matches. Have a “microphone” for their capo so that the entire crowd can hear them. A Djurgårdens supporter quote is “Lite finare, lite bättre”, translate to” A bit finer, a bit better” AIK Venue: Friends arena, before Råsunda Stadion Created: 1891 Supporters: North western Stockholm Colours: Black/yellow Titles: 11 League titles and 5 cup titles Created in 1891 at the home of Behrens from a few people that wanted to organize sports in a sports club. They did want to participate in anything possible. First played in Stockholms stadion but was so popular that they moved out from the central parts of the city to Solna and the then new arena Råsunda stadion. Are therefore largest in the North Western part of the city but also have many supporters from central Stockholm. Historically have had the highest attendance in the country but they had the largest arena in Stockholm as well which made it harder for Hammarby IF and Djurgårdens IF to compete. Their last darker period was in 2004 when they got demoted to Superettan. They just played one season their and did a strong comeback coming second in Allsvenskan 2006. Historically they took most of their titles before the second world war but their last one was in 2009. Normally is known as a top team that always manage to come second or third in the league, but rarely win it. The supporters are mostly know to be hooligans due to some very bad reputation during the 90s, (all Stockholm clubs are basically just as bad in that part). They will take inspiration from anything they think will benefit their supporter culture. Using both drums and the “microphone”. A AIK supporter quote is “Vi är överallt” – translate to ”We are everywhere”