Allsvenskan

Allsvenskan (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈâlːˌsvɛnːskan]; English: the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, English: the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924, and is the top flight of the Swedish football league system, operating on a system of promotion and relegation with Superettan. Seasons run from late March or early April to the beginning of November, with the 16 clubs all meeting each other twice, resulting in a 30-match season, for a total of 240 matches league-wide.

This article is about the Swedish football league. For other uses, see Allsvenskan (disambiguation).
Allsvenskan
Founded13 January 1924
CountrySweden
ConfederationUEFA
Number of teams16
Level on pyramid1
Relegation toSuperettan
Domestic cup(s)Svenska Cupen
International cup(s)UEFA Champions League
UEFA Europa League
Current championsDjurgårdens IF (8th title)
(2019)
Most championshipsMalmö FF (23 titles)
Most appearancesSven Andersson (431)
Top goalscorerSven Jonasson (254 goals)
TV partnersEurosport
ESPN+ (One match per week)
Websitewww.allsvenskan.se
2020 Allsvenskan
Swedish football
league structure
Allsvenskan (Tier 1)
Superettan (Tier 2)
Division 1 (Tier 3)
Division 2 (Tier 4)
Division 3 (Tier 5)
Division 4 (Tier 6)
Division 5 (Tier 7)
Division 6 (Tier 8)
Division 7 (Tier 9)
Division 8 (Tier 10)

Allsvenskan is ranked 20th in the UEFA coefficients of leagues based on performances in European competitions over the last five years. Allsvenskan is ranked highest of the leagues in Scandinavia after Denmark in 16th place. The current champions are Djurgårdens IF, who won the title in the 2019 season.

Swedes often talk about "The Big Three", which means AIK Stockholm, IFK Gothenburg and Malmö FF. They are considered to be the three largest clubs in Sweden from the three largest cities (Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö).

Including the 2019 season, Allsvenskan has been running for an unbroken streak of 94 seasons. Unlike many other European football leagues, the Allsvenskan did not experience an interruption in play during World War II due to Swedish neutrality in that conflict.

History
Sune Sandbring, Malmö FF in a game with Frank Jacobsson, GAIS in 1953.

Allsvenskan started in the 1924–25 Allsvenskan season and the first winner was GAIS. The one-league twelve team Allsvenskan replaced the Svenska Serien, consisting of a southern and northern group that was held before. In 1931, the league started to decide the Swedish football champions.

In the early years, Norrland and Gotland teams were not allowed to play on higher levels in the league system, which was gradually changed to include the Norrland and Gotland teams on higher levels.

For the 1959 Allsvenskan, the season start was changed from autumn to spring to be played in one calendar year. In 1973, it was expanded to contain 14 teams. In the 1970s, Malmö FF, under the lead of Spanish Antonio Durán and later English Bob Houghton, won five Allsvenskan and managed to proceed to the 1979 European Cup Final, which they lost to Nottingham Forest.

From the 1982 season, the league introduced a play-off to determine the Swedish football champions. In the late 1980s, Malmö FF were dominant, winning the league five times in a row, but only two Swedish championships. The 1990 season saw the introduction of three points per win. The play-off season years were followed by two years of continuation league, named Mästerskapsserien.

The 1993 season saw a return to the classical format, again with 14 teams. IFK Göteborg won five Allsvenskan league titles in the 1990s.

In the early 2000s, Djurgårdens IF won three titles (2002, 2003 and 2005). In 2004, Örebro SK lost its place in the league due to financial problems, and Assyriska FF got their place. Since 2008, the league consists of 16 teams.

Status
Logo used from 2008 until 2018.

The champions are considered Swedish champions and gold medal winners. The runners-up are awarded the Large Silver medal, the third positioned team are awarded the Small Silver medal and the team positioned in fourth place are awarded the Bronze medal.

There have been seasons with exceptions when the winners of Allsvenskan wasn't considered Swedish champions as well. Allsvenskan winners between 1924 and 1930 were crowned league champions and awarded gold medals, the title of Swedish champions was awarded to the winner of Svenska Mästerskapet up until 1925 and then not at all until 1930. The years 1982 through 1990 are also exceptions, the title was instead decided through play-offs during these years. The same was true for the years 1991 and 1992 when the title was decided through a continuation league called Mästerskapsserien. Historically, however, there is a big difference between the Allsvenskan winners before 1931 compared to the period between 1982 and 1992. As winning Allsvenskan in its earlier seasons was the optimal aim for the clubs, while as during the era of play-offs and Mästerskapsserien, the optimal goal wasn't to win Allsvenskan, but the play-offs or Mästerskapsserien.

Competition format

Since 2008 there are 16 clubs in Allsvenskan. During the course of a season (starting in late March and ending in early November) each club plays the others twice (home and away) for a total of 30 games. The two lowest placed teams at the end of the season are relegated to Superettan and the top two teams from Superettan are promoted in their place. The third lowest team in Allsvenskan plays a relegation/promotion play-off against the third placed team in Superettan.

The winners of Allsvenskan qualify for the UEFA Champions League, the runner-up together with the third placed team in the table qualify for the UEFA Europa League as well as the team who wins the Svenska Cupen. In case the winner of the Cup has already qualified to Champions League or Europa League, the third Europa League spot is given to the team that finishes fourth in Allsvenskan.

Changes in competition format
Lennart Johanssons Pokal
From To Teams Match-weeks Season Start Season End Play-offs
1924–25 1956–57 12 22 Autumn Spring —
1957–58 33 Next autumn —
1959 1972 22 Spring Autumn —
1973 1981 14 26 —
1982 1983 12 22 Play-offs with eight teams
1984 1990 Play-offs with four teams
1991 1992 10 18 Summer League with six teams
1993 2007 14 26 Autumn —
2008 Present 16 30 —

The decider at equal number of points was goal ratio until the 1940–41 season, thereafter goal difference.

Awards

Trophy

The current trophy awarded to the Swedish champions is the Lennart Johanssons Pokal. Created in 2001, the trophy is named after former UEFA chairman, Lennart Johansson. A different trophy that was named after Clarence von Rosen, the first chairman of the Swedish Football Association, had previously been used between 1903 and 2000, but was replaced after journalists reported that von Rosen had personal connections to the later infamous Nazi leader Hermann Göring during the time he lived in Sweden (soon after World War One).[1] The former President of the Swedish Football Association, Lars-Åke Lagrell stated that the reason for the change of trophy was not a personal attack against Von Rosen but rather that the Football Association did not want to be linked to Nazism and constantly engage in discussions regarding this every time the trophy was awarded.[1]

Player and manager awards

In addition to the winner's trophy and the individual winner's medals awarded to players, Allsvenskan also awards the most valuable player, goalkeeper of the year, defender of the year, midfielder of the year, forward of the year, newcomer of the year and manager of year at Allsvenskans stora pris together with C More and Magasinet Offside.[2] Also, the Allsvenskan top scorer is awarded.

Television

The Swiss corporation Kentaro has owned the TV rights for Allsvenskan since 2006.[3] Through licence agreements with the media company TV4 Group matches are aired through C More Entertainment who broadcasts them on their C More Sport and C More Live channels, until 2019. Matches can also be bought through the online pay-per-view service C SPORTS.[4]

In March 24 2017, Discovery-owned broadcaster Eurosport will be the new domestic broadcaster for both SEF competitions (Allsvenskan and Superettan) effectively from 2020 until 2025.[5]

Beginning in 2018, Allsvenskan matches are broadcast in the UK on Premier Sports and FreeSports until 2021.[6] In October 2018, ESPN picked up the rights to broadcast one Allsvenskan match per week in the United States.[7] Allsvenskan matches also broadcast in several countries; such as : DAZN in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, Sport Klub in Balkan countries[8], Nova sports in Cyprus and Greece, and TV2 in Norway.[9]

Clubs
Locations of the 2019 Allsvenskan teams

A total of 65 clubs have played in Allsvenskan from its inception in 1924 up to and including the 2018 season. No club have been a member of the league for every season since its inception. AIK are the club to have participated in most seasons with a record of 89 seasons played out of 93 seasons in total. Malmö FF have the record of most consecutive seasons, 63 consecutive seasons between 1936–37 and 1999. IFK Göteborg are currently the club with the longest running streak, starting their 42nd season in 2018.

The following 16 clubs are competing in Allsvenskan during the 2019 season:

Club
 Position
in 2018		 First season Seasons First season of
current spell		 Titles Last title
AFC Eskilstuna3rd in Superettan2017120190N/A
AIK1st1924–2591200662018
BK Häcken5th19831920090N/A
Djurgårdens IF7th1927–2864200172019
GIF Sundsvall8th19651920150N/A
Falkenbergs FF2nd in Superettan2014420190N/A
Hammarby IF4th1924–2551201512001
Helsingborgs IF1st in Superettan1924–2567201972011
IF Elfsborg12th1926–2776199762012
IFK Göteborg11th1924–25871977132007
IFK Norrköping2nd1924–25792011132015
IK Sirius13th1969620170N/A
Kalmar FF10th1949–5032200412008
Malmö FF3rd1931–32842001232017
Örebro SK9th1946–475120140N/A
Östersunds FK6th2016420160N/A

Stadiums and locations
Main article: List of Allsvenskan stadiums
Friends Arena in Solna.
Tele2 Arena in Stockholm.
Eleda Stadion in Malmö.

Current team and stadiums:

Club Location Stadium Capacity
AFC EskilstunaEskilstunaTunavallen7,800
AIKSolnaFriends Arena54,000
BK HäckenGothenburgBravida Arena6,500
Djurgårdens IFStockholmTele2 Arena33,000
Falkenbergs FFFalkenbergFalcon Alkoholfri Arena5,500
GIF SundsvallSundsvallNorrporten Arena7,700
Hammarby IFStockholmTele2 Arena33,000
Helsingborgs IFHelsingborgOlympia16,500
IF ElfsborgBoråsBorås Arena16,899
IFK GöteborgGothenburgGamla Ullevi18,900
IFK NorrköpingNorrköpingÖstgötaporten15,734
IK SiriusUppsalaStudenternas IP10,000
Kalmar FFKalmarGuldfågeln Arena12,182
Malmö FFMalmöEleda Stadion22,500
Örebro SKÖrebroBehrn Arena12,645
Östersunds FKÖstersundJämtkraft Arena9,500

Managers
Rikard Norling, manager of AIK.

The current managers in Allsvenskan are:

Name Club Appointed
Hans EklundFalkenbergs FF26 November 2014
Rikard NorlingAIK13 May 2016
Jens GustafssonIFK Norrköping1 June 2016
Axel KjällÖrebro SK28 August 2017
Poya AsbaghiIFK Göteborg21 November 2017
Jimmy ThelinIF Elfsborg6 December 2017
Andreas AlmBK Häcken8 December 2017
Stefan BillbornHammarby IF10 January 2018
Jon Dahl TomassonMalmö FF5 January 2020
Ian BurchnallÖstersunds FK20 June 2018
Kim Bergstrand
Thomas Lagerlöf		Djurgårdens IF16 November 2018
Magnus PehrssonKalmar FF27 November 2018
Mirza Jelečak
Henrik Rydström		IK Sirius10 December 2018
Tony GustavssonGIF Sundsvall2 September 2019
Olof MellbergHelsingborgs IF3 September 2019
Saulius ŠirmelisAFC Eskilstuna5 September 2019

Players
See also: List of Allsvenskan players
RankPlayerAppsGoals
1 Sven Andersson 431 0
2 Thomas Ravelli 416 0
3 Daniel Tjernström 411 24
4 Sven Jonasson 410 254
5 Bengt Andersson 387 3

Appearances

Sven Andersson has the record for most appearances in Allsvenskan with 431 appearances for Örgryte IS and Helsingborgs IF. Sven Jonasson has the record for most matches in a row with 332 matches for IF Elfsborg between 11 September 1927 and 1 November 1942.

Foreign players
See also: List of foreign Allsvenskan players

Until 1974, foreign players were banned from playing in Allsvenskan, however not on all levels of football in Sweden.[10] In the first season of allowance, on 13 April 1974, English Ronald Powell in Brynäs IF became the first foreign player in Allsvenskan[10] In 1977, Tunisian Melke Amri became the first non-European player. In 1978, Icelandic Teitur Þórðarson in Östers IF became the first foreign player to win the Allsvenskan[11]

RankPlayerAppsGoals
1 Sven Jonasson 410 254
2 Carl-Erik Holmberg 260 194
3 Filip Johansson 181 180
4 Harry Lundahl 176 179
5 Harry Bild 288 162
Bertil Johansson 267 162

Top scorers

Sven Jonasson has scored the most goals in Allsvenskan history, with 254 goals in 410 appearances. Gunnar Nordahl has become the top scorer most times, with four wins.

Previous winners
Main article: List of Swedish football champions
Key
0000000000 Season when the league didn't decide the Swedish champions
0000000000 Season when Swedish champions wasn't awarded at all

Performances

Medal table

Historically the players and coaching staff from the four best teams in Allsvenskan are awarded medals at the end of each season. The champions are awarded the gold medal while the runners-up receive the "big silver" medal. The third place team gets the "small silver" medal instead of the more commonly used bronze medal which is instead awarded to the fourth-place finisher. This tradition of awarding four medals and not three is thought to have to do with the fact that the losers of the Semi-finals of Svenska Mästerskapet were both given bronze medals since no bronze match was played.[12]

The overall medal rank is displayed below after points in descending order. 5 points are awarded for a "gold" medal, 3 points for a "big silver" medal, 2 points for a "small silver" medal and 1 point for a bronze medal. The table that follows is accurate as of the end of the 2019 season.[12][13][14]

Rank Club Gold Big Silver Small Silver Bronze Points
1Malmö FF2315108188
2IFK Göteborg13131610146
3IFK Norrköping131057112
4AIK614129105
5Helsingborgs IF7791084
6Djurgårdens IF8310372
7IF Elfsborg666868
8GAIS444444
9Östers IF433338
10Örgryte IS226634
11Halmstads BK422232
12Hammarby IF123320
13Kalmar FF122318
14Åtvidabergs FF22-117
15Örebro SK-22414
16Degerfors IF-22212
17IK Sleipner111111
18Landskrona BoIS--135
Sandvikens IF--135
20BK Häcken-1-14
21IFK Malmö-1--3
Jönköpings Södra IF-1--3
Råå IF-1--3
24Trelleborgs FF--113
25IK Brage---33

Honoured clubs

Clubs in European football are commonly honoured for winning multiple league titles and a representative golden star is sometimes placed above the club badge to indicate the club having won 10 league titles. In Sweden the star instead symbolizes 10 Swedish championship titles for the majority of the clubs as the league winner has not always been awarded the title of Swedish champions.[lower-alpha 1] Stars for Allsvenskan clubs was not common practise until 2006, although AIK had already introduced a star to their kit in 2000. IFK Göteborg, Malmö FF, IFK Norrköping, Örgryte IS and Djurgårdens IF were the first teams after AIK to introduce their stars. No new club has introduced a star since 2006, the clubs closest to their first are IF Elfsborg with 6 Swedish championship titles and Helsingborgs IF with 7 Allsvenskan titles depending on what the star symbolizes. The following table is ordered after number of stars followed by number of Swedish championship titles and then the number of Allsvenskan titles.

Statistics updated as of the end of the 2019 season
Club Swedish championship titles Allsvenskan titles Stars Introduced
Malmö FF 20 23 2006
IFK Göteborg 18 13 2006
IFK Norrköping 13 13 2006
AIK 12 6 2000
Djurgårdens IF 12 8 2006
Örgryte IS 12 2 2006

Cities
Locations of the cities that have won the league
Town or city League wins Clubs
Malmö
23
 Malmö FF (23)
Gothenburg
19
 IFK Göteborg (13), GAIS (4), Örgryte IS (2)
Stockholm
15
 Djurgårdens IF (8), AIK (6), Hammarby IF (1)
Norrköping
14
 IFK Norrköping (13), IK Sleipner (1)
Helsingborg
7
 Helsingborgs IF (7)
Borås
6
 IF Elfsborg (6)
Halmstad
4
 Halmstads BK (4)
Växjö
4
 Östers IF (4)
Åtvidaberg
2
 Åtvidabergs FF (2)
Kalmar
1
 Kalmar FF (1)

All-time Allsvenskan table

The all-time Allsvenskan table, "maratontabellen" in Swedish, is a cumulative record of all match results, points, and goals of every team that has played in Allsvenskan since its inception in 1924–25. It uses three points for a win even though this system was not introduced until the 1990 season. The matches played in the championship play-offs between 1982 and 1990 or the matches played in Mästerskapsserien in 1991 and 1992 are not included. The table that follows is accurate as of the end of the 2019 season.[16]

Malmö FF are the current leaders, having had the lead since the end of the 2012 season when they overtook the lead from IFK Göteborg. IFK Göteborg are the club to have spent most seasons in the top spot with 48 seasons as leaders with a record of the most consecutive seasons as leaders with 35 seasons between 1938 and 1972. Six clubs have been in the lead, the lead having changed among them ten times since 1925. The former leader with the lowest current ranking in the table is GAIS, currently placing 11th and 1891 points short of Malmö FF.

A total of 66 clubs have played at least one season at Allsvenskan up to and including 2020 season.

Statistics

UEFA coefficients
See also: UEFA coefficient

The following data indicates Swedish coefficient rankings between European football leagues.[17]

Attendance
Last five seasons average attendance
Year Spectators per match
2015
9,967
2016
9,127
2017
9,215
2018
8,423
2019
9,166

The record for highest average home attendance for a club was set by Hammarby in 2015 (25,507 over 15 home matches). Most other attendance records for Allsvenskan were set in the 1959 season, coinciding with the first season that the league switched from an autumn–spring format to a spring–autumn format. 1959 saw records for highest attendance at a match (52,194 at an Örgryte win over IFK Göteborg at Ullevi), second highest average home attendance for a club (25,490 for Örgryte's 11 home matches), and the highest ever average attendance for Allsvenskan as a whole (13,369).

AIK has had the league's highest attendance for the season more often than any other club, followed by IFK Göteborg and Örgryte. Other teams that have for at least one season had the best attendance in the league include Helsingborg, Malmö FF, Djurgården, GAIS, Hammarby, Örebro SK, and Öster.

Referees
Mohammed Al-Hakim

Allsvenskan has 24 active referees that are available for matches as of the 2018 season. Currently there are six fully certified international FIFA referees in Allsvenskan. There are also a further eleven referees who are certified by the Swedish Football Association who have refereed matches in Allsvenskan. Markus Strömbergsson and Stefan Johannesson are still active referees who previously have been certified by FIFA. A further seven referees certified by the Swedish Football Association are available to referee Allsvenskan matches but have not done so as of 2018.[20]

FIFA certified referees

Allsvenskan in international competition

Malmö FF were runners up in the 1978–79 European Cup, after a 1–0 defeat against Nottingham Forest.[21] IFK Göteborg won the UEFA Cup twice, in 1981–82 (defeating Hamburger SV in the finals)[22] and 1986–87 (defeating Dundee United in the finals).[23] IFK Göteborg also reached the semi-finals of the European Cup in 1985–86. They won 3–0 against FC Barcelona, and lost 0–3 at Camp Nou, Barcelona won on penalty shootout.[24]

The following teams have participated in the UEFA Champions League or UEFA-Cup/UEFA Europa League group stages:

Club UEFA Champions League UEFA Europa League
IFK Göteborg 1992–93
1994–95
1996–97
1997–98		 N/A
Malmö FF 2014–15
2015–16		 2011–12
2018–19
2019–20
Helsingborgs IF 2000–01 2007-08
2012–13
AIK 1999–2000 2012–13
IF Elfsborg N/A 2007-08
2013–14
Halmstads BK N/A 2005–06
Östersunds FK N/A 2017–18

See also

Footnotes
  1. 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.[15]
  2. Hammarby IF were deducted three points in 2006.
  3. Ljungskile SK were known as Panos Ljungskile SK during the season of 1997.

References
  1. Thorén, Petra. "SM-pokalen ska skrotas". aftonbladet.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 2011-01-03.
  2. "Allsvenskans stora pris 2013". Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved October 1, 2014.
  3. "Tar kameran – med våld" (in Swedish). 2008-04-26. Retrieved 2008-05-06.
  4. "Nytt tv-avtal för allsvenskan". svenskfotboll.se (in Swedish). The Swedish Football Association. 22 March 2013. Retrieved 22 March 2013.
  5. "Swedish Allsvenskan on Eurosport from 2020". SEF (in Swedish). 2017-03-24. Retrieved 2020-02-09.
  6. "Eleven adds CSL, Eredivisie and Allsvenskan rights to new UK service - SportsPro Media". www.sportspromedia.com. Retrieved Apr 2, 2019.
  7. "ESPN+ and ESPN Acquire Rights to Coppa Italia and Supercoppa Italiana". Oct 2, 2018. Retrieved Apr 2, 2019.
  8. ", Live TV Guide". sport-tv-guide.live. Retrieved 2018-10-17.
  9. "TV 2 Sumo". sumo.tv2.no (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2018-10-17.
  10. "Importsvenskan". Aftonbladet.
  11. "Allsvenskan i Fotboll 1978". Fotbollsweden.se. Retrieved 2016-03-19.
  12. "Guld, stort silver, litet silver och brons?". svenskfotboll.se. The Swedish Football Association. Archived from the original on 2011-09-28. Retrieved 22 September 2011.
  13. "Helsingborgs IF – ALLSVENSKAN 1937/38". hif.se. Archived from the original on 2015-02-27. Retrieved 2014-03-10.
  14. "AIK Statistikdatabas (Herrar)". aik.se.
  15. "Svenska mästare 1896–1925, 1931–" [Swedish champions 1896–1925, 1931–]. svenskfotboll.se (in Swedish). The Swedish Football Association. Archived from the original on 2 December 2009. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
  16. Lindahl, Jimmy. "Allsvenska maratontabellen 1924/25-2019". Swedish Football Association. Retrieved 2019-11-10.
  17. "UEFA European Cup Coefficients Database". Bert Kassies. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  18. "UEFA Country Ranking 2019 – kassiesA – Xs4all". Kassiesa.home.xs411.nl. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  19. "Club coefficients". uefa.com. Retrieved August 23, 2019.
  20. "Elitdomare i herrfotboll". svenskfotboll.se. Retrieved 23 February 2013.
  21. "UEFA Champions League 1978/79 - History - All matches – UEFA.com". Uefa.com.
  22. "UEFA Europa League 1981/82 - History - All matches – UEFA.com". Uefa.com.
  23. "UEFA Europa League 1986/87 - History - All matches – UEFA.com". Uefa.com.
  24. "UEFA Champions League 1985/86 - History - All matches – UEFA.com". Uefa.com.
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