The football season kicks off in Sweden this weekend with the top division Allsvenskan in its 101st year.
One of the most appealing things about the top tier in Sweden is that there is no VAR!
Also, along with some of the fantastic atmospheres at the big derby matches and the amazing tifos and banners on display, the Allsvenskan is definitely a league that is well worth a visit.
16 teams are in the league, and here is a brief rundown of all the runners and riders this coming season that runs from March 29th to November.
First up are Östers IF, from Växjö; the club is back in the top tier for the first time since 2013 after achieving promotion from the Superettan last season under English manager Martin Foyston in what was his first managerial role. The former Fulham scout, aged 42, had previously been an assistant manager at various clubs across Scandinavia.
The other promoted side who were the Superettan champions last season are Degerfors IF who bounced back at the first attempt after suffering relegation from the Allsvenskan the previous season.
The club's biggest achievement was winning the Swedish Cup in 1992/93
Malmö FF, the current champions, are Sweden's most successful football club, with 24 Swedish championships and 16 Swedish Cups.
They are a club that frequently plays in European competitions and, most notably, were runners-up to Nottingham Forest in the 1978/79 European Cup final, losing 1-0.
Their most famous former player is, without a doubt, Malmo-born Zlatan Ibrahimović.
And Roy Hodgson won 5 Allsvenskan titles and 2 Swedish Cups in his 5-year tenure as a manager!
AIK, based in Stockholm, are one of the biggest supported teams in Sweden and were last League champions back in 2018. AIK has won 12 championship titles and is third in the all-time list; the club holds the record for having played the most seasons in the Swedish top flight.
They play at the national stadium, which is the largest stadium in Scandinavia, having left their Råsunda home in 2012.
Djurgårdens IF, the second of 4 Stockholm teams, was founded 3 weeks after their fiercest rivals, AIK, in 1891 on the island of Djurgården; the club's home ground is The 3 Arena, which they share with Hammarby IF.
Djurgårdens last won the Allsvenskan in 2019.
Hammarby IF have only 1 league title to their name in 2001 but won the Swedish Cup in 2021/21.
Elfsborg, known as Di Gule (The Yellow Ones), was founded in 1904 by a group of 19 youngsters who all were 14–15 years old. They last won the title in 2012, which was their 6th, and have won the Swedish Cup 3 times.
IFK Göteborg, who is one of 3 clubs in the Allsvenskan based in Gothenburg, is the only club in the Nordic countries that has won one of the main UEFA competitions, having won the UEFA Cup in both 1982 and 1987.
IFK has won 18 Swedish championship titles, the second most in Swedish football after Malmö FF, and has the second most national cup titles with eight. The team has qualified for four group stages of the UEFA Champions League and reached the semi-finals of the 1985–86 European Cup.
BK Häcken, another club based in Gothenburg, won their first-ever Allsvenskan in 2022 and are known as The Wasps; they have won the Swedish Cup 3 times as well.
GAIS, the 3rd Gothenburg-based club, is one of the oldest football clubs in Sweden formed in 1894 and was a founding member of Allsvenskan and also the first champions of the league in 1924.
They have won 4 league titles, with the last coming way back in 1954, and their only Swedish Cup title was in 1942.
They play at the same ground as IFK Göteborg along with Örgryte IS who are in the second tier Superettan.
Halmstad BK have won four national championship titles and one Swedish cup, with Roy Hodgson winning the Allsvenskan as manager in 1976 and 1979 in his first managerial role.
Halmstad is a member-controlled club.
Brommapojkarna, another team in Stockholm, are believed to be the largest football club in Europe in terms of the number of active youth teams of all ages; in 2007, there were 247 teams and 3,000 players!
They have yet to win a major title other than the Superettan twice, but they have produced many great players through their youth system, including Dejan Kulusevski and Viktor Gyökeres in recent times.
IFK Norrköping dominated Swedish football in the post-war era and won the first division 11 times in 20 years! They have won a total of 12 Allsvenskan, with the last one in 201,5 and have won the SwdushCupp 6 times.
IFK Värnamo have spent most of their time outside of the Allsvenkan but have been in the top division for the last 3 seasons after winning the Division 1 Södra title in 2020 followed by the Superettan in 2021
The most famous player from the club is Jonas Thern, who was captain of the Sweden national team when they finished third in the 1994 FIFA World Cup.
IK Sirius Fotboll, who is based in Upsalla, are another club who have spent most of its history in the lower tiers of Swedish football, but this season will be its 9th consecutive season in the top flight.
Östers IF have won the Allsvenskan 4 times, most recently in 1981; in 1968, their first season in Allsvenskan, Öster became the first team ever to win the national title at their first attempt!
And they have one Swedish Cup to their name which came in 1977.
And lastly, Mjällby AIF, who were formed in 1939, the club has only played nine seasons in Sweden's highest football league, with the first time coming in 1980. They were runners-up in the Swedish Cup in 2022/23.
Best of luck to all the sides this season!
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