Gefle IF Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids
Gefle IF

Full name

Gefle Idrottsförening

Founded

5 December 1882; 141 years ago as Gefle SK

Ground

Gavlevallen, Gävle

Capacity

6,500

Chairman

Malin Rogström

Head coach

Mikael Bengtsson

League

Superettan

2023

Superettan, 9th

Home colours

Away colours

Third colours

Gefle Idrottsförening, also known simply as Gefle IF, Gefle (pronounced [ˈjɛ̌ːvlɛ], as if spelled Gävle), or locally Gif (pronounced [ˈɡɪfː]), are a Swedish professional football club based in Gävle. The club is affiliated with Gestriklands Fotbollförbund and play their home games at Gavlevallen since the 2015 season. The club colours are blue and white. Formed on 5 December 1882 as Gefle SK, the club have played fifteen seasons in Sweden's highest football league Allsvenskan, with the first season being 1933–34. The club is currently playing in Superettan, the second tier of Swedish football.

History
Supporters
Stadium
European Cups history
Players
- First-team squad
- Out on loan
Managers
Achievements
- League
- Cups
See also

History

Gefle IF was originally formed as Gefle SK in December 1882 but changed the name to its current form only months after. The name "Gefle" is one of the old variations of spelling for the town Gävle which was used from the 1500s to the early 1900s. The multisports club mainly focused on winter sports during its early years, with rowing being their only summertime activity. In 1896 the club started having regular football training sessions under the guidance of an English accountant by the name of Robert Carrick. Born in England, he had grown up in Gävle but returned to his homeland for a few years as a student. There he had picked up the new sport which he brought back with him to Sweden and introduced at Gefle IF.

The Gefle IF team of 1902 with Robert Carrick holding the Rosenska Pokalen-trophy.

The club found early success at the turn of the century by winning one of the biggest swedish cups at the time, Rosenska Pokalen, three times. Due to high travel costs Gefle declined to participate in the other major swedish football tournament, Svenska Mästerskapet, during those years. Therefore, the clubs golden generation never got the chance to play against the nations other dominant team at the time, Örgryte IS from Gothenburg.

An ever-increasing number of football clubs were starting up in the early 1900s and Gefle were not able to maintain its dominant position among all the new competition. When the first swedish league Svenska Serien started in 1910 Gefle IF were not included and when they entered into the second tier of the league system in 1912–13 they finished dead last.

A chart showing the progress of Gefle IF through the swedish football league system. The different shades of gray represent league divisions.

During the rest of the 20th century the club mostly moved up and down between the second and third level of the Swedish football league system. They only managed two short lived stints at the top level Allsvenskan, one in the early 1930s and one in the early 1980s. Between the 1979 and 1981 season Gefle IF and Brynäs IF merged and played under the name Gefle IF/Brynäs, but the merger split up again in 1982. In 2004 manager Kenneth Rosén was finally able to bring the club back to the top division after finishing second in the 2004 Superettan. Rosén had missed part of the previous season due to illness and after the club was promoted he again had to be hospitalized and died soon after. Long-time club servant Per "Pelle" Olsson immediately stepped in and took over as manager during the off-season and managed to keep the club at the top level. Olsson would remain as the manager until 2014 when he was announced as Djurgårdens IF:s new manager.

Supporters

Gefle IF supporters during an away trip in 2012 to Råsunda Stadium where they played against AIK.

Due to their status as a second or third division club the Gefle supporters were late starters in creating an organized supporters club. After some fledgeling attempts in the mid 1990s when the interest in traveling to away games increased, the "Sky Blues" was finally founded in 2001 as the official supporter group.

In 2009 Gefle IF caused controversy among its fans by changing the sky blue home shirt to white, the color which the club played in during its first 80 years. This caused groups of fans to boycott the singing sections of the home stadium. Eventually before the start of the 2011 season a compromise was reached where they kept the white shirt for their home kit but brought back the sky blue as their new away kit. Further compromise was then reached for the 2015 Allsvenskan season when a new sky blue and white striped kit was launched, inspired by the Argentina national football team. A decision that satisfied both the fans and the club.

Stadium

Gefle IF played at Strömvallen, built in 1923, for 92 years. On 30 May 2013 it was announced that the club had agreed with Gävle Municipality to build a new stadium in the Sätraåsen area of Gävle. The stadium, Gavlevallen, was ready for the 2015 season.

European Cups history

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2006–07	UEFA Cup	First qualifying round	Llanelli	1–2	0–0	1–2
2010–11	UEFA Europa League	First qualifying round	NSÍ Runavík	2–1	2–0	4–1
2010–11	UEFA Europa League	Second qualifying round	FC Dinamo Tbilisi	1–2	1–2	2–4
2013–14	UEFA Europa League	First qualifying round	Narva Trans	5–1	3–0	8–1
		Second qualifying round	Anorthosis	4–0	0–3	4–3
		Third qualifying round	Qarabağ FK	0–2	0–1	0–3

None of Gefle's appearances in European competition have been due to cup wins or their league positions (11th, 10th and 11th in the respective years). Instead they have qualified through the Fair Play initiative each time.

Players

First-team squad

No.	Position	Player
4	DF	Philip Ekman
5	DF	Niclas Håkansson
6	MF	Oscar Lundin
7	MF	Daniel Eliasson
8	MF	Anton Lundin
9	FW	Jacob Hjelte
11	FW	Leo Englund
12	MF	Adrian Edqvist
13	GK	Robin Wallinder
14	MF	Sebastian Friman
16	DF	Kevin Persson
18	MF	Constantino Capotondi

No.	Position	Player
19	DF	Christoffer Aspgren
20	MF	Albin Hjelm
21	DF	Nils Eriksson
23	MF	Oskar Karlsson
24	DF	York Rafael
27	GK	Tobias Johansson
29	DF	Martin Rauschenberg
37	MF	Torre Rafael
44	MF	Iu Ranera
	DF	Alexander Jonsson (on loan from Hudiksvalls)
	MF	Ahmed Bonnah (on loan from Östers IF)