 | |
| Founded | 13 January 1924; 101 years ago (1924-01-13) |
|---|---|
| Country | Sweden |
| Confederation | UEFA |
| Number of clubs | 16 |
| Level on pyramid | 1 |
| Relegation to | Superettan |
| Domestic cup(s) | Svenska Cupen |
| International cup(s) | UEFA Champions League UEFA Europa League UEFA Conference League |
| Current champions | Malmö FF (27th title) (2024) |
| Most championships | Malmö FF (27 titles) |
| Most appearances | Sven Andersson (431) |
| Top goalscorer | Sven Jonasson (254 goals) |
| TV partners | |
| Website | allsvenskan.se(in Swedish) |
| Current:2025 Allsvenskan | |
| Swedish men's football league structure |
|---|
| Allsvenskan (Tier 1) |
| Superettan (Tier 2) |
| Ettan (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 (Swedish pronunciation:[ˈâlːˌsvɛnːskan];lit. 'the All-Swedish'), also known asFotbollsallsvenskan ([ˈfûːtbɔlsˌalːsvɛnskan],lit. 'the Football All-Swedish') is a professionalassociation football league inSweden and the highest level of theSwedish football league system.
Founded in 1924, it operates on a system ofpromotion and relegation withSuperettan. 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.
Allsvenskan is ranked 23rd in theUEFA coefficients of leagues based on performances in European competitions over the last five years. Allsvenskan is currently ranked third highest of the leagues in Scandinavia afterNorway and Denmark. The current champions areMalmö FF, who won the title in the2024 season.
The three teams with most Swedish championships areMalmö FF (24),IFK Göteborg (18) andIFK Norrköping (13), all of which still playing as of 2024.
Including the 2024 season, Allsvenskan has been running for an unbroken streak of 100 seasons[update]. Unlike other European football leagues, the Allsvenskan did not experience an interruption in play during World War II due to Swedish neutrality.
In the 1910s, national league play had been tried in Sweden withSvenska Serien, however it turned out it was hard to finance the play.[1] Svenska Serien evolved into two series, consisting of a southern and northern group.
On 13 January 1924, football clubs met in Stockholm to found a nationwide series and on 3 August later in the year the opening game was played of the1924–25 Allsvenskan.[2] The first winner of the one-league twelve team Allsvenskan wasGAIS. In 1931, the league started to decide theSwedish football champions.
In the early years,Norrland andGotland 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 SpanishAntonio Durán and later EnglishBob Houghton, won five Allsvenskan and managed to proceed to the1979 European Cup final, which they lost toNottingham Forest.
From the 1982 season, the league introduced a play-off to determine theSwedish 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, namedMästerskapsserien.
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 and2005). In 2004,Örebro SK lost its place in the league due to financial problems, andAssyriska FF got their place. Since 2008, the league consists of 16 teams.
For the 2017 season, a league match ball was introduced andSelect Sport was chosen as supplier for four years.[3]
The2024 season marked 100 years of existence for Allsvenskan and was celebrated with retro kits during two match days in August.[4] Malmö FF won the centennial Allsvenskan and took their ninth title in the last 15 seasons.[5]
The champions are consideredSwedish champions and gold medal winners. The runners-up are awarded thelarge silver medal, the third positioned team are awarded thesmall silver medal and the team positioned in fourth place are awarded thebronze 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 ofSvenska 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 calledMästerskapsserien.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.
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 toSuperettan 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 theUEFA Champions League, the runner-up together with the third placed team in the table qualify for theUEFA Conference League. TheSvenska Cupen winner qualifies for theUEFA Europa League. In case the winner of the cup has already qualified to Champions League or Conference League, the second Conference League spot is given to the team that finishes fourth in Allsvenskan.
| 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 wasgoal ratio until the 1940–41 season, thereaftergoal difference.
The current trophy awarded to the Swedish champions is theLennart Johanssons Pokal. Created in 2001, the trophy is named after formerUEFA chairman,Lennart Johansson. A different trophy that was named afterClarence 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 leaderHermann Göring during the time he lived in Sweden (soon after World War One).[6] 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.[6]
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 atAllsvenskans stora pris together withC More andMagasinet Offside.[7] Also, theAllsvenskan top scorer is awarded.
The Swiss corporationKentaro has owned the TV rights for Allsvenskan since 2006.[8] Through licence agreements with the media companyTV4 Group matches are aired throughC More Entertainment who broadcasts them on theirC More Sport and C More Live channels, until 2019. Matches can also be bought through the onlinepay-per-view service C SPORTS.[9]
On 24 March 2017,Discovery-owned channelEurosport and OTT streaming serviceDplay will be the new domestic broadcaster for bothSEF competitions (Allsvenskan andSuperettan) effectively from 2020 until 2025, as well as selected European countries (exc. Italy) for Allsvenskan.[10] In May 2024 Discovery+ was rebranded asMax which is the service that currently broadcasts Allsvenskan.[11]
Beginning in 2018, Allsvenskan matches were previouslybroadcast in the UK onPremier Sports andFreeSports.[12] In October 2018,ESPN picked up the rights to broadcast one Allsvenskan match per weekin the United States.[13] Allsvenskan matches have also been broadcast in several countries, such asDAZN in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland,Sport Klub in Balkan countries,[14]Nova Sports in Cyprus and Greece,TV2 in Norway[15] and4th Sports in Iraq[16]
A total of 67 clubs have played in Allsvenskan from its inception in1924 up to and including the2024 season. No club has been a member of the league for every season since its inception.AIK is the club that has participated in the most seasons, with a record of 97 out of 101 seasons in total.Malmö FF has the record for most consecutive seasons: 63 between 1936–37 and 1999.IFK Göteborg is currently the club with the longest running streak, starting their 49th season in 2025.
The following 16 clubs are competing in Allsvenskan during the2025 season:
| Club | Position in2024 | First season | Number of seasons | First season of current spell | Titles | Last title |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AIK | 3rd | 1924–25 | 96 | 2006 | 6 | 2018 |
| BK Häcken | 8th | 1983 | 24 | 2009 | 1 | 2022 |
| Djurgårdens IF | 4th | 1927–28 | 69 | 2001 | 8 | 2019 |
| GAIS | 6th | 1924–25 | 55 | 2024 | 4 | 1953–54 |
| Halmstads BK | 12th | 1933 | 57 | 2023 | 4 | 2000 |
| Hammarby IF | 2nd | 1924–25 | 56 | 2015 | 1 | 2001 |
| IF Brommapojkarna | 10th | 2007 | 8 | 2023 | 0 | — |
| IF Elfsborg | 7th | 1926–27 | 81 | 1997 | 6 | 2012 |
| IFK Göteborg | 13th | 1924–25 | 92 | 1977 | 13 | 2007 |
| IFK Norrköping | 11th | 1924–25 | 84 | 2011 | 13 | 2015 |
| IFK Värnamo | 14th | 2022 | 3 | 2022 | 0 | — |
| IK Sirius | 9th | 1969 | 11 | 2017 | 0 | — |
| Degerfors | 1st inSuperettan | 1949–50 | 37 | 2004 | 1 | 2008 |
| Malmö FF | 1st | 1931–32 | 89 | 2001 | 26 | 2023 |
| Mjällby AIF | 5th | 1980 | 13 | 2020 | 0 | — |
| Östers IF | 2nd inSuperettan | 1955–56 | 5 | 2024 | 0 | — |
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To be allowed to manage an Allsvenskan club, the manager must have aUEFA Pro license.[17] From 2012 to 2021, clubs in Allsvenskan changed managers during the season 35 times during the ten seasons.[18]
Nanne Bergstrand is the manager with the most seasons in Allsvenskan, with 21 for four clubs of which ten in a row was withKalmar FF, whileRoy Hodgson is the most successful counting league wins, with seven, andLajos Czeizler andRoger Gustafsson, counting national titles, with four.[19]
The current managers in Allsvenskan are:
| Name | Club | Appointed | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Mikkjal Thomassen | AIK | 16 July 2024 |
 | Jens Gustafsson | BK Häcken | 27 December 2024 |
| William Lundin | Degerfors IF | 29 November 2023 |
 | Jani Honkavaara | Djurgårdens IF | 20 December 2024 |
| Fredrik Holmberg | GAIS | 9 November 2021 |
| Johan Lindholm | Halmstads BK | 27 August 2024 |
| Kim Hellberg | Hammarby IF | 14 December 2023 |
| Ulf Kristiansson Fredrik Landén | IF Brommapojkarna | 3 December 2024 |
| Oscar Hiljemark | IF Elfsborg | 3 June 2024 |
| Stefan Billborn | IFK Göteborg | 25 June 2024 |
| Martin Falk | IFK Norrköping | 21 December 2024 |
 | Ferran Sibila | IFK Värnamo | 23 August 2024 |
| Andreas Engelmark | IK Sirius | 3 December 2024 |
| Henrik Rydström | Malmö FF | 17 November 2022 |
| Anders Torstensson | Mjällby AIF | 14 November 2022 |
| Martin Foyston | Östers IF | 27 December 2023 |
| Rank | Player | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andreas Johansson | 445 | 20 |
| 2 | Sven Andersson | 431 | 0 |
| 3 | Thomas Ravelli | 416 | 0 |
| 4 | Daniel Tjernström | 411 | 24 |
| 5 | Sven Jonasson | 410 | 254 |
Andreas Johansson has the record for most appearances in Allsvenskan with 445 appearances forHalmstads BK andIFK Norrköping.[19] Johansson overtook the record fromÖrgryte andHelsingborg goalkeeperSven Andersson in 2024.[20]Sven Jonasson has the record for most matches in a row with 332 matches forIF Elfsborg between 11 September 1927 and 1 November 1942.[19]
Until 1974, foreign players were not allowed to play in Allsvenskan, although they were on lower levels of football in Sweden, decided to increase the competitiveness of thenational team.[21] In the first season of allowance, on 13 April 1974, EnglishRonald Powell inBrynäs IF became the first foreign player in Allsvenskan.[21] In 1977, TunisianMelke Amri became the first non-European player. In 1978, IcelandicTeitur Þórðarson inÖsters IF became the first foreign player to win the Allsvenskan[22]
Since 2023, teams may name nine substitutes in their match squad and of the 20 players named in the squad, a maximum of nine may be nothomegrown.[23]
| Rank | Player | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
Sven Jonasson has scored the most goals in Allsvenskan history, with 254 goals in 410 appearances.[19]Gunnar Nordahl, playing forDegerfors IF andIFK Norrköping has become theAllsvenskan top scorer most times, with four wins.[19]
Since 1959, the newspaperDagens Nyheter awards the first goal scorer of the season opening match day (counted in match minutes) a watch.[24][25]
Note that this list does not necessarily equate to the Swedish champions, as a play-off format was used in the 1980s. For a comprehensive list of Swedish football champions, see:List of Swedish football champions
| Season when the league didn't decide the Swedish champions | |
| Season when Swedish champions wasn't awarded at all |
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 thelarge silver medal. The third place team gets thesmall 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 ofSvenska Mästerskapet were both given bronze medals since no bronze match was played.[26]
The overall medal rank is displayed below after points in descending order. 5 points are awarded for a gold medal, 3 points for alarge silver medal, 2 points for asmall silver medal and 1 point for a bronze medal. The table that follows is accurate as of the end of the2024 season.[26][27][28]
| Rank | Club | Gold | Large silver | Small silver | Bronze | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Malmö FF | 27 | 15 | 10 | 8 | 208 |
| 2 | IFK Göteborg | 13 | 13 | 16 | 10 | 146 |
| 3 | IFK Norrköping | 13 | 10 | 5 | 8 | 113 |
| 4 | AIK | 6 | 15 | 13 | 8 | 109 |
| 5 | Helsingborgs IF | 7 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 85 |
| 6 | Djurgårdens IF | 8 | 4 | 11 | 6 | 80 |
| 7 | IF Elfsborg | 6 | 8 | 6 | 9 | 75 |
| 8 | GAIS | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 44 |
| 9 | Östers IF | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 38 |
| 10 | Örgryte IS | 2 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 34 |
| 11 | Halmstads BK | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 32 |
| 12 | Hammarby IF | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 25 |
| 13 | Kalmar FF | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 19 |
| 14 | Åtvidabergs FF | 2 | 2 | - | 1 | 17 |
| 15 | Örebro SK | - | 2 | 2 | 4 | 14 |
| 16 | BK Häcken | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 13 |
| 17 | Degerfors IF | - | 2 | 2 | 2 | 12 |
| 18 | IK Sleipner | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 11 |
| 19 | Landskrona BoIS | - | - | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| Sandvikens IF | - | - | 1 | 3 | 5 | |
| 21 | IFK Malmö | - | 1 | - | - | 3 |
| Jönköpings Södra IF | - | 1 | - | - | 3 | |
| Råå IF | - | 1 | - | - | 3 | |
| 24 | Trelleborgs FF | - | - | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 25 | IK Brage | - | - | - | 3 | 3 |
Clubs in European football are commonly honoured for winning multiple league titles and arepresentative golden star is sometimes placed above the club badge to indicate the club having won 10 league titles. In Sweden the star instead symbolizes 10Swedish championship titles for the majority of the clubs as the league winner has not always been awarded the title of Swedish champions.[a] Stars for Allsvenskan clubs was not common practise until 2006, althoughAIK had already introduced a star to their kit in 2000.IFK Göteborg,Malmö FF,IFK Norrköping,Örgryte IS andDjurgårdens 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 areIF Elfsborg with 6 Swedish championship titles andHelsingborgs 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.
| Club | Swedish championship titles | Allsvenskan titles | Stars | Introduced |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Malmö FF | 24 | 27 |  | 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 |
| Town or city | League wins | Clubs |
|---|---|---|
| Malmö | 27 | Malmö FF (27) |
| Gothenburg | 20 | IFK Göteborg (13),GAIS (4),Örgryte IS (2),BK Häcken (1) |
| 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) |
The all-time Allsvenskan table (Swedish:Maratontabellen) is a cumulative record of all match results, points, and goals of every team that has played in Allsvenskan since its inception in1924–25. It uses three points for a win even though this system was not introduced until the1990 season. The matches played in the championship play-offs between1982 and 1990 or the matches played inMästerskapsserien in1991 and1992 are not included. The table that follows is accurate as of the end of the2023 season.[30]
Malmö FF are the current leaders, having had the lead since the end of the 2012 season when they overtook the lead fromIFK 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 isGAIS, currently placing 12th and 2120 points short of Malmö FF.
|
|
The following data indicatesSwedish coefficient rankings between European football leagues.[31]
 | Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. Updates on reimplementing the Graph extension, which will be known as the Chart extension, can be found onPhabricator and onMediaWiki.org. |
UEFA League Ranking for the 2018–2023 period:[32]
|
UEFA 5-year Club Ranking as of 19 May 2022:[33]
|
| Year | Spectators per match |
|---|---|
| 2016 | 9,127 |
| 2017 | 9,215 |
| 2018 | 8,423 |
| 2019 | 9,166 |
| 2020 | N/A |
| 2021 | N/A |
| 2022 | 9,958 |
The record for highest average home attendance for a club was set byHammarby in 2022 (26,372 over 15 home matches). Most other attendance records for Allsvenskan were set in the1959 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 anÖrgryte win overIFK Göteborg atUllevi), 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).
In the past,AIK had the league's highest attendance for the season more often than any other club, followed by IFK Göteborg and Örgryte. However, for the past decade,Hammarby has dominated the attendance figures helped by a move to the largerTele2 Arena from the much smallerSöderstadion. Other teams that have for at least one season had the best attendance in the league includeHelsingborg,Malmö FF,Djurgården,GAIS,Örebro SK andÖster.
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As of the 2014 season Allsvenskan has 12 referees that are categorized as Allsvenskan referees, seven of which are fully certified internationalFIFA referees.[34][35] Apart from these, female FIFA refereeTess Olofsson also occasionally officiates games in Allsvenskan as the only woman to ever having done so. Since 2009, the referees are professional.[36]
Note:FIFA referees are in bold
Malmö FF were runners up in the 1978–79European Cup, after a 1–0 defeat againstNottingham Forest.[37]IFK Göteborg won theUEFA Cup twice, in 1981–82 (defeatingHamburger SV in the finals)[38] and 1986–87 (defeatingDundee United in the finals).[39] IFK Göteborg also reached the semi-finals of the European Cup in 1985–86. They won 3–0 againstFC Barcelona, and lost 0–3 atCamp Nou, Barcelona won on penalty shootout.[40]
The following teams have participated inUEFA Champions League,UEFA Europa League orUEFA Europa Conference League group stages:
| Club | UEFA Champions League | UEFA Europa League | UEFA Conference League |
|---|---|---|---|
| IFK Göteborg | 1992–93 (SF) 1994–95 (QF) 1996–97 (GS) 1997–98 (GS) | — | — |
| Malmö FF | 2014–15 (GS) 2015–16 (GS) 2021–22 (GS) | 2011–12 (GS) 2018–19 (R32) 2019–20 (R32) 2022–23 (GS) 2024–25 (GS) | — |
| Helsingborgs IF | 2000–01 (GS) | 2007–08 (R32) 2012–13 (GS) | — |
| AIK | 1999–2000 (GS) | 2012–13 (GS) | — |
| IF Elfsborg | — | 2007–08 (GS) 2013–14 (GS) 2024–25 (GS) | — |
| BK Häcken | — | 2023–24 (GS) | — |
| Halmstads BK | — | 2005–06 (GS) | — |
| Östersunds FK | — | 2017–18 (R32) | — |
| Djurgårdens IF | — | — | 2022–23 (R16) 2024–25 (QF) |
| National teams | |||||
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| League system |
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| Cup competitions |
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| Lists of clubs | |||||
