 | ||||
| Full name | Gefle Idrottsförening | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | 5 December 1882; 142 years ago (1882-12-05) asGefle SK | |||
| Ground | Gavlevallen,Gävle | |||
| Capacity | 6,500 | |||
| Chairman | Robert Strid | |||
| Head coach | Rawez Lawan | |||
| League | Ettan | |||
| 2025 | Ettan, 13th | |||
| Website | www | |||
Gefle Idrottsförening, also known simply asGefle IF,Gefle (pronounced[ˈjɛ̌ːvlɛ], as if spelledGävle), or locallyGif (pronounced[ˈɡɪfː]), also known asGefle IF FF by theSwedish Football Association, are a Swedish professionalfootball club based inGävle. The club is affiliated withGestriklands Fotbollförbund[1] and play their home games atGavlevallen since the 2015 season.[2] The club colours are blue and white. Formed on 5 December 1882 asGefle SK, the club have played fifteen seasons in Sweden's highest football leagueAllsvenskan,[3] with the first season being1933–34. The club is currently playing inEttan Norra, the third tier of Swedish football.
Gefle IF was originally formed as Gefle SK in December 1882 but changed the name to its current form only months after.[4] The name "Gefle" is one of the old variations of spelling for the townGävle which was used from the 1500s to the early 1900s.[5] The multisports club mainly focused onwinter sports during its early years, withrowing 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.[4]
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.[6] Due to high travel costs Gefle declined to participate in the other major swedish football tournament,Svenska Mästerskapet, during those years. Therefore, the clubsgolden generation never got the chance to play against the nations other dominant team at the time,Örgryte IS fromGothenburg.
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 leagueSvenska Serien started in 1910 Gefle IF were not included and when they entered into the second tier of the league system in1912–13 they finished dead last.[7]
During the rest of the 20th century the club mostly moved up and down between the second and third level of theSwedish football league system. They only managed two short lived stints at the top levelAllsvenskan, one in the early 1930s and one in the early 1980s. Between the 1979 and 1981 season Gefle IF andBrynäs IF merged and played under the name Gefle IF/Brynäs, but the merger split up again in 1982.[6] In 2004 managerKenneth Rosén was finally able to bring the club back to the top division after finishing second in the2004 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.[8] Long-time club servantPer "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.
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.[9]
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.[10][11] Further compromise was then reached for the2015 Allsvenskan season when a new sky blue and white striped kit was launched, inspired by theArgentina national football team. A decision that satisfied both the fans and the club.[12]
Gefle IF played atStrömvallen, built in 1923, for 92 years. On 30 May 2013 it was announced that the club had agreed withGävle Municipality to build a new stadium in the Sätraåsen area of Gävle. The stadium,Gavlevallen, was ready for the 2015 season.[2]
| 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 |
| 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 theFair Play initiative each time.[13]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
|
|
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
|
Robert Carrick (1900–07)
Sven Klang (1933–34)Erik Nilsson (1935)
Václav Simon (1945–46) Erik Norin (1960) Matts Larsson (1961) Sven Bergsten (1963)Sigge Parling (1965) Jörgen Stark (1970–71)Lennart Söderberg (1972–75)
Peter Antoine (1976) Rune Karlsson (1977) Bo Andersson (1978–79)Leif Widén (1980–81)Stefan Lundin (1982–83)Björn Bolling (1984) Bo Andersson (1985–86)Lennart Söderberg (1987–89)
Marek Skurczyński (1990–92)Stefan Lundin (1992–96)Pelle Olsson (1996–02)Kenneth Rosén (2003–04)Pelle Olsson (2005–13)Roger Sandberg (2014–2016) Thomas Andersson (2016–2017)Poya Asbaghi (2017)Johan Mjällby (2018)Marcus Bengtsson (2018–2019)Mikael Bengtsson (2020–2024)Rawez Lawan (2025–present)
