| Wikipedia: AIK Fotboll |
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| Full name | Allmänna Idrottsklubben | ||
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| Nickname(s) | Gnaget | ||
| Founded | 1891 1896 (football department) |
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| Ground | Råsunda Stadium, Solna, Stockholm, Sweden (Capacity: 36,608[1]) |
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| Chairman |  Per Bystedt |
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| Manager | Mikael Stahre |
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| League | Allsvenskan | ||
| 2008 | Allsvenskan, 5th | ||
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AIK, Swedish pronunciation: [ˈɑːikɔː], abbreviation for Allmänna Idrottsklubben, (literally "The General Sports Club" or "The Public Sports Club") is a Swedish football club based at Råsunda stadium in Solna, a municipality in Stockholm County bordering to Stockholm city centre. The club was formed in 1891 in central Stockholm and the football department was formed in 1896.
AIK currently plays in the highest Swedish league, Allsvenskan, and holds the record for being the Swedish club with most seasons in the top flight. With Malmö FF and IFK Göteborg, AIK are often considered as one of the "Big Three" in Swedish club football, having the top three spots in the all-time Allsvenskan table.
Qualifying for the 1999/2000 UEFA Champions League group stage – the only Stockholm side to have reached this far in the tournament – AIK was drawn in the same group as Barcelona, Arsenal and Fiorentina.
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History
Founded in 1891 by Isidor Behrens in Stockholm, at the downtown address of Biblioteksgatan 8, the club's full name, "Allmänna Idrottsklubben", translates to "The General Sports Club" or "The Public Sports Club". The name was chosen to reflect that the club was open for everyone, and also that athletics, at the time called "allmän idrott" in Swedish[2], was considered the club's main sport.
Putting football into practice in 1896, AIK were runners-up in the championship only two years later, in 1898. AIK won its first Swedish championship title in 1900, beating Örgryte IS in the final. In 1901, AIK won another title, after a walk over win against Örgryte IS team II. At the turn of the century, Swedish league football was dominated by Örgryte, who won ten times between the years 1896 and 1909. However, in the period of 1898–1901 AIK won the championship twice and were runners-up three times.
AIK didn't participate in the Swedish championships of 1902 and 1903, which meant these were played only with teams from Gothenburg. In 1902, AIK instead competed in "Svenska bollspelsförbundets tävlingsserie", a league competition open only to clubs from Stockholm. AIK competed with two teams in the first year of the competition, finishing fourth and last. As a result, the weaker AIK side was relegated, making the first team the only one from AIK in the highest division. The competition was played until 1909, with AIK winning it in 1908 and 1909, and was replaced by Svenska Serien.
Two years after the start of the "tävlingsserie", 1904, twelve teams participated in the championship, one of them being AIK for the first time since winning it. AIK went through to the semi-finals, where they were beaten by arch rivals Djurgårdens IF. In 1905, AIK went just as far, this time being beaten by IFK Stockholm. AIK competed in the championshiop three times in 1906-1910 without any success, but in 1911 they won the championship for the third time after beating IFK Uppsala in the final.
After that, AIK were eliminated in the semi-finals of 1912 and 1913 but won the championship once again in 1914. In 1915, AIK were again defeated by arch rivals Djurgården in the semi-finals. In 1916, however, AIK came back and defeated future rivals IFK Göteborg in the semi-finals, beating Djurgårdens IF with 3-1 in the final. In 1917, Djurgården mirrored AIK's achievement, winning against Göteborg in the semi-finals and then beating AIK with 3-1 in the final. Another couple of years passed by without any success for AIK, until 1923, when they won their sixth title after beating IFK Eskilstuna in the final.
From the years 1910 to 1924, a championship called "Svenska Serien" was played. AIK didn't win it, but were runners-up a couple of times. The status of this championship status increased in the beginning of the 1920s and it became more important than the Swedish championship.
In 1924, Svenska Serien was replaced by the current highest league, "Allsvenskan", (officially named "Division I"). The first years, the championship were dominated by teams from Gothenburg (GAIS, IFK Göteborg och Örgryte IS) and by Hälsingborgs IF. After some years when AIK finished fourth and fifth and in the middle of the table, AIK won the championship in 1931/32, making it their first Allsvenskan title and their seventh Swedish title.
AIK relocated to the suburb Solna in 1937, as the home stadium of the club was changed from Stockholms Stadion to Råsunda Fotbollsstadion. This was however only one of the things making the year 1937 a memorable year - AIK won their eighth Swedish title. After that, AIK didn't win a Swedish title in 55 years, and only finished second and third a couple of times. Their biggest successes came from winning the Swedish cup (established in 1941) in 1949 and 1950 (and later also 1976 and 1985).
But in 1992, AIK won the Swedish championship again, allowing them to play in the UEFA Champions League qualifications, but they were eliminated in their first match against AC Sparta Praha. Six years after that, in 1998, AIK won its tenth Swedish championship title, having scored fewer goals than all other 13 teams: 25 in 26 matches (average 0.962).[3]
AIK have played 62 matches in European competitions and took part in the 1999/2000 Uefa Champions League, their only appearance in the tournament group stage to date. Drawn in Group B along with FC Barcelona, Arsenal FC and AC Fiorentina, AIK would finish bottom of the group with only 1 point from 6 games, their sole point coming from a 0-0 draw at home to Fiorentina.
Club colours
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Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (September 2008) |
AIK's primary colours are black and yellow. White is the secondary color.
Crest
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Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (April 2008) |
AIK's crest is dark blue (not black), yellow and gold.
The crest's style is arguably art nouveau, the predominant style at the turn of the 20th century.
Creator of the crest was the runner and football player Fritz Carlsson-Carling, who won a contest in 1898 where the price was to create the new club crest. He wanted to reproduce the four basic characteristics of AIK; tradition, strength, success and joy.
- Tradition: This feature appears in the towers, which is taken from the Stockholm patron Saint Erik. In Saint Erik's coat of arms are five towers, which is a symbol of Stockholm's city wall, an indicator of AIK's tradition as a defender of the capital's honor.
- Power: Symbolized by the initials A.I.K., which are strongly framed in a bend. There is also an element of nationalism being shown in the colors (blue and yellow).
- Success & Joy: These characteristics are reflected in the sun, referring to ”Sol Invictius”, the invincible sun. Many make the mistake of believing that the sun in AIK's emblem is taken from the Solna City coat of arms. This is wrong. Solna didn't become a city until 1943 (it was previously a part of Stockholm City), i.e. six years after Råsunda Football Stadium was completed and 52 years after AIK was formed on Bibilioteksgatan in Stockholm.
Kit
Currently without away shorts, the home shirt is black and the away shirt is white. Socks are striped in black and yellow; away socks are all white. A yellow third jersey was used in 2004 while an orange third jersey was used in 2007. AIK's kit has been manufactured by Adidas since 1998. The main shirt sponsor is the brewery Åbro.
Stadium
AIK play their home games at Råsunda Stadium, Sweden's national football stadium. Råsunda Stadium also houses the Swedish FA, Svenska fotbollförbundet, and notably hosted the final of the World Cup 1958.
In 2012, Sweden's new national football stadium, Swedbank Arena, will be completed in Solna, at which time Råsunda is to be demolished. AIK are currently negotiating with the sponsors of Swedbank Arena to decide whether the arena will be used by the club as of 2012.
Fans
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Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (September 2008) |
With one of the largest fan-bases in Sweden, AIK had an average attendance of over 21,000 people during the 2006 season, the highest in Sweden. During the 2007 season, AIK had an average attendance of over 20,000.
The club's three most important fan clubs are Black Army, Smokinglirarna and Sol Invictus. AIK Tifo organize the club's terrace choreography.
Nicknames
A fan of the club is referred to as an AIK:are or a gnagare (rodent). Derogatory nicknames include råtta (rat) and solnatattare (Solna gypsy).
Rivalries
The club's main rival is Djurgården, also formed in 1891. The local derbies between the clubs are sometimes listed in the European top ten of derbies. Another fierce rival is Hammarby IF, also from Stockholm. The biggest rival outside Stockholm is IFK Göteborg, with games between the teams games often resulting in hooligan clashes and riots; in 2002 an IFK Göteborg fan was killed, the first Swede to be killed in a hooligan clash.
Feeder clubs
- Akropolis IF
- Bollstanäs SK
- Sollentuna United FK
- Täby IS
- FC Väsby United
Achievements
- Swedish Champions:
- Allsvenskan:
- Mästerskapsserien:
- Winners (1): 1992
- Allsvenskan play-off:
- Runners-up (1): 1986
- Svenska Serien:
- Svenska Mästerskapet:
- Svenska Cupen:
- Corinthian Bowl:
- Rosenska Pokalen:
- Wicanderska Välgörenhetsskölden:
Current squad
- As of 3 July 2009.
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- Number 1 is reserved for the fans.[4]
Out on loan
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Staff
- Manager: Mikael Stahre
- Assistant Manager: Andreas Alm
- Assistant Manager: Christer Swärd
- Goalkeeping Coach: Lee Baxter
- Fitness Coach: Thomas Lindholm
- Team doctor: Karol Zyto
- Naprapath: Tomas Fransson
- Naprapath: Luis Oyarzo
AIK in Europe
Noted players
Noted managers
- Hans Backe (1994-1995)
Stuart Baxter (1998-2000)- Erik Hamrén (1995-1997)
- Olle Nordin (2001-2002)
- Rikard Norling (2005-2008)
- George Raynor (1948-1952)
- Fred Spiksley (1911)
- Tommy Söderberg (1991-1993)
Dušan Uhrin (2002)
References
External links
Official
Major fan sites
- Gnagarforum – fan community
- Black Army
- Smokinglirarna
- Sol Invictus
- AIK-Tifo – terrace choreographers
- Polish fan club
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