Football is the most popular sport in Sweden, with over 240,000 licensed players—of which 56,000 are women—plus another 240,000 youth players. There are around 3,200 active clubs fielding over 8,500 teams, which are playing on the 7,900 pitches available in the country.
Left - Boras Arena - home of 2006 champions Elfsborg

Football was first played in Sweden in the 1870s, the first championship was decided in 1896 and the Swedish Football Association was founded in 1904. Despite being a relatively small country population-wise, both the men's and women's national teams and the club teams have gained rather large success from time to time.

Swedish football began to have regular seasons from 1924 on, when Allsvenskan started. Before that, tournaments were played irregularly. Svenska Mästerskapet for example, the decider of the Swedish Champions in the early years, was played spring-autumn, while Svenska Serien, the national league, was played autumn-spring.

Above - Halmstad's Orjans Vall Stadium

Some years, it was played spring-autumn-spring due to various reasons, and other years it was not played at all due to economical trouble. In 1959, Swedish football changed from autumn-spring to spring-autumn seasons. Allsvenskan has not been suspended any season since its start.

The current Swedish Champions title is held by the winners of Allsvenskan. The title has existed since 1896, although no club was given the title between 1926 and 1930.

Left - The new Behrn Arena home of Orebro

The 104 championships have been won by 18 different football clubs so far, with the top three title holders being IFK Göteborg (17 titles), Malmö FF (15) and IFK Norrköping (12).

Clubs from the three largest cities in Sweden, Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö have held the title the majority of the seasons, 71 in total, but there is also an example of a very small municipality being able to field a club capable of winning the title, as Åtvidabergs FF from Åtvidaberg held the title twice, in 1972 and 1973.  The above is the home of 2008 Champions Kalmar - the Fredrikssan.

The last five holders of the title:

2002 - Djurgårdens IF
2003 - Djurgårdens IF
2004 - Malmö FF
2005 - Djurgårdens IF
2006 - IF Elfsborg
2007 - IFK Goteborg
2008 - Kalmar FF

Teams playing in the 2008 Allsvanskan were as follows. For an up to date list of fixtures, click here.  To find them and where they all play at Footiemap.com :-

Club                            Stadium        Capacity
AIK                              Råsunda           36,608 
IFK Norrkoping FK         Norrkoping IP    20,000 
Djurgården                    Stockholms St   14,500
Elfsborg                        Borås Arena      17,800
GAIS                            Nya Ullevi          43,000
Gefle                            Strömvallen          7,197
IFK Göteborg                Nya Ullevi           43,000
Halmstad                      Örjans Vall         16,000
Hammarby                    Söderstadion      16,815
Helsingborg                   Olympia             17,100
Kalmar                          Fredriksskans    10,000
Malmö                          Malmö Stadion    26,500
Trelleborg                      Vångavallen        10,500
Örebro                          Behrn Arena        13,000
GIF Sundsvall                Norporten Arena    8,800
Ljungskile Sk                 Skarsjovagen       5,600 

GIF Sundsvall, IFK Norrkping and Ljunskile were relegated at the end of the 2008 season and will be replaced in 2009 by Orgryte (Goteborg), BK Hacken (Goteborg - see stadium above) and IF Brommapojkarna (Stockholm) will replace them meaning that the season will see eight teams compete from Sweden's two biggest cities.  Local derbies galore next season then!