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Before mainspace move: Todo: Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Göteborg (officially IFK Göteborg Fotboll), commonly known as IFK Göteborg or locally just IFK, is a Swedish professional football club based in Gothenburg. Founded in 1904, it is the only club in the Nordic countries that has won one of the main UEFA competitions, having won the UEFA Cup in both 1982 and 1987. IFK is affiliated with Göteborgs Fotbollförbund and play their home games at Gamla Ullevi. The club colours are blue and white, colours shared both with the sports society which the club originated from, Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna, and with the coat of arms of the city of Gothenburg.
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Besides the two UEFA Cup titles, IFK have won 18 Swedish championship titles, second most in Swedish football after Malmö FF, and have the second most national cup titles with eight. The team has qualified for four group stages of the UEFA Champions League, and reached the semi-finals of the 1985–86 European Cup. The International Federation of Football History & Statistics ranks IFK Göteborg as the 32nd most successful European club, and the most successful Nordic club, of the 20th century. It is the only sports club to have won the Jerring Award, an award for best Swedish sports performance of the year voted by the Swedish people, for the 1982 UEFA Cup victory. IFK is the most popular football club in Sweden, with diverse country-wide support.

IFK Göteborg play in the highest Swedish league, Allsvenskan, where they have played for the majority of their history. They have played in the Swedish first tier continuously since 1977, which is the longest ongoing top-flight tenure in Sweden. The club won its first Swedish championship in 1908, four years after the founding, and has won at least one championship title in every decade since, except the 1920s, 1970s and 2010s. IFK Göteborg's most successful period was from 1982 to 1996, when the team prospered in European football and won 10 out of 15 Swedish championships.

Early years and the formation of Allsvenskan (1904–1925)
IFK Göteborg was formally founded on 4 October 1904, after an initial meeting on 2 October at Café Olivedal—in the Annedal district of Linnéstaden borough in Gothenburg—between two groups of friends, including representatives from two existing clubs, Annedals SK and IS Kamraterna. It was the second attempt at founding a club in Gothenburg associated with the Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna central organisation. The first attempt, founded in 1895 as the 6th circle, had largely ceased to exist by 1899. The new club was initially accepted as the 39th circle, but after a complete overhaul of the circle numbering in 1942, as many clubs had been disbanded and refounded, IFK Göteborg was established to be the 11th circle.

A committee for football was created at the historic first meeting; the association's first football match ended in a 4–1 victory against another club from the area, IK Viking. The foundation of IFK Göteborg was important for the development of football in the city, as until that point, Örgryte IS, the largest of Gothenburg clubs, were dominant, with IFK Göteborg offering some needed competition.

In 1907 IFK Göteborg became the first Swedish team in four years to beat Örgryte IS. They then went on to win their first Swedish championship in 1908 by winning the cup tournament Svenska Mästerskapet, and three players from the club were selected to play for Sweden in the national team's first match. That year IFK played teams from outside Sweden for the first time, meeting the Danish clubs Østerbro BK and Boldklubben af 1893.

In 1910, the team played in blue and white striped jerseys for the first time. Two years later the team drew 1–1 in a game against the 1912 Swedish Olympic team, and the newspapers in Stockholm nominated IFK Göteborg as "the best Swedish football club ever". IFK Göteborg won Svenska Serien, the highest Swedish league at the time, but not the Swedish championship deciding competition, for the fifth time in a row in 1917. The early IFK Göteborg team had no trainer; the club gained its first such official in 1921, when Hungarian manager Sándor Bródy was hired. Bródy was appointed manager for IFK two years later. The first Swedish official national league, Allsvenskan, started in late 1924, the year the legendary Filip Johansson made his debut for IFK Göteborg. The club finished second, but Johansson scored 39 goals in 22 games and was the league's top goalscorer.

Gothenburg domination and mixed results (1926–1960???)
IFK won their first Allsvenskan title in 1934–35, the ten previous seasons of the league saw the club finish in the top four. Swedish football was dominated by teams from Gothenburg during these years, but IFK Göteborg were surprisingly relegated in 1937–38, although the team was promoted back to Allsvenskan the next season. Back in the highest division, IFK finished second, with the league continuing despite the outbreak of World War II. IFK won another title in 1941–42 with a strong team, but the rest of the decade saw mixed results. The 1940s team included the talented Gunnar Gren, who became the top scorer in 1946–47. He was also awarded Guldbollen as the best player in Sweden, and won an Olympic gold medal with the Swedish team at the 1948 Olympics. When Gren left in 1949, IFK were relegated from Allsvenskan the following season. As happened the last time IFK played in a lower league, they were promoted directly back to Allsvenskan after one season in Division 2. IFK went on to compete in a European Cup, the European Champion Clubs' Cup, for the first time in 1958, but were eliminated in the second round by SC Wismut. In 1959, the all-time Allsvenskan record attendance of 52,194 was set when IFK played Örgryte IS at Nya Ullevi.

Second division to the top of Europe (1960???–1987)
After an unglamorous decade, IFK were led by manager and retired footballer Bertil Johansson to a surprising championship title in 1969. The following season was one of the darkest in their history. IFK were relegated, and unlike previous relegations they did not make an immediate return. After three seasons in the second league IFK had lost all signs of being a team from Allsvenskan, and had still not managed to gain promotion. But after hard work from board member Anders Bernmar and others to get the club on the right track, IFK were promoted to Allsvenskan in 1976. In 1979, IFK hired Sven-Göran Eriksson as manager. He introduced the 4–4–2 system with "pressure and support", called the Swenglish model, which would give IFK great success later on, and his first season at the club ended with a second place in Allsvenskan and the club's first gold medal in Svenska Cupen.

After reinforcing the team with several expensive players, including Thomas Wernerson and Stig Fredriksson, IFK had finished second in the league and reached the quarter-finals in the UEFA Cup as 1981 came to an end. 1982 then became a turbulent season as the whole board was replaced and the club almost went bankrupt, even needing to borrow money from the official supporter's association to travel to Valencia to play the quarter-final of the UEFA Cup. After the troubled start IFK won every competition they entered, including Allsvenskan, the Allsvenskan play-off, Svenska Cupen, and the UEFA Cup, defeating Hamburger SV 4–0 on aggregate in the finals. During the following 15 years the club was the leading club in Swedish football, winning the Swedish championship ten times, the domestic cup three times and the UEFA Cup twice.

IFK managed to field a strong team for a couple of years and won gold in the league in both 1983 and 1984, and the cup in 1983. In 1986, the team reached the semi-finals of the European Cup but were defeated on penalties against FC Barcelona. A new team of talents won both the UEFA Cup and Allsvenskan once again in 1987, after beating Dundee United in the UEFA Cup final. The youth manager Roger Gustafsson took over the team from Gunder Bengtsson in 1990, and his time with IFK was to become very successful, winning Allsvenskan five times between 1990 and 1995.

Champions League, national domination, and subsequent fall (1988–)
As IFK won the 1993 Allsvenskan, they qualified for European competition. IFK advanced to the group stage of the Champions League, where they faced FC Barcelona, Manchester United and Galatasaray. Elimination at the group stage was widely anticipated, but IFK Göteborg confounded expectations by winning the group and advancing to the knockout stage. However, IFK Göteborg was eliminated in the quarter-finals by Bayern Munich on away goals.

The last years before the new millennium were disappointing for IFK, providing a stark contrast to the earlier success. The team only managed a silver in 1997 and an eighth place in 1998, after buying several expensive players who failed to produce. In both 1998 and 1999 IFK changed managers mid-season, something which had previously never happened in the club's history. The last year of the decade ended with a sixth-place finish. The new millennium offered varied results, with the club playing a relegation play-off in 2002, but challenging for the championship in 2001, 2004, and 2005. In 2007, the first title in eleven years was secured in the last round of Allsvenskan. The club then won the national cup Svenska Cupen the next season. IFK Göteborg are still considered to be one of the "Big Three" in Swedish football, along with Malmö FF and AIK, despite only having won the Allsvenskan title once during the last 20 years. <!-- Jonsered transfers, dominating 1910s Early years IFK as Sweden, Sthlm vs Gbg Ranked as foremost club 1980s domination Best in Europe 1986?

Bosman

Transfers 1910s Svennis 1995 CL Most popular and successful

Fyrkantserien 1918/1919

Göteborgsserien Top scorers in Europe for SE clubs

Göteborgs IF Transfers from Jonsered, Gårda, VF BK Häcken Transfers from Fässberg, Gårda, VF

1910 first club in Gbg and SE Merge with Göteborgs IF Suspended from competing Playing the national team 1912, and being the national team Worse 1930s and 1940s First IFK 1895

Fyrkantserien Fässbergs IF Gothenburg more mature 1920s Losing the leading position 1930s

Most successful Gothenburg club First victory vs ÖIS, 1912 trouble

2007 win with local Gothenburgers

HIF breaks Gbg dominance 10 years of Allsvenskan IFK wins marathon league 1957-58 1982 finals vs Hammarby 1982 UEFA Cup, loss of players and staff Fässberg transfers Close to promotion 1975 Almost winning SvD-guld

1907 transfers changing things, 1908 SM SM 1910, 1911 tough year, merger with junior clubs Seven league titles in a row Large club by European standards, 17 teams First national league Lost final match vs GFF 1910 Börjesson top scorer Gothenburg domination Emigration hitting hard, Sandor Brody hired Svarte-Filip record scorer 1924/25 Medal each year until 1935/36 Relegated from Allsvenskan, back in a year Ceve Svarte-Filip Gunnar Säffle Andersson 1982 UC most major victory all-time Svengelska modellen 1982 final in detail Crisis Valencia 1982 Established European team 1986/87 CL 1994/95 Spend to win but fail Bosman problems -->

Colours and kit
The colours of the central IFK association are blue and white, and IFK Göteborg follows that tradition, additionally using an accenting lion yellow colour from the club crest when needed. According to tradition the blue colour symbolises fidelity and wisdom while white represents innocence and goodness. Soon after the club's foundation in 1904, it was decided that the kit should consist of a blue and white striped shirt with blue shorts, but the design was too costly and instead a cheaper alternative was decided on, consisting of a blue shirt with a single horizontal white stripe and a sewed-on white four-pointed star, one of the IFK association symbols, on the chest. Each player had to procure the shorts themselves. During the next few years, multiple home kit variants were in use, including white or blue shirts without stripes but with the four-pointed star.

On 3 April 1910, a kit comprising a blue and white vertically striped shirt and blue shorts was used for the first time as originally decided, but also inspired by the kit of Kjøbenhavns Boldklub. This kit has remained as the home colours ever since, occasionally white shorts have been used instead. The longtime use of the same blue and white-striped shirt, and well-integrated sponsor logos, has made the kit a classic in Swedish football. Uniform blue and white-striped socks were first used in 1934, inspired by the introduction of striped socks at Arsenal F.C.. An official policy document published in 2019 defines a number of guidelines for the kit. These include stripe design (they need to be of equal width, number seven to nine across the torso, and should not be distorted through gradients or sponsor logos), guidelines for the main sponsor and kit supplier logo, use of accent colours, colours of the shorts and socks, and kit usage in general. The blue and yellow colours used in all kits were standardised in 2020, the blue colour is the result of analysing different blue hues used in home kits from the last 40 years, and selecting the mean colour value.

The most common away kit colour until the late 1970s was white (sometimes with blue details), but blue or lion yellow away kits started appearing in the 1960s and 1970s. Red away and third kits in different styles appeared in the late 1970s and were common through the 1980s and 1990s, coinciding with the introduction of ICA as main sponsor. Red has seen continued use as an alternative colour in the 21st century, but a wider variety of away and third kit colours have appeared since the 1990s, including black (blue, white, or pink details), grey (blue or red details), purple (white details), pink (black details), and orange. A full white third kit with blue details was re-introduced in 2007 after requests from supporters, a combination commonly used since. The 2019 policy document advises that one or more of the main colours of the crest—blue, white, and lion yellow—should be used for away and third kits, with some leeway for special occasions. The 2020 away and third kits thus were yellow and dark blue respectively. A red kit away kit with white and blue details was introduced in 2021, a throwback to a successful 1990s design.

Crest and symbols
Various symbols were used before 1919, with the four-pointed star of the IFK associations featuring on the shirts until 1910. Each point of the star represents a specific ambition; perseverance (ihärdighet), proficiency (färdighet), strength (kraft), and either cohesion (sammanhållande) or comradeship (kamratskap), with the initials of the three first ambitions spelling out "IFK". Despite no longer featuring on the crest, the comrade star (kamratstjärnan) has seen continued use as a symbol both by the club—for example on the memorial stone raised in front of the club complex in 2012—, and by supporters—for example in tifo displays.

The crest introduced in 1919 has its origins in the coat of arms of the city of Gothenburg which in turn is based on several other heraldic arms. The lion on a field of silver and blue is the heraldic arms of the House of Bjelbo, and the lion holds the Three Crowns of Sweden, both symbols being used in the coat of arms of Sweden. This arms was granted to Gothenburg when the city was founded by Gustavus Adolphus in 1621. All elements put together symbolises how Gothenburg would be the "bastion of the realm in the west" ("rikets värn i väst(er)") against Denmark. The coat of arms of the city sees the lion facing the sinister (heraldic left, which is viewer's right) side which often is interpreted as a fleeing lion, the normal being a lion facing the dexter (heraldic right) side, IFK chose to use the latter on the club crest. The three letters "IFK" sit on top to finish off the crest.

It is not known why the crest was introduced, speculations include wanting to mark the club's independence from the central IFK association, or instead of using the IFK association crest together with the name of the city, doing it the other way around: using the city coat of arms together with the name of the association. According to the statutes of the central IFK association all member clubs should use one of two mandated crest designs, the crest of IFK Göteborg is one of few approved exceptions.

The crest has been used since it first appeared on the kit in a friendly and on the 15th anniversary booklet in 1919. Though the home shirt did not feature any crest between 1910 and 1971, some away shirts included the crest during that period. The main elements have not been modified since the introduction, but several different designs of the crest have been used during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, occasionally having the lion facing the sinister side. The many variants include a grotesque design only known to have been used in 1972 on the away kit (the home kit used another crest), possibly produced by the kit supplier or a sponsor.

The club standardised the design in 1979/80 and only minor changes—such as element colours and different hues—have been made since then, with the exception of the years 1997–1999 when IFK, with Reebok as kit sponsors, used a crest with some more distinct changes to the standard elements, including removing the second row of the lion's mane. Details of the crest were slightly updated in 2020 to increase visibility and clarity, and the blue and yellow colours were modified in conjunction with an introduction of standardised kit colours.

IFK Göteborg have worn a star above the crest since 2006, a honour signifying that the club has won ten or more Swedish championship titles. The star is not part of the crest itself and is only featured on match shirts.

Kit suppliers and sponsors
The first official club kit suppliers were introduced in the late 1970s, when Swedish supplier Sportjohan, German Adidas, and British Admiral where used in quick succession. IFK Göteborg then returned to Adidas in 1981, who stayed as suppliers until 2015, only interrupted for some years in the late 1990s by ASICS and Reebok. Italian Kappa replaced Adidas as the club's kit manufacturer in 2016 and were used for four seasons until they in turn were replaced by Craft in 2020.

No sponsors were used on the kits before the abolition of the amateur statutes in Swedish football in 1967, but with that change sponsorship and advertising became more commonplace to match increased player salaries, and by 1972 the first sponsor logos appeared on kits of the Allsvenskan teams. The grocery store chain ICA started sponsoring IFK Göteborg in 1974, and then first appeared on the kit as a shorts sponsor in 1976. The deal with ICA was the first multi-year sponsorship in Swedish football. The grocery store was promoted to main shirt sponsor in 1980 and stayed as such until 2010, leading some to consider the sponsor logo to be an integral part of the shirt and tightly associated with the club. At one point the public relations manager of ICA stated that "Blåvitt somehow feels like a subsidiary company". The ICA logo was reproduced in its original red colour in 1980, but was then changed to a blue-and-white version to better blend with the kit colours.

A rival to ICA, Kooperativa Förbundet, launched a generic brand in 1979, named Blåvitt (generic brand) and using blue and white packaging. Kooperativa Förbundet subsequently offered IFK a better sponsorship deal than the club currently had, however IFK in turn asked ICA to match the deal from their rivals and decided to stay with ICA for the long term. The ICA era continued for more than 30 years, but ended when financial company Prioritet Finans were signed as new main sponsors in a 2011 deal worth 10–12 million Swedish kronor per year, at that time one of the largest sponsorship deals ever made within Swedish club football. Before the contract was renewed with Prioritet Finans in 2015, IFK Göteborg played without a main shirt sponsor for the first half of that season. Construction contractor Serneke replaced Prioritet Finans as the main shirt sponsor before the start of the 2019 season, becoming the third main sponsor in the club's history.

Even though the multinational manufacturing company Volvo (and the now separate automotive manufacturer Volvo Cars) has been headquartered in Gothenburg since it was founded, they have never been a major sponsor to IFK, initially rejecting an offer to sponsor the club in 1965, later claiming that they would not sell more cars by sponsoring, and that football supporters were not part of their target group. The minor sponsoring they later did was mainly to "appear as good citizens in the municipalities where we operate".

Apart from the Craft brand and main sponsor Serneke, IFK Göteborg have a number of other main sponsors, whose logos are also visibile on the kit in 2021: Atea, an IT-infrastructure company; Elkontakt, an electrical contractor; Länsförsäkringar, an insurance company and bank; Morris Law, a law firm; Nordic Wellness, a chain of fitness centres; Rasta, a chain of road restaurants and motels; Volkswagen Göteborg, the Gothenburg dealership of the German automaker; and league sponsors Unibet, a sports betting company.

Stadiums
Historically, IFK Göteborg's main home stadium has been Gamla Ullevi (built 1916), where the majority of the club's competitive games have been played. The club has played there in two separate periods, most recently after leaving Ullevi (Nya Ullevi) in 1992, although matches attracting large crowds, such as derbies against the rivals Örgryte IS and GAIS and international games, were still played at the larger Nya Ullevi, having a capacity of around 43,000. Gamla Ullevi's capacity fluctuated over time, from 30,000 after renovation in 1935 to 17,000 in 2004, it was the largest stadium in Sweden around 1930. IFK held the Swedish club attendance record, 24,348, from 1929 to 1937, set on Gamla Ullevi against Helsingborgs IF. In the end of the 1990s, complaints that the arena was not modern enough—in terms of visibility from the stands, spectator services, as well as security—started appearing. All three Göteborgsalliansen clubs together with the supporters argued for the construction of a new stadium, rather than a renovation of Gamla Ullevi or modifications, and a move, to Nya Ullevi, as argued for by the municipality. In April 2005, municipal commissioner Göran Johansson presented plans to demolish Gamla Ullevi and build a new stadium on the site. The plans were formally decided by the municipal board in June 2005.

Gamla Ullevi was demolished on 9 January 2007 to make place for the new stadium. The new stadium was opened at the start of the 2009 season, and kept the previous name, Gamla Ullevi. The naming question was decided by former secretary of the Swedish Academy, Sture Allén, who stated that the name was too well-established to be replaced. During construction, IFK Göteborg played the 2007 and 2008 seasons at the formerly used Ullevi. The new stadium has a capacity of 18,100–18,416 when using a combination of seats and terraces, or 16,000–16,596 when used as an all-seater, and is owned and operated by Got Event, the event company of Gothenburg Municipality. The original construction budget was substantially increased from 180 million Swedish kronor to almost the double after pressure from the supporters' club Supporterklubben Änglarna, who argued that the improvements would make the difference "not between a good and great stadium, but between a bad or acceptable stadium". On 11 April 2009 IFK Göteborg played their first game on the new Gamla Ullevi stadium and won against Djurgården with 6–0 in front of 18,276 spectators, the stadium's record attendance.

IFK Göteborg have used three other stadia as official home grounds. The first ground was Idrottsplatsen, in use as home ground from the first match on 12 July 1905 to 1915. It was built in 1896 for the cycling club Göteborgs Velocipedklubb, and was originally used for track cycling. During the 1909 season IFK Göteborg also used Örgryte IS's then home ground, Balders Hage, due to a conflict with Göteborgs IF with which IFK Göteborg co-owned and operated Idrottsplatsen. The third official stadium was Walhalla Idrottsplats operated by Örgryte IS—at its opening the most modern sports ground in Scandinavia—which IFK were forced to use from time to time by the Swedish Football Association between 1908 and 1915, alongside Idrottsplatsen. A fourth ground, Slottsskogsvallen opened in 1923, has never been the official home ground, but has nonetheless been used a number of times for IFK Göteborg home matches, mainly in the 1920s and 1930s.

Idrottsplatsen fell into decline due to poor leadership and a troubled economy caused by competition from the more modern Walhalla, and a decision was taken to completely renovate the arena with the help of outside sponsorship and funding. A previous attempt at financing the construction failed in 1910, but with the help of Göteborgs IF, construction of a new football ground was started in early 1916 and used the site of Idrottsplatsen as foundation. The new stadium named Ullervi, meaning "Ullr's sanctuary", was opened on 17 September 1916. It was renamed Ullevi (the "R" was removed) in 1920 when linguists argued that the original name was incorrect, and again renamed to Gamla Ullevi ("Old Ullevi") when Nya Ullevi ("New Ullevi") was constructed. IFK Göteborg transfered the ownership of the stadium to the municipality in 1924, but continued using it as the club's home ground until 1958. Nya Ullevi—built for the 1958 World Cup held in Sweden—was opened in 1958, and IFK Göteborg moved there from the smaller Gamla Ullevi the same year.

A number of attendance records in Swedish club football have been set on Nya Ullevi with IFK Göteborg as one of the clubs, including the all-time and Allsvenskan record (52,194 on 3 June 1959), the Allsvenskan play-offs record (38,563 on 3 November 1985), the second division record (50,690 on 20 May 1976), and the record for European football (50,108 on 17 March 1982). Due to a number of seasons with low attendance in Swedish football in the late 1980s and early 1990s and the reconstruction of Nya Ullevi for UEFA Euro 1992, Gamla Ullevi was renovated and re-opened on 31 March 1992.

Facilities
IFK Göteborg played its first match, a training match between the first and second team of the club, at Karlsrofältet. A memorial stone with the caption "Here on Karlsrofältet, IFK Göteborg played their first football match in 1904" ("Här på Karlsrofältet spelade IFK Göteborg sin första fotbollsmatch år 1904") has been raised by the field to commemorate the event. The field was renovated in 1906, ensuring correct playing dimensions and regulation goalposts, but was mainly used for training and lower league games despite this, due to the lack of changing rooms and a very uneven pitch. IFK stopped using the field completely in 1910 but returned one last time for the 1923 season opening match.

IFK Göteborg acquired a clubhouse called Lilla Sjödala in 1946, located in Pixbo, Mölnlycke, outside Gothenburg. The house was mostly used by the club's orienteering and athletics section, rarely being used by the football section. Due to its relative inaccessibility, several tens of kilometers from Gothenburg, the club started looking for a more central location in the 1950s, and in August 1959, IFK acquired a lease for 2.4 ha of land near Delsjön. The plans for a new home were accepted by the members on 9 October 1959, and on 1 October 1961, a new 220 m2 complex, Kamratgården, including a football pitch, was officially opened. Lilla Sjödala was sold in 1964 as the new facilities also accomodated for orienteering and athletics. A number of additions were made to Kamratgården over the years, including the construction of an administrative building in 1992 which allowed the office and visiting address to be moved from Drottninggatan in central Gothenburg. By 2004 Kamratgården had grown to a floor area of 1200 m2, an indoor hall had been constructed nearby, and two full-size grass pitches were available.

Plans for a new arena, due to the high cost of hiring pitches for training and matches in central Gothenburg, were conceived together with the other Göteborgsalliansen clubs, and Gårda BK, in 1937. A copartnership was founded and a suitable plot of land was found in Sävedalen, Partille. The plans never came to fruition partially due to the poor economy of the clubs, and Sävedalens idrottsplats—as the pitch was named—was only ever used by the reserve and youth teams of the involved clubs before it was sold off in 1964.

Discussions regarding building a new complex were initiated in 2005, as the stand-alone additions and modifications to Kamratgården over the years had not only decreased the aesthetics but also increased the cost of maintaining and keeping it in repair. With the help of new sponsor SEFA (later renamed Serneke), a construction contractor, the old buildings were demolished in February 2011, and a new two-floor 2000 m2 modern facility was opened on 18 March 2012 to a cost of 30 million Swedish kronor. The administrative area has offices, meeting rooms, media room, reception, kitchen and dining room for 140 people. The sports area houses three changing rooms, gym, bath, sauna, offices for coaching staff, a player's lounge and additional rooms. Due to weak finances, IFK Göteborg decided to sell Kamratgården to an external partner in late 2015. The agreement released funds needed to secure the economy, while at the same time allowing IFK to rent the facilities without increased operating costs. IFK Göteborg also secured the rights to buy back the complex at any time the club wants to do so.

The football academy of IFK Göteborg as well as Änglagårdsskolan, an elementary school affiliated with IFK, are housed at Prioritet Serneke Arena, a multi-sport complex in the district of Kviberg. The idea to construct the complex was initially developed by Roger Gustafsson, then head of the academy, together with Änglagårdsskolan, and club sponsors Serneke. Construction started in 2012 and the opening took place on 10 July 2015, Serneke and former IFK Göteborg sponsors Prioritet Finans own and operate the facilities. The 45300 m2 complex also includes an indoor full-size football pitch, occasionally used for first-team friendly matches, and two sports halls, a ski tunnel, the sports gymnasium Aspero Idrottsgymnasium, a hotel and restaurant with conference areas, a fitness centre, and a sports injury clinic.

Supporters
Before the foundation of IFK Göteborg, the dominant club in the Gothenburg area was Örgryte IS, which was considered a middle and upper class club. IFK became popular amongst the working class, creating a fierce rivalry based upon both local pride and social class. In the early 20th century, supporters were supposed to act as gentlemen, applauding and supporting both their own team, and the opponents. However, this proved a hard task for supporters of the Gothenburg teams. Local patriotism and class differences sometimes resulted in fights and pitch invasions, making the Swedish press view IFK and Örgryte fans as the scum of Swedish football.

After World War I, the rivalry calmed, and Gothenburg supporters became known as friendly and sportsmanlike fans. However, this only applied to the behaviour on home ground, as IFK supporters continued to behave badly when travelling to away matches by train (called Göteborgstågen, the Gothenburg trains), a phenomenon that grew quickly in the 1920s. This behaviour peaked in 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II, when approximately 1,900 IFK fans travelled to Borås to see IFK play Elfsborg. After a 2–3 loss, the fans fought with the Borås police, before returning home to Gothenburg and disturbing a wartime blackout exercise.

As in most other parts of the world, the decades following the World War II were relatively free from football violence and the supporter culture did not change much. Swedish football culture started to change in the late 1960s, becoming heavily inspired and influenced by the English supporter culture. This flourished in the 1970s and 1980s, giving birth to some of the most well-known Swedish supporters clubs, AIK's Black Army, Djurgårdens IF's Blue Saints (later Järnkaminerna), and IFK Göteborg's supporters club, Änglarna (the Angels). The first attempt to found an IFK supporters club was made in 1969, but interest diminished when IFK Göteborg were relegated from the highest league the following year. The supporters club was not re-founded until 1973, which is considered the year of foundation of Änglarna.

As the club gained success in European club tournaments in the 1980s and 1990s, and thousands of IFK fans travelled to Hamburg, Barcelona, Dundee, Milan, Manchester and Munich, the supporters gained influence on the club, for example by lending money to the almost bankrupt IFK Göteborg so the team could go to Valencia to play the quarter-final in the UEFA Cup in 1982, or by being the main force behind the move back to Gamla Ullevi in 1992. The early 1990s saw a downward trend in attendance numbers, even though the club was successful on the pitch, but the trend turned in the later years of the decade and the first few years of the new millennium brought the club's highest average attendance since the early 1980s.

In the 2000s, supporter culture in Sweden started to shift from being English-influenced to being more influenced by the Southern European countries and their football culture, making tifos and ultras a common sight in Swedish arenas. From acting as an almost uniform group of fans gathered under the same flag, (Änglarna), IFK fans created separate supporter factions, including Ultra Bulldogs, Young Lions and West Coast Angelz. IFK is the most popular football club in Sweden; a 2004 survey concluded that IFK Göteborg had support from 13% of Swedish football fans, and surveys in 2016 and 2017 again confirmed that IFK was the most popular club in Sweden, with a support of 10%. A majority, 55%, of football fans in Gothenburg support IFK, and the club is the fourth most popular in Stockholm (after AIK, Djurgårdens IF and Hammarby IF) and the second most popular in Malmö, after Malmö FF.

Since 2009, the club's entrance music is "Snart skiner Poseidon" ("Poseidon will soon shine"), referring to one of Gothenburg's landmarks, Poseidon med brunnskar, a bronze statue created by Carl Milles. The song was written by singer/songwriter Joel Alme. <!-- Supporter hate 1911 ÖIS rivalry Gothenburg worst To best after WWI Ticket price protests 1926 Record attendance, comparison with Europe Extra trains Borås 1939, Örebro 1970 Interwar period Wartime Summary -1950 100+ police 1929 Best supporters 1955 20s Klackar 1959, Singing VSÄFG DIF away 1959 Complaints 1960s IFK largest club since 1920s Attendance history Popularity 1950s Away games 1950s/60s VSÄFG, 1960s rocknroll, before Bajen Örebro 1970 first SÄ SÄ Women SKF, Volvo Attendance record Support in Gbg Low attendance Popular club 2004/2010 Event attendance Fanzines and pub Attendance 1975-1990 Supporter popularity Better atmosphere -> increased attendance Supporter vitalisation WM, firm Football culture 1980s-1990s Firms

SÄ, UG, GK Attendance

Lower attendances end of 1960s

Attendance record 1980 Supporter troubles 1910s

First training camp in SE

Worse than Sthlm Örebro 1970 start hooliganism Tony Deogan 2002

Gamla Kamrater, UG, SÄ

Worst supporters early Örebro 1970

Modern hooliganism 1970 Gothenburg fights Calm post-war period Class and patriotism, attacking players Extra trains 1950s and earlier Örebro and new identity, the terrace Örebro, result hooliganism

First supporter associations, then firms

Most popular in Sweden 2010 Most popular in Sweden 2016 -->

Rivalries and supporter relationships
IFK Göteborg have contested derbies with seven other Gothenburg teams in Swedish top tier football over the years, but the main two derbies are played against fellow Göteborgsalliansen members Örgryte IS and GAIS. Two other major rivals are AIK—from the capital and largest city Stockholm—and Malmö FF—from Sweden's third largest city Malmö. Together with IFK Göteborg these two also form the Big Three in Swedish football.

The longest-standing derby and rivalry is with Örgryte, the teams first met in 1905 and have since met more times than any other rivals in Swedish football. The early relation between the clubs—described as "inexplicable animosity" by the sports newspaper Nordiskt Idrottslif—was characterised by class differences and constant conflicts both on and off the pitch, and included the first football riot in Swedish football caught on camera, as IFK supporters invaded the pitch to attack the Örgryte IS players after a 1912 match. The fierce struggle with Örgryte continued through the 1910s, but calmed down significantly after the creation of Göteborgsalliansen in 1919, and by the 1920s the football audience in Gothenburg was instead described as knowledgeable, impartial and a role-model for the rest of the country. Since then, the derbies against Örgryte IS have largely been peaceful but popular events, both the Swedish club football attendance record (a crowd of 52,194 watched a 1959 match) and the record average attendance for any Swedish derby is held by the fixture.

The second major Gothenburg derby is contested with GAIS, sometimes described as a worker's derby. Standing aside for the constant clashes with Örgryte IS in the early decades of the 20th century, the rivalry with GAIS has grown since, and is the only Gothenburg derby where violent incidents and disturbances are not uncommon, though less frequent than in connection to matches against AIK. The most recent incident between the two clubs occurred in a 2019 Svenska Cupen match—IFK Göteborg supporters lit pyrotechnics and fireworks at the start of the second half, injuring the GAIS goalkeeper and causing the fixture to be abandoned. The attendance record for the derby—50,690 set in 1976—is also the all-time Swedish record for second division football.

Fixtures between IFK Göteborg and AIK sees the largest clubs from the two largest Swedish cities set against each other. The rivalry does not have a unique name but is sometimes called the "Swedish El Clásico", and has been described as the prime rivalry in Swedish football, gathering the largest nationwide interest out of any Swedish club fixtures. The origins of the rivalry predates the foundation of both clubs, and is part of a deeper conflict between Gothenburg and Stockholm that has existed within Swedish football since its origins in the 19th century. The clashes between the two clubs is said to symbolise the broader conflict—rooted in historic geographical, political, administrative, and class-based differences—as they are the prime club representatives for each side. The rivalry gained momentum in the 1910s, matches in Stockholm against a team from Gothenburg were often more popular than any of the Stockholm derbies. With the rise of Swedish football hooliganism in the 1980s the rivalry flaired up again—fixtures since are commonly described as "hate matches", and there are recurrent instances of supporter violence. The violent clashes caused the first Swedish death as a result of hooliganism, as the IFK Göteborg supporter Tony Deogan died after sustaining injuries in an arranged fight between the firms of the two clubs in Stockholm in 2002. Matches against AIK have been described by players as the most special ones you can play as an IFK Göteborg footballer, pinpointing the Stockholm club as the biggest rival of all.

With 39 Swedish championships and 22 national cup titles shared between them, Malmö FF and IFK Göteborg are the two most successful clubs in Sweden, and share a major rivalry. They are also the only Swedish clubs to have reached the final of a European competition, IFK Göteborg won the UEFA Cup in 1981–82 and again in 1986–87 while Malmö FF were runners-up in the 1978–79 European Cup. Though highly ranked by players and supporters alike, the background to the rivalry is mostly found in the fight for on-pitch results and titles. As the fight for national titles between the clubs mainly took off in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, the rivalry formed relatively late compared to the other IFK rivalries. Relations between the two clubs and their supporter groups also feature a hint of mutual respect, and the encounters have a much lower risk of being marred by violence than for example the Stockholm derbies.

TBD

Ultras Göteborg have a friendship with one of the ultras groups of German football club 1. FC Nürnberg, Ultras Nürnberg. The friendship started in 2001, mainly between individuals of the two groups, but has since developed to a close relation between the groups. The principal hooligan firm of IFK Göteborg, Wisemen, enjoyed close relations with some notorious Chelsea Headhunters members during the 1990s—especially Stephen "Hickey" Hickmott who also lived in Gothenburg in 1995.

Club identity and nicknames
Right from the start, IFK Göteborg were closely associated with the working class. There were several markers of a working-class club: founded at a café—an important hub in the working youth's leisure time—, and founded in Annedal—a working-class district in Gothenburg at the time—from which one of the two groups of friends and both participating clubs came. In reality, IFK Göteborg were more of a cross-class club: the other group of friends were engineering students at Chalmers, and the first clubs connected to the sports society Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna were mainly formed by students at secondary schools or universities, something associated with the middle class. The association with the working class were as much a result of appearing as an attractive alternative, and something opposite, to the older Gothenburg club Örgryte IS, commonly seen as a middle-class and upper-class club. The majority of players that won the 1910 Swedish championships for the club belonged to the middle class, even though Henning Svensson—who started playing for IFK Göteborg in 1908—described how in IFK "we were all workers".

No matter the people and players within the club, the division and rivalry among the supporters of the two Gothenburg clubs was clear, illustrated by the sports newspaper Nordiskt Idrottslif description of a 1912 derby: "When Kamraterna entered the pitch the audience on the terraces cheered, but when Örgryte appeared they cheered on the grandstand". This class struggle was amplified by the local geographical identities of the clubs, IFK Göteborg with its geographical focus in the working-class districts of Gothenburg, as opposed to Örgryte IS's residence in the upper middle class municipality of Örgryte, which was not integrated fully into Gothenburg municipality until 1922. The distinct district identities between the clubs—including the third major Gothenburg club GAIS—existed at least into the 1940s, but were mostly gone by the 1960s, in part due to the small size of Gothenburg districts as compared to Stockholm's, making it harder to build identities based on them.

Instead of district identities, all three local rivals—and IFK to an even higher degree—have adapted a strong Gothenburgian and local patriotic identity, which has been said to be stronger than the local patriotism in Stockholm and Malmö. The local Gothenburg dialect plays a significant role in the identity of the club, and the local dialect is, as often, strongest among the working class. Humour, and the special kind of Gothenburg humour characterised by word plays and witty remarks, also forms part of the identity not only of the city but of its clubs as well, expressed for example through "Kal"—a recurring fictional character in many of the jokes—a working class IFK supporter and archetypal Gothenburger, or the pseudonym "Gusten från Kusten" who wrote humorous columns in Gotenburg dialect, usually about football, in the local newspaper in the 1950s. Somewhat connected to this is also the cliché of a "go' gubbe" ("good guy", local slang for the caricature of a typical Gothenburger—cozy, jolly and harmless), which has been attributed to the club and its supporters, though this has mainly been forced on the club rather than adapted by it.

The identities related to social class and politics remain to some degree, IFK being associated with the working and middle class and the political left, more specifically the traditionally ruling Social Democratic Party. The association with the ruling party was mainly informal, but permeated the whole club all the way from the club administration down to a number of politically active players in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, and the working class association among supporters was supported by a 1975 survey. Rivals GAIS are considered even more left-leaning and lower class, while Örgryte are associated with the upper class and more right-leaning liberals and conservatives.

IFK had long been regarded as the people's team in Gothenburg, but by the 1970s the epithet "The People's team" ("Folkets lag") came into use as a nickname for the club on national level. The international success in the 1980s and 1990s—in particular the 1982 UEFA Cup title—further strengthened the use of that nickname. The club's rising national popularity and use of players from the whole country during that era also meant that the club was sometimes called "IFK Sweden" ("IFK Sverige"), in some sense representing all of Sweden. But the success on the pitch and the many new supporters from all over Sweden also led to the club partially losing its identity anchored in the Gotenburg working class strata. Multiple SOM Institute surveys have studied the relations between social class, party affiliation, and team support in Gothenburg during the 21st century, sheding light on some of the stereotypes. While higher education lowered the probability of supporting IFK Göteborg according to the 2012 survey, there was some increase in support if a participant self-identified as standing more to the right politically. In general, IFK Göteborg was found to have broad representation in all groups, being marginally stronger in the lower class of white-collar workers.

The earliest nickname in common use for the club was "Kamraterna" ("The Comrades")—from the full name of the club—, sometimes expanded to "Göteborgs-Kamraterna" to disambiguate it from other teams within the IFK sports society. This original nickname retained its popularity for a long time, but diminished in use after the Second World War. At this time, both the "Blåvitt" ("Blue-white") and "Änglarna" ("The Angels") nicknames where coined and gained popularity both among supporters and the media. The club went as far as using "Blue-white" in official marketing material starting in 1955, and registered both nicknames at the Swedish Patent and Registration Office in the 1970s when usage peaked. The exact origins of these both nicknames and when they were first used are not fully known, one story suggests that a high-profile mobile newsagent lay behind both by first painting his bike blue and white, writing "Blåvitt" on it, and at one time also proclaiming that the team were angels after an elegant victory. Other suggested origins for "The Angels" nickname include a 1929 text by Carl Linde that mentioned how the team played at times like devils and at times like angels in a 1911 match, or that the nickname was not coined until 1960. These three form the club's classic nicknames, and have—together with the shortened form "IFK"—been the most common ways to refer to the club in informal speech.

IFK Göteborg have traditionally been associated with ingenious, technical, and crowd-pleasing football, and the acceptance for boring football has been proposed to be lower in Gothenburg than in other parts of Sweden. This playing style was prevailing in Gothenburg in the early decades of the 20th century, influenced by the Scottish and Danish styles (especially IFK's impromptu teachers in Kjøbenhavns Boldklub) of the time. This was in stark contrast to the more energic and aggressive play characterising the Stockholm-based clubs. As football influences shifted from British to the quick short-passing play of Central Europe after the First World War, IFK Göteborg contracted Sándor Bródy to coach the club, the first Central European head coach in Swedish football. The playing style around the Second World War followed in the same tradition, never being at either extreme of any scale, but keeping the technical, lively, and bohemic elements. By the late 1960s this approach had fallen out of fashion and was deemed ineffective, though crowd-pleasing.

Swedish football as a whole was dominated by two conflicting schools of thought during the 1970s. The offensive and man-to-man marking style favoured by the German-inspired Swedish model—adopted by IFK Göteborg and the majority of clubs as well as the national team—and the English model favouring a systematic and defensive approach, using zonal marking and offside traps—adopted through the English head coaches at Malmö FF and Halmstads BK, Bob Houghton and Roy Hodgson. In IFK Göteborg, the offensive style was named "champagnefotboll" ("Champagne football"), and was part of a strategic approach to not only be successful on pitch but also to provide an enjoyable experience for the audience. But the results did not fully live up to expectations, and Sven-Göran Eriksson who favoured the English model was hired as head coach in 1979, managed to fuse the two models into one. He combined the defensive approach of the English school with the more offensive Swedish approach, into what became known as "the Swenglish model" ("den svengelska modellen"). This was initially met with displeasure from both supporters and the media, but the discontent was soon glossed over following the improved results, including the first ever Swedish victory in a UEFA tournament, the 1981–82 UEFA Cup. The new approach changed Swedish football from the ground up, and the national team got a new heyday by adapting it in 1983. During the successful 1990s, the IFK style of play focused on a disciplined defence with quick counter-attacks, letting the oponents control the game.

In the 2010s, the club has experienced an identity crisis, both within the club organisation and among supporters. Frequent changes to the club management has meant that much continuity has been lost, and the identity of the 1990s when IFK dominated Swedish football and made their mark in European football is no longer representative of the club. The traditional quick style of football was modernised and retained in the 2010s, even though it was also labeled "brottarfotboll" ("wrestling football") by critics. This direction took a sharp turn in 2018 with new head coach Poya Asbaghi who was hired to revolutionise the playing style of IFK Göteborg through a more possesion-based football. After less than three seasons, the experiment was deemed a failure and the club returned to a more traditional approach, again breaking continuity and starting over.

Ownership and organisation
IFK Göteborg is a nonprofit organisation and open member association, and the annual general meeting is the highest decision-making body, where each member has one vote. The meeting approves the accounts, votes to elect the chairman and the board, and votes on incoming motions. All sports clubs in Sweden are subject to the so-called 51 percent rule—dictated by the statutes of the Swedish Sports Confederation—which means that even if IFK Göteborg would create a limited sports company (idrottsaktiebolag) to run its sporting activities, a majority of the voting rights in the company must be retained by the club and its members. When the 51 percent rule came into play in 1999, it simultaneously allowed for corporatisation, something IFK considered at the time to raise some 100–150 million Swedish kronor, but ultimately did not go through with as the sporting results were not sufficient to attract investors.

With 1,100 members in 1921, IFK Göteborg were one of the largest clubs in Europe by membership at the time. The number of members in the 21st century have counted around 5,000, but through a supporter campaign in 2020, membership numbers soared to almost 10,000, surpassing the previous record of around 7,000 from 1988. The board is the third-highest decision-making body after the annual general meeting and any extra general meetings, while daily operations are run by the club director and the employed staff. Key people include chairman of the board Richard Berkling, club director Håkan Mild, and director of sport Pontus Farnerud—the latter two are former players for the club and the national team. The longest-serving chairman in the history of the club is Nils Grönwall who held the post for 22 years from 1947 to 1968, while the most successful chairman in terms of trophies won is Gunnar Larsson, under whose stewardship—from 1982 to 2000—the side won the Swedish championships ten times, Svenska Cupen three times, and the UEFA Cup twice.

From the club's inception in 1904 until 31 December 2017, the sections for different sports were part of the same organisation. Starting on 1 January 2018, all sections became separate organisations, under a new parent IFK Göteborg alliance organisation. The previous organisation number was taken over by the new football organisation, officially named IFK Göteborg Fotboll.

Swedish football was entirely amateur until 1967 when the last rules prohibiting professionalism were abolished, but the economical conditions did not allow clubs to go professional right away. IFK Göteborg signed their first semi-professional contracts with ten players in 1978, and Torbjörn Nilsson signed the first fully professional deal—and the first such deal within Swedish football—with the club a year later. The road to professionalism was long, and most players in Allsvenskan and IFK Göteborg would continue to have a full-time job outside their playing career for years to come (25 percent of players in Allsvenskan in 1999 did still not have football as their full-time job), but the change meant that the clubs developed economically, by signing sponsor deals and getting better paid for player transfers. Glenn Hysén recalls the huge difference between the amateurish IFK Göteborg he won the UEFA Cup with in 1982, and the more businesslike club that he won a second UEFA Cup title for in 1987. After the UEFA Champions League success in the first half of the 1990s, IFK Göteborg finally fully professionalised their squad in 1996.

The club fully owns the limited company and subsidiary IFK Göteborg Promotion AB that handles merchandise and souvenirs, and runs Blåvittshopen, the official club shop at Gamla Ullevi. Previously owned subsidiaries include IFK Göteborg Sportskadeklinik AB, a sports injury rehab clinic, and IFK Göteborg Fotboll AB, a venture capital subsidiary created in 2007 to allow external investors to buy shares of future transfer income. Both subsidiaries were liquidated in 2018 after having been dormant for several years. As members of Göteborgsalliansen, the club has a 33 percent share of the trade company HB Alliansen Gamla Ullevi, and own 9 percent of the shares in the limited company Gothenburg Association AB that operates two elementary schools with a sports focus.

Memberships and partnerships
The football club is a member of the IFK Göteborg alliance which organises the various sports clubs of the IFK Göteborg family, and a standalone member—registered as the 11th circle—of the Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna sports society. Within the organisational hierarchy of Swedish sports, the club is a member of the Swedish Football Association and by extension connected to the Swedish Sports Confederation, and also a member of Västra Götaland Sports Confederation (Västra Götalands Idrottsförbund) and the Gothenburg Football Association. As an Allsvenskan club, IFK Göteborg is granted membership in Swedish Professional Football Leagues, an interest organisation that represents the 32 elite clubs in the top two divisions of Swedish football. An associated member of the European Club Association, the club is also one of five Swedish members of the body that represents professional football clubs within UEFA.

IFK Göteborg took the initiative to form Göteborgsalliansen, an alliance with the other two major teams from Gothenburg: GAIS and Örgryte IS in 1919. The original agreement was made with Örgryte IS while GAIS were admitted as the alliance was formally created in 1921. The fierce rivalry among the clubs had a negative impact on the football scene in Gothenburg, and the alliance was created by the clubs as a self-regulatory measure to put an end to the infighting. The alliance is a gentlemen's agreement and has no formal statutes; it originally prevented controversial player transfers between the clubs, but also functioned as a common platform in conflicts with for example the district football association. Arranged exhibition games against international opponents have also created an additional source of income for the clubs, and the three clubs have shared the original Gamla Ullevi, Ullevi and new Gamla Ullevi stadiums through most of their history. The 1970s and 1980s saw the alliance lose a lot of its power as IFK Göteborg reached international success and distanced itself from the agreement by arranging international friendlies on its own. the club also ran a separate marketing organisation for some time—Föreningen Göteborgsidrott ("Association (for) Gothenburg Sports")—together with other Gothenburg-based clubs, including ice hockey club BK Bäcken. Göteborgsalliansen is mostly dormant nowadays, the last alliance exhibition match having been played in 1992.

An occasional partnership with Utsiktens BK has existed since 2015, as the clubs on a seasonal basis have signed an agreement that allows young IFK players to be loaned out to Utsikten to gain first team experience.

Manchester United and IFK Göteborg signed a partnership in the mid 1990s with multiple purposes—the English club would get preemption on player transfers from IFK, in return IFK Göteborg would be the first-hand choice if Manchester United were planning to loan out any young players. Besides official club manangement visits–Alex Ferguson inaugurated IFK Göteborg's new football academy home in 1998—the only agreement ever concluded as part of the partnership was the loan of Erik Nevland to IFK for the 1999 season. The partnership did not have a set end date and has not been cancelled, as such it is still valid no matter 20 years of inactivity.

Academy and women's team
Besides the senior men's team, the club also runs its own youth development programme since 1997, Akademin ("The Academy"), for boys and girls between the ages of 5 and 19. The academy, housed in Prioritet Serneke Arena, encompasses football school activities for children aged 5 to 8 and extra training sessions for youths aged 11 to 14—both open for anyone irrespective of club affiliation—, youth teams for boys and girls aged 12 to 19, and other activities such as summer camps. In contrast to many other clubs (including local rival BK Häcken as well as Malmö FF, AIK, Djurgårdens IF, Hammarby IF, and IF Brommapojkarna) IFK does not run a large-scale academy with multiple teams in each age group, instead fielding only one team in each age group starting at age 12, totaling around 70 players in five teams. The stated reasons for this is to be able to better focus its resources, as well as allowing youths to continue to play football with their friends in their local team to avoid impoverishing grassroots football. One of the main goals of the programme is to ensure that at least 50 percent of the first-team squad consists of players that have been developed in the academy.

Through IFK Göteborg's partial ownership of elementary school Änglagårdsskolan, youths attending the school follow the IFK Göteborg player training plan, and around a third of the school's students are also playing in the club's youth teams. The academy was once regarded as by far the best in Sweden, but has since fallen in rank. The Swedish Professional Football Leagues certifies all academies each year, and the 2019 certification ranked the IFK academy as one of nine with five stars, and fifth in terms of points scored (which combines scores for the academy operation itself, and scores for players that have attended the academy).

Through mergers with the youth teams Niord and Hermes in 1911, IFK Göteborg created a stable youth organisation. In the 1919 yearbook, IFK prides itself with winning the national league in the past years only with players fostered within the club. The youth teams were successful in the interwar and postwar period as well, both in Gothenburg and on the national scene, producing a number of future senior team and national team players. Alongside the success in the UEFA Cup in 1982, the club board decided to extensively invest in the youth department, and hired Roger Gustafsson to lead the youth operations. A decision to earmark 1.2 million Swedish kronor each year for three years to recruit players to the youth team was taken in 1986, to secure a new base of players to replace the current squad as those players retired or were sold. The experience from the previous years led to a 1995 decision to invest in a full-scale academy setup, financed by the Champions League revenue in the 1990s. The under-19 (under-18 before 2009) boy's team is historically the most successful in Sweden, having won eight official youth championships (in 1986, 1987, 1988, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2013, and 2015) and finished runners-up four times (in 1991, 1993, 1995, and 2017) since the tournament was started in 1982.

IFK Göteborg fielded a women's team in the late 1910s, and the first women's match in Gothenburg was played between IFK Göteborg and a combination team in 1918, even though it was more of a frivolous exhibition match than anything else. Plans to merge with Jitex BK to establish a women's team were set in motion in the 1970s, but never materialised. Activities and teams for girls were finally added to the academy programme in 2007, and at an extra general meeting in 2019, the club members voted to create a senior women's team, which administratively remains part of the academy. The women's team started the 2020 season on the lowest level of the league pyramid with a long-term ambition of reaching the highest league, Damallsvenskan, within seven years, a previous cooperation with the senior team of Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC was ended as of this. The squad is mainly composed of players from the the under-15 team of 2019. The extra general meeting also decided that the women's team would create its own organisation within the IFK Göteborg alliance organisation at latest on 1 January 2022, a decision that was torn up in the 2021 annual general meeting.

Esports team
The club launched an esports team in 2020 to compete in FIFA tournaments from 2021 on, the prospect of venturing into esports having been discussed as early as 2017. The sporting objective to establish itself as a successful team within the esports world is supplemented by additional objectives to spread the club brand to new demographics as well as finding new commercial opportunities. The team is organisationally part of the marketing department, but funded initially by an external partner with the long-term goal to become self-funded. The team consists of manager Pontus "GGFrolle" Frostvik and two players—Mattias "OpTolle" Tolinsson (younger brother of former IFK Göteborg footballer Jesper Tolinsson) and Simon "Zimme" Nystedt. They managed to reach the semi-finals in the national league eAllsvenskan and the final in the Nordic Masters tournament (which they lost against Dutch side PSV Eindhoven) during the team's inaugural 2021 season.

Finances
IFK Göteborg quickly rose to power after its foundation, and along with that the income, even though the 1908 revenue of 10,500 Swedish kronor did not match the 66,500 kronor of the richest Swedish club and Gothenburg rival Örgryte IS. The club had financial difficulties between 1909 and 1911, to the point where the club had to forfeit a league match in 1910. 1913 marked the first year since the club's foundation where the economy was in balance, and by 1920 the club had become a financial heavyweight, with a yearly revenue of 210,000 kronor and a profit margin of above ten percent. But as most of the income during the interwar period were gate receipts, AIK—the only major club from the more populous capital Stockholm—were far superior financially by 1934, with cash and cash equivalents of 211,000 kronor, distancing the 54,000 kronor (in 1935) of second-richest IFK Göteborg. The economical conditions were similar some 15 years later, AIK with cash and cash equivalents of 364,000 kronor and IFK with 140,000 kronor in 1947, now rivaled by Malmö FF and Djurgårdens IF with some 197,000 (in 1950) and 145,500 kronor (in 1948) respectively.

The major source of income did not change in the 1950s, and 87 percent of the 500,000 kronor revenue in 1959 came from the main football activities and principally the gate receipts. The first incarnation of the supporters' club Supporterklubben Änglarna was founded in 1969, mainly as an attempt of widening the club network to differentiate the sources of income. IFK Göteborg were relegated from the top league in 1970 and were running a deficit by 1972, and town rivals GAIS and Örgryte IS were also in precarious economical situations, which led the municipality to grant an interest-free loan of 50,000 kronor to all three clubs, as well as a one-time contribution of 75,000 kronor in 1973. Difficult times proved to be the driving factor behund the ingenuity of the coming years for IFK Göteborg, and a three-year plan to return to Allsvenskan was conceived by Anders Bernmar in 1974. The club took several loans—supported by the municipality that guaranteed 500,000 kronor—to finance the venture, and by 1975 the average attendance had risen to over 15,000 from 3,000 the year before. The stir created by the club also attracted sponsors that helped finding jobs for recruited players, and IFK took the lead in introducing modern football marketing in Sweden. The club budgeted for a large loss, but attendances beyond expectation instead meant that the club came out of the fight for promotion almost debt-free.

Back in Allsvenskan for the 1977 season, IFK Göteborg were the first Swedish club to break the 1 million kronor transfer fee threshold by signing Ralf Edström from PSV Eindhoven, but declining attendances again put the club at brink of bankruptcy before the UEFA Cup quarter-final against Valencia C.F. in March 1982. A 200,000 kronor advance payment by sponsor SKF and additional support from Supporterklubben Änglarna secured continued play, and a 2–2 away result ensured a sold-out Ullevi stadium as well as securing the club's survival. The European success also increased transfer income, twelve players were sold for a total of 33 million kronor between 1982 and 1987, including the record sale of Dan Corneliusson for 4.6 million kronor in 1983. The money was in part spent on new players, including breaking the 1 million kronor threshold for a domestic player transfer for the first time in 1987, the culmination a series of record-breaking domestic transfers by the club in the mid-1980s. IFK Göteborg had by far become the financially strongest club in Sweden by 1987 with a revenue of around 41 million kronor (of which 3.5 million was sponsor income), dwarfing the 16 million of second-strongest club Malmö FF. IFK were not invulnerable though, the mediocre 1989 season—with a 7th place in the league and only two home matches in European competition—meant a negative result of over 12 million kronor.

IFK kept its position through the 1980s and early 1990s, even though the club lost ground in the race for sponsor income, and club chairman Gunnar Larsson said in 1993 that "there must not be too much money involved, which destroys club morale". This did not prevent the club from regaining lost ground by 1994—trailing only Helsingborgs IF in sponsor income, reaching just short of a 100 million kronor revenue, and having an equity of 55 million kronor—much in thanks to Champions League participation which accounted for more than three-fourths (78 million kronor) of the income. With a record equity of 107 million kronor at the start of 1997, IFK Göteborg was the richest club in Sweden. But the Bosman ruling in 1995 had started to change the financial playing field, player salaries increased significantly to keep players from leaving without compensation (salary expense rose from 10 to 27 million kronor between 1995 and 1998), and IFK Göteborg failed to adapt to the new reality of not being able to count on transfer income as well as the increased competitiveness in European football. In combination with declining results on the pitch, the economy was in free fall, and the club made a new Swedish record loss of 26 million kronor in 2001, and lost another 14 million kronor the next year.

Finances were stabilised by 2003 in part thanks to a club record 24 million kronor sponsor income, but of the 107 million kronor equity from 1997, only around 13 million kronor remained. A financial scandal was revealed in 2005, concerning the payment of sign-on fees to players recruited in the previous years, then director of sport Mats Persson and paymaster Janne Nilsson were given short prison sentences, and the Swedish Tax Agency claimed 13 million kronor from IFK Göteborg for withheld taxes. The equity was down to only 300,000 kronor in 2005, but the Swedish championship winning 2007 season put IFK back on solid financial grounds, surpassing 100 million kronor in revenue for the first time (as fifth Swedish club to do so). The first half of the 2010s saw a relatively stable economy with an equity of 10–30 million kronor and a yearly revenue of 90–130 million kronor through the period. By 2015 the club had the fifth highest revenue (excluding player sales) in Sweden with 104 million kronor, far behind leading Malmö FF with 415 million kronor (boosted by Champions League revenue), but was second in sponsor income, again behind Malmö FF. A positive 2015 result however was only saved by the sale of the club's training ground Kamratgården.

In 2019, IFK Göteborg had a revenue 138 million kronor, of which 21 percent came from gate receipts, 24 percent from sponsors, and 10 percent from television rights. Almost 40 million kronor came from transfer revenue, securing a positive result of nearly 12 million kronor, and increasing the equity to 22.5 million kronor. In terms of revenue (including player sales), IFK Göteborg ranked fifth in Allsvenskan after Malmö FF (372 million kronor), AIK (198 million kronor), BK Häcken (187 million kronor, of which more than half is related to Gothia Cup), and Hammarby IF (181 million kronor). Malmö FF are also in a league of their own when it comes to equity, with over 500 million kronor, far in front of second-ranked IFK Norrköping at around 100 million kronor, and IFK Göteborg ranking seventh with the 22.5 million kronor of 2019.

Social responsibility
Charity initiatives in the early years of Swedish football were mainly endeavours to get acceptance for new sport in society at large, as such IFK played matches for the charity Mjölkdroppen—a forerunner to child care centres—and for the benefit of a sick player of rivals Örgryte IS in 1913 and 1914. Matches raising money for vulnerable groups became even more common in the aftermath of World War I, and as the working class began to leave their mark on the sport, football charity for workers and unemployed increased to meet their interests. IFK played exhibition games as part of workers' festivals (arranged by the newspaper Ny Tid) on at least six occasions between 1916 and 1922, and a 1921 charity match for unemployed against town rivals GAIS raised 4,000 Swedish kronor, nearly two percent of IFK Göteborg's 210,000 kronor revenue. It eventually came to the point where charity organisations overwhelmed the clubs with requests, and IFK Göteborg board member Carl Linde wrote in 1922 that:

"'Göteborgsalliansen arranged a three-team tournament for De Arbetslösa this spring. Now the turn has come to Distriktet, Rävlanda Sanatory, the Children's Day, Myrorna, Mjölkdroppen and a lot of other charities and institutions are on the football clubs nagging about matches. On Sunday, ÖIS and IFK played a match for Arbetarekommunen.'"

The events at the time were not limited to local charities—charity matches were played by teams in Malmö to raise money for children in need in Vienna and prisoners of war in Siberia after World War I—, and IFK Göteborg played a match in 1929 for the benefit of Svenskbyinsamlingen, an initiative to help the Swedish community in the Ukrainian village Gammalsvenskby.

IFK Göteborg also invested in grassroots football, and through their campaign "sports for everyone" ("idrott åt alla") fielded seventeen senior, junior and youth teams in 1921. Charity matches were played throughout the 1930s and 1940s, but the main social impact Swedish football had from the 1930s and on through the post-war period was the close alignment to the concept of Folkhemmet. Politician Hilding Johansson (politician) characterised the Swedish sports movement as a "comradeship democracy" in the 1950s, and football was said to be the "people's sport" alongside the "people's party", the Social Democrats. IFK Göteborg were also referred to as the "people's team", and relations with the Social Democrats were nurtured for decades to come, still sometimes being referred to as a "sosseklubb" (colloquial for "social democratic club"). Football had such a strong influence that it formed part of society's social structure, and initiatives regarding popular education and temperance were common in the era, though temperance movement leaflets with the message "Sober as guest in Stockholm – a matter of honour" that were distributed to IFK supporters travelling to an away game against Djurgårdens IF in 1959 had limited effect. With the rapid growth of Gothenburg suburbs in the 1950s and 1960s, IFK started a youth section in Kortedala in 1962.

The modern corporate social responsibility programme of IFK Göteborg is collectively known as "IFK Göteborg in society" (IFK Göteborg i samhället, formerly Samspelet) and include a number of activities organised by the club in cooperation with supporters, sponsors, the municipality and other participants. The school tournament Energikicken has been arranged together with Göteborg Energi—the municipal energy company—since 1996, promoting Fair Play to 5,000 5th graders each year. In 2019, the third and final "Cruyff Court" was completed in Bergsjön (together with one in Biskopsgården and one in Hammarkullen), in cooperation with the Johan Cruyff Foundation, and IFK work together with a number of schools each year to promote physical activity and joy through weekly activities.

Media coverage
On 5 November 1959, IFK Göteborg's European Cup match against Sparta Rotterdam was the first international match involving a Swedish club to be broadcast live on television (it was televised both in Sweden and the Netherlands). Matches in Allsvenskan were not continuously televised until the late 1990s due to lack of interest, but major matches involving IFK, such as cup finals and European matches, generated nationwide interest and were regularly televised.

IFK Göteborg were the main subject of the documentary film The Last Proletarians of Football released in 2011, centered around the club's success during the 1980s, but also about the development of Swedish society during the same time. The documentary follows how IFK, playing in the second division from 1971 to 1976, get back to Allsvenskan in 1977 and transform into a European football powerhouse during the 1980s. Some of the players—such as Torbjörn Nilsson and Glenn Hysén—alongside manager Sven-Göran Eriksson also appear and get to tell their view of that period. The film shows the success in the 1981–82 UEFA Cup, which culminated in the 1982 UEFA Cup Final against Hamburger SV. The contrast between the Swedish amateur side and their well-paid opponents is repeated as the documentary ends with the semifinals in the 1985–86 European Cup and the matches against FC Barcelona.

As the most popular club in Sweden, IFK have often featured in different media formats, such as in a radio documentary on national broadcaster Sveriges Radio, the children's book Ludde möter Blåvitt ("Ludde plays against Blåvitt") by Viveca Lärn, and a short film following the last days of Håkan Mild's football career. The club is referenced in the film Shed No Tears—based on the lyrics and music by Swedish artist Håkan Hellström—, and in the film Hata Göteborg ("Hate Gothenburg") where a wannabe hooligan of Helsingborgs IF is chanting the film's title before a match against IFK Göteborg. One of the primary characters in 1995 Swedish comedy show NileCity 105,6 is Veiron, a socialist blue-collar worker whose favourite team is IFK Göteborg, played by Robert Gustafsson.

The IFK supporter website "Where Angels Dare", created by a student at Chalmers University of Technology in 1994, was the first football supporter site on the internet, a first shared with another Swedish site created by a supporter of Hammarby IF the same week.

Notable players
The following players fulfill one or more of these four criteria:
 * 1) Have been voted for the greatest ever IFK Göteborg team in a 2004 poll by readers of the regional newspaper Göteborgs-Posten (11 players).
 * 2) Have been chosen for the dream team presented in the club's official 100-year jubilee book published in 2004 (11 players).
 * 3) Have been portrayed in the 1997 all-star team book "Alla tiders Blåvitt" (11 players and 5 substitutes).
 * 4) Have gained more than 80 caps for their national team (10 players).

Supporters' player of the year
The supporters' club Supporterklubben Änglarna award the honorary prize "Ärkeängeln" ("The Archangel") to a player for their great loyalty and sporting merits each year since 1973, the prize can only be won once. The following recipients have been decided by board vote until 1982 and by member vote since 1983.

• :1973 – 🇸🇪 Reine Feldt

• :1974 – 🇸🇪 Jan Nordström

• :1975 – 🇸🇪 Conny Karlsson

• :1976 – 🇸🇪 Reine Olausson

• :1977 – 🇸🇪 Björn Nordqvist

• :1978 – 🇸🇪 Reine Almqvist

• :1979 – 🇸🇪 Torbjörn Nilsson

• :1980 – 🇸🇪 Tord Holmgren

• :1981 – 🇸🇪 Glenn Hysén

• :1982 – 🇸🇪 Ruben Svensson

• :1983 – 🇸🇪 Jerry Carlsson

• :1984 – 🇸🇪 Stig Fredriksson

• :1985 – 🇸🇪 Thomas Wernerson

• :1986 – 🇸🇪 Tommy Holmgren

• :1987 – 🇸🇪 Stefan Pettersson

• :1988 – 🇸🇪 Roland Nilsson

• :1989 – 🇸🇪 Magnus "Lill-Tidan" Johansson

• :1990 – 🇸🇪 Ola Svensson

• :1991 – 🇸🇪 Thomas Ravelli

• :1992 – 🇸🇪 Johnny Ekström

• :1993 – 🇸🇪 Peter Eriksson

• :1994 – 🇸🇪 Mikael Nilsson

• :1995 – 🇸🇪 Jonas Olsson

• :1996 – 🇸🇪 Stefan Lindqvist

• :1997 – 🇸🇪 Magnus Erlingmark

• :1998 – 🇸🇪 Mikael Martinsson

• :1999 – 🇸🇪 Håkan Mild

• :2000 – 🇸🇪 Stefan Landberg

• :2001 – 🇸🇪 Bengt Andersson

• :2002 – 🇸🇪 Tomas Rosenkvist

• :2003 – 🇸🇪 Mikael Antonsson

• :2004 – 🇸🇪 Niclas Alexandersson

• :2005 – 🇸🇪 Magnus "Ölme" Johansson

• :2006 – 🇸🇪 Dennis Jonsson

• :2007 – 🇮🇸 Hjálmar Jónsson

• :2008 – 🇸🇪 Stefan Selaković

• :2009 – 🇸🇪 Tobias Hysén

• :2010 – 🇮🇸 Ragnar Sigurðsson

• :2011 – 🇸🇪 Thomas Olsson

• :2012 – 🇸🇪 Jakob Johansson

• :2013 – 🇸🇪 Hannes Stiller

• :2014 – 🇸🇪 Emil Salomonsson

• :2015 – 🇸🇪 John Alvbåge

• :2016 – 🇧🇴 Martin Smedberg-Dalence

• :2017 – 🇸🇪 Sebastian Eriksson

• :2018 – 🇸🇪 Robin Söder

• :2019 – 🇩🇰 Lasse Vibe

• :2020 – 🇸🇪 Mattias Bjärsmyr

Notable head coaches
The following head coaches have won at least one major honour with IFK Göteborg as head coach, or have coached the team for 100 or more league matches.

Domestic

 * Swedish champions:
 * Winners (18): 1908, 1910, 1918, 1934–35, 1941–42, 1957–58, 1969, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2007

League

 * Allsvenskan:
 * Winners (13): 1934–35, 1941–42, 1957–58, 1969, 1982, 1984, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2007
 * Runners-up (13): 1924–25, 1926–27, 1929–30, 1939–40, 1979, 1981, 1986, 1988, 1997, 2005, 2009, 2014, 2015
 * Svenska Serien:
 * Winners (5): 1912–13, 1913–14, 1914–15, 1915–16, 1916–17
 * Fyrkantserien:
 * Winners (2): 1918, 1919
 * Mästerskapsserien:
 * Winners (1): 1991
 * Division 2
 * Winners (3): 1938–39, 1950–51, 1976
 * Runners-up (2): 1972, 1975

Cups

 * Svenska Cupen:
 * Winners (8): 1978–79, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1991, 2008, 2012–13, 2014–15, 2019–20
 * Runners-up (5): 1985–86, 1998–99, 2004, 2007, 2009
 * Allsvenskan play-offs:
 * Winners (5): 1982, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1990
 * Runners-up (1): 1985
 * Svenska Mästerskapet:
 * Winners (3): 1908, 1910, 1918
 * Svenska Supercupen:
 * Winners (1): 2008
 * Runners-up (4): 2009, 2010, 2013, 2015
 * Kamratmästerskapen:
 * Winners (11): 1909, 1910, 1912, 1913, 1914, 1915, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1924, 1940
 * Runners-up (2): 1906, 1908

European

 * UEFA Cup:
 * Winners (2): 1981–82, 1986–87
 * European Cup/UEFA Champions League:
 * Semi-finals (2): 1985–86, 1992–93
 * Quarter-finals (3): 1984–85, 1988–89, 1994–95
 * UEFA Cup Winners' Cup:
 * Quarter-finals (1): 1979–80
 * Royal League:
 * Runners-up (1): 2004–05

Doubles

 * Fyrkantserien and Svenska Mästerskapet (Swedish champions):
 * Winners (1): 1918
 * Allsvenskan play-offs (Swedish champions) and Svenska Cupen:
 * Winners (1): 1983
 * Allsvenskan and Allsvenskan play-offs (Swedish champions):
 * Winners (2): 1984, 1990
 * Svenska Cupen and Svenska Supercupen:
 * Winners (1): 2008

Trebles

 * Allsvenskan, Allsvenskan play-offs (Swedish champions) and the UEFA Cup:
 * Winners (1): 1987
 * Allsvenskan, Mästerskapsserien (Swedish champions) and Svenska Cupen:
 * Winners (1): 1991

Quadruples

 * Allsvenskan, Allsvenskan play-offs (Swedish champions), Svenska Cupen and the UEFA Cup:
 * Winners (1): 1982

Records and statistics

 * Record victory, overall: 19–1 vs. IFK Skövde (3 May 1925, away, friendly match)
 * Record victory, Allsvenskan: 9–1 vs. IK Sleipner (10 May 1925, home), 8–0 vs. Hammarby IF (1 June 1925, home), 8–0 vs. Stattena IF (21 April 1930, home)
 * Record victory, Svenska Cupen: 11–1 vs. Åsebro IF (27 July 1997, away), 10–0 vs. Karlskrona BK (13 July 1941, home), 10–0 vs. Hudiksvalls FF (8 March 2014, away)
 * Record victory, Europe: 9–0 vs. FC Avenir Beggen (3 October 1984, home)
 * Highest attendance, Nya Ullevi: 52,194 vs. Örgryte IS (3 June 1959)
 * Highest attendance, Gamla Ullevi (built 1916): 31,897 vs. GAIS (27 May 1955)
 * Highest attendance, Slottsskogsvallen: 21,580 vs. AIK (25 October 1931)
 * Highest attendance, Gamla Ullevi: 18,276 vs. Djurgårdens IF (11 April 2009)
 * Highest average attendance, Allsvenskan: 23,796 (1977)
 * Most appearances, overall: 609, Mikael Nilsson
 * Most appearances, Allsvenskan: 348, Bengt Berndtsson
 * Most goals scored, overall: 333, Filip Johansson
 * Most goals scored, Allsvenskan: 180, Filip Johansson
 * Most goals scored, season, overall: 84, Filip Johansson (1924–25)
 * Most goals scored, season, Allsvenskan: 39, Filip Johansson (1924–25)