IFK Norrköping

This article is about IFK Norrköping's men's football department. For the women's team, see IFK Norrköping (women).

Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Norrköping, more commonly known as IFK Norrköping or simply Norrköping, is a Swedish professional football club based in Norrköping. The club is affiliated to Östergötlands Fotbollförbund and play their home games at PlatinumCars Arena.^[1] The club colours, reflected in their crest and kit, are white and blue. Formed on 29 May 1897, the club have won thirteen national championship titles and six national cup titles.

Norrköping

Full name	Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Norrköping
Nickname(s)	IFK Kamraterna (Comrades) Snoka Peking (Beijing) Vita-Blå (White and Blue)
Founded	29 May 1897; 128 years ago (1897-05-29)
Stadium	PlatinumCars Arena, Norrköping (Östgötaporten, Nya Parken, Idrottsparken)
Capacity	16,000
Chairman	Sakarias Mårdh
Manager	Martin Falk
League	Allsvenskan
2024	Allsvenskan, 11th of 16
Website	www.ifknorrkoping.se
Home colours Away colours Third colours
Current season

A chart showing the progress of IFK Norrköping through the swedish football league system. The different shades of gray represent league divisions.

Nya Parken

IFK Norrköping supporter group Peking Fanz.

The club plays in the highest Swedish tier, Allsvenskan, which they first won in 1943.^[2] IFK Norrköping were most successful during the 1940s, when they won five Swedish championships and two Svenska Cupen titles under the Hungarian coach Lajos Czeizler and with players like Gunnar Nordahl and Nils Liedholm.

IFK Norrköping won the 2015 Allsvenskan, their first win since 1989, which also gave them a spot in the second qualification round of 2016–17 UEFA Champions League.

History

IFK Norrköping dominated Swedish football in the post war era and won the first division 11 times in 20 years, culminating in the league triumph of 1963. It took the club another 26 years before adding championship title number 12 to the trophy cabinet.

On 31 October 2015, IFK Norrköping won their 13th championship title after defeating the defending champions Malmö FF with 2–0 away in Swedbank Stadion in Malmö in the last round of 2015 Allsvenskan. This was the second time in a row they had to wait 26 years between titles.^[3] On 8 November IFK Norrköping won supercupen against Swedish cup winners IFK Göteborg. The result was 3–0 after a dominating performance from the reigning Swedish champions.

Rivalries

The club used to have a fierce rivalry with IK Sleipner, also from Norrköping, before Sleipner's fall from the higher divisions. Another historic rivalry is that against Åtvidabergs FF, also from the province of Östergötland, which was especially tense in the 1970s and early 2010s. This rivalry has lost importance since Åtvidaberg were relegated from Allsvenskan and today Åtvidabergs FF play in Division 2 (4th tier). IFK Norrköping also maintains a rivalry with Malmö FF; the fixtures between the clubs is sometimes known as "The Working Class Derby"^{[citation needed]}

Players

First-team squad

As of 25 March 2025^[4]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 2 DF  GHA Kojo Oppong 3 DF  DEN Marcus Baggesen 4 DF  SWE Amadeus Sögaard 5 FW  SWE Christoffer Nyman 7 MF  SWE Alexander Fransson 8 FW  ISL Ísak Andri Sigurgeirsson 9 MF  ISL Arnór Ingvi Traustason 10 FW  SWE David Moberg Karlsson 11 MF  KOS Ismet Lushaku 14 DF  SWE Yahya Kalley 15 FW  DEN Sebastian Jørgensen (on loan from Malmö) 18 FW  ISL Jónatan Gudni Arnarsson

No. Pos. Nation Player 19 DF  SWE Max Watson 20 MF  SWE Axel Brönner 21 MF  GAM Jesper Ceesay 22 FW  SWE Tim Prica 24 DF  SWE Anton Eriksson 25 DF  SWE Kevin Höög Jansson 30 GK  SWE Theo Krantz 35 MF  GHA Stephen Bolma 37 DF  SWE Moutaz Neffati 40 GK  SWE David Andersson 91 GK  MKD David Mitov Nilsson

Out on loan

As of 21 March 2025

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 17 FW  ALB Laorent Shabani (at Varbergs BoIS until 30 November 2025) 38 MF  SWE Ture Sandberg (at GIF Sundsvall until 30 November 2025)

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  SWE Noel Sernelius (at Husqvarna FF until 30 November 2025)

Retired numbers

• 12 – Fans of the club

Winners of Guldbollen

Åke "Bajdoff" Johansson (right) playing in a 1964 game against Malmö FF.

• 1947: Gunnar Nordahl
• 1949: Knut Nordahl
• 1953: Bengt "Julle" Gustavsson
• 1957: Åke "Bajdoff" Johansson
• 1960: Torbjörn Jonsson
• 1961: Bengt "Zamora" Nyholm
• 1963: Harry Bild
• 1966: Ove Kindvall
• 1968: Björn Nordqvist
• 1990: Tomas Brolin
• 1992: Jan Eriksson

League top scorers

Allsvenskan

• Gunnar Nordahl 1944–45 (27 goals), 1945–46 (25 goals) and 1947–48 (18 goals)
• Harry Bild 1956–57 (19 goals)
• Henry "Putte" Källgren 1957–58 (27 goals) (shared with Bertil Johansson, IFK Göteborg)
• Ove Kindvall 1966 (20 goals)
• Jan Hellström 1989 (16 goals)
• Niclas Kindvall 1994 (23 goals)
• Imad Khalili 2013 (15 goals) (eight goals scored for Helsingborgs IF)
• Emir Kujović 2015 (21 goals)
• Kalle Holmberg 2017 (14 goals) (shared with Magnus Eriksson, Djurgårdens IF)
• Christoffer Nyman 2020 (18 goals)
• Samuel Adegbenro 2021 (17 goals)

Superettan (Division II 1924/1925–1986 and Division I 1987–1999)

• Stefan Pettersson 1983 (17 goals)
• Bruno Santos 2005 (17 goals)
• Garðar Gunnlaugsson 2007 (18 goals)

Management

Technical staff

As of 16 January 2025^[5]

Name Role Magni Fannberg Magnússon Sports director[6] Martin Falk Head coach Henric Pekkala Assistant coach Tomas Vainio Goalkeeping coach Ari Skúlason Transition coach Pálmar Hreinsson Fitness coach Jacob Dahl Analyst & scouting Peter Cratz Club doctor Bengt Janzon Club doctor Nicolas Santi Aguilar Physiotherapist Kristoffer Karlsson Physiotherapist Daniel Ekwall Mental coach Simon Larsson Equipment manager Tobias Falk Coordinator

Honours

League

1963: Bengt Nyholm, the keeper of IFK Norrköping, tries to improve his effectiveness by applying glue from flypaper to his hands

• Swedish Champions^[A]
  • Winners (13): 1942–43, 1944–45, 1945–46, 1946–47, 1947–48, 1951–52, 1955–56, 1956–57, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1989, 2015
• Allsvenskan:
  • Winners (12): 1942–43, 1944–45, 1945–46, 1946–47, 1947–48, 1951–52, 1955–56, 1956–57, 1960, 1962, 1963, 2015
  • Runners-up (10): 1952–53, 1957–58, 1959, 1961, 1966, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1993, 2018
• Superettan:
  • Winners (1): 2007
  • Runners-up (1): 2010
• Mästerskapsserien:
  • Runners-up (2): 1991, 1992

Cups

• Svenska Cupen:
  • Winners (6): 1943, 1945, 1968–69, 1987–88, 1990–91, 1993–94
  • Runners-up (5): 1944, 1953, 1967, 1971–72, 2016–17
• Svenska Supercupen:
  • Winners (1): 2015

IFK Norrköping in Europe

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1956–57	European Cup	1R	Florentina	0–1	1–1	1–2
1957–58	European Cup	1R	Red Star Belgrade	2–2	1–2	3–4
1962–63	European Cup	PR	Partizani Tirana	2–0	1–1	3–1
		1R	Benfica	1–1	1–5	2–6
1963–64	European Cup	PR	Standard Liége	2–0	0–1	2–1
		1R	Milan	1–1	2–5	3–6
1968–69	European Cup Winners' Cup	1R	Crusaders	4–1	2–2	6–3
		2R	Lyn	3–2	0–2	3–4
1969–70	European Cup Winners' Cup	1R	Sliema Wanderers	5–1	0–1	5–2
		2R	Schalke 04	0–0	0–1	0–1
1972–73	UEFA Cup	1R	UTA Arad	2–0	2–1	4–1
		2R	Inter Milan	0–2	2–2	2–4
1978–79	UEFA Cup	1R	Hibernian	0–0	2–3	2–3
1982–83	UEFA Cup	1R	Southampton	0–0	2–2	2–2 (a)
		2R	Roma	1–0	0–1 (2–4 p)	1–1
1988–89	European Cup Winners' Cup	1R	Sampdoria	2–1	0–2	2–3
1990–91	UEFA Cup	1R	1. FC Köln	0–0	1–3	1–3
1991–92	European Cup Winners' Cup	1R	Jeunesse Esch	4–0	2–1	6–1
		2R	Monaco	1–2	0–1	1–3
1992–93	UEFA Cup	1R	Torino	1–0	0–3	1–3
1993–94	UEFA Cup	1R	KV Mechelen	0–1	1–1 (aet)	1–2
1994–95	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	QR	Viktoria Žižkov	3–3	0–1	3–4
2000–01	UEFA Cup	QR	GÍ	2–1	2–0	4–1
		1R	Slovan Liberec	2–2	1–2	3–4
2016–17	UEFA Champions League	2Q	Rosenborg	3–2	1–3	4–5
2017–18	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Prishtina	5–0	1–0	6–0
		2Q	Trakai	2–1	1–2 (3–5 p)	3–3
2019–20	UEFA Europa League	1Q	St Patrick's Athletic	2–1	2–0	4–1
		2Q	Liepāja	2–0	1–0	3–0
		3Q	Hapoel Be'er Sheva	1–1	1–3	2–4

Records

• Most played games (Allsvenskan or Division I):

Åke "Bajdoff" Johansson, 321 games (1949–65)

• Most league goals (Allsvenskan or Division I):

Henry "Putte" Källgren, 126 goals (1951–60)

• Most spectators:

32 234 against Malmö FF, 7 June 1956

• Biggest victory (Allsvenskan or Division I):

11–1 against Djurgårdens IF, 14 October 1945.

• Biggest defeat (Allsvenskan or Division I):

0 – 11 against Örgryte IS, 6 April 1928 and Helsingborgs IF, 22 September 1929

Managerial history

List of IFK Norrköping managers (1905–present)^{[8][9] [10]}

• Alexander "Sandy" Tait (1905)
• Fred Spiksley (1910)
• Herbert Butterworth (1921–22)
• Imre Schlosser (1923–24)
• Rudolf Haglund (1925–35)
• Sölve Flisberg (1936)
• Vilgot Lindberg (1936–37)
• Torsten Johansson (1937–38)
• Bengt Flisberg (1938–41)
• Rudolf Haglund (1941)
• Lajos Czeizler (1942–48)
• Eric Keen (1949)
• Karl Adamek (1950–53)
• Torsten Lindberg (1954)
• Karl Adamek (1955–57)
• Vilmos Varszegi (1957–62)
• Georg Ericson (1958–66)
• Gunnar Nordahl (1967–70)
• Gösta Löfgren (1971–72)
• Örjan Martinsson (1973–74)
• Bengt Gustavsson (1975–78)
• Gunnar Nordahl (1979–80)
• Bo Axberg (1981–82)
• Lars-Göran Qwist (1983–84)
• Kent Karlsson (1985–89)
• Jörgen Augustsson (1990)
• Sanny Åslund (1991–92)
• Sören Cratz (1993–94)
• Kent Karlsson (1995)
• Tomas Nordahl (1995)
• Colin Toal (1996–97)
• Olle Nordin (1997–00)
• Tor-Arne Fredheim (2001)
• Bengt-Arne Strömberg (2002)
• Håkan Ericson (2002–03)
• Stefan Hellberg (2004–05)
• Mats Jingblad (2005–08)
• Sören Cratz (2007–08)
• Göran Bergort (2009–10)
• Janne Andersson (1 January 2011 – 23 June 2016)
• Jens Gustafsson (24 June 2016 – 19 December 2020)
• Rikard Norling (23 December 2020 – 11 July 2022)
• Anes Mravac (11 July 2022 – 8 August 2022) Caretaker
• Vedran Vucicevic (11 July 2022 – 8 August 2022) Caretaker
• Glen Riddersholm (8 August 2022 – present)

Affiliate clubs

• IF Sylvia^[11]
• Husqvarna FF^[12]

Other sections

IFK Norrköping also maintains departments for women's football, set up in 2009, orienteering, bowling and bandy. The bandy team played in Sweden's highest division in 1937.

Part of the club was also an ice hockey team which played in the seasons 1950/51 and 1955/56 in the highest Swedish division. The ice hockey teams of IFK and local rivals IK Sleipner were joined in 1967 to form IF IFK/IKS, known from 1973 forward as IK Vita Hästen ("Ice Hockey Club White Horse") which evolved into today's HC Vita Hästen.

Footnotes

1. The title of "Swedish Champions" has been awarded to the winner of four different competitions over the years. Between 1896 and 1925 the title was awarded to the winner of Svenska Mästerskapet, a stand-alone cup tournament. No club were given the title between 1926 and 1930 even though the first-tier league Allsvenskan was played. In 1931 the title was reinstated and awarded to the winner of Allsvenskan. Between 1982 and 1990 a play-off in cup format was held at the end of the league season to decide the champions. After the play-off format in 1991 and 1992 the title was decided by the winner of Mästerskapsserien, an additional league after the end of Allsvenskan. Since the 1993 season the title has once again been awarded to the winner of Allsvenskan.^[7]