GIF Sundsvall

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GIF Sundsvall

Full name

Gymnastik- och
Idrottsföreningen Sundsvall

Founded

1903

Ground

Norrporten Arena,
Sundsvall
(Capacity 8,500)

Chairman

Carl-Göran Andersson

Manager

Per Joar Hansen

League

Allsvenskan

2007

Superettan, 3rd (promoted)





Home colours





Away colours

GIF Sundsvall is a Swedish football club located in the city of Sundsvall. The club, formed on 25 August 1903, is currently playing in the highest Swedish league, Allsvenskan. They were promoted to Allsvenskan on October 27, 2007, after a turnaround win (4-2) away to Ljungskile in the last game of the season.

1 History
2 Current squad
3 Achievements
4 Idrottsparken
5 Profiles
6 Managers
7 Patronerna
8 External links

[edit] History

The club was formed on August 25 in 1903 at Matilda Anderssons Café. At that time, GIF Sundsvall stood for "Godtemplarnas Idrotts Förening Sundsvall" which mainly was for Teetotallers up until the alcohol demands was lightened in 1920. The initials then came to stand for, to this day still, "Gymnastik och Idrottsföreningen Sundsvall" (Gymnastics and sports club Sundsvall).

The club reached the first tier of the domestic football in 1965. The club has since been a "yo-yo" team mainly playing in the second division but with Allsvenskan stints in 1975, 1987-89, 1991 and 2000-2006.

GIF Sundsvall earlier had women's football and ice hockey on the program. The hockey team folded in the late 60's, in 1985 the women's team was transferred to Sundsvalls DFF. This mainly because the women's team was disappointed with the lack of support from the men's team.

[edit] Current squad

Squad for the 2008 season (only players under contract) As of 7 December 2007:

No.	Position	Player
1	GK	Fredrik Sundfors
2	DF	Abubaker Tabula
3	DF	Mikael Lustig
4	DF	Sverrir Gardarsson
5	DF	Billy Berntsson
6	DF	Stefan Ålander
7	MF	Per Nyman
8	MF	Robert Mambo Mumba
9	MF	Tobias Eriksson
11	MF	Ari Freyr Skúlason
12	MF	Arash Bayat

No.	Position	Player
13	FW	Benny Mattsson
14	DF	Christian Söderberg
15	FW	Johan Patriksson
16	MF	Joel Cedergren
17	FW	Akombo Ukeyima
18	FW	Linus Hallenius
20	GK	Andreas Lindberg
21	DF	Nicklas Bengtsson
22	MF	Anton Andersson
23	DF	Erkan Saglik
24	MF	Kali Ongala
25	DF	Nuri Mustafi
--	FW	Hannes Sigurðsson

[edit] Achievements

Allsvenskan:
- Best placement (5th): 1988

Norrländska Mästerskapet:
- Winners (1): 1942
- Runners-up (2): 1928, 1951

[edit] Idrottsparken

Idrottsparken (now Norrporten Arena)

Idrottsparken is located in the heart of Sundsvall and was inaugurated on August 6, 1903. It was renovated in 2001-2002 for the club's previous stint in Allsvenskan and it can now hold a capacity of 8,000, with 5,000 under roof. In 2006 the stadium's name was officially changed to Norrporten Arena but the name isn't fully adopted by the fans.

Top attendance: 16,507 vs Högadal on October 15, 1961.

[edit] Profiles

Tomas Brolin
Lennart "Foppa" Forsberg
Leif "Lill-Foppa" Forsberg
Fredrik Sundfors
Anders Grönhagen
Per Nilsson
Mikael Dahlberg
Göran "Pisa" Nicklasson
Gunnar Samuelsson
Conny Klack
Håkan Sandberg

[edit] Managers

Jan Mattsson (1990)
Anders Grönhagen (1986-1990, ?-?)
Per Joar Hansen (2002-2003)
Patrick Walker (2002-2004)
Rikard Norling (2004)
Jan Halvor Halvorsen (2005)
Anders Högman (2005)
David Wilson (2006)
Mika Sankala (2006-2007 2008-Ass.)
Per Joar Hansen (2007-)

[edit] Patronerna

The official supporter's club of GIF Sundsvall is called Patronerna. Formed in 1999, mostly as a joke by some friends supporting their friend, the club has in a short period of time amassed a strong reputation. The name is mainly a historical reference to the sawmill owners who were very powerful in Sundsvall during post industrial revolution-era. FP-tifo, Patronerna's fraction of tifo-supporters, won the Swedish tifo-awards sponsored by Canal+, in 2005.