Helsingborgs IF

Helsingborgs IF

Full name	Helsingborgs Idrottsförening
Nickname(s)	Di Röe (The Reds)
Short name	HIF
Founded	4 June 1907 (1907-06-04)
Ground	Olympia, Helsingborg
Ground Capacity	16,500
Chairman	Claes Ohlsson
Manager	Henrik Larsson
League	Allsvenskan
2014	Allsvenskan, 9th
Home colours Away colours

Helsingborgs IF (alternative spelling Hälsingborgs IF) , commonly referred to as Helsingborg or (especially locally) HIF, is a Swedish football club located in Helsingborg. They are currently playing in the highest Swedish league, Allsvenskan. The club, formed 4 June 1907, has won five national championship titles and five national cup titles. Helsingborgs IF have also won Allsvenskan on two occasions when the title of Swedish champions was not decided by the outcome of that league.^{[1][upper-alpha 1]}

Helsingborg was a founder member of Allsvenskan, and between 1924 and 1968 they spent all but two seasons in the top division, and won the league five times. At the end of the 1968 season, HIF was relegated, and while most people initially expected a quick return, they went on to spend the next 24 seasons in the lower leagues before finally getting promoted back to the top flight in 1992. Since returning to Allsvenskan in 1993, Helsingborg has remained in the top division, winning the league twice in 1999 and 2011.

The club is affiliated to the Skånes Fotbollförbund.^[3]

History

A chart showing the progress of Helsingborgs IF through the Swedish football league system. The different shades of gray represent league divisions.

The club was formed in 1907 after the merger of Svithiod and Stattena (not to be confused with the Stattena IF of today), and the club played their first game on 6 June 1907, beating neighbours IFK Helsingborgs 6–2. Otto Malm was a star of the team; in the 1911–12 season he scored 69 goals in only 24 games. At the end of his time at Helsingborgs IF he had played 500 games and scored 735 goals. The year after the club's formation, John Pettersson joined as club president, and during his tenure the club won the league five times. The year after, the club changed their kit from white shirts and blue shorts to red shirts and blue shorts, as well as winning the Scandinavian Championships. In 1914 the club lost in the final of the Svenska Cupen (Swedish Cup) and also in the Svenssons Cup. That year the club were invited to play in the Swedish Series, but declined because they thought that playing friendlies brought higher attendances. Additionally, the club's players were part-time, meaning that regular away matches would have been impractical. On 30 May 1915, the club lost 5–4 to Gӧta in the District Championships. 1918 again saw the club finish second the Svenska Cupen, after losing to IFK Göteborg.

With the arrival of Norwegian manager Åge Hareide things started to look very good for the first time in many years. During Hareides first year HIF finished 2nd in the league and won Allsvenskan in 1999, for the first time since 1941.

Following the World Cup break however, Henrik Larsson arrived at Helsingborg along with a new manager, Stuart Baxter, and Helsingborg started to win matches. After victory in the derby and a 3–2 win at home against IFK Göteborg, Helsingborg finished in fourth place in the league and as winners in the Svenska Cupen after a 2–0 victory over Gefle IF in the cup final.

Olympia

After a pretty mediocre season Helsingborg finished 8th in the league and everyones expectations were very low before the upcoming UEFA Cup qualifiers. Helsingborg however managed to make it to the group stage after eliminating the Dutch team SC Heerenveen. Helsingborg ended up in the same group as FC Girondins de Bordeaux, Galatasaray S.K, FK Austria Wien and Panionios F.C.

With wins against Galatasaray and Austria Wien, a draw against Panionios and a loss against Bordeaux, Helsingborg finished second in the group and faced PSV Eindhoven in the round of 32. PSV won 2–0 at home and 2–1 away. Stuart Baxter had left the club shortly after the loss against FC Girondins de Bordeaux following a disagreement with the club president Sten-Inge Fredin and was replaced with the club's Director of Football Bo Nilsson. It was from the beginning only supposed to be temporary but after a few months of good results, Nilsson was contracted for the whole season.

Club culture

The official anthem of Helsingborg is "På Gator Röda och Blå" by Björns Band.^[4]

Tifo at a Helsingborg home game

Helsingborg supporters displaying the red and yellow Scanian flag

Players

First-team squad

As of 8 January 2015^[5]

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

No. Position Player 1 GK Matt Pyzdrowski 2 DF Carl Johansson 3 DF Frederik Helstrup (on loan from AC Horsens) 4 DF Fredrik Widlund 5 MF Johan Mårtensson (vice captain) 6 MF Andreas Landgren 7 MF Mattias Lindström 8 MF Victor Pálsson 9 FW Robin Simović 10 MF Anton Wede 13 MF Alexander Achinioti-Jönsson 14 MF Lalawélé Atakora 15 DF Emil Krafth

No. Position Player 16 FW Mikael Dahlberg 18 FW Jordan Larsson 19 MF Darijan Bojanić 20 MF Ema Boateng 21 FW Mohamed Ramadan 24 FW Anton Kinnander 26 DF Peter Larsson (captain) 28 DF Jere Uronen 29 DF Jesper Björkman 30 GK Pär Hansson 32 MF Gustav Jarl 42 FW Astrit Ajdarević (on loan from Standard Liège)

Current youth players with first-team experience

As of 3 April 2015^{[upper-alpha 2]}

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

No. Position Player — GK Kalle Joelsson

Out on loan

As of 15 February 2015

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

No. Position Player 11 MF Arnór Smárason (at Torpedo Moscow until 15 July 2015)

No. Position Player 31 MF Elias Andersson (at Varbergs BoIS until 8 January 2016)

For season transfers, see transfers winter 2014–15.

Retired numbers

• 12 – Fans of the club
• 17 – Henrik Larsson, forward (1992–1993, 2006–2009)

European cup history

Helsingborg in Europe
Season	Competition	Round	Country	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1996–97	UEFA Cup	2Q	Belarus	Dinamo-93 Minsk	1–1	3–0	4–1
		1st Round	England	Aston Villa FC	0–0	1–1	1–1 (a)
		2nd Round	Switzerland	Neuchâtel Xamax	2–0	1–1	3–1
		3rd Round	Belgium	RSC Anderlecht	0–0	0–1	0–1
1997–98	UEFA Cup	2Q	Hungary	Ferencvárosi TC	0–1	1–0	1–1
1998–99	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	Qualifying Round	Liechtenstein	FC Vaduz	3–0	2–0	5–0
		1st Round	England	Chelsea F.C.	0–0	0–1	0–1
1999-00	UEFA Cup	Qualifying Round	Latvia	FK Riga	5–0	0–0	5–0
		1st Round	Ukraine	FC Karpaty Lviv	1–1	1–1	2–2 (a)
		2nd Round	Italy	Parma FC	1–3	0–1	1–4
2000–01	UEFA Champions League	2Q	Belarus	FC BATE Borisov	0–0	3–0	3–0
		3Q	Italy	Internazionale	1–0	0–0	1–0
		Group F	Germany	FC Bayern Munich	1–3	0–0
		Group F	France	Paris Saint-Germain F.C.	1–1	1–4
		Group F	Norway	Rosenborg BK	2–0	1–6
2001–02	UEFA Cup	Qualifying Round	Finland	MyPa	3–1	2–1	5–2
		1st Round	Norway	Odd Grenland	2–2	1–1	3–3 (a)
		2nd Round	England	Ipswich Town FC	1–3	0–0	1–3
2002	UEFA Intertoto Cup	1st Round	Slovenia	FC Koper	1–0	0–0	1–0
		2nd Round	Czech Republic	1. FC Synot	2–0	0–4	2–4
2007–08	UEFA Cup	1Q	Estonia	FC Narva Trans	6–0	3–0	9–0
		2Q	Ireland	Drogheda United FC	3–0	1–1	4–1
		1st Round	Netherlands	SC Heerenveen	5–1	3–5	8–6
		Group H	Greece	Panionios	1–1
		Group H	Turkey	Galatasaray S.K.		3–2
		Group H	Austria	FK Austria Wien	3–0
		Group H	France	FC Girondins de Bordeaux		1–2
		Round of 32	Netherlands	PSV	1–2	0–2	1–4
2009–10	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Armenia	FC MIKA	3–1	1–1	4–2
		2Q	Georgia	FC Zestafoni	2–2 aet	2–1	4–3
		3Q	Bosnia	FK Sarajevo	2–1	1–2	3–3(4-5p)
2011–12	UEFA Europa League	3Q	Israel	Bnei Yehuda FC	3–0	0–1	3–1
		Play-Off	Belgium	Standard Liège	1–3	0–1	1–4
2012–13	UEFA Champions League	2Q	Wales	The New Saints F.C.	3–0	0–0	3–0
		3Q	Poland	Śląsk Wrocław	3–1	3–0	6–1
		Play-Off	Scotland	Celtic FC	0–2	0–2	0–4
2012–13	UEFA Europa League	Group L	Spain	Levante UD	1–3	0–1
		Group L	Germany	Hannover 96	1–2	2–3
		Group L	Netherlands	Twente	2–2	3–1

UEFA Team Ranking 2012

Rank	Team	Points
158	AEK Larnaca F.C.	9.366
159	Brøndby IF	9.140
160	Hajduk Split	8.916
161	Helsingborg IF	8.625
162	Bnei Yehuda	8.575
163	CSKA Sofia	8.450
164	Rapid București	8.444

As of 12 February 2013. Source

Managers

Achievements

• Swedish Champions^[A]
  • Winners (5): 1932–33, 1933–34, 1940–41, 1999, 2011

League

• Allsvenskan:
  • Winners (7): 1928–29, 1929–30, 1932–33, 1933–34, 1940–41, 1999, 2011
  • Runners-up (7): 1927–28, 1948–49, 1953–54, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2010
• Division 1 Södra:
  • Runners-up (3): 1990, 1991, 1992

Cups

• Svenska Cupen:
  • Winners (5): 1941, 1997–98, 2006, 2010, 2011
  • Runners-up (2): 1950, 1993–94
• Svenska Mästerskapet:
  • Runners-up (2): 1914, 1918
• Svenska Supercupen:
  • Winners (2): 2011, 2012
  • Runners-up (1): 2007

Records

• Most appearances, Allsvenskan: 349, Kalle Svensson (1943–62)
• Most goals scored, Allsvenskan: 140, Knut Kroon (1925–42)

Footnotes

References

See also

• List of Helsingborgs IF players

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Helsingborgs IF.

• Helsingborgs IF – official site
• Kärnan – official supporter club site
• HIF E-zine – supporter site
• tHIFo – the terrace arrangements group site
• Bakgatan – Supporter site
• HIF1907 – the leading HIF-blog