Kalmar FF

Kalmar Fotbollsförening, more commonly known as Kalmar FF, Kalmar or (especially locally) KFF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Kalmar. The club is affiliated to Smålands Fotbollförbund and play their home games at Guldfågeln Arena.[1] Formed on 15 June 1910 as IF Göta, the club have won one national championship title (2008) and three national cup titles (1981, 1987 & 2007). Kalmar FF's local rivals are Kalmar AIK and Östers IF.

Kalmar FF
Full nameKalmar Fotbollsförening
Nickname(s)Röda bröder (Red brothers), Smålands stolthet (The pride of Småland)
Short nameKFF
Founded15 June 1910 (1910-06-15) as IF Göta
GroundGuldfågeln Arena, Kalmar
Capacity12,000
ChairmanJonas Persson (football executive)
Head coachNanne Bergstrand
LeagueAllsvenskan
2019Allsvenskan, 14th (Relegation Playoffs)
WebsiteClub website

History

In the beginning
A chart showing the progress of Kalmar FF through the swedish football league system. The different shades of gray represent league divisions.

On 15 June 1910, the club IF Göta was created, however they were not allowed to enter the Riksidrottsförbundet due to a conflict regarding the name. The name was already taken by Stockholm's-Göta and Karlstads-Göta. Later in 1912 the club changed its name to IF Gothia and was then accepted by Riksidrottsförbundet.

In 1918 Fredriksskans was opened and at the same time the where a major conference in Kalmar about the high number of clubs in the town, this led to the merging of IF Gothia and Kamraterna to Kalmar Idrotts Sällskap and Kalmar IK merged with Falken to form Kalmar AIK. In 1927 Kalmar Idrotts Sällskap changed its name to Kalmar FF.

In 1927–1928 they qualified for the local league in the Swedish league system, IFK Oskarshamn won the league and was moved up to the Southswedish league, covering both Småland and Skåne, however IFK Oskarshamn renounced its position and it was given to Kalmar FF, this gave rise to complaint from the clubs in Skåne since there were no good train connections to Kalmar at that time, however SJ solved it. In their first game they defeated Malmö FF with 6–0.

The middle years

In 1949 the club reached Allsvenskan for the first time after defeating Halmstads BK in the decisive game of the season; during this time Swedish leagues were played autumn–spring, on 31 July they played their first game in Allsvenskan against Degerfors IF and lost 2–0, afterward, the later world-famous Gunnar Nordahl claimed that he had seen much worse newcomers, also this year, on 4 September Kalmar faced Malmö FF in front of 15 093 people in the audience; this is still the audience record on Fredriksskans.

Between 1950 and 1955 the club went up and down between Allsvenskan and Division 2. In 1955 they fell down to Division 2 and stayed there for 20 years; during this time players like Hungarian Ference Marko represented the club at the same time as he lived at the refugee camp in Borgholm in 1957, in 1959 Sune "Mona-Lisa" Andersson, who won an Olympic medal in the 1948 Summer Olympics as a player, as manager, during this time Sten-Åke Johansson played for the club and became the top goalscorer for all time for the club, on 19 October 1975 Kalmar FF defeated Västra Frölunda and returned to Allsvenskan.

In 1976 the club played its 100th game in Allsvenskan against GIF Sundsvall, however this ended with 9–2 defeat and led to manager Kay Wiestål being fired. The 1977 season became the club's most successful season so far; a group of companies sponsored the club's buying of Benno Magnusson; the club was able to end in 3rd place at the end of the season, earning the club its first medal.

In 1981 the club won its first title ever, by defeating IF Elfsborg with 4–0, the club won the Svenska Cupen for the first time ever, however they failed to stay in Allsvenskan and was relegated to Division 1; however the spell was only one year long and Kalmar returned in 1983.

1985 became the club's most successful season, as the club ended up in second place behind Örgryte IS and Billy Lansdowne and Peter Karlsson both became the league's top goalscorer along with Sören Börjesson, Örgryte IS, all scoring 10 goals each. The following year did not go as good; the club was relegated from the top league and the only happiness in 1987 was when the club yet again won the Cup title, this time against GAIS, however the club fell out of Division 1 this year.

In 1988 Kalmar FF won Division 2 without a single defeat which is a record in Division 2 and higher leagues. Between 1989 and 1997 the club spent most of its time in second highest league; this caused serious economic problems for the club.

The Brazilian era

After returning to Allsvenskan in 1998, but in 1999 the club fell out again, the only good thing was that the economy had been restored and was in good shape again. During the 2000 season club had to fight to avoid relegation from the second highest league and was only able to do it in the end of the season.

The goal of the 2001 season was to return to Allsvenskan again, after buying several new players such as Lasse Johansson, Fredrik Gärdeman and Lucas Nilsson, the club was able to return to Allsvenskan again, unfortunately the club was relegated directly. During the 2002 the first Brazilian, Alysson, arrived at the club.

The spell in Superettan 2003 became only one year as Kalmar won the league well ahead of Trelleborgs FF, purchase of Daniel Mendes and Dudu helped the club a lot.

In 2004 the club bought three new Brazilian players, Dedé Anderson, Fábio Augusto and César Santin, they all helped the club to a 5th place in Allsvenskan, just missing out on Royal League, the club also made a change board as chairman Ronny Nilsson left after 12 years at the helm, he was replaced by Tommy Strandman.

Champions
The lineup who won the league title, Allsvenskan, with a 2–2 away draw against Halmstads BK, 9 Nov 2008.[2]

The two following seasons, 2005 and 2006, Kalmar ended up in 3rd and 5th respectively. Then in 2007 they made a great run from start to finish and finally ended up in second place after champions IFK Göteborg. They won Svenska Cupen the same year by beating IFK Göteborg with 3–0 at Fredriksskans in Kalmar.

Before the start, several Swedish experts believed that Kalmar FF would be one of the teams fighting for the championship title 2008,[3] the club started the season stable and as the season went on the club performance became stronger and saw the club win many big victories, only other team able to keep up was IF Elfsborg. The club had to wait until the last match of the season against Halmstads BK in Halmstad before they could become champions. Before the final match Elfsborg was behind with 3 points and 9 goals. The match against Halmstads BK ended 2–2 placing the club 1 point ahead of Elfsborg.[4] Patrik Ingelsten also became the league's top goalscorer of the season with 19 goals scored. The team reached the final in Svenska Cupen yet again and also this year against IFK Göteborg, however this year IFK won 5–4 on penalties after full-time and extra time had ended 0–0. The club also had the chance to reach the group stage of the UEFA Cup. After strong play against Racing FC from Luxembourg and Gent from Belgium, the club faced Dutch team Feyenoord, after winning 1–0 away in Rotterdam the club lost home with 1–2, in Borås at Borås Arena since Fredriksskans failed to reach UEFA demands,[5] sending the club out of the competition on away goals.[6] [7]

Colours, crest and kit

The colours and kits have changed several times over the course of history. From its founding in 1910, Kalmar FF were striped green and red. In 1915 it was changed to red shirts and black shorts. After 1927 red-white striped shirt and red shorts. 1934-35 they returned to the red shirt and black shorts. In 1940, the red-and-white striped shirt and red shorts again. Full red shirt and white shorts, like today, Kalmar FF had for the first time in 1944. In 1952-56, as countless other Swedish clubs, they had the of the time popular Arsenal costume, with white sleeves. [8] [9]

Kit manufacturers and sponsors

The club's first kit manufacturer was Adidas, until a three-year deal was agreed with Umbro in 1995. Puma received the contract in 1998 and their sponsorship lasted for seventeen years.[10] In 2016, Hummel was presented as the new kit manufacturer of the club.[11]

Period Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor (chest)
1977–80 Adidas –
1980–88 Kalmar Verkstad
1989–92 Sparbanken
1993–94 RIFA, Sparbanken
1995 Umbro
1996–1997 Sparbanken
1998–2005 Puma Flextronics, Föreningssparbanken
2006 antilop.se, Föreningssparbanken
2007–2009 Audio Video, SAS
2010–2011 Audio Video
2012–2015 Hjältevadshus
2016– Hummel

European record
  • Q = Qualifying round
UEFA Champions League
UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup

UEFA Club Coefficient Ranking

The following list ranks the current position of Kalmar FF in the UEFA ranking[12] (as of 27 January 2017):

RankTeamPoints
259 IFK Norrköping4.945
260 IF Brommapojkarna4.945
261 Gefle IF4.945
262 Kalmar FF4.945
263 Zagłębie Lubin4.900
264 GKS Piast Gliwice4.900
265 FC Milsami Orhei4.900

Players

Current squad
As of 4 February 2020[13]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
2 DF  SWE Henrik Löfkvist
3 DF  SWE Sebastian Ring
4 DF  ALB Fidan Aliti
7 MF  SWE Piotr Johansson
9 FW  NOR Geir André Herrem
10 MF  SWE Filip Sachpekidis
11 MF  SWE Svante Ingelsson (on loan from Udinese)
13 DF  AZE Emin Nouri
14 MF  NGA Chidiebere Nwakali
16 MF  SWE York Rafael
17 DF  NGA Gbenga Arokoyo
18 MF  SWE Johan Arvidsson
19 MF  SWE Isak Jansson
20 MF  SWE Carl Gustavsson
No. Pos. Nation Player
22 FW  SWE Alexander Ahl Holmström
23 MF  SWE Viktor Elm (captain)
26 DF  SWE Olle Lindqvist
29 MF  BRA Romário
30 GK  SWE Tobias Andersson
31 FW  SWE Nils Fröling
32 GK  SWE Lucas Hägg-Johansson
33 FW  SWE Adrian Edqvist
34 MF  SWE Herman Hallberg
36 DF  SWE Johan Stenmark
38 MF  SWE Adam Hellborg
39 FW  SWE Isak Magnusson
93 MF  BRA Rafinha
95 MF  BRA Maxwell

Out on loan

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
12 DF  SWE Malte Persson (at Oskarshamns)
91 MF  BRA Hiago (at Alagoano)
— FW  UGA Lumala Abdu (at Syrianska until 31 July 2019)

Retired numbers
Main article: List of retired numbers in association football

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
8 MF  SWE Henrik Rydström (1993–2013)
15 MF  SWE Johny Erlandsson (1973–88)

Management

Board
Name Role
Jonas Persson Acting Chairman
Anna Karlsson Board Member
Johan Jaensson Board Member
Thomas Johansson Board Member
Karin Ekebjär   Board Member
Per Stephani Board Member

[14]

Technical Staff
Name Role
Magnus Pehrsson Manager
Jesper Norberg Assistant Manager
Torbjörn Arvidsson Assistant Manager
Donald Arvidsson Goalkeeping Coach
Fredrik Carlsen Fitness Coach
Mattias Rosenlund Club Chairman
David Bergqvist Academy Director
Ola Ragnarsson Team Coordinator
Kjell Svensson Physiotherapist
Jörgen Pettersson U19 Trainer
Stefan Larsson U19 Coach
Nenad Đorđević U17 Trainer
Johan Öhlin U16 Trainer
Mathias Svensson Groundkeeper

[15]

Managers

Achievements

League

Cups

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.[16]
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References
  1. "Kontaktuppgifter och tävlingar – Smålands Fotbollförbund – Svenskfotboll.se" (in Swedish). Retrieved 2011-01-13.
  2. "Kalmar FF Svenska Mästare". Retrieved 2017-01-27.
  3. "Kalmar FF guldfavorit i allsvenskan" (in Swedish). Barometern.se. 2008-03-19. Retrieved 2008-11-10.
  4. "Kalmar FF höll hela vägen till SM-GULD" (in Swedish). Kalmarff.se. 2008-11-09. Archived from the original on 2012-08-03. Retrieved 2009-02-24.
  5. "Dags för lottning i UEFA-cupen" (in Swedish). Kalmarff.se. 2008-06-29. Archived from the original on 2012-08-03. Retrieved 2009-02-24.
  6. "Kalmar FF utslagna av Feyenoord" (in Swedish). Kalmarff.se. 2008-10-02. Archived from the original on 2008-10-07. Retrieved 2009-02-24.
  7. "Historiska noteringar" (in Swedish). Kalmarff.se. Retrieved 2008-09-16.
  8. http://www.sportboken.com/kategori.asp?id=1077
  9. https://twitter.com/bollkultur?lang=en
  10. "Svenska Fotbollsklubbar's Foto Galleri". Retrieved 2017-01-28.
  11. "Här är Kalmar FF:s nya matchtröja för 2016". Retrieved 2017-01-28.
  12. "UEFA Rankings". Retrieved 27 January 2013.
  13. "Kalmar FF's A-lag" [Kalmar FF's A-team] (in Swedish). Kalmar FF. 3 February 2019.
  14. "Styrelsen 2018". Kalmar FF - Smålands Stoltehet (in Swedish). Retrieved 2019-03-31.
  15. "Kontakt/Sportkontor". Kalmar FF - Smålands Stoltehet (in Swedish). Retrieved 2019-03-31.
  16. "Svenska mästare 1896–1925, 1931–" [Swedish champions 1896–1925, 1931–]. svenskfotboll.se (in Swedish). The Swedish Football Association. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
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