IF Elfsborg - History

History

Borås Fotbollslag was formed on June 26, 1904, by a group of youngsters. In 1906 the name was changed to IF Elfsborg, because the founders felt there were too many teams with 'Borås' in their name. In 1926 Elfsborg won Västsvenska Serien, and defeated Halmstad BK in the play off, and was promoted to Allsvenskan for the first time. During the 1930s Elfsborg managed to build a very strong team led by striker Sven Jonasson, who appeared in both the 1934 and 1938 World Cup. In 1936 Elfsborg won Allsvenskan for the first time, and two more titles followed soon after (1939 and 1940). During this period Elfsborg had as many as seven players in the Swedish national team.

In 1941 Elfsborg left Ramnavallen to play their home games at the newly constructed Ryavallen. The first game at the new ground was supposed to be a friendly between Sweden and Finland, but Finland's involvement in the Second World War prevented them from playing, so they were replaced by Elfsborg, who beat the Swedish national team 2–1.

In the mid 1940s Elfsborg came close to winning Allsvenskan again, but finished second three years in a row. By the late 1940s Elfsborg's glory days were over, and the club was eventually relegated in 1954.

In 1960 Elfsborg won promotion after an impressive season with 20 wins in 22 games, and the club managed to win Allsvenskan for the fourth time in 1961, becoming the first Swedish team to go straight from the second level to becoming champions.

In 1977 Elfsborg reached second place, but the following years proved difficult for the club. In 1987 Elfsborg finished last in Allsvenskan, and did not return to the top flight until 1997. The team that won promotion contained several future Swedish internationals including Anders Svensson and Tobias Linderoth. Even though Elfsborg won their first two cup titles (in 2001 and 2003), the club struggled to stay in Allsvenskan in the following years.

In 2005 Elfsborg spent a lot of money on building Borås Arena, and bringing back former players. The investments paid off and the fifth Championship was won in 2006 – the club's first Allsvenskan title for 45 years. The year after Elfsborg appeared in the Champions League qualifying stage for the first time, and subsequently reached the group stage in the UEFA Cup for the first time. On the way there they knocked out Linfield FC (Northern Ireland) and Debreceni VSC (Hungary) in the qualification stage of the Champions League before eventually being eliminated themselves by the hands of Valencia CF (Spain) in the last round. The club won the last round of qualifications for the Uefa Cup against FC Dinamo Bucureşti (Romania).

In the group stage IF Elfsborg faced AC Fiorentina and Villarreal away and AEK Athens and FK Mladá Boleslav at Borås Arena and was knocked out.

In the following years, IF Elfsborg under the guidance of coach Magnus Haglund and his 4-2-3-1-formation have established themselves as a top club in Swedish football. The clearly stated ambition to finish top 4, qualifying for European football every year. In 2007, the club finished 4th securing a place in the last edition of the Intertoto-cup, from which they advanced but was surprisingly knocked out by St Patrick's Athletic F.C. in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Cup after conceding late goals in both legs.

The team bounced back though, competing for the title again until the very last round of 2008. In the end, injuries to key players like Anders Svensson and Stefan Ishizaki proved to costly, eventually having to settle for second place behind Kalmar FF.

The following year, IF Elfsborg once again challenged for a place in European football, brushing aside Hungarian side Szombathelyi Haladás and Portuguese S.C. Braga before eventually falling in the last qualifying round against S.S. Lazio.

IF Elfsborg were big favourites for winning the 2009 but had problem capitalizing on their high possession and many chances and eventually ended up third behind AIK and rivals IFK Göteborg.

The following year expectations were still high, but due to a mediocre start (only nine points in the first 9 rounds), IF Elfsborgs 2010 campaign increasingly became an uphill struggle trying, but in the end failing to catch up to Helsingborgs IF and Malmö FF. Malmö FF eventually ended up champions with IF Elfsborg in fourth place.

2010 marked IF Elfsborg's fourth consecutive season in continental football. The team entered the Europa League second qualifying round in the seeded pot having no real difficulties eliminating Moldovan side FC Iskra-Stal (on an aggregate score of 3–1). The Macedonian side FK Teteks proved to be no real challenge in the following round with IF Elfsborg effectively seeing of their opponents in an emphatic 5–0 win first leg win.

The team seemed in good shape to make a serious challenge for reaching the Europa League group stage even though they would be unseeded in the last qualifying round. Unfortunately the draw was once again one of the worst possible. SSC Napoli was held to a 1–0 win away at Stadio San Paolo following a stellar effort by new Danish signing Jesper Christiansen, but the Italians proved too strong in the second leg where they cruised to a 2–0 victory, both goals scored by Uruguay international Edinson Cavani.

The 2010 season was a busy year for transfers, both in and out. Sweden international Emir Bajrami making his way to FC Twente during the summer and top goalscorer Denni Avdic moving to Werder Bremen during the January transfer window. Three players were signed from Danish clubs. Former hero Jon Jönsson was brought in from Brøndby IF during the summer to bolster the defense, goalkeeper Jesper Christiansen from FC København and right back Andreas Klarström from Esbjerg fB making a comeback to the club.

The club made some more signings during the 2010–2011 winter. Most notable were forward Lasse Nilsson from Vitesse, central defender Andreas Augustsson from Randers FC and target man David Elm from Fulham F.C.. Once again, many of the media pundits were thinking that IF Elfsborg were firm favourites to win the 2011.

In early spring former allsvenskan top goalscorer Fredrik Berglund decided to hang up his boots.

The 2011 campaign showed an IF Elfsborg seemingly set on playing a more straightforward counter-attacking game, at least away. This seemed to be a recipe for success since the team started grabbing a few more away wins here and there. after the first half of the season the team was trailing Helsingborgs IF at the top of the table. Young left winger Niklas Hult was the standout player during the first half of the season, quickly establishing himself in the team and being touted by some members of the press as "the new Fredrik Ljungberg".

In continental football, IF Elfsborg entered the fray in the first qualifying round of the Europa League. CS Fola Esch were brushed aside after winning 4–0 in the first leg at home and drawing (1–1) away.