Hammarby IF
Hammarby was founded on April 10th, 1889, when the rowing club was formed. The factory workers could not afford to buy competitive scullers so they started to build their own, the first in the country to do so - and the green and whites would continue to be at the forefront throughout history. In 1897, the club was transformed into Hammarby IF (Sports association) and the club took up more sports. Football joined in 1915 and ten years later Rickard Larsson scored the first goal ever in the top league, Allsvenskan.
Lennart Skoglund made his debut in the A-team."Nacka" would be one of Swedish football's biggest, and is honouredevery Christmas Eve, on his birthday, by thousands at the statue on Södermalm.In 1970, the Hammarby audience took the song to Swedish stands. Also in thatyear, women's football was included on the program.
In 1982, Hammarby played double Swedish Championship finals, without going all the way. The men's meetings with IFK Gothenburg were framed by samba among the audience, something that did its part for Hammarby´s identity as a heel kick gang. The ladies won Hammarby's first Swedish Championship gold in 1985 after victories against GAIS in the final. For the men, it wouldn’t be until 2001, before the loyal, and often large audience, could rejoice for winning the Allsvenskan.
Kennedy Bakircioglu, who scored one of the golden goals against Örgryte in 2001, returned to Söderstadion in 2012 after 11 years in Europe as a pro - despite this the team at that time played in the Superettan (second division). Kennedy scored the last goal in the teams last match at the old arena before the move to a new arena in the summer of 2013, where the men’s team had been playing since 1967. And in 2014 Kennedy and the team managed to take Hammarby back to the first division. Since Hammarby moved into the new arena the club has enjoyed the largest audiences in the Nordic region of around an average 24,400 spectators per match.
The birth place of the club is Hammarby IP Football stadium,a stadium that has been newly renovated for the women's team. In 2015, theHammarby audience broke the all-time Scandinavian record for audience averageon the men's side, and the support has created a basis for greater sportingsuccess and stability, for the former "swing gang". The sameinteraction takes place on the women's side, where season ticket sales in 2021are the largest in the country ever. Hammarby is well on its way to becomingthe largest in their part of the world, in terms of number of active people,and the academies of the boys and girls side are growing stronger. There is alot to suggest that the future is green and white.
Forza Bajen !
