Lejonen () is a

motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...

team from

Gislaved Gislaved () is the seat and most populous locality of Gislaved Municipality. With a population of 10,269 at the 2020 census, it is the 7th largest locality in Jönköping County. Sports The following sports clubs are located in Gislaved: * Gis ...

in Sweden, who compete in the

Elitserien Elitserien (literally, "the Elite League") is the name of several Swedish nationwide sport leagues. In many sports, Elitserien is the highest league, with the second highest named Allsvenskan. Elitserien leagues at present: * Elitserien (badmint ...

. Their home track is at the

Gislaved Motorbana Gislaved Motorbana or the OnePartnerGroup Arena (for sponsorship purposes) is a motorcycle speedway track in the southern outskirts of Gislaved. The track is located on the Reftelevägen 61 and surrounded by the Skogsmusen Solpark (a forest an ...

or the OnePartnerGroup Arena for sponsorship purposes, which is Sweden's oldest track still in use. The club are three times champions of Sweden.

History

1929 to 1968

In December 1929 Gislaved Motorclub was formed and by 1931 the track was built. The track was originally wide and long but in 1936 it was widened to and during the 1980s the inside edge of the track was moved and the length was reduced to . In

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...

, Smålands Lejon began racing in Division Three, becoming Lejonen the following season in 1964. During the 1965 Swedish speedway season, the club won their first honours by winning division three A. They were promoted to division 2 and finished 2nd in

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

and

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

before winning division 2 in

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

1969 to 1982

The club made their debut in the top flight in

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

, finishing 4th. During the

1971 Swedish speedway season The 1971 Swedish speedway season was the 1971 season of motorcycle speedway in Sweden. Individual Individual Championship The 1971 Swedish Individual Speedway Championship final was held on 2 October in Stockholm. Göte Nordin won the Swedish ...

and

1972 Swedish speedway season The 1972 Swedish speedway season was the 1972 season of motorcycle speedway in Sweden. Individual Individual Championship The 1972 Swedish Individual Speedway Championship final was held on 29 September in Borås. Anders Michanek won the Swedi ...

, the club, led by Jan Simensen, Bo Josefsson and Therje Henriksson finished 2nd and won the silver medal. For the next decade the club found themselves bouncing between the first and second divisions.

1982 to 1989

With the introduction of the

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

, the club were relegated that season and dropped two divisions. Although they gained promotion back to the second tier they struggled to make any challenge in the division and at the end of 1989 the club stopped racing.

1998 to 2010

The team returned for the

1998 Swedish speedway season The 1998 Swedish speedway season was the 1998 season of motorcycle speedway in Sweden. Individual Individual Championship The 1998 Swedish Individual Speedway Championship final was held in Hagforson 16 August. Tony Rickardsson won the Swedish ...

They won promotion in

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

to the

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system. Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...

and then seven years later, in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

won the Allsvenskan defeating

Valsarna Valsarna is a motorcycle speedway club from Tallhult, Hagfors in Sweden, who compete in the Swedish Speedway Team Championship. Their home track is at the Tallhult Motorstadion which is located to the North of Hagfors on the road to Geijersholm. ...

in the

play-off The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eith ...

final to gain promotion to the

for

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

. During the winter of 2007-08 the track underwent major changes to accommodate Elitserien racing and the club announced the signing of

Nicki Pedersen Nicki Pedersen (born 2 April 1977) is a Danish motorcycle speedway rider. He is a three time world champion having won the World Championship in 2003, 2007 and 2008. He has also won the World Cup with Denmark in 2006, 2008, 2012 and 2014. Car ...

, the 2007

World Champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

. The club became champions of Sweden for two successive years in 2008 and

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

after they won the

Swedish Speedway Team Championship The Swedish Speedway Team Championship is the team championship of motorcycle speedway, speedway in Sweden. History The Championship was introduced in 1950. In 1982 the Championship was renamed with a new league called the Elitserien (speedwa ...

. Pedersen,

Chris Holder Christopher Robert Holder (born 24 September 1987 in Sydney, New South Wales) is an Australian speedway rider, who was the 2012 World Speedway Champion. He is also five times Australian champion (2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2014. Career Hold ...

David Ruud David Ruud (born January 21, 1980) is a former motorcycle speedway rider from Sweden who won 2003 Speedway World Cup with Sweden and earned 6 caps for the Sweden national speedway team. Career Ruud signed for Poole Pirates for the 2001 Elite ...

Mikael Max Karl Mikael Karlsson (born 21 August 1973), who later rode under the name Mikael Max, is a Swedish former international motorcycle speedway rider. He earned 21 caps for the Sweden national speedway team. Career After first riding a speedway ...

and were instrumental in bringing the success to the club.

2011 to present

The club were relegated and declared bankrupt in 2011 and dropped to division 1 (the third tier). They slowly recovered to win the Allsvenskan in

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

and in

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

won the Elitserien silver medal. In 2024, the club became champions of Sweden for the third time after winning the Elitserien during the

2024 Swedish speedway season The 2024 Swedish Speedway season is the 2024 season of motorcycle speedway in Sweden. The season includes the Swedish Individual Speedway Championship and the Swedish Speedway Team Championship. In October 2023, Vargarna announced their intent ...

Smålänningarna and Team Dalej

Smålänningarna compete in the Allsvenskan and Team Dalej compete in the third tier (division 1), they are a collaboration between Dackarna and Lejonen allowing less senior riders the opportunity to race. The collaboration started in 2020 and the Smålänningarna name came from and old team that had riders from

Småland Småland () is a historical Provinces of Sweden, province () in southern Sweden. Småland borders Blekinge, Scania, Halland, Västergötland, Östergötland and the island Öland in the Baltic Sea. The name ''Småland'' literally means "small la ...

Season summary

Notable riders

References

{{Swedish speedway teams Speedway teams in Sweden Sports clubs and teams in Jönköping County Gislaved Municipality 1936 establishments in Sweden 20th-century establishments in Jönköping County