Malmbergets Almänna Idrottsförening, MAIF, is a multi-sport club from

Malmberget Malmberget ("The Ore Mountain", Finnish and Meänkieli: ''Malmivaara'') is a locality and mining town situated in Gällivare Municipality, Norrbotten County, Sweden. It had 5,590 inhabitants in 2010, reduced to 927 by December 2020. It is situate ...

Norrbotten Norrbotten (), known in English as North Bothnia, is a Swedish province (''landskap'') in northernmost Sweden. It borders south to Västerbotten, west to Swedish Lapland, and east to Finland. Administration The traditional provinces of Swe ...

, Sweden. The club has been most successful in

team handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the ...

and

Nordic skiing Nordic skiing encompasses the various types of skiing in which the toe of the ski boot is fixed to the binding in a manner that allows the heel to rise off the ski, unlike alpine skiing, where the boot is attached to the ski from toe to heel. Re ...

History

The club was founded on 22 February 1904. Initially, the club arranged

and

cross-country running Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open coun ...

contests, whereas the construction of a football pitch started in 1905. The club was «restructured» in 1916, and incorporated the wrestling club BK Thule in 1917 and the skiing club Malmbergets SF in 1920. The club's first great athlete was the wrestler J. Välima, who became Swedish champion in 1919 and competed at the 1921 World Championships. In 1936 the bandy section was discontinued, but it was replaced by an ice hockey section in 1944. An orienteering section was also added, in 1943. In 1951, alpine skiing commenced, and

ski orienteering Ski orienteering (SkiO) is a cross-country skiing endurance winter racing sport and one of the four orienteering disciplines recognized by the IOF. A successful ski orienteer combines high physical endurance, strength and excellent technical skii ...

was added in 1975. The men's football team was promoted to Division 4 in 1955 and Division 3 the following year. They were however relegated from the

1956–57 Swedish football Division 3 Statistics of Swedish football Division 3 Division 3 is the fifth level in the league system of Swedish football and comprises 144 Swedish football teams. Division 3 had status as the official third level from 1928 to 1986, but ...

. In 1957 the club added sections for tennis and handball, followed by volleyball in 1976. In 1960 the indoor arena Sporthallen was inaugurated, seeing a boxing exhibition with

Floyd Patterson Floyd Patterson (January 4, 1935 – May 11, 2006) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1952 to 1972, and twice reigned as the world heavyweight champion between 1956 and 1962. At the age of 21, he became the youngest boxer in hi ...

in 1965. It was then one of the venues of the

1967 World Men's Handball Championship The 1967 World Men's Handball Championship was the sixth team handball World Championship. It was held in Sweden. Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = ...

. While Malmbergets AIF got several national champions in various sports,

Kurt Elimä Kurt Elimä (born 24 August 1939) is a Swedish former ski jumper who competed internationally from 1963 to 1968. He finished seventh in the individual normal hill event at the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck. Elimä's best career finish inter ...

became an Olympic ski jumper in the 1960s.

Lena Carlzon-Lundbäck Lena Carlzon-Lundbäck, born 26 March 1954 in Malmberget, Sweden is a Swedish former cross-country skier, competing for Malmbergets AIF at club level. She also represented Sweden during the 1976 Olympic Winter Games in Innsbruck and in 1980 ...

was a dominating cross-country skier in the 1970s, whereas

Lina Andersson Lina Andersson (born March 18, 1981 in Malmberget) is a Swedish cross-country skier who has competed since 1998. She won a gold medal in the Team sprint (with Anna Dahlberg) at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin and also finished 11th in the Ind ...

broke through in the late 1990s. The handball teams also saw success. Malmberget's women's team became runners-up in the Swedish championship of 1973. The men's team made the playoff to the highest league in 1970, and finally succeeded to qualify for the 1975–76 Allsvenskan. The season ended in relegation. Malmberget was later a venue in the

1994 European Men's Handball Championship qualification File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

. In 1994, the club had its first national champion in powerlifting. Other sections in the club include weightlifting, table tennis, gymnastics and figure skating. The men's football team merged with

Gällivare SK Gällivare (; fi, Jällivaara; se, Jiellevárri or ; smj, Jiellevárre or ; fit, Jellivaara) is a locality and the seat of Gällivare Municipality in Norrbotten County, province of Lapland, Sweden with 8,449 inhabitants in 2010. The town was ...

after the 2005 season to play under the name Gällivare-Malmbergets FF. In addition, a Malmbergets AIF team was reinstated after the 2007 season. Later, the men's football team was discontinued, while the women's senior team played in Division 3.svenskfotboll.se
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References

Official site
{{Handbollsligan Football clubs in Norrbotten County Handball clubs in Sweden Ice hockey teams in Norrbotten County Sport in Norrbotten County 1904 establishments in Sweden Association football clubs established in 1904 Multi-sport clubs in Sweden