The Swedish Football Association (, SvFF) is the governing and body of

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. It organises the football leagues –

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 ...

for men and for women – and the men's and women's national teams. It is based in

Solna Solna ( or , ), also known as Solna Municipality, is a municipality in central Stockholm County, Sweden, located just north of Stockholm City Centre. Its seat is located in the town of Solna, which is a part of the Stockholm urban area. Solna i ...

and is a founding member of both

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

and

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

. SvFF is supported by 24 district organisations.

Background

Svenska Fotbollförbundet (SvFF) (English: Swedish Football Association) was founded in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

on 18 December 1904 and is the sports federation responsible for the promotion and administration of organised football in Sweden and also represents the country outside Sweden. SvFF is affiliated to the

Swedish Sports Confederation The Swedish Sports Confederation (, RF) is the umbrella organisation of the Sport in Sweden, Swedish sports movement founded in 1903. Through its member organisations, it has three million members in 22,000 clubs. Its present chair, since 2024, i ...

(RF) and the

Fédération Internationale de Football Association The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

(FIFA) and

Union of European Football Associations The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach football in Europe and the transcontinental countries of Turkey, Azerbaijan ...

(UEFA). In 2009 there were 3,359 clubs affiliated to the Swedish Football Association with a total of more than a million members, of whom about 500,000 were active players. Together, they accounted for almost one third of the total Swedish sports movement activities. SvFF administers the Swedish men's respectively women's national football teams, other football teams and leagues including the

and

Superettan Superettan (; ) is an association football league and the second highest league in the Swedish football league system, league system of Swedish football, Swedish men's football. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and rel ...

. The motto of Swedish football – "one club in every village, football for all" – is reflected in the democratic constitution of Swedish football. All football competition in the nation is arranged by the SvFF and its 24 district organisations. The clubs are voting members at the annual meetings of the district organisations. The district organisations and the elite clubs are entitled to vote at the F.A.'s general meeting. SvFF was the sole owner of Sweden's national stadium, the

Råsunda Stadium Råsunda Stadium (; also known as Råsunda Fotbollsstadion, Råsundastadion, Råsunda Football Stadium or just Råsunda) was the Swedish national football stadium. It was located in Solna Municipality in Stockholm and named after the district ...

, from 1999 until it was replaced in 2012 by

Friends Arena Nationalarenan, known as Strawberry Arena since 2024 for sponsorship reasons, is a retractable roof multi-purpose stadium in Stockholm, Sweden. Located next to the lake Råstasjön in Solna, just north of the City Centre, it is the largest stadi ...

, located about 1 kilometer away and also in Solna. SvFF is the lead partner in the consortium that owns the current stadium, and maintains its offices there (as it did at the prior stadium). The Swedish Football Association Football Gala is held annually in November since 2005. It includes the award for the best male player (

Guldbollen Guldbollen (''Golden Ball'') is a Swedish Association football, football award given by ''Aftonbladet'' and the Swedish Football Association to the best male Swedish footballer each year. History The award was created by Bengt Liljedahl and betw ...

) and female players (

Diamantbollen Diamantbollen, Swedish for the ''Diamond Ball'', an annual award for Sweden's best female football player. The award is currently awarded by the Swedish Football Association and Sydsvenskans newspaper, in conjunction with its male equivalent, ''Gu ...

). SvFF had a turnover 2008 of 554 MSEK. Karl-Erik Nilsson was the President between March 2012 and March 2023. He was replaced by

Fredrik Reinfeldt John Fredrik Reinfeldt (pronounced ; born 4 August 1965) is a Swedish economist, lecturer, former Prime Minister of Sweden from 2006 to 2014 and chairman of the liberal conservative Moderate Party from 2003 to 2015. He was the last rotating Presi ...

, former

Prime Minister of Sweden The prime minister of Sweden (, "minister of state") is the head of government of the Sweden, Kingdom of Sweden. The prime minister and their cabinet (the government) exercise executive authority in the Kingdom of Sweden and are subject to th ...

. On 22 March 2025 Simon Åström, former chairman of SEF, was elected after the nominating committee supported Åström's candidacy and Reinfeldt chose to not stand for re-election.

Early history

The first Swedish national football championship was played in 1896 but it was 7 years later in 1903 that the

Riksidrottsförbundet The Swedish Sports Confederation (, RF) is the umbrella organisation of the Swedish sports movement founded in 1903. Through its member organisations, it has three million members in 22,000 clubs. Its present chair, since 2024, is Anna Iwarsson ...

was formed which was to be the precursor to the Svenska Fotbollförbundet. The new organisation had a football and hockey section (hockey being the term for

bandy Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two team sport, teams wearing Ice skates#Bandy skates, ice skates on a large ice surface (either indoors or outdoors) while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal. The playin ...

at that time and not

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

). In 1904 Sweden was one of 7 nations that founded

. It also introduced ice hockey to Sweden in 1920, before the 1922 establishment of the

Swedish Ice Hockey Association The Swedish Ice Hockey Association () in Swedish, is an association of Swedish ice hockey clubs. It was established in Stockholm on 17 November 1922 by representatives from seven clubs. Before then, organized ice hockey in Sweden had been admi ...

. Before the 1925 establishment of the

Swedish Bandy Association The Swedish Bandy Association () is the governing body of the winter team sport of bandy in Sweden. It organizes the bandy leagues, Elitserien and Allsvenskan for men and Damallsvenskan for women, and the men's and women's national teams. It w ...

, the Swedish Football Association also administered organized bandy in Sweden. In 1906, the name Svenska Fotbollförbundet (Swedish Football Association) was officially accepted and the following year SvFF was officially voted into FIFA. On 12 July 1908, Sweden's first international match was played in which Norway were defeated 11–3 in

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

. However the Olympics were a disappointment for Sweden, losing 1–12 to England and 0–2 to the Netherlands.

Competitions

Svenska Fotbollförbundet is responsible for organising the following competitions:

Men's football

''(Tier 1)'' *

''(Tier 2)'' * Division 1 ''(Tier 3)'' – two sections * Division 2 ''(Tier 4)'' – six sections * Division 3 ''(Tier 5)'' – twelve sections * Folksam utvecklingsserie – two sections

Women's football

* ''(Tier 1)'' *

Elitettan Elitettan (, ) is the second highest division of Swedish women's football. Contested by 14 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Damallsvenskan The (; ), known as OBOS for sponsorship reasons, is the highest divisi ...

''(Tier 2)'' * Division 1 Norrettan ''(Tier 3)'' * Division 1 Söderettan ''(Tier 3)'' * Division 2 ''(Tier 4)'' – nine sections

Junior

* Juniorallsvenskan * Pojkallsvenskan

Cups

Svenska Cupen Svenska cupen (, ), also known as the Swedish Cup in English, is a knockout cup competition in Swedish football and the main Swedish football cup. ''Svenska cupen'' usually refers to the men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also ...

– Men *

– Women * CANAL+-cupen – Junior Boys * Cup Kommunal – Junior Girls

Honours

Men's

;

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

*Runners-up (

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the thir ...

) *Third place (

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 ...

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

) ;

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

*Winners (

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...

) *Third place (

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20–January 30, 30 – Kuomintang in Ch ...

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...

) ;

FIFA U-17 World Cup The FIFA U-17 World Cup, founded as the FIFA U-16 World Championship, later changed to U-17 in 1991 and to its current name in 2007, is the annual world championship of association football for male players under the age of 17 organized by ''Fé ...

* Third place (

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

) ;

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the comp ...

* Winners (

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

) * Runners-up (

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

)

Women's

;

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior list of women's national association football teams, women's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Footb ...

* Runners-up (

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

) * Third place (

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

) ;

* Runners-up (

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

) ;

UEFA Women's Championship The UEFA European Women's Championship, also called the UEFA Women's Euro, held every four years and one year after the men's UEFA European Championship first held in 1984, is the main competition in women's association football between nationa ...

* Winners (

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

) * Runners-up (

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

) ;

UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship The UEFA European Women's Under-19 Championship or simply UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship, is an annual competition in women's football for European national teams of players under 19 years of age. National under-19 teams whose countries belon ...

* Winners (

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

) * Runners-up (

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 ...

) ;

UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship The UEFA European Women's Under-17 Championship or simply UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship, is an annual European championship football tournament, organized by UEFA, for national teams of women under age seventeen. The tournament was first play ...

* Runners-up (

)

District Football Associations

Swedish football is built on a single pyramid league system. While the SvFF administers the top leagues, the 24 district or regional associations administers youth football and the lower-tier leagues from

Division 4 ''Division 4'' is an Australian television police drama series broadcast by the Nine Network and created by Crawford Productions airing between 1969 and 1975 for 301 episodes. Synopsis The series was one of the first to follow up on the enor ...

(men) and Division 3 (women), respectively, and further below. The 24 district organisations are as follows: *

Blekinge Fotbollförbund The Blekinge Fotbollförbund ''(Blekinge Football Association)'' is one of the 24 district organisations of the Swedish Football Association. It administers lower tier football in Blekinge County. Background Blekinge Fotbollförbund, commonly ...

Bohusläns Fotbollförbund The Bohusläns Fotbollförbund ''(Bohuslän Football Association)'' is one of the 24 district organisations of the Swedish Football Association. It administers lower tier football in the historical province of Bohuslän. Background Bohusläns ...

Dalarnas Fotbollförbund The Dalarnas Fotbollförbund ''(Dalarna Football Association)'' is one of the 24 district organisations of the Swedish Football Association. It administers lower tier football in the historical province of Dalarna. Background Dalarnas Fotbo ...

Dalslands Fotbollförbund The Dalslands Fotbollförbund ''(Dalsland Football Association)'' is one of the 24 district organisations of the Swedish Football Association. It administers lower tier football in the historical province of Dalsland. Background Dalslands Fo ...

Gestriklands Fotbollförbund The Gestriklands Fotbollförbund ''(Gestrikland Football Association)'' is one of the 24 district organisations of the Swedish Football Association. It administers lower tier football (soccer), football in Gästrikland in Norrland. Background ...

Göteborgs Fotbollförbund Göteborgs Fotbollförbund ''(Gothenburg Football Association)'' is one of the 24 district organisations of the Swedish Football Association. It administers lower tier football in Gothenburg and surrounding municipalities. Background Göteborg ...

Gotlands Fotbollförbund The Gotlands Fotbollförbund ''(Gotland Football Association)'' is one of the 24 district organisations of the Swedish Football Association. It administers lower tier football on the island of Gotland. Background Gotlands Fotbollförbund, com ...

Hallands Fotbollförbund The Hallands Fotbollförbund ''(Halland Football Association)'' is one of the 24 district organisations of the Swedish Football Association. It administers lower tier football in the historical province of Halland. Background Hallands Fotbollf ...

Hälsinglands Fotbollförbund The Hälsinglands Fotbollförbund ''(Hälsingland Football Association)'' is one of the 24 district organisations of the Swedish Football Association. It administers lower tier football (soccer), football in Hälsingland, a historical province in ...

Jämtland-Härjedalens Fotbollförbund The Jämtland-Härjedalens Fotbollförbund ''(Jämtland-Härjedalen Football Association)'' is one of the 24 district organisations of the Swedish Football Association. It administers lower tier football in the historical provinces of Jämtland a ...

Medelpads Fotbollförbund The Medelpads Fotbollförbund ''(Medelpad Football Association)'' is one of the 24 district organisations of the Swedish Football Association. It administers lower tier football (soccer), football in the historical province of Medelpad in Norrla ...

Norrbottens Fotbollförbund The Norrbottens Fotbollförbund ''(Norrbotten Football Association)'' is one of the 24 district organisations of the Swedish Football Association. It administers lower tier football in Norrbotten County. Background Norrbottens Fotbollförbun ...

Skånes Fotbollförbund The Skånes Fotbollförbund ''(Scania Football Association)'' is one of the 24 district organisations of the Swedish Football Association. It administers lower tier football in the non-administrative province of Scania. Background Skånes ...

Smålands Fotbollförbund The Smålands Fotbollförbund ''(Småland Football Association)'' is one of the 24 district organisations of the Swedish Football Association. It administers lower tier football in the historical provinces of Småland and Öland. Background S ...

Södermanlands Fotbollförbund The Södermanlands Fotbollförbund ''(Södermanland Football Association)'' is one of the 24 district organisations of the Swedish Football Association. It administers lower tier football (soccer), football in the historical province of Söderman ...

Stockholms Fotbollförbund The Stockholms Fotbollförbund (; StFF) is one of the 24 district organisations of the Swedish Football Association. It administers lower tier football in Stockholm County. Background Stockholms Fotbollförbund is the governing body for foot ...

Upplands Fotbollförbund The Upplands Fotbollförbund (Uppland Football Association) is one of the 24 district organisations of the Swedish Football Association. It administers lower tier football in the historical province of Uppland. Background Upplands Fotbollförb ...

Värmlands Fotbollförbund The Värmlands Fotbollförbund ''(Värmland Football Association)'' is one of the 24 district organisations of the Swedish Football Association. It administers lower tier football in the historical province of Värmland. Background Värmlands ...

Västerbottens Fotbollförbund The Västerbottens Fotbollförbund ''(Västerbotten Football Association)'' is one of the 24 district organisations of the Swedish Football Association. It administers lower tier football in Västerbotten County. Background Västerbottens Fotb ...

Västergötlands Fotbollförbund The Västergötlands Fotbollförbund ''(Västergötland Football Association)'' is one of the 24 district organisations of the Swedish Football Association. It administers lower tier football in the historical province of Västergötland. Back ...

Västmanlands Fotbollförbund The Västmanlands Fotbollförbund ''(Västmanland Football Association)'' is one of the 24 district organisations of the Swedish Football Association. It administers lower tier and youth football in the eastern half of the historical province of ...

Ångermanlands Fotbollförbund The Ångermanlands Fotbollförbund ''(Ångermanland Football Association)'' is one of the 24 district organisations of the Swedish Football Association. It administers lower tier football in the historic province of Ångermanland. It was establis ...

Örebro Läns Fotbollförbund The Örebro Läns Fotbollförbund ''(Örebro County Football Association)'' is one of the 24 district organisations of the Swedish Football Association. It administers lower tier football (soccer), football in Örebro County. Background Örebr ...

Östergötlands Fotbollförbund The Östergötlands Fotbollförbund ''(Östergötland Football Association)'' is one of the 24 district organisations of the Swedish Football Association. It administers lower tier football in Östergötland County. Background Östergötlands ...

Footnotes

External links

Swedish Football Association
(official website)

at FIFA site

at UEFA site {{Authority control

Football governing bodies in Sweden 1904 establishments in Sweden Sports organizations established in 1904 Defunct bandy governing bodies Defunct ice hockey governing bodies Organizations based in Stockholm County

Background

Early history

Competitions

Men's football

Women's football

Junior

Cups

Honours

Men's

Women's

District Football Associations

See also

Footnotes

External links