Allsvenskan

Allsvenskan

Countries	Sweden
Confederation	UEFA
Founded	1924
Number of teams	16
Relegation to	Superettan
Domestic cup(s)	Svenska Cupen
International cup(s)	UEFA Champions League UEFA Europa League
Current champions	AIK (2009)
Most championships	Malmö FF (18 titles)
TV partners	TV4 Group
Website	Allsvenskan
Allsvenskan 2010

Allsvenskan (which translates as The All-Swedish) is the highest league in the league system of Swedish football. The league was created in 1924. Before that, the top league in Sweden was called Svenska Serien. As of the 2008 season the league increased the number of participating teams from 14 to 16.

Status

The champions of the Allsvenskan are considered Swedish Champions. The winners of Allsvenskan between 1924 and 1930 were only considered league winners. The same is true for the years 1982 through 1990 when the champions were decided through play-offs and 1991–1992 when the champions were decided through a continuation league called Mästerskapsserien.

The competition

There are 16 clubs in Allsvenskan, increased in 2008 from previous years' 14 participants. During the course of a season (starting in March and ending in October) each club plays the others twice (home and away) for a total of 30 games. The two lowest placed teams at the end of the season are relegated to Superettan and the top two teams from Superettan are promoted in their place. The third lowest team in Allsvenskan plays a relegation/promotion play-off against the third placed team in Superettan.

The winners of Allsvenskan qualify for the UEFA Champions League, the runner-up together with the third placed team in the table qualify for the UEFA Europa League as well as the team who wins the Svenska Cupen. Since the start of Royal League in 2004, the four top placed teams enter that tournament together with four teams from Norway and four from Denmark.

UEFA rankings

UEFA Country Ranking as of April 22 2010, for league participation in 2010-11 European football season (Previous year rank in italics)

• 22 (19) Norwegian League
• 23 (25) Slovakian League
• 24 (—) Swedish League
• 25 (21) Serbian League
• 26 (—) Polish League

Television

The Swiss corporation Kentaro has since 2006^[1] owned the TV rights for Allsvenskan, through licence agreements with broadcasters matches are aired through, C More Entertainment, owns the rights to most matches and broadcasts them through their main channel CANAL+ and the pay-per-view package "Season ticket" (Säsongskortet) and TV4 who before the 2008 season the rights for 14 games which airs on TV4. But with the expansion of Allsvenskan to the 2008 season with two teams, Kentaro sold TV4 the rights to 36 extra matches to be aired on TV4 Sport, this has led to a lawsuit from C More Entertainment suing Kentaro over the rights for the new matches, the case has at the moment has been appealed to the Supreme Court of Sweden, the verdict from the Court of Appeal was in C More Entertainment's favour^[2].

Current clubs (2010)

* Participated in the first Allsvenskan.

Stadia

Olympia

Råsunda Fotbollstadion

Previous winners

Key

League winners

Total league winners by town or city

Honored Teams

In European Football teams are especially honored for winning multiple league titles, after 10 league titles a representative golden star is placed above the teams badge to indicate 10 league titles. Örgryte IS became the first Swedish team to achieve this prestigious honor of winning the league for the 10th time in 1909. Most recent team receive this honor was Djurgårdens IF by winning their 10th league title in 2003.

The current (as of April 2010) gold star clubs are:

• Golden Star 10 or more league titles won
  • Örgryte IS (12, received in 1909).
  • IFK Norrköping (12, received in 1968).
  • Malmö FF (15, received in 1974).
  • IFK Göteborg (18, received in 1984).
  • AIK (11, received in 1998).
  • Djurgårdens IF (11, received in 2003).

See also

• All-time Allsvenskan table
• Seasons in Swedish football
• List of Allsvenskan top scorers
• Sports attendances

Notes

External links

• Swedish Football Association - Allsvenskan