IFK Norrköping, with twelve Swedish league titles, has got a lot of supporters all around the world. Not everyone speak Swedish and this section gopeking.net provides information on the club for those who prefer English.

Official name: Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Norrköping

Club address: Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Norrköping, Box 12067, 600 12 Norrköping
Year formed: 1897
Swedish league titles: 12
Cup wins: 6
Chairman: -
Telephone: +46 11 21 55 00
Fax: +46 11 21 55 15
Email: info@ifknorrkoping.se
Website: www.ifknorrkoping.com
Stadium: Idrottsparken, capacity: 18500.
Training ground: Idrottsparkens plastic turf.

Home colours: White shirts, blue shorts and white socks.

Away colours: Grey shirts, black shorts and black socks.

Shirt sponsor: Holmen Paper.

Nicknames: Snoka or Peking.

Some celebrity fans: Göran Persson (prime minister of Sweden), Lennart Ekdahl (famous TV-man), Thomas Nordahl (Gunnar's son and football expert on TV), Pernilla Wiberg (skiing star), Malin Baryard (horse jumping), Curt Lundmark (icehockey coach), Peter Harrysson (TV-star), Magnus Härenstam (comedian, TV-star), Plura (musician), Nils Liedholm (world famous footballer), Ove Kindvall (d.o.), Steffo Törnqvist (journalist, TV-man), Olof Stenhammar (business man), Fredrik Lundberg (business man).

Current love boys: Daniel Bamberg, Richard Spong, Kevin Amuneke, Andreas Haglund.

All-time heroes: Gunnar Nordahl, Nils Liedholm and Georg "Åby" Ericsson.

Greatest Manager: Lajos Czeisler.

Worst manager: Colin Toal, Håkan Ericson.

Fans love to hate: Per Gawelin, Örebro SK.

Supporterclubs: Peking Fanz and IFK Norrköping Supporterclub.

History

Norrkoping dominated Swedish football in the post war era and won the first division 11 times in 20 glorious years culminating in the league triumph of 1963.

The golden era included four consecutive titles (1945-1948) and a team packed with some of the biggest stars in Swedish football. Greatest of them all was the prolific striker Gunnar Nordahl who played for Norrkoping between 1944 and autumn 1948 and scored 226 goals in 235 games. Nordahl left Norrkoping for AC Milan and was joined in 1949 by former team-mate Nils Liedholm, another very talented player.

While the club enjoyed terrific success in the 40s, the earlier years were less productive. IFK Norrkoping were formed on 29 May 1897 by two students, Gunnar Nisbeth and John Uggla, who offered a variety of sports, including hockey, tennis and skiing. The fans had to wait until 1943 for the first silverware, a league and cup double which heralded an era of unprecedented success.

But after the 11th title win in 1963 the club went another 26 years before adding number 12 to the trophy cabinet.

Former legend Gunnar Nordahl returned to the club in 1965 as manager and steered Norrkoping to second spot in1 966 pipped to the post by Djurgarden who beat them in the final game of the season. Two years later Norrkoping were again agonisingly close to glory when they finished level on points with the champions but had to settle for third place.

During the late 60s the club suffered from an exodus of talent as players such as Harry Bild, "Bajdoff" Johansson, Hans Rosander and Ove Kindvall left the club to pursue professional careers. They were never properly replaced and the team suffered as a result.

By the beginning of the Seventies Norrkoping weren't even the top club in this region as Atvidaberg took over. The decline in the team's fortunes coincided with a slump in the town's textile industry and the prospects for both looked bleak.

Bengt Gustavsson was brought in to manage the team in 1975 and led them to fourth place in 1977. However, two years later he was replaced by Nordahl - with disastrous results. Norrkoping finished fifth in 1979 but slumped to tenth the following year.

Bo Axberg was appointed to take over from Nordahl and for a while the team's fortunes improved with a third place finish in his debut season. The fans were optimistic for the 1982 season and by the half-way point their optimism didn't look misplaced. But a dramatic slump in form saw Norrkoping win only two more games and, after 41 years in the first division, they were relegated.

Ironically, in the same year Norrkoping enjoyed a decent run in the Uefa Cup, beating Southampton, before being knocked out by Roma on penalties.

Norrkoping bounced straight back and survived another relegation scare in 1985. But the following year a new era dawned in Norrkoping as Tommy Wisell was voted in as chairman. His appointment saw the club build a team capable of challenging for major honours and in 1989 they finally won the championship. The team of 1989 was well balanced with players such as keeper Lasse Eriksson from Hammarby, Sulo Vaattovaara and Igor Ponomarev and youngsters including 17-year-old Jonny Rödlund.

Norrkoping have not won the league since but after the 1999 season when the team had a terrible first half of the season but then managed to turn things around and finish fifth there are great expectations again for the future.