Kalmar FF

Football club infobox
clubname = Kalmar FF


fullname = Kalmar Fotbollsförening
nickname =
founded = 1910
ground = Fredriksskans,
Kalmar
capacity = 10,000
chairman = Flagicon|SWE Johnny Pettersson
manager = Flagicon|SWE Nanne Bergstrand
league = Allsvenskan
season = 2007
position = Allsvenskan, 2nd
pattern_la1=|pattern_b1=|pattern_ra1=
leftarm1=D90000|body1=D90000|rightarm1=D90000|shorts1=FFFFFF|socks1=D90000
pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=
leftarm2=FFFFFF|body2=FFFFFF|rightarm2=FFFFFF|shorts2=FFFFFF|socks2=FFFFFF

Kalmar FF (Kalmar Football Club) is a Swedish football club located in Kalmar. Formed 10 January 1910, the club has won three national cup titles. Kalmar currently play in the highest Swedish league, Allsvenskan.

Kalmar FF's local rivals are Kalmar AIK and Östers IF.

History

In the beginning

On the 1 October 1910, the club IF Göta was created, however they werent allowed to enter the "Riksidrottsförbundet" duo to a conflict regarding the name, the name was already taken by Stockholms-Göta and Karlstads-Göta, later in 1912 the club changed its name to IF Gothia and was then accepted by "Riksidrottsförbundet".

In 1918 Fredriksskans was opend and at the same time the where a major conference in Kalmar about the high number clubs in the town, this lead to the merging of "IF Gothia" and "Kamraterna" to Kalmar Idrotts Sällskap and "Kalmar IK" merged with "Falken" to form Kalmar AIK. In 1927 Kalmar Idrotts Sällskap changed its name to Kalmar FF.

In 1927-1928 they qualified for the local league in the Swedish league system, IFK Oskarshamn won the league and was moved up to the Southswedish league, covering both Småland and Skåne, however IFK Oskarshamn renounce its position and it was given to Kalmar FF, this gave rise to complaint from the clubs in Skåne since there where no good train connection to Kalmar at that time, however SJ solved it. In their first game they defeated KIS Malmö FF with 6-0.

The middle years

In 1949 the club reached Allsvenskan for the first time after defeating Halmstads BK in the decisive game of the season, during this time Swedish leagues where played autumn-spring, on 31 july they played their first game in Allsvenskan against Degerfors IF and lost 2-0, afterward, the later world famous, Gunnar Nordahl claimed that he had seen much worser newcomers, also this year, on 4 september Kalmar faced Malmö FF in front of 15 093 people in the audience, this is still the audience record on Fredriksskans.

Between 1950-1955 the club went up and down between Allsvenskan and "Division 2". In 1955 they fell down to "Division 2" and stayed there for 20 years, during this time players like Hungarian Ference Marko represented the club at the same time as he lived at the refugee camp in Borgholm in 1957, in 1959 Sune "Mona-Lisa" Andersson, who won a olympic medal in the 1948 Summer Olympics as a player, as manager, during this time Sten-Åke Johansson played for the club and became the top goalscorer for all time for the club, on 19 october 1975 Kalmar FF defeated Västra Frölunda and returned back to Allsvenskan.

1976 the club played its 100th game in Allsvenskan against GIF Sundsvall, however this ended with 9-2 defeat and lead to manager Kay Wiestål being fired. The 1977 season became the clubs most successful season so far, a group of companies sponsored the clubs buying of Benno Magnusson, the club was able to end in 3rd place at the end of the season, earning the club it first medal.

In 1981 the club won it first title ever, by defeating IF Elfsborg with 4-0, the club won the Svenska Cupen for the first time ever, however they failed to stay in Allsvenskan and was relegated to Division 1, however the spell was only one year long and Kalmar returned in 1983.

1985 became the clubs most successful season, as the club ended up in second place behind Örgryte IS and Billy Lansdowne and Peter Karlsson both became the leagues top goalscorer along with Sören Börjesson, Örgryte IS, all scoring 10 goals each. The following year did not go as good, the club was relegated from the top league and the only happiness in 1987 was when the club yet again won the Cup title, this time against GAIS, however the club fell out of Division 1 this year.

Between 1988-1997 the club spent most of its time in second highest league, this caused serious economical problems for the club, in 1988 Kalmar FF won Division 2 with out a single defeat witch is a record in Division 2 and higher leagues.

The Brazilian era

After returning to Allsvenskan in 1998, but in 1999 the club fell out again, the only good thing was that the economy had been restored and was in good shape again. During the 2000 season club had to fight to avoid relegation from the second highest league and was only able to do it in the end of the season.

The goal of the 2001 season was to return to Allsvenskan again, after buying several new players such as Lasse Johansson, Fredrik Gärdeman and Lucas Nilsson, the club was able to return to Allsvenskan again, unfortunately the club was relegated directly. During the 2002 the first Brazilian, Alysson, arrived at the club.

The spell in Superettan 2003 became only one year as Kalmar won the league well ahead of Trelleborgs FF, purchase of Daniel Mendes and Dudu helped the club alot.

In 2004 the club bought three new Brazilian players, Dedé Anderson, Fabio Augusto and Cesar Santin, they all helped the club to a 5th place in Allsvenskan, just missing out on Royal League, the club also made a change board as chairman Ronny Nilsson left after 12 years at the helm, he was replaced by Tommy Strandman.

Becoming a top club

In 2004 the team were to become an established top team of the Swedish league by ending fifth in the table. The following years Kalmar ended in third (2005), fifth (2006) and second place (2007) and are now leaders of the 2008 league with only six games to go. They have also made their way through the Swedish cup in the latter years; in 2006 they lost the semifinal to Gefle IF, in 2007 they won by three games to none against IFK Göteborg, but lost the 2008 final against the same team by 5-4 after penalties.

They also built up their economy significantly. Between 2003 and 2007 their total revenue rose from 2.3 to 9.3 million dollars, partly by selling Ariclenes da Silva Ferreira to AZ Alkmaar for 4.1 million dollars and César Santin to FC Copenhagen for, according to Ekstra Bladet around 1.9 million USDcite web |url=http://www.sportensverden.dk/football/item.asp?id=13193 |title=Cesar Santin var billigere end forventet |publisher=sportensverden.dk |language=Danish] .

They also headed for the group stage of the UEFA Cup 2009, they bet Feyenoord away by 1-0 but lost the match at home with 1-2.

[cite web|url=http://www.kalmarff.se/default.php?page=article/showArticle&articleID=906|title=Fakta: Historiska noteringar|date=|accessdate=2008-09-16|publisher=Kalmarff.se|language=Swedish]

Current squad

"As of 22 july 2008:"Fs player|no=8|nat=Sweden|pos=MF|name=Henrik Rydström"(captain)"

Former players

* Scott Sloan
* Stuart Reddington
* Billy Lansdowne (1983-??)
* Peter "PK" Karlsson
* Benno Magnusson
* Håkan Lindqvist
* Alysson Marendaz Marins
* Dedé Anderson
* Ariclenes da Silva Ferreira
* Niklas Kaldner
* Jens Nilsson
* Johan Paulsson
* Andreas Thompsson
* Givaldo Oliveira
* Thiago Oliveira
* César Santin

Achievements

* Allsvenskan:
** Runners-up (2): 1985, 2007
* Svenska Cupen:
** Winners (3): 1980–81, 1986–87, 2007
** Runners-up (2): 1977–78, 2008
*Supercupen:
**Runners-up (1): 2008
* La Manga Cup:
** Winners (1): 2008

References

External links

* [http://www.kalmarff.se/ Kalmar FF] - official site
* [http://www.svenskafans.com/fotboll/kff/ Röda Bröder] - supporter site