GAIS

Football club infobox
clubname = GAIS


fullname = Göteborgs Atlet- &
Idrottssällskap
nickname = "Makrillarna" (The Mackerels)
"Grönsvart" (Green-black)
"Gårdakvarnen" (The Gårda Mill)
founded = 1894
1897 (football department)
ground = Ullevi,
Gothenburg
capacity = 43.000
chairman = Flagicon|SWE Christer Wallin
manager = Flagicon|SWE Magnus Pehrsson
league = Allsvenskan
season = 2007
position = Allsvenskan, 11th
pattern_la1=|pattern_b1=_blackstripes|pattern_ra1=_blackshoulders
leftarm1=208040|body1=208040|rightarm1=208040|shorts1=FFFFFF|socks1=FFFFFF
pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=_shouldersonwhite
leftarm2=FFFFFF|body2=FFFFFF|rightarm2=208040|shorts2=000000|socks2=000000

Göteborgs Atlet- och Idrottssällskap (en: Gothenburg Athletics & Sports Association) is a Swedish football club based in Gothenburg, currently playing in Allsvenskan. The club is commonly referred to simply as GAIS, while its fans also refers to the club as grönsvart (green-black) or the mackerels because of the traditional shirt colours. Its home ground is Nya Ullevi, Gothenburg.

GAIS is one of the oldest football clubs in Sweden. The club was a founding member of Allsvenskan and also the first champions of said league. In all, GAIS has won four national championship titles, five league championship titles and one national cup title. Although GAIS has played a total of 49 seasons in Allsvenskan, the last 30 years have only resulted in a total of eight highest league-seasons, as well as six seasons in the third division. The club has thus gained the reputation of being a yo yo club, constantly going up and down through the league system.

History

Formation and early glory

GAIS was founded 11 March 1894 at Ehdlunds Café, a café in the city centre. The founders had created the club in "patriotic purposes and to promote all kinds of sports". Its main activities were athletics and different kinds of strength sports. A football section was formed in 1897, and the first official game was played against local rivals Örgryte IS in 1903. GAIS first appearance in the highest league at the time, Svenska Serien was in 1915/16, finishing in fourth place. In 1919 the club won its first national championship beating Djurgårdens IF away in the finals. The same procedure would be repeated in 1922, this time against another Stockholm team, Hammarby IF.

GAIS won the first season of Allsvenskan in 1924/25, two points ahead of local rivals IFK Göteborg. The feat was to be repeated in 1926/27, this time three points ahead of IFK Göteborg. Unfortunately, league champions didn't get recognised as national champions in the 1920's, but this was changed in 1930/31. GAIS won this year as well, six points ahead of AIK and IFK Göteborg.

During the 30's GAIS slowly lost the dominance the club had exercised over Allsvenskan since its foundation, and in 1938 the club was relegated. Having spent three years in the second division, GAIS returned to Allsvenskan with a vengeance for the season of 1941/42 when the club finished in second place, and later in 1942 won Svenska Cupen for its first (and until today only) time.

The club then stayed in Allsvenskan throughout the 1940's and the early 1950's, quite unexpectedly winning its fourth national championship one single point ahead of Helsingborgs IF in the season of 1953/54. The following year, equally unexpectedly, disaster struck when the club finished third last and was relegated.

The swingin' sixties & seventies

GAIS returned to Allsvenskan the following season (1955/56), but from the mid-50's the club lost its former continuity and would never spend more than five years in a row in Allsvenskan. Thus, the club was relegated in 1959 and spent four seasons in the second division, returning to Allsvenskan briefly in 1964, returning to the second division in 1965 but was promoted back to Allsvenskan again in 1966. Between 1966-1975 GAIS remained in allsvenskan, except for a year in the second division in 1971, and in 1975 the club made its first appearance in the UEFA cup playing Śląsk Wrocław in the first leg. GAIS lost out to the polish club after winning 2-1 at home but losing 2-4 away. The very same year GAIS got relegated from Allsvenskan for the sixth time, this time due to scoring two goals less than Halmstads BK.

Thirty years of underperformance: 1976 - 2006

The relegation in 1975 would in retrospect prove to be a turning point for the worse in the history of GAIS. Unable to qualify for Allsvenskan in 1976, and furthermore losing the qualifying spot to now arch-rivals IFK Göteborg, GAIS lost the position as Gothenburg's leading team that had been enjoyed throughout the early 70's. The club consistently failed to qualify for Allsvenskan during the following five years, and in 1981, due to economical problems and a surprisingly weak performance by the squad, GAIS got relegated to the Swedish third division.

Unable to make it back up to the second division in 1982, the future of GAIS looked bleak. But due to a massive performance in the latter part of the season of 1983 the club secured the qualifying spot seven points ahead of IK Oddevold, and beat Mönsterås GoIF in the qualifying round for the second division.

In 1984, GAIS made what was to become one of the club's most spectacular signings to this date. Tunisian midfielder Samir Bakaou left his former club Étoile Sportive de Sahel to join the Gothenburg side, and proved to be the injection of flair and energy that the club had been needing so badly. With "the Black Pearl" as playmaker and notorious goalscorer, GAIS was once again a force to be reckoned with and made it to the qualifying round to Allsvenskan in 1985, only to lose out to Djurgårdens IF after a penalty shoot-out in a highly controversial game.

Failing to qualify in 1986 as well, GAIS finally made it back to Allsvenskan in 1987. Eleven long years of struggling in the lower series were over. For the second time in club history, GAIS made it to the finals of Svenska Cupen as well, but lost out 2-0 to opposing side Kalmar FF

During the late 80's and early 90's GAIS mostly fought for its survival in Allsvenskan. With the exception of a 3rd place in 1989, the club had to settle for the lower half of the series. Relegation followed the season of 1992, and GAIS had yet again to face a long and tortuous walk through the Swedish second division. The nadir was reached in 1997 when the club had been relegated to the third division, ran a huge economical deficit and finished third in the series. This season would be the starting point of possibly the worst yo-yo experience any Swedish football club has ever experienced.

GAIS was promoted to the second division in 1998, and made it back to Allsvenskan after the season of 1999 by finishing in second place and defeating Kalmar FF in the qualifying round. Finishing second to last in Allsvenskan in 2000, the club continued its fall through the second division in 2001 and was relegated to the third division for the season of 2002. From now on, things slowed down when GAIS failed to qualify for the second division and had to remain in the third during 2003. After a hard-fought battle throughout 2003 against local competitors Ljungskile SK, GAIS finally ended up winning the series by goal difference. In the qualifying round for the second division, the club faced Mjällby AIF and defeated them 2-1 away as well as home.

In 2004 GAIS signed Roland Nilsson as head coach, and with him at the lead the club finished 6th in the second division. During the following season, facing competition from newly relegated AIK and Östers IF, GAIS managed to finish 3rd and got to play Landskrona BoIS for qualification to Allsvenskan. After beating Landskrona 2-1 at home and drawing them 0-0 in an extremely tight away game, where GAIS forward Wilton Figueiredo got his second yellow card after 30 minutes of play and manager Roland Nilsson substituted defender Kenneth Gustafsson for himself during the last 25 minutes, the end of the yo yo-ing was finally reached.

As of 2008, GAIS is playing its third season in a row in Allsvenskan. Notable players include captain Fredrik Lundgren, goalkeeper Dime Jankulovski, defender Richard Ekunde, midfielder Bobbie Friberg José da Cruz and Armenian forward Levon Pachajyan.

Achievements

* Swedish Champions:
** Winners (4): 1919, 1922, 1930–31, 1953–54

* Allsvenskan:
** Winners (4): 1924–25, 1926–27, 1930–31, 1953–54
** Runners-up (4): 1925–26, 1932–33, 1933–34, 1941–42

* Svenska Serien:
** Winners (1): 1923–24

* Svenska Mästerskapet:
** Winners (2): 1919, 1922

* Svenska Cupen:
** Winners (1): 1942
** Runners-up (1): 1986–87

Supporters

The core of GAIS' supporters has for a long time been coming from the working class-districts of Gothenburg, and the club and its supporters harbours a fierce rivalry with Gothenburg's other traditional working class-team IFK Göteborg. Attendance rates is normally around 5000, with greater numbers attending against local rivals IFK and IF Elfsborg as well as teams from Stockholm and Skåne.

Current squad

"As of July 6, 2008" [cite web |url=http://www.gais.se/Fotboll/gais.nsf/SpelartruppenWeb?OpenView&RightWidth=0|publisher=GAIS Goteborg |language=Swedish |accessdate=2008-08-26 |title=First team squad]

Noted players

* Sören Järelöv
* Roland Nilsson

Noted managers

* Roland Nilsson
* Bo Falk

References

External links

* [http://www.gais.se/Fotboll/gais.nsf/default GAIS] - official site
* [http://gaisweb1.tripnet.se/supportrarna/makrillarna/ Supporterklubben Makrillarna] - supporter site
* [http://www.gardakvarnen.se/ Gårdakvarnen] - supporter site
* [http://www.gronsvart.com/ Gronsvart.com] - supporter site
* [http://www.gronsvartgbg.se/ Grönsvart Göteborg] - supporter site