Öster

Sweden

Founded

1930

Arena

Myresjöhus Arena · 12,000 cap

Östers Idrottsförening, commonly known as Östers IF or simply Öster, is a Swedish sports club located in Växjö, specializing in football, and playing in the second tier of Swedish football, Superettan. The club has previously also competed in ice hockey (see separate article), bandy, and bowling. Öster was formed on 20 April 1930 as Östers Fotbollförening, before adopting the name "Östers IF" in 1932. The club is affiliated to the Smålands Fotbollförbund. In 1968, their first season in Allsvenskan, Öster became the first team ever to win the national title at their first attempt (newly-promoted IF Elfsborg won the league in 1961 but had played in, and been winners of, the championship in the past). This win ignited the team's 'golden age' which lasted until the early 1980s and saw them win a total of four Swedish championships. On 31 March 2011, Öster broke ground on their new arena, Myresjöhus Arena, which was inaugurated in August 2012. The arena hosted four games of the UEFA Women's Euro 2013 tournament. History A chart showing the progress of Östers IF through the swedish football league system. The different shades of gray represent league divisions. Öster (English: "East") was named after a district in the city of Växjö. They were not part of the upper divisions in the early days of swedish football and only made their first appearance in the third tier in 1947. During the 1950s and early-1960s the club made a push to raise the level of football by inviting and playing against foreign teams such as Flamengo, Juventus and Fluminense. This coupled with an increase in the amount of training helped the team establish themselves in the second tier. In 1961 Öster had their first chance ever to qualify for Allsvenskan but ended up in last place in the four team promotion playoffs. Success in the promotion playoffs would instead come six years later in 1967 when they beat IK Brage in the deciding game in front of a home crowd of 26,404 people. Öster defied the odds during their first season in the top division and won the league on goal difference after a total of four teams had ended the season on exactly the same number of points. Following their championship title the club had ten years of solid Allsvenskan finishes before becoming dominant in the late-1970s and early-1980s where they won the league three times in four years. After that successful era followed a slow decline over the next couple of decades which culminated in their relegation to the second tier in 1998. After that the club has found it hard to reestablish itself in Allsvenskan and has only made short one year appearances.

Elfsborg

Sweden

Founded

1904

Arena

Borås Arena · 16,899 cap

Idrottsföreningen Elfsborg, more commonly known as IF Elfsborg or simply Elfsborg, is a professional football club based in Borås, Sweden, and is affiliated to the Västergötlands Fotbollförbund. They play in the Allsvenskan and have spent most of their history in the top tier of Swedish football. Their homeground is Borås Arena, where they have played since 17 April 2005. The club was founded in 1904 by a group of 19 youngsters which all were 14–15 years old. Borås Fotbollslag was formed in Ordenshuset at Landala (today Knalleland) on 26 June 1904. The main protagonist in the formation, Carl Larson, who in addition to football also practiced athletics and wrestling. Claimed the reason was that the main sports club in the city, Borås Athletic and Sports Society, would not exert football in their program. Carl Larson, however, found that there were too many clubs containing the city name Borås which contributed to the name change in 1906 by Riksidrottsförbundet to the current, IF Elfsborg. The name is derived from Älvsborg County where instead of making use of the modern spelling Älvsborg, they used out of the older spelling with an E. The same goes for the club colours, reflected in their crest and kit, yellow and black. Colors that are taken from Älvsborg Regiment, Elfsborg would not only represent a city but a whole region. A recurring motto of the club is "Vi Tillsammans" (We together). The club's homeground Borås Arena is also called Elfsborg Fortress, since Elfsborg is Allsvenskan home strongest team in the 2000s (decade). It is also the only team in Allsvenskan that has won against the Swedish national football team with 2–1 in the opening ceremony of Ryavallen and one of only two teams to win Allsvenskan as newcomers in 1961, the other team was Östers IF in 1968. Elfsborg have repeatedly participated for the qualifier to Champions League, Europa League and was as late as 2007 in 2007–08 UEFA Cup and was an overall winner in 2008 UEFA Intertoto Cup the following year. The club have won six national championships, the latest in 2012, and three national cups.