Allsvenskan


Allsvenskan, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system.
Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Superettan, the second highest league in the Swedish men's football league system. Seasons run from late March or early April to the beginning of November, with the 16 clubs all meeting each other twice, resulting in a 30-match season, for a total of 240 matches league-wide.
Allsvenskan is ranked 19th in the UEFA coefficients of leagues based on performances in European competitions over the last five years. The three teams with most Swedish championships are Malmö FF, IFK Göteborg and IFK Norrköping. The current champions are Mjällby AIF, who won the title in the 2025 season.
Including the 2025 season, Allsvenskan has been running for an unbroken streak of 101 seasons. Unlike other European football leagues, the Allsvenskan did not experience an interruption in play during World War II due to Swedish neutrality.

History

In the 1910s, national league play had been tried in Sweden with Svenska Serien, however it turned out that financing a national league was difficult. Svenska Serien evolved into two series, consisting of a southern and northern group.
On 13 January 1924, football clubs met in Stockholm to found a nationwide series and on 3 August later in the year the opening game was played of the 1924–25 Allsvenskan. The first winner of the one-league twelve team Allsvenskan was GAIS. In 1931, the league started to decide the Swedish football champions.
In the early years, Norrland and Gotland teams were not allowed to play at higher levels in the league system, which was gradually changed to include the Norrland and Gotland teams on higher levels.
For the 1959 Allsvenskan, the season start was changed from autumn to spring to be played in one calendar year. In 1973, the league was expanded to contain 14 teams. In the 1970s, Malmö FF, under the lead of Spanish Antonio Durán and later English Bob Houghton, won five Allsvenskan and managed to proceed to the 1979 European Cup final, which they lost to Nottingham Forest.
From the 1982 season, the league introduced a play-off to determine the Swedish football champions. In the late 1980s, Malmö FF were dominant, winning the league five times in a row, but only two Swedish championships. The 1990 season saw the introduction of three points per win. The play-off season years were followed by two years of continuation league, named Mästerskapsserien.
The 1993 season saw a return to the classical format, again with 14 teams. IFK Göteborg won five Allsvenskan league titles in the 1990s.
In the early 2000s, Djurgårdens IF won three titles. In 2004, Örebro SK lost its place in the league due to financial problems, and Assyriska FF got their place. Since 2008, the league consists of 16 teams.
For the 2017 season, a league match ball was introduced and Select Sport was chosen as supplier for four years.
The 2024 season marked 100 years of existence for Allsvenskan and was celebrated with retro kits during two match days in August. Malmö FF won the centennial Allsvenskan and took their ninth title in the last 15 seasons.

Status

The champions are considered Swedish champions and gold medal winners. The runners-up are awarded the large silver medal, the third positioned team are awarded the small silver medal and the team positioned in fourth place are awarded the bronze medal.
There have been seasons with exceptions when the winners of Allsvenskan wasn't considered Swedish champions as well. Allsvenskan winners between 1924 and 1930 were crowned league champions and awarded gold medals, the title of Swedish champions was awarded to the winner of Svenska Mästerskapet up until 1925 and then not at all until 1930. The years 1982 through 1990 are also exceptions, the title was instead decided through play-offs during these years. The same was true for the years 1991 and 1992 when the title was decided through a continuation league called Mästerskapsserien.
Historically, however, there is a big difference between the Allsvenskan winners before 1931 compared to the period between 1982 and 1992. As winning Allsvenskan in its earlier seasons was the optimal aim for the clubs, while as during the era of play-offs and Mästerskapsserien, the optimal goal wasn't to win Allsvenskan, but the play-offs or Mästerskapsserien.

Competition format

Since 2008 there are 16 clubs in Allsvenskan. During the course of a season each club plays the others twice 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 Conference League. The Svenska Cupen winner qualifies for the UEFA Europa League. In case the winner of the cup has already qualified to Champions League or Conference League, the second Conference League spot is given to the team that finishes fourth in Allsvenskan.

Changes in competition format

The decider at equal number of points was goal ratio until the 1940–41 season, thereafter goal difference.

Awards

Trophy

The current trophy awarded to the Swedish champions is the Lennart Johanssons Pokal. Created in 2001, the trophy is named after former UEFA chairman, Lennart Johansson. A different trophy that was named after Clarence von Rosen, the first chairman of the Swedish Football Association, had previously been used between 1903 and 2000, but was replaced after journalists reported that von Rosen had personal connections to the later infamous Nazi leader Hermann Göring during the time he lived in Sweden. The former president of the Swedish Football Association, Lars-Åke Lagrell stated that the reason for the change of trophy was not a personal attack against von Rosen but rather that the Football Association did not want to be linked to Nazism and constantly engage in discussions regarding this every time the trophy was awarded.

Player and manager awards

In addition to the winner's trophy and the individual winner's medals awarded to players, Allsvenskan also awards the most valuable player, goalkeeper of the year, defender of the year, midfielder of the year, forward of the year, newcomer of the year and manager of year at Allsvenskans stora pris together with C More and Magasinet Offside. Also, the Allsvenskan top scorer is awarded.

Television

Sweden

The Swiss corporation Kentaro has owned the TV rights for Allsvenskan since 2006. Through licence agreements with the media company TV4 Group matches are aired through C More Entertainment who broadcasts them on their C More Sport and C More Live channels, until 2019. Matches can also be bought through the online pay-per-view service C SPORTS.
On 24 March 2017, Discovery-owned channel Eurosport and OTT streaming service Dplay will be the new domestic broadcaster for both SEF competitions effectively from 2020 until 2025, as well as selected European countries for Allsvenskan. In May 2024 Discovery+ was rebranded as HBO Max which is the service that currently broadcasts Allsvenskan.

International

Beginning in 2018, Allsvenskan matches were previously broadcast in the UK on Premier Sports and FreeSports. In October 2018, ESPN picked up the rights to broadcast one Allsvenskan match per week in the United States. Allsvenskan matches have also been broadcast in several countries, such as DAZN in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, Sport Klub in Balkan countries, Nova Sports in Cyprus and Greece, TV2 in Norway and 4th Sports in Iraq

Current broadcast rights

Clubs

A total of 67 clubs have played in Allsvenskan from its inception in 1924 up to and including the 2026 season. No club has been a member of the league for every season since its inception. AIK is the club that has participated in the most seasons, with a record of 98 out of 102 seasons in total. Malmö FF has the record for most consecutive seasons: 63 between 1936–37 and 1999. IFK Göteborg is currently the club with the longest running streak, starting their 50th season in 2026.
The following 16 clubs are competing in Allsvenskan during the 2026 season:
Club
Position
in 2025		First seasonNumber of seasonsFirst season of
current spell		Allsvenskan titlesLast title
AIK7th1924–2598200662018
BK Häcken10th198326200912022
Degerfors IF13th1938–393420250
Djurgårdens IF5th1927–2871200182019
GAIS3rd1924–2557202441953–54
Halmstads BK11th1933–3459202342000
Hammarby IF2nd1924–2558201512001
IF Brommapojkarna12th20071020230
IF Elfsborg8th1926–2783199762012
IFK Göteborg4th1924–25941977132007
IK Sirius9th19691320170
Kalmar FF2nd in Superettan1949–5038202612008
Malmö FF6th1931–32912001272024
Mjällby AIF1st198015202012025
Västerås SK1st in Superettan1955–56620260
Örgryte IS3rd in Superettan1924–2557202621927–28