IK Sirius Fotboll

History

Founding

The sports club that became IK Sirius was founded on 9 August 1907, and got its current name on 5 April 1908 after having been discussing Svartbäckens IK and IK Spurt. The sports club was founded for athletics, and took up football in 1908.

The first success came in 1924 when they reached the Svenska Mästerskapet final (not to be confused with Svenska Serien, which never acquired an official status of deciding the Swedish Champions). In the final, they were trounced 5–0 by Fässbergs IF.

The Allsvenskan years

The club spent the next forty years in lower division anonymity, before favourable economic circumstances enabled them to gain promotion to Allsvenskan in 1968, although they were relegated after just one season. The high point was arguably in the years 1973–1974, when the club again gained promotion to the highest league and its squad contained a number of high-profile players, such as Roland Grip, then a member of the Swedish national team.

Obscurity and comeback

After the club's relegation from Allsvenskan in 1974, the club played in the second division until they plummeted to fourth division level following a couple of hard years in the beginning of the 1980s. The 1990s were mostly spent at a second tier level, i.e. the old Division 1, corresponding to the modern Superettan. The club then played the first five years of the 21st century in Division 2, before returning to Division 1 in 2006 (although still playing at a third tier level).

With new manager Magnus Pehrsson and prodigal son and goal-getter Olle Kullinger (starting his career with IF VP and later also having played with Enköpings SK, Halmstads BK and IF Brommapojkarna in Superettan and Allsvenskan) bearing the captaincy, the club finished the season in second place, which meant they had to qualify to gain promotion to Superettan. IK Sirius played the first leg at home against Väsby United on 25 October. Due to some seriously poor defending, Väsby were able to go 1–0 up just before the half-time break. Sirius recovered slightly in the second period, and were able to equalise in the 83rd minute. In the second leg, in front of about 1000 travelling fans, Sirius were completely dominant but also rather wasteful with their chances. They managed, however to break the deadlock in the 73rd minute, Olle Kullinger managing to knock a rebound past the Väsby keeper. With the aggregate score of 2–1, Sirius celebrated their 100th anniversary in the Superettan, which their fans thought was reprehensible and awful.

The first spell in Superettan

Magnus Pehrsson resigned as manager and Pär Millqvist was appointed and brought in Gary Sundgren as his assistant manager. After a strong first half of the season the club finished 7th in Superettan 2007. The team struggled through most of the 2008-season but finally finished 12th and avoided relegation. Millqvist and Sundgren was sacked after the first six games and youth-team coaches Johan Mattsson and Andreas Brännström led the team for the rest of the season.

In preparation for the 2009 season they appointed Jens T Andersson from Väsby and AIK as new manager. Like the season before they struggled in the bottom of the league and with just five games left to play of the season Jens T Andersson resigned as manager due to the lack of good results. Assistant coach Andreas Brännström was once again hired as new head manager but this time he could not save the team from relegation.

In 2010 IK Sirius played in the third tier Division 1 Norra and finished 2nd in the table 5 points behind rivals Västerås SK and as a result they went through to the Superettan play-offs, where they went head-to-head with Jönköpings Södra. After a 0–1 defeat at home they lost the away game with 3–0 and faced another season in Division 1 Norra.

2011 the team was voted by all the managers of the league as favourites to win but failed to live up to the expectations. They finished 3rd in Division 1 Norra, just 2 points from finishing first and goal-difference kept them from the second spot which leads to Superettan play-offs. As a result, coach Andreas Brännström and his assistant Antonio Andric was forced to leave the club after the season.

Promotion to Allsvenskan with Kim Bergstrand and Thomas Lagerlöf (2012–2018)

On 17 November 2012 the club announced that the ex-Brommapojkarna manager Kim Bergstrand had been appointed as the new head coach. Soon thereafter Thomas Lagerlöf (ex-Väsby) was appointed as assistant manager.

In 2012 the team were once again the favourites to win the Division 1 Norra, and led the league by five points with three games left. A 0–1 home defeat to Vasalund and a 1–0 away win at Enköping set the team up for an all-decisive match against second-placed Östersunds FK. Sirius needed a draw to win the league, but lost at home 0–1 and ended up third, also behind BK Forward.

The 2013 season began with an unexpected success in the Swedish Cup, as Sirius defeated reigning Swedish champions IF Elfsborg to win their group and advance to the quarterfinals, where they were knocked out away to Öster, 1–2. The team had been bolstered by the signing of several experienced players, including former Djurgården, Molde and Sweden midfielder Johan Arneng. This time all the pieces fell into place as the team won the Division 1 Norra handily, securing promotion to Superettan with five games still in hand, and ending the season undefeated.

The 2014 season again began with Cup success, as Allsvenskan teams Djurgården and Halmstad were dispatched in the group stages, setting up a quarterfinal with IFK Göteborg. At Ullevi, Moses Ogbu's 29th-minute header gave Sirius the win. In front of a sold-out Studenternas, Sirius faced Elfsborg in the semi-final. This time, Elfsborg got their revenge for last year's defeat, winning 4–1.

The 2014 Superettan season began well for Sirius, with a 5–1 win away to former Allsvenskan outfit Syrianska. Two somewhat surprising home defeats to Huskvarna and Varberg followed, and the team settled into a habit of playing well away but struggling at home. In the end, however, Sirius enjoyed a successful return to Superettan, finishing in sixth place, after a season that included wins against both the two directly promoted teams, Hammarby and GIF Sundsvall.

On 24 October 2016, Sirius defeated Halmstads BK 1–0 to gain promotion to the Allsvenskan for the first time in 42 years (since the 1974 season).

After the 2018 season, Bergstrand and Lagerlöf left to join Djurgården.

Season-to-season

Players

Current squad

Out on loan

Notable players

The following players are either listed on the official IK Sirius website or have represented their national team.

• SWE Hans Mild
• SWE Hans Selander
• SWE Hasse Nilsson
• SWE Henrik Östlin
• SWE Klebér Saarenpää
• SWE Leif Eriksson
• SWE Morgan Hedlund
• SWE Ola Andersson
• SWE Roland Grip
• ENG Freddie Hill
• SWE Sigge Parling
• SWE Kjell Johansson
• SWE Per Hansson
• ENG Darren Foreman
• IRN Golli Hashempour
• ITA Jano Alicata
• UKR Vadym Yevtushenko

Management

Technical staff

Managerial history

• England Sid Huntley (1972)
• England Alan Ball Sr. (1974–1976)
• Sweden Kjell Jonevret (1998–1999)
• Sweden Magnus Pehrsson (2006)
• Sweden Pär Millqvist (2007–2008)
• Sweden Andreas Brännström (2009–2011)
• Sweden Kim Bergstrand & Sweden Thomas Lagerlöf (2012–2018)
• Sweden Henrik Rydström & Sweden Mirza Jelečak (2019)
• Sweden Henrik Rydström (2020)
• Sweden Daniel Bäckström (2021–2022)
• Sweden Christer Mattiasson (2023–2024)
• Sweden Andreas Engelmark (2025–)

Attendances

In recent seasons IK Sirius FK have had the following average attendances:

** Attendances are provided in the Publikliga sections of the Svenska Fotbollförbundet website.* |}

Honours

Cup

• Svenska Mästerskapet:
  • Runners-up (1): 1924

League

• Superettan:
  • Winners (1): 2016
• Division 1 Norra:
  • Winners (1): 2013
  • Runners-up (2): 2006, 2010
• Division 2 Östra Svealand:
  • Winners (1): 1997

Footnotes

References

References

1. "Kontaktuppgifter och tävlingar – Upplands Fotbollförbund – Svenskfotboll.se".
2. "1907: Så började det".
3. (1946). "IK Sirius". Nordisk familjeboks förlag.
4. "Vemodigt för Dif:s nya duo att lämna Sirius: "Var jättesvårt"".
5. "GAIS – Lagfacta – IK Sirius".
6. "Truppen". IK Sirius Fotboll.
7. "Kultspelarna – siriuspublikens egna favoriter".
8. "Kontaktuppgifter och tävlingar – Svenska Fotbollförbundet – svenskfotboll.se".