Halmstads BK

Halmstads BK

File:Halmstads BK.png
Full name	Halmstads Bollklubb
Founded	1914
Ground	Örjans vall, Halmstad
Capacity	15,500
Chairman	Birgitta Johansson
Manager	Janne Andersson
League	Allsvenskan
2008	Allsvenskan, 8th
Home colours Away colours

Halmstads Bollklubb, also called HBK or just Halmstad, is a Swedish football club located in Halmstad in the southwest of Sweden. The club, formed 6 March 1914, competes in the highest Swedish league, Allsvenskan, and has won 4 national championship titles and 1 national cup title. The club is known to be successful despite limited resources, being located in a relatively small town. The current manager, Janne Andersson, has been in the club's organization for many seasons as assistant manager and has been manager since 2004.

The club gained some European recognition in 1995, when they defeated the successful Italian club Parma A.C. 3-0 at Gamla Ullevi (in Gothenburg) in the first of two matches in the in the Cup Winners' Cup. However, their second encounter, in Parma, ended with a crushing 0-4 defeat, eliminating them from the tournament.

The club has a reputation for bringing forth talented new players, such as Michael Svensson, Petter Hansson, Fredrik Ljungberg, Mikael Nilsson and Niclas Alexandersson

History

In the beginning

In 1913 a group of younglings calling themself Viking, they whised to create a more serious orginazation, they meet at Hotel Lugnet and deceided to create a orginazation which they gave the name Halmstads Bollklubb and they choosed Axel Winberg as the clubs first chairman, they also applied entrance to Riksidrottsförbundet.

On 6 March 1914 the club is allowed entrance to Riksidrottsförbundet, the following year they play in their first competion, Pokalserien, a local tournament in which they face IS Halmia and Halmstads Kamraterna, the club ends up last with 2 points and 5-16 in goal difference, in 1916 the same result was seen again, but this time the club only managed to score 1 goal totaly. In 1917 the club was able to defeat Halmstads Kamraterna twice and end up in second place behind IS Halmia, the same year athletics was made a part of the club. The final in the district championship was reached in 1918, but yet again IS Halmia proved to strong. In 1919 the club was for the first time able to defeat IS Halmia and Gustav "Pytt" Söderholm became top goalscorer in the tournament, swimming was made a part of the club.

In 1920 the club won theire first district championship title by defeating Falkenbergs FF with 4-0 in the final and boxing was introduced by the club. In 1921 the club yet again won the championship, this time by defeating IS Halmia, the club also won Hallandspostens pokal after defeating Halmstads IF with 5-0, a womens section was added to the athletics part of the club. Halmstads BK won the Bernhard Aronssons vandringspris after defeating IS Halmia in 1922, the club also won a serie of tournaments in Jönköping, Malmö and Ängelholm, however the district championship was lost to Varberg this year. By winning Hallandsserien the club was able to reach Sydsvenskan in 1923, which lead to third place in 1924 after Varbergs GIF and Malmö FF, a international exchange of matches was started with FC Rudolfshügel from Austria and Danish B 03. In 1925 the club won the district championship and came in second place in Sydsvenskan. Halmstads BK was able to win Sydsvenskan in 1926 and was to play qualifying matches against IF Elfsborg to reached Allsvenskan, however Elfsborg proved to be to strong and won with 2-1 after 3 matches. Halmstad only reached 3rd place in 1927 a large serie of injuries made the club use 32 diffrent players in total. In 1928 the club took part in the newly formed Division 2 Söder, the club also employed amature coach Henning Helgesson, Örjans Vall was only selected as the second best arena in the serie duo to the lack warm showers. In 1929 Halmstads BK celibrated 15 years with a match against SpVgg Sülz from Cologne, Germany, 1600 people watched the game in heavy rain, SpVgg Sülz won with 5-2, the club also failed to win Division 2 Söder after a hard race with Stattena IF and Redbergslids IK, ending up in 3rd place.

Division 2 and upwards

Halmstads BK started the next decade with ending up in 4th place in the league, a visit CD Europa did pull a large audience, the spanish team won with 6-5. After a late league start in 1931, due to heavy snowing, the club ended up in 4th place yet again. Is Halmia won the league in 1932 and in a campaign in the local newspapers tried to get the better Halmstads BK players to join the team, this failed however, Halmstads BK defeated IS Halmia in a charity match for the citys unemployed, the swimmers also left the club and founded SK Laxen. Under the leadership of playing manager Gunnar Olsson Halmstads BK was able to reach Division 1, the top league at the time, in 1933 for the first time in the clubs history, this after defeating BK Drott and Helsingborgs IF for the league title and then defeating Krokslätts FF with 4-0 totaly. Unexpected the club won bronze theire first season in the top league as when they finished in 4th place, Emil Carlsson also became the club first player in the Swedish national team. The club was unable to repeat last seasons result and ended up in 9th place in 1935, handball was also made a part of the club this year. Halmstads BK left the top league in 1936 after ending up second last, the club would have been able to stay if they had won over IK Sleipner in the last game, however the team lost with 2-4. The club was able to return to Division 1 in 1937, but a defeat against top competitor Helsingborgs IF saw them come in 2nd, former English proffesional player Harry Bruce became the first non-swedish manager for the club. 1936 was a middle year for Halmstads BK as they ended up in 6th position at the end of the season, English club Sheffield United played a friendly against the club and won with 5-2. In 1939 the club celibrated its 25th year and won Division 2, however IFK Göteborg proved to strong in the qualify and won with 1-5 over the club.

Due to the ongoing Second World War Sweden focused more on military readiness in case of a invasion then on sport, this lead to Halmstads BK being forced to use 29 diffrent players durring the season and the result came there after as the club ended up in 3rd place behind IS Halmia, 1st, and Malmö BI, 2nd. Halmstads BK was the superior team in 1941 Division 2 but faild to defeat GAIS in the qualify for Division 1. Halmstads BK won Division 2 after hard competion with local rivals IS Halmia in 1942 and in the qualify the club was able to defeat Lundby IF with 3-2. The club ended up in 6th place in 1943, only 1 point from earning a medal. Halmstad was close to fall out of the top divison in 1944 but a series of victorys saved them in the end. 1945 saw the club end up in 8th place. In 1946 the club ended up second from last after a poor season, however the clubs youth squad won the unofficial youth championship, first defeating IFK Göteborg and the playing 4-4 against AIK in the final, winning on drawing the winning lot, in the youth squad there where players like Sylve Bengtsson, Gunnar Johansson, Olle Ericsson, Östen Ståhl and Åke Hallström, who all later became noted players in the clubs history. Halmstads BK returnd to Division 1 after only 1 season in Division 2, the club crushed Örgryte IS with 6-1 in the 1947 qualify, the team also played theire first match outside Sweden this year, they defeated Helsingør IF with 8-2 and the youth squad won the youth championship again after defeating Djurgårdens IF with 2-1. Just like the year before Halmstads BK time in Division 1 only became 1 year as they ended up dead last in 1948. In 1949 Kalmar FF proved to strong and Halmstads BK ended up in 3rd place in the league, the club also refused to participate in the district championship as a protest to the "unsporting behavior" the district association had showed the club the previous year.

The 1950s started poorly as the club reached 2nd place behind Råå IF, several injuries on keyplayers disturbed the season, and in 1951 the club board decided to rejuvenate the squad and this lead to a 7th place. In 1952 the club yet again ended up in 2nd place, the club also went on a trip, first to Germany, where they played a serie of matches, and then to the French Riviera where the club played a game and enjoyed the weather and beach, they then returnd home and played a game against Brazilian team Corinthians with a mixed team of Halmstads BK and IS Halmia players, the Brazilians won with 10-1, Sylve Bengtsson returnd from the 1952 Summer Olympics with a bronze medal. 1953 saw a change in the league system and Halmstads BK was lucky as the club was able to stay only because of better goal difference as 6 teams was relegated. Things changed in 1954 as Halmstads BK dominated the new league and won promotion with 12 points in front of the team in second place, the made yet again a trip south, this time to North Africa and Spain, bowling was added to the club. Halmstads BK reached theire best position so far in 1954-55 season as the club ended up in 2nd place, winning Stora Silvret (eng: The Big Silver), then durring 1955-56 season, Halmstads BK biggest victory was recorded as they club crushed Västerås SK with 9-0, Östen Ståhl scored 6 goals in the match, Sylve Bengtsson also became the leagues top goal scorer with 22 goals, Halmstads BK ended in 7th position. Just as in the beginning of the decade the end was far from good, the club ended up in 8th place both in 1957 and 1958, durring 1958 Sweden hosted FIFA World Cup and 2 matches, Northern Ireland against Czechoslovakia (1-0) and Argentina against Northern Ireland (3-1), and in 1959 the club was relegated back to Divison 2 after ending up second to last.

The dark decade

The 1960s wasnt Halmstads BK decade, the club ended up in 4th palce in 1960 even after Kjell "Lill-Goggo" Karlsson and Sylve Bengtsson had scored 34 goals togheter, in 1961 club ended up in 7th position after poor play, in 1962 the club went through a rejuvenation and only won 9 matches out of 22 matches making the club end in 6th place, then in 1963 two victorys against Norrby IF and IK Oddevold helpt the club to 9th place, this year saw icehockey. Halmstads BK won Division 2 in 1964, but in the new qualify for Allsvenskan, a group of the four diffrent Division 2 winners, the club played poorly and ended up dead last. 1965 was the darkest year for the club so far as it was relgated to Division 3 for the first time ever in the club history, it took the club 2 years to return Division 2 again after ending up in 2nd place both 1966 and 1967, then in 1968 the club dominated Division 3 and had a goal difference of 87-23, a record in the Swedish league system, the icehockey left the organization and started theire own. The club made a strong return in Division 2 and ended up in 4th position, Lennart Alexandersson, Ingvar Andersson, Roland Fransson and Lars Nordin became the first contracted players in the club.

Champions

With only 3 point in total in all away games saw Halmstads BK end up in 6th place in 1970. 1971 was a turbulent as manager Janne Holmberg left in the middle of the season due to a dispute with the board, former top player Sylve Bengtsson replaced him and then the club defeated Perstorp SK in the seriefinal and qualifid to Allsvenskan, they ended up in 2nd place and was promoted to Allsvenskan, however the spell in the top league became only 1 year as the club ended up dead last and with only 14 goals scored in 1972, but the spell was yet again 1 year, under the leadership of Sven Agne Larsson, as the club was able to play 20 games in a row without a defeat, the club was close to be relegated back to Division 2, first in 1974 the club ended in 11th place out of 14 and then in 1975 only survived because of better goal difference then GAIS. In 1976 Halmstads BK hired Roy Hodgson as new manager and success came directly as the club went on and won Allsvenskan for the first time ever, the title was won in the second last game against IFK Norrköping, the last match against Östers IF was seen by 16000 people cheering for the team. Halmstads BK ended up in 8th place in 1977 season and Dynamo Dresden proved to strong in the first round of European Cup, yet again the club ended in 8th place in 1978, Mats Jingblad was moved up from the clubs youth system this year. Halmstads BK won theire second title in 1979.

Just like after last time winning Allsvenskan, Halmstad ended up in 8th place in 1980 and in the European Cup Danish Esbjerg fB proved to strong with 0-0 home and 2-3 away, Roy Hodgson also left durring the autumn to take over Bristol City. To the 1981 season Halmstads BK hired Dutch manager Jan Mak and with him came Frank Schinkels, the first non swedish player in the club, but with a poor start saw the club end up in 9th place. In 1982 the club ended up in 8th and earnd a spot in the play-off, but IFK Göteborg proved to strong with 2-4 totaly. In 1983 the club climbed two positions much due to British goalkeeper Ken Allen. 1984 started with a fight between the board and manager Jan Mak and it ended it with Jan Mak leaving the club, he was replaced by Stefan Lundin, the club reached 8th place and IFK Göteborg proved to strong in the play-off again. Halmstads BK topt the table durring the spring of 1985 but a poor ending of the season saw the club end in 7th place. Durring the middle of the 1986 season Stefan Lundin left the club for Portugies C.S. Marítimo and was replaced by Kenneth Rosén, the season ended with a 5th place and Stig Nilsson became the new chairman. A serie of injuries on keyplayers saw the club end up second to last and was relegated from Allsvenskan for the first time in 14 years in 1987. Stuart Baxter became new manager in 1988 and ever after losing several keyplayers and trailing after Mjällby AIF with 7 point, the club was able to claim the top spot on better goal difference. The club ended up in a 5th place in theire return to Allsvenskan in 1989.

Allsvenskan and Europe

The 1990 decade started far from promising for the club, in 1990 season the club ended in 9th place and a new play-off was started in 1991, Halmstads BK just missed the play-off on goal difference to IFK Norrköping, ending up in 7th place and was forced to play relegation play-off against team 8-10 in Allsvenskan and the Division 1 champions, it went poorly and the club was relegated. 1992 saw two league victorys for Halmstads BK, first Division 1 Södra and then in the promotion/relegation play-off for Allsvenskan. Henrik Bertilsson became Allsvenska top goalscorer in 1993 with 18 goals, shareing the top spot with Trelleborgs FFs Mats Lilienberg, this helpt the club to a 5th place. The club ended up in 7th place in 1994 and Henrik Bertillson left for French FC Martigues, it went better for the youth squad as they reached the final in the youth championship, but Djurgårdens IF proved to strong and won with 1-0. 1995 became a hard year for Halmstads BK supporters to forget as they for the first time ever won Svenska Cupen and the club ended up in 3rd place, winning Lilla Silvret, but it was the home match against Parma F.C. in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup that drawed most atenttion as Halmstads BK won with 3-0 on Gamla Ullevi in Göteborg, however the returnd ended with a major defeat, 4-0 to Parma. Tom Prahl took over as manager in 1996 and lead the team to a 7th place in Allsvenskan and in the first round of the UEFA Cup Newcastle United proved the stronger team. In 1997 Halmstads BK celebrated theire third championship title after 3-0 in the last game against Ljungskile SK, Mats Lilienberg, now in Halmstads BK, became league top goalscorer with 14 goals, along side Christer Mattiasson, IF Elfsborg, and Dan Sahlin, Örebro SK. 1998 saw the club end up in 8th place and the UEFA Champions League adventured ended quickly after defeat with 3-2 in total against Litex Lovech, from Bulgaria, in the first qualifying round, own product Fredrik Ljungberg was sold to Arsenal F.C. for 40 million SEK. A poor start of the 1999 season didnt prevent Halmstads BK from fighting for the league title until the second last match, the club had to be satisfied with 3rd place and Lilla Silvret.

Halmstads BK started the new millennium with taking theire fourth Allsvenska title, they also reached second round in the UEFA Cup after defeating S.L. Benfica, but then TSV 1860 München proved to strong, Halmstad also became the last team to win the Von Rosens goblet as it was reveald that Clarence von Rosen was a Nazi sympathiser, it was replaced in 2001 with the Lennart Johanssons goblet. Stefan Selakovic became league top goalscorer with 15 goals as the club ended 7th place, R.S.C. Anderlecht was to strong in the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round and then Sporting Clube de Portugal in the second round of the UEFA Cup, Tom Prahl left the club for Allsvenska rival Malmö FF, he was replaced by former swedish international player Jonas Thern. 2002 started extremly bad for the club as after 15 rounds it lay dead last, but a spell of 11 games undefeated saw the club get saved from relegation. Durring the 2003 season Halmstad had a chance for a medal until the end of the season where the club lost 7 of the 8 last games and ended up in 9th place, Jonas Thern decided to leave the club durring the autumn and assistent manager Janne Andersson became new manager. Halmstads BK was 36 minutes from winning theire fifth Allsvenska title after leading Allsvenskan most of the season, but only managed 1-1 against IFK Göteborg in the last game, while Malmö FF, on the same point prior to the last match, managed to win with 1-0 against IF Elfsborg, Markus Rosenberg, on loan from Malmö FF, became league top goalscorer with 14 goals. 2005 became a bad year for Halmstads BK as they struggled to a 10th place, Gunnar Heidar Thorvaldsson became league top goalscorer with 16 goals, however in Europe things went a bit better as the club managed to qualify for the new group stage in the UEFA Cup after winning on away goal against last year runners-up Sporting Clube de Portugal, however the club failde to take a singel point in the group and only scored 1 goal. 2006 was much like the year before and the club didnt score until the 7th match of the season when defender Per "Texas" Johansson scored the only goal of the match against Örgryte IS, the club ended in 11th place. 2007 started promising and the club was one of the team fighting for the Allsvenska title until the 18 round, in the game against IFK Göteborg, finnish goalkeeper Magnus Bahne got injured and missed the rest of the season, Kazakh goalkeeper David Loriya was brought in, but in hes 7 games Halmstads BK failed to win a singel one and in the last game, away against Helsingborgs IF, the club lost with 0-9, the second biggest defeat in the club history, Halmstads BK ended up in 7th place.

Halmstads BK plays Gefle 2007, Kvastarna can be seen in the middle of the picture.

Supporters

Halmstads BKs main supporter group is known as Kvastarna (eng: The Brooms) and where created in 1995, they are located in the center of the no seat section on Örjans Vall during the home games.

Halmstads BK have an average of 4000-6000 spectators when playing home, when playing teams like Djurgårdens IF, IFK Göteborg or Malmö FF then audience can rise to 8000-10000 people, however much because of the away supporters.

Stadium

Template:Details2 Halmstads BK plays it home matches on Örjans Vall, which they share togheter with local rivals IS Halmia. However since Örjans Vall is an old stadium, built in 1922, it doesn't meet the present European demands for stadiums, forcing Halmstads BK to play their European games on Olympia, Helsingborg, or at Ullevi, Göteborg.

Örjans Vall was the site of 2 games during the 1958 FIFA World Cup, Northern Ireland - Czechoslovakia and Argentina - Northern Ireland.

In later years, demands for a new stadium have groven, but nothing have been decided yet.

Match programmes and newspaper

In 2006 all Swedish clubs in Allsvenskan was given an offer from Aftonbladet to print their match programmes, aside from AIK, Djurgårdens IF and Hammarby IF, who signed a deal with newspaper competitor Expressen. Halmstads BK rejected the offer and chose to print their own match program, making them currently the only club in the top league with their own match programme.

The club also print a minor newspaper know as Tidningen HBK (eng: Newspaper HBK), witch contains interviews with players, fans and other people conneceted to the club. It comes out as a supplement to the locla newspaper Hallandsposten. It is also available to download on the clubs homepage.

In popular culture

Swedish comedians Hans Alfredson and Tage Danielsson, also known as Hasse och Tage, made an act about former HBK manager Roy Hodgson when Halmstads BK won Allsvenskan in 1976, known as Fotbollstränare Bob Lindeman (eng: Footballcoach Bob Lindeman).

Current squad

As of 1 September 2008 Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	SWE	Conny Johansson
2	DF	SWE	Per Johansson
3	DF	SWE	Jesper Westerberg
4	DF	SWE	Tommy Jönsson (captain)
5	DF	SWE	Markus Gustafson
6	DF	SWE	Mikael Rosén
7	MF	GER	Michael Görlitz
8	FW	SWE	Ajsel Kujovic
9	FW	SWE	Emir Kujovic
10	FW	SWE	Magnus Arvidsson
11	MF	NED	Alexander Prent
12	DF	LTU	Tomas Žvirgždauskas

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
13	MF	SWE	Andreas Johansson
14	FW	BRA	Anselmo
15	MF	SWE	Joe Sise
16	MF	FIN	Tim Sparv
18	MF	SWE	Marcus Olsson
19	DF	SWE	Daniel Johansson
20	GK	FIN	Magnus Bahne
21	MF	KOS	Anel Raskaj
22	GK	SWE	Karl-Johan Johnsson
23	DF	SWE	Emil Jensen
24	MF	SWE	Sebastian Johansson
N/A	MF	SWE	Emil Salomonsson

Players out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
--	GK	SWE	Marcus Sahlman (on loan to Trelleborgs FF)
--	MF	SWE	Hjalmar Öhagen (on loan to Ängelholms FF)

Technical staff

As of 16 May 2008

Current manager Janne Andersson talking to a reporter after a friendly game against Reading F.C.

Name	Role
Janne Andersson	Manager
Jonas Wirmola	Assistant Manager
Lennart Ljung	Goalkeeping Coach
Torbjörn Arvidsson	Coach
Anders Smith	Coach
Claes Norryd	Club Doctor
Simon Bakkioui	Medical Assistant
Therese Pettersson	Medical Assistant

Noted players

See also: Category:Halmstads BK players

• Bolded players are still active

Sweden:

• Peter Larsson (1999-2008)
• Emra Tahirović (2006-2007)
• Dušan Đurić (2002-2007)
• Magnus Svensson (1994-1997, 2002-2006)
• Joel Borgstrand (1991-2006)
• Torbjörn Arvidsson (1989-2005)
• Markus Rosenberg (2004)
• Mikael Nilsson (2000-2004)
• Robert Andersson (1993-1997, 1999-2003)
• Petter Hansson (1998-2002)
• Håkan Svensson (1990-2002)
• Michael Svensson (1998-2001)
• Stefan Selakovic (1996-2001)
• Mats Lilienberg (1997-1998)
• Fredrik Ljungberg (1994-1998)
• Niclas Alexandersson (1988-1995)
• Mats Jingblad (1976-1987)
• Rutger Backe (1972-1981)
• Sylve Bengtsson (1947-1948, 1953-1960, 1967)

Brazil:

• Eduardo Delani (2005-2006)

Finland:

• Magnus Bahne (2007-present)
• Tim Sparv (2007-present)

Ghana:

• Yaw Preko (2004-2006)

Holland:

• Frank Schinkels (1981-1983)

Iceland:

• Gunnar Heiðar Þorvaldsson (2004-2006)
• Eggert Gudmundsson (1982-1986)

Kazakhstan:

• David Loria (2007)

Lithuania:

• Tomas Žvirgždauskas (2002-present)

FYROM:

• Artim Sakiri (1997-1998)

Noted managers

Name	Period	Note
Henning Helgesson	1928	First manager
Gunnar Olsson (player/manager)	1933-1935	Lead Halmstads BK to their first time in Allsvenskan
Harry Bruce	1937-1939	First foreign manager
Roy Hodgson	1976-1980	Lead Halmstads BK to their first league title in 1976, again in 1979
Mats Jingblad	1992-1995	Lead Halmstads BK to their first cup title in 1995
Tom Prahl	1996-2001	Most successful manager, champion in 1997 and 2000. Longest serving.

Achievements

• Swedish Champions:
  • Winners (4): 1976, 1979, 1997, 2000

• Allsvenskan:
  • Winners (4): 1976, 1979, 1997, 2000
  • Runners-up (2): 1954–55, 2004

• Svenska Cupen:
  • Winners (1): 1994–95

• Division 1:
  • Winners (11): 1932–33, 1938–1939, 1940–1941, 1941–1942, 1946–1947, 1953–1954, 1964, 1971, 1973, 1988, 1992

Records

• Most appearances, Allsvenskan: 306, Torbjörn Arvidsson (1989-2004)
• Most goals scored, Allsvenskan: 77, Rutger Backe (1972-1981)
• Biges victory: 12-0 vs. Fässbergs IK, 7 September 1968
• Biges victory, Allsvenskan: 9-0 vs. Västerås SK, 23 October 1955
• Biges defeat: 0-12 vs Malmö FF, 3 June 1943
• Highest attendance (before renovation): 19 783 vs. Djurgårdens IF, 10 June 1955
• Highest attendance (after renovation): 16 867 vs. IFK Göteborg, 30 October 2004

References

External links

Offical sites:

• Halmstads BK - official site Template:Svicon
• Halmstads BK - official SvFF site Template:Svicon
• Halmstads BK - official UEFA site Template:Svicon

Supporter sites:

• Kvastarna - official supporter club site Template:Svicon
• Himlen är blå - supporter site Template:Svicon