Djurgårdens Idrottsförening, commonly known simply as Djurgårdens IF, Djurgården (), and (especially locally) Djurgår'n (), Dif or DIF – is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

sports association A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

with several sections, located in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

Name

The club is named after the City Park and borough

Djurgården Djurgården ( or ) or, more officially, ''Kungliga Djurgården'' (), is an island in central Stockholm, Sweden. Djurgården is home to historical buildings and monuments, museums, galleries, the amusement park Gröna Lund, the open-air museum ...

, which originally was a royal hunting park. A direct translation of ''Djurgården'' would be “the animal garden” or "the animal yard". The word ''djur'' means "animal" but has the same etymology as the word “deer”, meaning "deer garden" may have been its original meaning.

History

The

club Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises ...

was founded in 1891 by a group of young

athletes An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-develo ...

living in the borough and port district Djurgårdsstaden on

in central

. Most of the founders were from the shipping industry

working class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...

, and Djurgården maintained that profile for most of its early history, in sharp contrast with

middle class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Commo ...

rivals

AIK AIK Fotboll (), more commonly known simply as AIK (), an abbreviation for Allmänna Idrottsklubben (meaning ''the public'' or ''general sports club''), is a Swedish football club competing in Allsvenskan, the top flight of Swedish football. The ...

. With an original focus on

winter sports Winter sports or winter activities are competitive sports or non-competitive recreational activities which are played on snow or ice. Most are variations of skiing, ice skating and sledding. Traditionally, such games were only played in cold area ...

and

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competiti ...

, the club quickly branched into other sports, becoming one of

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

's most successful sports clubs of the 20th and 21st century. The club started playing

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

in 1899 and soon started a derby rivalry with neighbouring club AIK, the so-called

tvillingderbyt Tvillingderbyt (, "The Twin Derby") is a football fixture in Stockholm, Sweden, between cross-town rivals AIK Stockholm and Djurgårdens IF. Both clubs were founded in Stockholm in 1891, AIK was first with Djurgårdens IF following three weeks la ...

. Today the most popular sections are

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

, with 16 and 12

national championship titles respectively. Other popular sections are

bandy Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two teams wearing ice skates on a large ice surface (either indoors or outdoors) while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal. The international governing body for bandy is ...

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

and

floorball Floorball is a type of floor hockey with five players and a goalkeeper in each team. Men and women play indoors with sticks and a plastic ball with holes. Matches are played in three twenty-minute periods. The sport of bandy also played a role ...

. The club has won 470 Swedish championships in 25 different sports through 2023, with this Djurgården is the most successful sports club in Sweden, it is also more championship titles than the two main rivals AIK and Hammarby have together.

Emblem and colours

Official Djurgårdens IF away and home jersey 2002-2003

The first emblem of the club was a four-pointed silver star in saltire, which had a shield on it with the letters DIF. This star pre-dates the similar star which

Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna (English: Sporting Society Comrades), usually abbreviated IFK, is a central organisation for many sports clubs in Sweden. There are also eight IFK clubs in Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), offici ...

adopted and is using to this day. The present emblem, in the form of a shield in yellow, red and blue with the text D.I.F. was adopted in 1896. According to an often-quoted poem by Johan af Klercker from 1908, blue and yellow stand for Sweden and red stands for love. Blue and yellow are also the colours of Stockholm and yellow, red and blue are the colors of the arms of Stockholm County. Yellow, red and blue are the club colours. The logo is registered as a

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others ...

and the colours are set to

Pantone Pantone LLC (stylized as PANTONE) is a limited liability company headquartered in Carlstadt, New Jersey. The company is best known for its Pantone Matching System (PMS), a proprietary color space used in a variety of industries, notably graphic ...

CMYK The CMYK color model (also known as process color, or four color) is a subtractive color model, based on the CMY color model, used in color printing, and is also used to describe the printing process itself. The abbreviation ''CMYK'' refers ...

and

web colour Web colors are colors used in displaying web pages on the World Wide Web, and the methods for describing and specifying those colors. Colors may be specified as an RGB triplet or in hexadecimal format (a ''hex triplet'') or according to their ...

values. In many sports – among them football, bandy and handball – the home jersey of the team is vertically striped in light and dark blue. Because of this, blue is usually seen as the most important of the three colours. The ice hockey team uses jerseys in one blue shade with yellow and red details.

Sections

Djurgårdens IF has a number of member sections, all of which legally are their own associations with their own financial and sporting responsibilities but share the common name, logo and values and support each other.

Major sections

Djurgårdens IF Fotboll Djurgårdens IF Fotbollsförening – commonly known as Djurgårdens IF, Djurgården Fotboll (official name), Djurgården (), and (especially locally) Djurgår'n (), Dif or DIF – is the men's association football department of its parent assoc ...

–

(men) *

Djurgårdens IF Fotboll (women) Djurgårdens IF (formerly Djurgården/Älvsjö (2003–2007)) is a football club from Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. The team play their home games on Stockholm Olympic Stadium The team colours are white and blue. The club is affiliated to Stoc ...

- football (women) *

Djurgårdens IF Hockey Djurgårdens IF Ishockeyförening – commonly known as Djurgårdens IF, Djurgården Hockey, Djurgården () – is a professional ice hockey team based in Stockholm, Sweden, affiliated with the Djurgårdens IF umbrella organization. Djurgården ...

–

(men) *

Djurgårdens IF Hockey (women) Djurgården IF Hockey Dam are a professional ice hockey club in the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL). They play in Stockholm at Hovet. The team is a section within the Djurgårdens IF multi-sport organization and are affiliated with its man ...

– ice hockey (women)

Other sections

* Djurgårdens IF Alpint –

alpine skiing Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel bindings, unlike other types of skiing ( cross-country, Telemark, or ski jumping), which use skis with free-heel bindings. Whether for ...

* Djurgårdens IF Amerikansk fotboll –

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

Djurgårdens IF Bandy Djurgårdens IF Bandy is the bandy section of Swedish sports club Djurgårdens IF, located in Stockholm. History Djurgårdens IF was one of the teams playing at the Nordic Games in 1905, where the team lost the final to Uppsala HK. The club ...

–

Djurgårdens IF Basket Djurgårdens IF Basket, also known as simply Djurgården, is a Swedish basketball club based in Stockholm. It is the basketball section of the Djurgårdens IF multi-sports club, established in 1891. In 2019, Djurgården won the Superettan, Sweden' ...

–

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

* Djurgårdens IF Beachsoccer –

beach soccer Beach soccer, also known as beach football, sand football or beasal, is a variant of association football played on a beach or some form of sand. Whilst football has been played informally on beaches, the introduction of ''beach soccer'' was an a ...

(men) * Djurgårdens IF Beachsoccer Dam – beach soccer (women) * Djurgårdens IF Bordtennisförening –

table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

* Djurgårdens IF Boule – boule * Djurgårdens IF Bowling –

bowling Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), though ...

Djurgårdens IF Boxningsförening Djurgårdens IF Boxningsförening is the section for boxing within the Swedish sports club Djurgårdens IF in Stockholm. Djurgårdens IF is one of Sweden's oldest boxing clubs. The section was formally founded in 1917, but members in the main club ...

–

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

* Djurgårdens IF Brottningsförening –

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

* Djurgårdens IF Cricket –

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

* Djurgårdens IF Fotboll Dam – women's football *

Djurgårdens IF Fäktförening Djurgårdens IF Fäktförening is the fencing section of Swedish sports club Djurgårdens IF. Djurgårdens IF Fäktförening is a sovereign club within the alliance club Djurgårdens IF. The fencing section was founded in 1958 and became its own cl ...

–

fencing Fencing is a group of three related combat sports. The three disciplines in modern fencing are the foil, the épée, and the sabre (also ''saber''); winning points are made through the weapon's contact with an opponent. A fourth discipline, s ...

* Djurgårdens IF Friidrott –

* Djurgårdens IF Futsal –

futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hardcourt, hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and Indoor soccer, indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players ...

* Djurgårdens IF Golfförening –

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

Djurgårdens IF Handboll Djurgårdens IF Handbollsförening (commonly known as Djurgården or informally Djurgår'n ; abbreviated DIF () is the handball section of Djurgårdens IF. History Djurgårdens IF started its handball section in the 1934–35 season. In the 193 ...

–

* Djurgårdens IF Handikappfotboll – handicap

* Djurgårdens IF Innebandy –

* Djurgårdens IF Konståkningsförening –

figure skating Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

* Djurgårdens IF Orienteringsförening –

orienteering Orienteering is a group of sports that require navigational skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain whilst moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a s ...

Former sections

Previously, Djurgårdens IF had sections in other sports. One of these was

ski jumping Ski jumping is a winter sport in which competitors aim to achieve the farthest jump after sliding down on their skis from a specially designed curved ramp. Along with jump length, competitor's aerial style and other factors also affect the final ...

and DIF was one of the best clubs in Sweden in this sport for fifty years.

Fans and fan culture

Djurgården is one of the most supported clubs in Sweden, with most of its supporters living in Stockholm and the neighbouring

suburbs A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...

. While other Stockholm clubs have profiled themselves as belonging to a certain

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

of Stockholm, Djurgården is seen as more of a pan-Stockholm club. No reliable research exists about the spread of Djurgården supporters, but a 2015

T-shirt A T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt), or tee, is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a ''crew neck'', which lacks a collar. T-shirts are general ...

campaign suggests that supporters are spread fairly evenly throughout the Stockholm area. In 1981 the main supporter club "Blue Saints" was formed, but due to its notorious fans and their bad reputation, the supporter club changed its name to

Järnkaminerna Järnkaminerna (lit. The Iron Stoves) is the largest official supporter club of the sports club Djurgårdens IF. Järnkaminerna is also a nickname for the sports club itself. A common shortened form of the supporters club Järnkaminerna is JK. ...

, literally "The Iron Furnaces" (an old nickname for Djurgården athletes from the 1950s). Since 2005, Fabriken is Djurgården's TIFO group; they have two

ultras Ultras are a type of association football fans who are renowned for their fanatical support. The term originated in Italy, but is used worldwide to describe predominantly organised fans of association football teams. The behavioural tende ...

groups: UCS (Ultra caos Stockholm) and Ultras Sthlm. Djurgården is probably one of a few clubs in the world who is represented both in space (by

Christer Fuglesang Arne Christer Fuglesang (born 18 March 1957) is a Swedish physicist and an ESA astronaut. He was first launched aboard the STS-116 Space Shuttle mission on 10 December 2006, making him the first Swedish citizen in space. Married with three child ...

) and in the Himalayas (by Raul Helander). Through the years, many types of souvenirs and memorabilia has been made for the club.

Stuffed toy A stuffed toy is a toy doll with an outer fabric sewn from a textile and stuffed with flexible material. They are known by many names, such as plush toys, plushies, stuffed animals, and stuffies; in Britain and Australia, they may also be cal ...

s in the form of a rabbit called Järnkanin ("Iron Rabbit") are sold, the name a pun on the word Järnkamin.

Club beers

A couple of beers have been created over the years. At present, Alberget 4A is sold for Djurgårdens IF. It is named for the address of the café where the club was founded. The beer was launched in 2013 and is sold through ''Djurgårdshjälpen'', a supporter initiative to raise money for the sports club. Originally, the beer was called ''Alltid oavsett'' ("always, no matter what"), which is a slogan often used by supporters of Djurgårdens IF. The beer is a

pale lager Pale lager is a very pale-to-golden-colored lager beer with a well- attenuated body and a varying degree of noble hop bitterness. The brewing process for this beer developed in the mid-19th century, when Gabriel Sedlmayr took pale ale brewing ...

of 5.0%

abv Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as ABV, abv, or alc/vol) is a standard measure of how much alcohol (ethanol) is contained in a given volume of an alcoholic beverage (expressed as a volume percent). It is defined as the number of millilitres (mL) o ...

made by Grebbestad Bryggeri on behalf of Djurgårdshjälpen and is not part of Grebbestad Bryggeri's own range of beers.

Famous Djurgården supporters

*His Majesty

Carl XVI Gustaf Carl XVI Gustaf (Carl Gustaf Folke Hubertus; born 30 April 1946) is King of Sweden. He ascended the throne on the death of his grandfather, Gustaf VI Adolf, on 15 September 1973. He is the youngest child and only son of Prince Gustaf Adolf, Du ...

, King of Sweden *

Fredrik Reinfeldt John Fredrik Reinfeldt (pronounced ; born 4 August 1965) is a Swedish economist, lecturer, and former politician who was Prime Minister of Sweden from 2006 to 2014, and chairman of the liberal conservative Moderate Party from 2003 to 2015. He wa ...

, former Prime Minister of Sweden *

Olof Palme Sven Olof Joachim Palme (; ; 30 January 1927 – 28 February 1986) was a Swedish politician and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Sweden from 1969 to 1976 and 1982 to 1986. Palme led the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1969 until h ...

, former Prime Minister of Sweden *

Lars Ohly Lars-Magnus Harald Christoffer Ohly (; born 13 January 1957) is a Swedish politician, and the former party chairman of the Swedish Left Party. He was a member of the Swedish parliament from 1998 to 2014. Early life and career Lars Ohly was b ...

, former party leader of

Vänsterpartiet The Left Party ( sv, Vänsterpartiet ; V) is a socialist political party in Sweden. On economic issues, the party opposes privatizations and advocates increased public expenditure. In foreign policy, the party is Eurosceptic, being opposed to ...

Joakim Thåström Sven Joakim Eriksson Thåström (born 20 March 1957), better known as Thåström, is a Swedish singer and songwriter, mostly known for the bands Ebba Grön and Imperiet. He has moved between a number of genres, from punk to rock, industrial and ...

, musician * Stefan Persson, former CEO of H&M *

Carl-Henric Svanberg Carl-Henric Svanberg (born 29 May 1952), is a Swedish businessman and current Chairman of Volvo. He was Chairman of BP for eight years, from 2010 to 2018. Life and career Svanberg holds a master's degree in applied physics from the Linköping ...

, business leader *

Loa Falkman Carl Johan "Loa" Falkman (born 24 July 1947) is a Swedish opera singer, actor and artist. He was appointed hovsångare by H.M. the King of Sweden in 2003.http://www.kungahuset.se/royalcourt Swedish Royal Court official home page After studying ...

, opera singer *

, astronaut, first Scandinavian in space * Martin Soneby, Swedish comedian *

Veronica Maggio Veronica Sandra Karin Maggio (born 15 March 1981) is a Swedish singer and songwriter. Born to an Italian father and a Swedish mother, Maggio was raised in Uppsala. After studying music and being the lead member of a band, Maggio released her de ...

Robin Söderling Robin Bo Carl Söderling (; born 14 August 1984) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) world No. 4 singles ranking on 15 November 2010. His career highlights include rea ...

Fred Simonsson Fred Simonsson (born 27 November 1994) is a Swedish former tennis player. Simonsson has a career high ATP singles ranking of 633, achieved on 1 August 2016. His career high ATP doubles ranking of 195 was achieved on 20 February 2017. Tennis ca ...

Magnus Uggla Per Allan Magnus Claësson Uggla (pronounced ; born 18 June 1954) is a Swedish artist, composer, actor, and occasional radio host. He is known for his satire, satirical lyrics. Uggla was born in Stockholm. He was the lead singer of the hard r ...

Felix Herngren Felix Tobias Herngren (born 4 February 1967), is a Swedish director, actor, writer and comedian. He is known for creating and acting in the Swedish television drama-comedy series '' Solsidan''. He is the younger brother of director and actor Må ...

Organisations in close cooperation

The following non-profit organisations are independent but has a close official cooperation with Djurgårdens IF: *DIF Supporters Club (stipends for young and promising athletes etc.) *Sällskapet Gamla Djurgårdare *Djurgårdsandan (club values) *DIF-arkivet (maintaining club history)

Note

References

External links

*
Official supporter organisation website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Djurgardens IF Multi-sport clubs in Sweden Sports clubs and teams established in 1891 1891 establishments in Sweden it:Djurgårdens Idrottsförening Fotboll