Gamla Ullevi (, "Old

Ullevi Ullevi, sometimes known as Nya Ullevi (, ''New Ullevi''), is a multi-purpose stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden. It was built for the 1958 FIFA World Cup, but since then has also hosted the World Allround Speed Skating Championships six times; the ...

") was a

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 ...

stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

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 ...

. Named Ullevi until 1958 when Nya ("New") Ullevi opened, it was built in 1915–1916 and opened on 17 September 1916 with the game between

IFK Göteborg Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Göteborg (officially IFK Göteborg Fotboll), commonly known as IFK Göteborg, IFK (especially locally) or simply Göteborg, is a Swedish professional football club based in Gothenburg. Founded in 1904, it is the ...

- AB København (2–2). It had a capacity of 15,000 to 18,000, depending on usage. The record attendance is 32,357 and was set 2 May 1957, when

Örgryte IS Örgryte Idrottssällskap, commonly referred to as Örgryte IS, Örgryte () or (especially locally) ÖIS or Öis, is a Swedish sports club based in Gothenburg. It consists of four departments, namely bowling, football, athletics and wrestling. H ...

played

IF Elfsborg 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 ...

. IF Elfsborg won 2–1. Demolition of Gamla Ullevi began on 9 January 2007 at 11.15 AM local time. The stadium has been replaced with a new football stadium. The new stadium, opened on 5 April 2009, has been named

Gamla Ullevi Gamla Ullevi () is a football stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden, that opened on 5 April 2009. The stadium replaced the city's previous main football stadium, also called Gamla Ullevi, and is the home ground of GAIS, IFK Göteborg and Örgryte IS. ...

as well.

Name

Gamla Ullevi was named after the Nordic god Ull. He was a

skier Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow. Variations of purpose include basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IO ...

and

archer Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In mo ...

who chased away the winter so he could wake up the goddess of the earth. The word ''vi'' means holy place. When Gamla Ullevi first opened it was called Ullervi, but after being pressured by a professor of Nordic languages, Hjalmar Lindroth, the ''r'' was removed. It was only added in the first place to make the name easier to pronounce. (Johansson & Nilsson 1992, p. 4)

History

Before Ullevi, the location was called ''Idrottsplatsen''. It was a

velocipede A velocipede () is a human-powered land vehicle with one or more wheels. The most common type of velocipede today is the bicycle. The term was probably first coined by Karl von Drais in French as ''vélocipède'' for the French translation o ...

arena with room for 600 spectators. Eventually other sports began to use the facilities and a tenniscourt was built in 1901. Other courts were added too, but a new football stadium was needed with a proper grass pitch because of the growing interest in football. ''Göteborgs idrottsförbund'' created a corporation that had a capital of 90 000kr to spend on a new arena. The end cost of Gamla Ullevi was 160 000kr. It was designed as a stadium for only football despite half-promises being made to the

archers Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In mo ...

and

equestrians Equestrianism (from Latin , , , 'horseman', 'horse'), commonly known as horse riding (Commonwealth English) or horseback riding (American English), includes the disciplines of riding, Driving (horse), driving, and Equestrian vaulting, vaulting ...

about space. At that time, the finished arena could hold 12 000 spectators. (Johansson & Nilsson 1992, p. 6–7) Ullevi became more than just an arena for football though. Next to the football pitch, the ice-skating rink was built and opened 6 January 1917 with a

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 ...

match.

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

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 ...

were two sports that also used the facilities, as well as

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 ...

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 ...

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

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

. (Johansson & Nilsson 1992) In 1924, Gothenburg city became the owners of Gamla Ullevi. They closed it in 1934 for renovations where they added more seats for spectators, and reopened in 1935. (Öhnander 2002, p. 10) The opening match was between

and

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 ...

(3–1). (Johansson & Nilsson 1992, p. 48) After

Nya Ullevi Ullevi, sometimes known as Nya Ullevi (, ''New Ullevi''), is a multi-purpose stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden. It was built for the 1958 FIFA World Cup, but since then has also hosted the World Allround Speed Skating Championships six times; th ...

was opened, it became the home arena to the three football clubs (''GAIS'', ''IFK'' and ''ÖIS'') but they moved back to Gamla Ullevi in 1992. (Öhnander 2002, p. 7)

Gottepojkarna

Giovanni Galligani was the leader of Gottepojkarna, the snack and drink providers during the match. They sold chocolate, bananas, biscuits and ''Ullevikolan'' (the Ullevi toffee). There was a main kiosk where all the snacks could be bought, but during the match Gottepojkarna walked around with metal boxes with each type of snack in a separate compartment. These boys had been trained so that when a spectator ordered something they could throw the snack to the customer. The change was also thrown back up and they always hit the right target. (Johansson & Nilsson 1992, p. 20)

Ullevi-Bladet

''Ullevi-Bladet'' was the name of the match-program that could be bought. It cost 25 öre and was published by ''Idrottsjournalisternas Klubb'' (''The Sport Journalists Club'') but financed by advertisements. The magazine featured an introduction to the match, the line-up of both teams and the points-chart of

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football lea ...

. (Öhnander 2002, p. 27)

Gallery

Image:IFK Göteborg–VfL Wolfsburg, Gamla Ullevi, 17 July 2005.jpg, The home stand (on the left) and the away stand (on the right). Image:Gamla Ullevi 20060828-2.jpg, The north stand, scoreboard and TV screen.

External links

Gamla Ullevi
– official site

References

Johansson, Bo & Nilsson, Bo Sigvard. ''Gamla Ullevi''. Tre Böcker Förlag AB, 1992. Öhnander, Bengt A. ''Från Ulleviss arenor''. Tre Böcker Förlag AB, 2002. {{coord, 57, 42, 21, N, 11, 58, 51, E, region:SE_type:landmark, display=title 1916 establishments in Sweden 2007 disestablishments in Sweden Football venues in Gothenburg IFK Göteborg Örgryte IS Defunct football venues in Sweden Sports venues completed in 1916 Sports venues demolished in 2007