HIFK, the Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna, Helsingfors (IFK, Helsingfors) rf (officially abbreviated IFK Helsingfors, colloquially often Helsingfors IFK or Helsingin IFK ) is a multi-sport association based in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. Formed in 1897 on the initiative of Georges Doubitsky and fellow students of the Svenska Reallyceum, the Swedish

lyceum The lyceum is a category of educational institution defined within the education system of many countries, mainly in Europe. The definition varies among countries; usually it is a type of secondary school. Generally in that type of school the t ...

in Helsinki, it is the oldest continuously-operating

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 but they are organised separately. The Swedish IFK w ...

(IFK) organization in Finland. HIFK has sections in many sports, including

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), competi ...

, bandy,

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), thou ...

, football,

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 h ...

, and handball.

Bandy

HIFK Bandy ry oversees the men's and women's representative teams, junior teams and bandy school, and recreational bandy programs. Kauko Rautiainen is chairman of HIFK Bandy ry. The men's bandy section of HIFK was created in 1907 and the representative team has won the

Finnish Championship Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

seventeen times, more than any other club, and the

Finnish Cup The Finnish Cup ( fi, Suomen cup; sv, Finlands cup) is Finland's main national cup competition in football. This yearly competition is open for all member clubs of the FA of Finland and has been played since 1955. The winner qualifies for the ...

twice. The team plays in the Bandyliiga and their home arena is

Brahenkenttä Brahe Field ( fi, Brahenkenttä; sv, Braheplan), is a sports ground in Helsinki, Finland. It is the home field for the Helsinki Wolverines American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Cana ...

in the

Alppiharju Alppiharju ( sv, Åshöjden) is a district of approximately 12,000 inhabitants in the eastern part of the Central major district of Helsinki, Finland. It consists of sub-districts Alppila and Harju, and is bordered by Kallio in the south, Taka- ...

district. HIFK women's team plays in the Jääpallon naisten SM-sarja (Women's Bandy Finnish Championship Series) and have won the

three times, in 1986, 1987, and 2011.

Ice hockey

Oy HIFK Hockey Ab is the largest business within the HIFK association, comprising the men’s representative team in the

Liiga The SM-liiga (marketed as just Liiga from 2013 on), (Finnish for ''League'') colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. It is one of the six founding lea ...

, the women’s representative team in the

Naisten Liiga The Kansallinen Liiga ('National League') is the premier division of women's football in Finland. It was previously called the Jalkapallon naisten SM-sarja ('Women's Football Finnish Championship Series') during 1974 to 2006 and the Naisten Lii ...

, an expansive junior organization, and the hREDS eSports team.

eSport

In November 2016 an esports project was started under the name Helsinki REDS (hREDS).

Athletics

The Athletics section of HIFK is one of Finland's oldest and most successful athletics clubs.

Handball

The Handball section of HIFK is one of the pioneers of the sport in Finland. The men's section has won 10 national championships and the women's section 41 national championships. Both teams play their home games at the Helsinki Urheilutalo in the Kallio district of the city.

Football

The football section of HIFK was established in 1907, and its first team earned promotion to

Veikkausliiga Veikkausliiga (; sv, Tipsligan) is the premier division of Finnish football, the highest tier of the Finnish football league structure, comprising the top 12 clubs of the country. Its main sponsor is the Finnish national betting agency Veikka ...

for the 2015 season.

Notes

References

Significant content in this article was translated from the existing Finnish Wikipedia article at :fi:HIFK and the existing Swedish Wikipedia article at :sv:HIFK; see their histories for attribution.

External links

Official club website

Helsinki REDS website
{{Authority control Sports clubs in Helsinki 1897 establishments in Finland