The IFK Göteborg Academy is a
youth development program associated with the
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 ...
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 ...
club
IFK Göteborg. This academy is often called The Football Academy ( sv, Fotbollsakademin). Another informal name for the academy is ''Änglagården'' ( en, The House of Angels), after the name of the primary
training facility used by the academy.
Academy history
In 1996 noted-sportsman
Roger Gustafsson resigned as manager of the IFK Göteborg team. He had won an extraordinary five
championships
In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion.
Championship systems
Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship.
Title match system
In this system ...
in his six-year tenure. Gustafsson received several employment offers from major European clubs. However, he indicated that he was not interested in leaving IFK, which he had worked for since 1983 (in a variety of positions). He encouraged IFK to change strategy after the
Bosman ruling
''Union Royale Belge des Sociétés de Football Association ASBL v Jean-Marc Bosman'' (1995) C-415/93 (known as the Bosman ruling) is a 1995 European Court of Justice decision concerning freedom of movement for workers, freedom of association ...
—which allowed the players to leave their team for free at contract expiration—by putting much more emphasis on producing talented players on their own rather than buying talent from other clubs.
He constructed an educational programme called "Secrets to Soccer" (S2S, sv, "Fotbollens hemligheter") which was first used in 1998 by the youngest of the IFK Göteborg's youth teams (six- to eight-year-olds).
At present, all of the club's youth teams, from ages six to sixteen, use the program. The S2S programme is also available for other clubs both in Sweden and in other countries.
The oldest youth squad (the under-19s) are educated both at Änglagården and
Kamratgården—the main training ground of IFK Göteborg—as well as at the football
gymnasiums
A gymnasium, also known as a gym, is an indoor location for athletics. The word is derived from the ancient Greek term " gymnasium". They are commonly found in athletic and fitness centres, and as activity and learning spaces in educational ins ...
Katrinelundsgymnasiet and
Aspero Idrottsgymnasium.
In 2015, the academy moved into the newly constructed multi-sports complex
Prioritet Serneke Arena.
The main aim of the academy is to provide the first squad with 50 percent of its players. Other aims include that all players and leaders should develop both as individuals and as players/leaders, that all involved should remember their time at IFK Göteborg as one of their best times in life, and that the academy should contribute to the development of football.
Boys under-19s
Squad
Available first-team players
The following players are part of
the first-team squad, but are born in 2004 or later, and are thus available to compete in the 2023
P19 Allsvenskan.
Honours
*
Swedish junior champions:
**Winners (9): 1986, 1987, 1988, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2013, 2015, 2021
**Runners-up (4): 1991, 1993, 1995, 2017
Boys under-17s
Honours
*
Swedish boys champions:
**Runners-up (4): 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992
Girls under-17s
Honours
*
Swedish girls champions:
**Runners-up (1): 2020
Citations
References
*
*
External links
IFK Göteborg - Akademin (official site)Änglagårdskolan (official site)Secrets to Soccer (official site)
{{DEFAULTSORT:IFK Goteborg Academy
Academy
Football academies in Europe
Youth football in Sweden