Östersunds Fotbollsklubb, commonly known simply as Östersunds FK, Östersund () or (especially locally) ÖFK, is a Swedish professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club located in

Östersund Östersund (; ) is an Urban areas in Sweden, urban area (Stad (Sweden), city) in Jämtland in northern Sweden. It is the seat of Östersund Municipality and the capital of Jämtland County. Östersund is located at the shores of Sweden's fifth-larg ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, that plays in the Swedish second tier,

Superettan Superettan (; ) is an association football league and the second highest league in the Swedish football league system, league system of Swedish football, Swedish men's football. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and rel ...

. The club was formed in 1996 as a merger of several Östersund clubs. The club is affiliated with the

Jämtland-Härjedalens Fotbollförbund The Jämtland-Härjedalens Fotbollförbund ''(Jämtland-Härjedalen Football Association)'' is one of the 24 district organisations of the Swedish Football Association. It administers lower tier football in the historical provinces of Jämtland a ...

and play their home games at

Jämtkraft Arena Östersund Arena, currently known as Jämtkraft Arena for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Östersund, Sweden. Its current capacity is 8,466 and it was opened on 13 July 2007. The official tenants are Östersunds FK and Östersunds D ...

. The club colours, reflected in their crest and kit, are red and black, predominantly in stripes and with red shorts and socks. From its creation, the club played mostly in the third tier of

Swedish football Association football is the most popular sport in Sweden, with over 240,000 licensed players (approximately 56,000 women and 184,000 men) with another 240,000 youth players. There are around 3,200 active clubs fielding over 8,500 teams, whic ...

but in 2013 Östersund achieved promotion to the second tier,

, after achieving two consecutive promotions. In 2016, Östersund was promoted to the Swedish first tier,

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system. Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...

, for the first time. In 2017, Östersund won the

Svenska Cupen Svenska cupen (, ), also known as the Swedish Cup in English, is a knockout cup competition in Swedish football and the main Swedish football cup. ''Svenska cupen'' usually refers to the men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also ...

and qualified for the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

. The club was relegated to Superettan in 2021.

Name

The name 'Östersunds' is in a possessive clause in the

Swedish language Swedish ( ) is a North Germanic languages, North Germanic language from the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family, spoken predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland. It has at least 10 million native speakers, making it the G ...

, which means it is incorrect to call the club anything other than ''Östersund'' in a short form based on the town name.

Background

Östersunds FK was created in 1996 when the three local clubs Ope IF, IFK Östersund and Östersund/Torvalla FF merged, aiming to create a club in that would be able to establish itself in the top two tiers of Swedish football. The next year Frösö IF also joined the project. The newly formed club started out their existence in the third tier in 1997 and Östersund/Torvalla FF ceased to exist as a consequence. IFK Östersund, Ope IF och Östersund/Torvalla FF (ÖTFF). In 2000 a fifth club, Fältjägarnas IF, was also merged into the club. During the 2000s the club started taking on an English flavour and in 2007 the director of football Daniel Kindberg used his friendship with coaches

Roberto Martínez Roberto Martínez Montoliu (; born 13 July 1973) is a Spanish professional football manager and former player who is currently the head coach of the Portugal national team. Martínez played as a defensive midfielder and began his career at Re ...

and Graeme Jones to start a cooperation with Swansea City where Östersund would loan young players from the club. Swansea also came over to Östersund to play the inauguration game at the newly built stadium. After a poor 2010 season the club was relegated to the fourth tier for the first time ever. In 2011 Daniel Kindberg returned to the role as director of football and increased financial backing from local companies which enabled the hiring of more full-time staff. Following Jones' recommendation the club also brought in young English manager Graham Potter who was working at an English university at the time. Through several successful signings, some coming from Potter's connections at Nike Football Academy, the club was able to win both the fourth tier and then the third tier immediately the year after. The club was promoted to

for the 2013 season and finished 10th that season. In January 2014 the club announced that they had signed a half-billion kronor deal with the government of

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

to develop and educate Libyan football players. Under the terms of the deal, Östersunds FK would train 250 young men from Libya every year, except the first year in which they will receive 60 students. Those players would be taught English and computer skills in addition to sports theory and football training. The deal was expected to raise Östersund FKs yearly profits by over 50%. The deal with the Libyan state never came to life, thus meaning no students came to Östersund and no money was received by the club. On 27 October 2015, the club was promoted to

for the first time. In 2017, they managed to win their first major trophy,

, after defeating

IFK Norrköping Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Norrköping, more commonly known as IFK Norrköping or simply Norrköping, is a Swedish professional association football, football club based in Norrköping. The club is affiliated to Östergötlands Fotbollför ...

4–1 in the final, also qualifying for the

2017–18 UEFA Europa League The 2017–18 UEFA Europa League was the 47th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 9th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The final was played at the Parc Olymp ...

, marking their first appearance in a European competition tournament. In their Europa League debut in the second qualifying round on 13 July 2017, Östersund earned a shock 2–0 over Turkish giants

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Galatasaray and familiarly as Cimbom, is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul including basketball, wheelchair ...

at the

and eliminated them after a 1–1 draw in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

. Two goals by

Saman Ghoddos Seyed Saman Ghoddoos (; born 6 September 1993) is an Iranian peoples, Iranian Swedish born professional Association football, footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or Striker (association football), striker for the Iran national footba ...

in a win over

PAOK PAOK (, Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινοπολιτών, ''Panthessalonikeios Athlitikós Ómilos Constantinopoliton'', ''Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans''), commonly ...

on 24 August saw them qualify for the group stage at the first time of asking, at the same time making them the only Swedish representative in the season's UEFA competition and making Graham Potter the only British manager in the Europa League group stage. After losing only one game in their campaign, they finished second in a group featuring

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club (; ), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao (), or simply Athletic, is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Southern Basque Country, Basque Country, Spain. They are known ...

and Hertha Berlin, becoming the first Swedish club to progress beyond the Europa League group stage. In the round of 32 they managed to beat English side

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

2–1 away but were eliminated 4–2 on aggregate after losing the first leg 3–0. On 17 April 2018, club chairman (also the director of football) Daniel Kindberg was taken into custody by the Swedish Economic Crime Authority, suspected on probable cause of serious fraud and for assisting in serious gross accounting violations. Together with two other people, Kindberg is suspected of submitting false invoices in several companies, according to the prosecutor. Several of these companies have strong ties to Östersunds FK and the club's sponsorship deals. Several years before, in 2014, Kindberg was subject to criticism when Östersundshem, the municipal housing company where he was the CEO, became a big sponsor of Östersunds FK. On 11 June 2018, Graham Potter left Östersunds FK to take over as manager of Swansea City after eight seasons in charge. On 31 October 2021, they were relegated from

after their loss to Varberg BoIS. In the 2022 season, Östersunds FK managed to barely escape relegation from

, the second tier of Swedish men's professional football. The team ended up in 14th place and therefore had to qualify which they did. Östersund played six seasons in Allsvenskan before they were relegated.

Season to season

European record

Overall record

:''Accurate as of 23 February 2018''

Matches

;Notes * 2Q: Second qualifying round * 3Q: Third qualifying round * PO: Play-off round * GS: Group Stage * R32: Round of 32

UEFA Team rank

The following list ranks the current position of Östersunds FK in UEFA ranking: As of 21 September 202

Players

First-team squad

Notable players

This list of notable players includes those who have either been named Player of the year award, player of the year at the club, or has become league top goalscorer, or went on to play in

(or for larger clubs abroad). Brian Wake

* Alan Al-Kadhi * Alex Dyer *

Alhaji Gero Salisu Abdullahi "Alhaji" Gero (born 10 October 1993) is a Nigerian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for Nepal Super League club Jhapa FC, Jhapa. Club career Early years Gero ...

* Blair Turgott * Bobo Sollander *

Brian Wake Brian Wake (born 13 August 1982) is an English former Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), striker. He is currently works as a youth coach at Viborg FF, Viborg. Playing career Wake's notable contribu ...

* Brwa Nouri * Connor Ripley * Christoffer Fryklund * Daryl Smylie * David Accam * Dennis Widgren * Douglas Bergqvist * Erik Lantto * Filip Rogić * Fouad Bachirou * Fredrik Aliris * Gabriel Somi * Hosam Aiesh * Jamal Blackman * Jamie Hopcutt * Joakim Lundstedt * Jonathan Routledge * Ken Sema * Kjell Jönsson * Lars Oscarsson * Lasse Mattila * Lee Makel * Mattias Eriksson * Matthew Barnes-Homer * Martin Johansson * Mikael Berg * Modou Barrow * Michael Tidser * Moon Seon-min * Paul Sheerin * Peter Amoran * Petter Augustsson * Rasmus Lindkvist * Ravel Morrison * Richard Offiong *

* Samuel Mensiro * Sotirios Papagiannopoulos * Thomas Isherwood * Tom Pettersson

Player records

Top 10 players with most games in ÖFK

Player of the season in ÖFK

Top 10 players with most goals in ÖFK

Management and boardroom

Technical staff

''As of 24 January 2021''

Boardroom

Östersunds FK (Föreningen) Östersunds FK Elitfotboll AB

Coaches

* Leif Widegren (1997) * Christer Andersson (1998) * Sören Åkeby (1999) * Jan Westerlund (1999–2001) * Hans Eskilsson (2002–2003) * Ulf Kvarnlöf (2004–2005) * Stefan Regebro (2006–2007) * Neil McDonald (2007) * Kalle Björklund (2008–2009) * Lee Makel (2010) * Graham Potter (2011–2018) * Ian Burchnall (2018–2020) * Amir Azrafshan (2020–2021) * Per Joar Hansen (2021–2022) * Magnus Powell (2022-2024)

Attendances

In recent seasons Östersunds FK have had the following average attendances: Jamtkraftarena-1

Honours

League

(Tier 2) ** Runners-up (1):

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

* Division 1 Norra (Tier 3) ** Winners (1):

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

* Division 2 Norrland (Tier 3)* ** Winners (1):

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

** Runners-up (3):

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

* Division 2 Norrland (Tier 4)* ** Winners (1):

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

Cups

** Winners (1): 2016–17 ''* League restructuring in 2006 resulted in a new division being created at Tier 3 and subsequent divisions dropping a level.''

References

External links

*
Östersunds FK
nbsp;– official site {{DEFAULTSORT:Ostersunds FK Football clubs in Jämtland County Sport in Östersund Association football clubs established in 1996 1996 establishments in Sweden Svenska Cupen winners Allsvenskan clubs 20th-century establishments in Jämtland County