Athletic Football Club Eskilstuna, also known as AFC Eskilstuna or simply AFC, 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 based in

Eskilstuna Eskilstuna () is a Urban areas in Sweden, city and the seat of Eskilstuna Municipality, Södermanland County, Sweden. The city of Eskilstuna had 69,948 inhabitants in 2020, with a total population of 107,806 inhabitants in Eskilstuna municipality ...

. The club has previously been known under the names FC Café Opera and Väsby United before switching ownership and their identity again in 2012 to AFC United. During the 2016 season it was once again decided that they would switch their name, identity, as well as locality. Choosing to move to

, about 110 kilometers west of

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, they are since known as AFC Eskilstuna. They compete in Ettan, the third highest tier of Swedish football, and play their home matches at

Tunavallen Tunavallen is a multi-use stadium in Eskilstuna, Sweden. It is currently used mostly for football (soccer), football matches. The stadium holds 7,800 seated spectators. The original stadium was one of the venues for the 1958 FIFA World Cup. It ...

. AFC Eskilstuna are affiliated to

Södermanlands Fotbollförbund The Södermanlands Fotbollförbund ''(Södermanland Football Association)'' is one of the 24 district organisations of the Swedish Football Association. It administers lower tier football (soccer), football in the historical province of Söderman ...

Background

FC Café Opera

FC Café Opera was created in 1991 by Italian born restaurateur Alessandro Catenacci who named the club after Café Opera which he owned. They started out in division 8 of the

Swedish football league system The Swedish football league system is a series of interconnected leagues for club football in Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. ...

but only nine years later they had made it to the 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 ...

Väsby United

Football Club Väsby United was formed in 2005 when the two Stockholm clubs FC Café Opera United and

Väsby IK FK Väsby IK FK was a Swedish football club located in based in the Stockholm suburb of Upplands Väsby. It was the football section of sports club Väsby IK. Background Väsby IK Fotboll was founded in 1924. From 1996 To 2004 Väsby IK FK played ...

merged. The new club replaced FC Café Opera United in the

making it the youngest club competing at this level. Väsby United was a

feeder club In sports, a farm team (also referred to as farm system, developmental system, feeder team, or nursery club) is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful pl ...

to AIK who participated in the second and third divisions of the

. The club played in Division 1 Norra which is the third tier of Swedish football when they became AFC United.

AFC United

AFC United was founded when FC Väsby United increased their cooperation Division 3 club Athletic FC in late 2012. They played their home matches at

Skytteholms IP Skytteholms IP is a football stadium in Solna Municipality, Solna, Stockholm, Sweden and the home stadium for the football team Vasalunds IF. Skytteholms IP was opened in 1967, renovated in 1990 and 2003 and has a total capacity of 5,200 spectato ...

in Solna until the end of the 2016 season. Athletic FC was founded in 2007 and became part of AFC United in 2012. In 2012, Athletic FC played in Swedish football Division 3 Norra Svealand which is the fifth tier of Swedish football. Athletic FC was affiliated to

Stockholms Fotbollförbund The Stockholms Fotbollförbund (; StFF) is one of the 24 district organisations of the Swedish Football Association. It administers lower tier football in Stockholm County. Background Stockholms Fotbollförbund is the governing body for foot ...

AFC Eskilstuna

During the 2016 season the club management decided to uproot and leave Solna and move to

and

before the 2017 season. They also changed their name to AFC Eskilstuna. The team were winless, having only acquired 4 points from the opening 12 matches and were firmly rooted to the bottom of the league table.

Michael Jolley Michael Jolley (born 30 March 1977) is an English professional football manager who was most recently in charge of Segunda Federación side Vélez CF. Jolley is a Cambridge University graduate with an MA in economics and also has a postgraduat ...

was announced as new manager on 13 June 2017. Under Jolley's coaching they took 15 points from the next 16 games. A 3–1 victory over

Malmö FF Malmö Fotbollförening (), commonly known simply as Malmö FF or MFF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Malmö, Scania. They compete in the Allsvenskan, the top division of Swedish football, and play home matches at the Eleda S ...

on 19 August 2017 in particular provided the biggest shock of the season in

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 ...

. However, they were eventually relegated to

on 23 October 2017 following a spirited fight when

Jönköpings Södra IF Jönköpings Södra IF, also known as J-Södra IF, or J-Södra, is a Swedish football club based in Jönköping. The club, founded in 1922, returned to the Swedish second division Superettan in 2018 after relegation from the 2017 Allsvenskan. J ...

defeated

Kalmar FF Kalmar Fotbollförening, more commonly known as Kalmar FF, is a Swedish professional football club based in Kalmar, Sweden. The club is affiliated to Smålands Fotbollförbund and play their home games at Guldfågeln Arena. Formed on 15 June 1 ...

2–0, meaning AFC Eskilstuna could no longer reach the qualifying position. Jolley departed ways with AFC Eskilstuna on 9 January 2018 by mutual consent, after being unable to agree on the future direction of the club. On 15 January 2018,

Nemanja Miljanović Nemanja Miljanović (born 4 August 1971) is a Swedish football coach and former player who last worked as manager of Krumovgrad. He played as a midfielder for Elfsborg, Hércules and Salamanca. Playing career Miljanović arrived in Sweden at ...

became the manager, after their relegation to the

Season-to-season

Players

Current squad

Out on loan

Attendances

Väsby United had the following average attendances: Tunavallen 2011

In recent seasons AFC United have had the following average attendances: The highest attendance for FC Väsby United at Råsunda was 8,672 spectators who attended the match with AIK on 15 August 2005.

Achievements

League

** Runners-up (1): 2016 *

Division 1 Norra Ettan Fotboll, or simply Ettan (), which also is its common name in everyday speech, is the third level in the Swedish football league system and consists of 32 Swedish football teams. It was formerly simply known as ''Division 1''. Division 1 ...

** Winners (1): 2014 ** Runners-up (2): 2007, 2011

Cup

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 ...

** Runners-up (1):

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Notes and references

Notes

References

External links

*
AFC Eskilstuna
on WorldFootball {{DEFAULTSORT:Eskilstuna Allsvenskan clubs 2007 establishments in Sweden Association football clubs established in 2007 Football clubs in Södermanland County Sport in Eskilstuna 21st-century establishments in Stockholm County