GIF Sundsvall
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| Full name | Gymnastik- och Idrottsföreningen Sundsvall |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Giffarna |
| Founded | 25 August 1903 |
| Ground | Norrporten Arena, Sundsvall |
| Capacity | 7,700 |
| Chairman | Johan Nikula |
| Head coach | Joel Cedergren |
| League | Allsvenskan |
| 2016 | Allsvenskan, 13th |
| Website | Club home page |
Gymnastik och Idrottsföreningen Sundsvall, also known as GIF Sundsvall or simply Sundsvall, are a Swedish professional football club based in Sundsvall. The club are affiliated to Medelpads Fotbollförbund and play their home games at Norrporten Arena. The club colours, reflected in their crest and kit, are blue. Formed on 25 August 1903, the club have played thirteen seasons in Sweden's highest football league Allsvenskan, the club's first season in the league was in 1965. The club are currently playing in Allsvenskan, where the season lasts from April to October.
The club was formed on August 25, 1903 at Matilda Anderssons Café. At that time, GIF Sundsvall stood for "Godtemplarnas Idrotts Förening Sundsvall" which mainly was for Teetotallers up until the alcohol demands was lightened in 1920. The initials then came to stand for, to this day still, "Gymnastik och Idrottsföreningen Sundsvall" (Gymnastics and sports club Sundsvall).
The club reached the first tier of the domestic football in 1965. The club has since been a "yo-yo team" mainly playing in the second division but with Allsvenskan stints in 1975, 1987–89, 1991, 2000–06, 2008, 2012 and since 2015.
GIF Sundsvall earlier had women's football and ice hockey on the program. The hockey team folded in the late 1960s, in 1985 the women's team was transferred to Sundsvalls DFF. This mainly because the women's team was disappointed with the lack of support from the men's team.
Norrporten Arena, formerly known as Idrottsparken, is located in the heart of Sundsvall and was inaugurated on August 6, 1903. It was renovated in 2001–02 for the club's previous stint in Allsvenskan and it can now hold a capacity of 8,000, with 5,000 under roof. In 2006 the stadium's name was officially changed to Norrporten Arena but the name isn't fully adopted by the fans.
Top attendance: 16,507 vs Högadal on October 15, 1961.
The official supporter's club of GIF Sundsvall is called Patronerna. Formed in 1999, mostly as a joke by some friends supporting their friend, the club has in a short period of time amassed a strong reputation. The name is mainly a historical reference to the sawmill owners who were very powerful in Sundsvall during post industrial revolution-era. FP-tifo, Patronerna's fraction of tifo-supporters, won the Swedish tifo-awards sponsored by Canal+, in 2005.
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