Östersunds FK

Östersunds Fotbollsklubb, commonly known simply as Östersunds FK, Östersund (Swedish pronunciation: [œstɛˈʂɵnːd]) or (especially locally) ÖFK, is a Swedish professional football club located in Östersund, Sweden and since 2016 play in the Swedish first tier, Allsvenskan. The club was formed in 1996 as a merger of several Östersund clubs. The club is affiliated to the Jämtland-Härjedalens Fotbollförbund[2] and play their home games at Jämtkraft Arena. The club colours, reflected in their crest and kit, are red and black, predominantly in stripes and with red shorts and socks. Since its creation, the club has played mostly in the third tier of Swedish football but in 2013 Östersund achieved promotion to the second tier, Superettan, for the first time ever, after achieving two consecutive promotions,[3] and since 2016 they play in the Swedish first tier, Allsvenskan.

Östersunds FK

Full name	Östersunds Fotbollsklubb
Short name	ÖFK
Founded	31 October 1996
Ground	Jämtkraft Arena, Östersund
Capacity	8,545[1]
Chairman	Mathias Rasteby
Manager	Amir Azrafshan
League	Allsvenskan
2020	Allsvenskan, 13th
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours

Name

The name 'Östersunds' is in a possessive clause in the Swedish language, 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.[4] 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 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.[5] 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[6] 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.[7] The club was promoted to Superettan 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 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%.[8] 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.[9]

On 27 October 2015, the club was promoted to Allsvenskan for the first time.[10] In 2017, they managed to win their first major trophy, Svenska Cupen, after defeating IFK Norrköping 4–1 in the final, also qualifying for the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League, marking their first appearance in a European competition tournament. In their Europa League debut in the second qualifying round on 13 July 2017, Östersunds earned a shock 2–0 victory against Turkish giants Galatasaray at the Jämtkraft Arena and eliminated them after a 1–1 draw in Istanbul. Two goals by Saman Ghoddos in a win against PAOK 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 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 2–1 away but were eliminated 4–2 on aggregate after losing the first leg 3–0.[11]

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.[12] Together with two other people, Kindberg is suspected of submitting false invoices in several companies, according to the prosecutor.[13] Several of these companies have strong ties to Östersunds FK and the club's sponsorship deals.[14][15] 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.[16][17]

On 11 June 2018, Graham Potter left Östersunds FK to take over as manager of Swansea City after eight seasons in charge.

Season to season

Season	Level	Division	Section	Position	Movements
1997	Tier 3	Division 2	Norrland	7th
1998	Tier 3	Division 2	Norrland	2nd	Promotion Playoffs
1999	Tier 3	Division 2	Norrland	1st	Promotion Playoffs
2000	Tier 3	Division 2	Norrland	5th
2001	Tier 3	Division 2	Norrland	3rd
2002	Tier 3	Division 2	Norrland	5th
2003	Tier 3	Division 2	Norrland	2nd
2004	Tier 3	Division 2	Norrland	4th
2005	Tier 3	Division 2	Norrland	2nd	Promoted
2006[lower-alpha 1]	Tier 3	Division 1	Norra	11th
2007	Tier 3	Division 1	Norra	11th
2008	Tier 3	Division 1	Norra	10th
2009	Tier 3	Division 1	Norra	11th
2010	Tier 3	Division 1	Norra	13th	Relegated
2011	Tier 4	Division 2	Norrland	1st	Promoted
2012	Tier 3	Division 1	Norra	1st	Promoted
2013	Tier 2	Superettan		10th
2014	Tier 2	Superettan		5th
2015	Tier 2	Superettan		2nd	Promoted
2016	Tier 1	Allsvenskan		8th
2017	Tier 1	Allsvenskan		5th
2018	Tier 1	Allsvenskan		6th
2019	Tier 1	Allsvenskan		12th
2020	Tier 1	Allsvenskan		13th

1. League restructuring in 2006 resulted in a new division being created at Tier 3 and subsequent divisions dropping a level. [18]

European record

Overall record

Accurate as of 23 February 2018

Competition	Played	Won	Drew	Lost	GF	GA	GD	Win%
UEFA Europa League	14	8	3	3	19	13	+6	057.14
Total	14	8	3	3	19	13	+6	057.14

Matches

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2017–18	UEFA Europa League	2Q	Galatasaray	2–0	1–1	3–1
		3Q	Fola Esch	1–0	2–1	3–1
		PO	PAOK	2–0	1–3	3–3 (a)
		Group J	Athletic Bilbao	2–2	0–1	2nd
			Hertha BSC	1–0	1–1
			Zorya Luhansk	2–0	2–0
		R32	Arsenal	0–3	2–1	2–4

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:

Rank	Team	Points
89	Malmö FF	16.000
116	Torino FC	12.330
117	HNK Rijeka	10.500
118	AEK Larnaca FC	10.000
119	Östersunds FK	10.000
120	FC Sheriff Tiraspol	10.000
121	Osmanlispor	8.000
145	AIK	6.000
187	IFK Norrköping	3.975
188	BK Häcken	3.975

As of 21 September 2020.

Players

First-team squad

As of 21 September, 2020.[19]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  GUI Aly Keita (captain) 3 DF  CIV Kalpi Ouattara 5 MF  NED Rewan Amin 7 MF  USA Nebiyou Perry 8 DF  SWE Isak Ssewankambo (vice-captain) 9 FW  ENG Francis Jno-Baptiste 11 MF  SWE Henrik Bellman 12 FW  PLE Ahmed Awad 13 MF  SWE Ludvig Fritzson 16 GK  CPV Sixten Mohlin 17 FW  SWE Malcolm Stolt 18 FW  ENG Blair Turgott 19 DF  NOR Eirik Haugan

No. Pos. Nation Player 20 MF  SWE Felix Hörberg 21 MF  SWE Simon Kroon 22 MF  ENG Charlie Colkett 23 DF  GHA Samuel Mensiro 24 DF  UGA Ronald Mukiibi 25 MF  SWE Nikolaos Dosis 28 DF  BDI Marco Weymans 32 DF  GHA Patrick Kpozo 34 DF  SWE Pontus Kindberg 77 DF  GAM Noah Sonko Sundberg 80 MF  GHA Frank Arhin 88 MF  ENG Jerell Sellars -- FW  SWE Sebastian Karlsson Grach

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 33 DF  SWE Gustav Wikstrand (to Östersunds FK U19 until 31 December 2021) 35 MF  SWE Isak Häggman (to Östersunds FK U19 until 31 December 2021) 36 DF  SWE Robin Wikberg (to Östersunds FK U19 until 31 December 2021)

Notable players

This list of notable players includes those who have either been named player of the year at the club,[20] or has become league top goalscorer, or went on to play in Allsvenskan (or for larger clubs abroad).

Alan Al-Kadhi Alex Dyer Alhaji Gero Bobo Sollander Brian Wake 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 Petter Augustsson Rasmus Lindkvist Ravel Morrison Richard Offiong Saman Ghoddos Samuel Mensiro Sotirios Papagiannopoulos Thomas Isherwood Tom Pettersson

Brian Wake became the combined top goalscorer of all six regional fourth tier leagues in 2011 with 24 goals in 20 games.[21]

Player records

Top 10 players with most games in ÖFK

Nr	Name	Games	Goals
1	Lars Oscarsson	212	10
2	Martin Johansson	193	15
3	Jamie Hopcutt	190	47
4	Daniel Westerlund	184	58
5	Dennis Widgren	179	3
6	Petter Jacobsson	172	7
7	Aly Keita	168	0
8	Bobo Sollander	163	24
9	Samuel Mensiro	158	3
10	Brwa Nouri	154	23

Player of the season in ÖFK

Year	Name
1997	Paul Sheerin
1998	Mattias Eriksson
1999	Mikael Berg
2000	Lars Oscarsson
2001	Lasse Mattila
2002	Kjell Jönsson
2003	Fredrik Aliris
2004	Martin Johansson
2005	Joakim Lundstedt
2006	Erik Lantto
2007	Erik Lantto
2008	Lee Makel
2009	Bobo Sollander
2010	Christoffer Fryklund
2011	Brian Wake
2012	Petter Augustsson
2013	Samuel Mensiro
2014	Modou Barrow
2015	Fouad Bachirou
2016	Douglas Bergqvist
2017	Saman Ghoddos
2018	Saman Ghoddos
2019	Dino Islamovic
2020	Aly Keita

Top 10 players with most goals in ÖFK

Nr	Name	Goals	Games
1	Daniel Westerlund	58	184
2	Jamie Hopcutt	47	190
3	Saman Ghoddos	41	93
4	Joakim Lundstedt	33	97
5	Brian Wake	26	33
6	Bobo Sollander	24	163
7	Brwa Nouri	23	154
8	Daniel Johansson	21	36
9	Alex Dyer	19	93
10	Paul Read	18	25
10	Emir Smajic	18	51
10	Dino Islamovic	18	57

Management and boardroom

Technical staff

As of 24 January 2021[22]

Name Role Mathias Rasteby Chairman Michael Schahine CEO Amir Azrafshan Head Coach Jussi Kontinen Assistant Coach Rafael Roldán Bermúdez Assistant Coach Ruben Sanches Pshycological Coach David Preece Goalkeeper Coach Oscar Ljungblom Fitness Coach Bengt-Uno Nilsson Equipment Manager Moubarak Abdallah Equipment Manager Bobo Sollander Social Coach Martin Lindroth Doctor Jenny Larsson Head of Physiotherapists Lisa Brandén Physiotherapist Michael Lagercrantz Physiotherapist Håkan Lundqvist Press Officer Joakim Jansson Security/Event Manager Per Staffansson Supporter Liaison Officer Lars Andersson Sporting Director Stig-Åke Eklund Sporting Director Johan Lidenmark Head of Academy

Boardroom

Östersunds FK (Föreningen)

Name Role Mathias Rasteby Chairman Michael Schahine CEO Petter Jakobsson Boardmember Tom Pripp Boardmember Lars Andersson Boardmember Teddy Myhr Boardmember Lena Johansson Boardmember

Östersunds FK Elitfotboll AB

Name Role Mathias Rasteby Chairman Michael Schahine CEO Tom Pripp Vice Chairman Stig-Åke Eklund Boardmember Lars Andersson Boardmember Teddy Myhr Boardmember Leif Widegren Boardmember Lena Johansson Boardmember Nils-Åke Hallström Boardmember

Managers

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–) [23]

Englishman Neil McDonald helped the team avoid relegation during his short time with the club at the end of the 2007 season.[24]

Attendances

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

Jämtkraft Arena opened up in 2007 with a friendly game between Östersunds FK and Swansea City.[25]

Season Average Attendance Division / Section Level Stadium 2005 573 Div 2 Norrland Tier 3 Hofvallen 2006 535 Div 1 Norra Tier 3 Hofvallen 2007 1,060 Div 1 Norra Tier 3 Jämtkraft Arena 2008 1,104 Div 1 Norra Tier 3 Jämtkraft Arena 2009 1,134 Div 1 Norra Tier 3 Jämtkraft Arena 2010 992 Div 1 Norra Tier 3 Jämtkraft Arena 2011 783 Div 2 Norrland Tier 4 Jämtkraft Arena 2012 1,695 Div 1 Norra Tier 3 Jämtkraft Arena 2013 3,320 Superettan Tier 2 Jämtkraft Arena 2014 3,022 Superettan Tier 2 Jämtkraft Arena 2015 3,857 Superettan Tier 2 Jämtkraft Arena 2016 5,914 Allsvenskan Tier 1 Jämtkraft Arena 2017 5,265 Allsvenskan Tier 1 Jämtkraft Arena 2018 6,020 Allsvenskan Tier 1 Jämtkraft Arena 2019 4,808 Allsvenskan Tier 1 Jämtkraft Arena 2020 (COVID) -- Allsvenskan Tier 1 Jämtkraft Arena * Attendances are provided in the Publikliga sections of the Svenska Fotbollförbundet website. [26]

Honours

League

• Superettan (Tier 2)
  • Runners-up (1): 2015
• Division 1 Norra (Tier 3)
  • Winners (1): 2012
• Division 2 Norrland (Tier 3)*
  • Winners (1): 1999
  • Runners-up (3): 1998, 2003, 2005
• Division 2 Norrland (Tier 4)*
  • Winners (1): 2011

Cups

• Svenska Cupen
  • Winners (1): 2016–17

* League restructuring in 2006 resulted in a new division being created at Tier 3 and subsequent divisions dropping a level. [27]

Footnotes

References

1. "Evenemangsarena: Jämtkraft Arena". www.ostersund.se. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
2. "Kontaktuppgifter och tävlingar – Jämtland-Härjedalens Fotbollförbund – Svenskfotboll.se". Retrieved 12 January 2011.
3. "Kontaktuppgifter och tävlingar 2013 – Östersunds FK". Retrieved 20 January 2013.
4. "Östersunds FF Historia" (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 17 September 2013. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
5. "Östersunds satsar brittiskt" (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 13 August 2010. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
6. "Graham Potter: ‘I’ve shown there’s another path for English managers’" The Guardian 12 Feb 2018
7. "ÖFK Tillbakablick" (in Swedish). Retrieved 20 January 2013.
8. "Superettan klubb får en halvmiljard" (in Swedish). Retrieved 10 January 2014.
9. "Libyen-samarbete skjuts upp ytterligare" (in Swedish). Retrieved 13 December 2017.
10. Calle Lindberg (27 October 2015). "Östersunds FK allsvenskt för första gången" (in Swedish). SVT Sport. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
11. "Playing Arsenal is like Christmas': How Graham Potter transformed Ostersund and inspired Sweden's north". The Independent. 14 February 2018. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
12. "Låt spelarna fokusera på matchen". Östersunds FK. 17 April 2018. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
13. "Uppgifter: Daniel Kindberg anhållen efter ekobrottsrazzian i morse". Östersunds-Posten. 17 April 2018. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
14. "Miljonsponsring till ÖFK från Kindbergs affärspartner utreds". Fotbollskanalen. 17 April 2018. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
15. "Sollefteåföretagare betalade miljoner till ÖFK". SVT. 17 April 2018. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
16. "Östersunds FK: Underbar och älskad av alla?". Offside. 16 March 2016. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
17. "ÖFK-basen sitter på flera stolar - medger: "Min makt är enorm"". Fotbollskanalen. 24 October 2017. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
18. "GAIS – Lagfacta – Östersunds FK". Retrieved 9 March 2010.
19. "A-laget" (in Swedish). Östersunds FK. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
20. "Östersunds FF Klubben". Archived from the original on 1 May 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
21. "Brian Wake – målkung i förbundsserierna". Archived from the original on 18 April 2013. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
22. "Truppen 2015". Retrieved 16 January 2015.
23. "Östersunds FF Klubben". Archived from the original on 1 May 2012. Retrieved 16 January 2013.
24. "Heta möten mot Vasalund". Retrieved 20 January 2013.
25. "Swansea till Östersund!!!". Retrieved 20 January 2013.
26. "Kontaktuppgifter och tävlingar – Svenska Fotbollförbundet – svenskfotboll.se". Archived from the original on 9 June 2009. Retrieved 19 November 2010.
27. "GAIS – Lagfacta – Östersunds FK". Retrieved 9 March 2010.

External links

Media related to Östersunds FK at Wikimedia Commons

• Östersunds FK – official site