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Hammarby Fotboll, more commonly known as Hammarby IF or simply Hammarby ( or, especially locally, ), is a Swedish professional football club from Stockholm founded in 1915. The club is based at 3 Arena in Johanneshov but founded in the neighbouring Södermalm district of Stockholm City Centre, an area that is considered the club's heartland.
Competing in Sweden's first tier, Allsvenskan, Hammarby are placed eighth in the all-time Allsvenskan table, and has won the league once, in 2001. The club has competed in the Svenska Cupen final five times, winning their first title in 2021.
The club's colours are green and white, which are reflected in its crest and kit. Between 1918 and 1978, however, the club played in black-and-yellow striped home shirts, which since often form the club's away colors.
It is known for its vociferous fans and for having the highest average attendance in the Nordic countries. Drawing inspiration from England, Hammarby fans introduced football chants to the Swedish terraces in 1970. Hammarby is one of largest football clubs in Europe in terms of the number of active players of all ages – with some 3,500 players in its organisation.
Hammarby is affiliated with the Stockholms Fotbollförbund (Stockholm Football Association).
In 1920, Hammarby first competed in the Svenska Serien, by then the highest league in Swedish football, with key players like goalkeeper Victor Olsson, defender Gösta Wihlborg and forward Gustav Björk. During the upcoming years, Hammarby had a strong showing where they went to the finals of Svenska Mästerskapet in 1922, losing 1–3 to GAIS.
Hammarby qualified to compete in Allsvenskan's inaugural season in 1924. On 3 August said year, Rikard Larsson became Hammarby's first goalscorer in Allsvenskan, and also the first goalscorer in the league's history, in a 1–5 loss against Örgryte IS. The club would eventually finish last in the 1924–25 Allsvenskan, and were relegated to Division 2, which was then the second highest league in Sweden.
During the upcoming years, Hammarby failed to produce any sort of challenge in Swedish football. Several star players emigrated to the United States, transferred to other clubs or opted to instead play ice hockey for Hammarby. In 1936–37 and 1937–38, the club won the second division, but lost the playoff matches that would have promoted them to Allsvenskan. Instead, Hammarby got promoted in 1938–39, where they knocked out IFK Norrköping following outstanding performances from goalkeeper and star player Sven Bergqvist.
Hammarby would, however, suffer from another relegation, finishing last in Allsvenskan in 1939–40. Back in Division 2, the club finished in the top four for the next six years. In the 1946–47 season, the club finished at the foot of the table, and because of a restructuring of the league system, the club got relegated to Division 4.
In the 1982 season, Swedish football introduced a playoff system for the top 8 teams in Allsvenskan to decide a champion. The playoffs consisted of Two-legged tie in which the aggregate score would determine who would advance. The club had placed second overall that season and had not lost a home game. After defeating Örgryte in the quarter-finals, and coming back from a 1–3 deficit to beat IF Elfsborg 4–3 in the semi-finals, Hammarby was in the final against IFK Göteborg. Hammarby won its away match 2–1, but lost 1–3 in its home match to a sold-out crowd.In 1982, IFK Göteborg, who won the Allsvenskan championship, would later go on to win the UEFA Cup, as the first, and so far only, Swedish team to do so.
In the following year, Hammarby finished fifth in the league, but lost to AIK in the play-offs. In the Svenska Cupen tournament, Hammarby reached the finals but lost against IFK. However, since IFK qualified for the UEFA Cup that year, Hammarby qualified for the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, its first major international competition, where the club lost to Finland's FC Haka in the second round. The Hammarby squads finished consistently in the top six in the league every year through 1987.
In 1988, Hammarby finished last in the standings and were relegated to the second tier. Although the club placed first in 1989, it finished last in 1990.
Prior to the 2001 Allsvenskan season, the club had financially tough times, leading experts to conclude that the team was weak, and one journalist predicted a last place finish. Halfway through the 2001 season, manager Sören Cratz was informed that his contract would not be extended because the club's board wanted Hammarby to play a positive, attacking and fun football, something the board did not think that Cratz did.Cratz would later be cheered upon and praised by Hammarby fans in 2002 when he managed Swedish competing team Helsingborgs IF in a match against Hammarby. However, the club took the lead in the standings and in the second-to-last match, which was against Örgryte IS on 21 October, the club won 3–2 and secured its first ever Allsvenskan championship.
Hammarby stayed in Allsvenskan for the rest of the 2000s: In 2003 Allsvenskan the club finished second, and participated in the second qualifying and first rounds of the 2004–05 UEFA Cup. In 2006 Allsvenskan, Hammarby placed third overall and advanced to the UEFA Intertoto Cup, where they won their third round match, which advanced the team to the second qualifying and first rounds of the 2007–08 UEFA Cup.
In 2007, Bajen finished on the sixth place, and didn't qualify for any European cups. In 2008, Hammarby finished ninth, but 2009 was a disastrous year where the team finished last in the league and was relegated to the second tier known as Superettan.
The 2016 and 2017 seasons showed only a slight improvement for Hammarby, with the team ending in the 11th and 9th position respectively. Hammarby fared better in the local derbys. In 2016 Hammarby defeated the local rival Djurgården in all three fixtures. In 2017 the first encounter ended with a draw and the second with a Hammarby victory. The second local rival, AIK Fotboll, managed to defeat Hammarby by 3–0 in the first encounter in the league and a draw (0–0) in the second. Hammarby however beat AIK in the Swedish cup, earlier in the year. In 2017 the Hammarby – AIK encounters ended with one Hammarby win and one draw. Both Djurgården and AIK, however, fared much better overall than Hammarby in the league.
The club fared much better in 2018 under the reign of new manager Stefan Billborn, finishing 4th in the league. In 2019, Hammarby started the league play in a mediocre fashion, but made a strong finish to the season (with eight straight wins in the final eight games of the season) and ultimately finished 3rd in Allsvenskan. This meant that the club qualified for the 2020–21 UEFA Europa League, their first continental competition in over ten years.
Hammarby IF won the 2020–21 Svenska Cupen, their first title in the main domestic cup, through a 5–4 win on penalties (0–0 after full-time) against BK Häcken in the final. On 11 June 2021, Hammarby decided to terminate manager Stefan Billborn's contract, with the club placed 8th in the 2021 Allsvenskan table after eight rounds. On 13 June, Miloš Milojević, most recently an assistant at Red Star Belgrade, was appointed new head coach. Under the leadership of Milojević, Hammarby nearly reached the group stages of the first edition of the UEFA Conference League, only being defeated on penalties by FC Basel in the playoff. Nevertheless, Milojević was fired following the conclusion of the 2021 Allsvenskan, and Martí Cifuentes was hired as head coach in January 2022.
Cifuentes led the club to a 3rd-place finish in the 2022 Allsvenskan. On 30 October 2023, with two fixtures left of the 2023 season, he left the club for Queens Park Rangers. Hammarby ended the season in 7th place.
On 14 December 2023, Kim Hellberg was announced as the new head coach of Hammarby IF, signing a three-year contract. He led the club to consecutive second-place finishes in the league. On 24 November 2025, Hellberg was appointed head coach of EFL Championship club Middlesbrough, with the club reportedly paying around £250,000 in compensation to release him from his contract at Hammarby.
In the 1960s, the club changed from blue shorts to black. When Lennart Skoglund rejoined the club in 1964, he donated the club a set of black shorts because he thought the team's blue shorts looked awful.
In 1978, 60 years after the merger with Johanneshov, Hammarby changed its home colours from black and yellow to white shirts, green shorts and white socks. In 1997, the striped shirts returned, but with green and white colours, with green shorts and white socks. The yellow and black colours were retained for the away and third kits. Since 1997, only a few exceptions have been made to the green-and-white-striped home and the black-and-yellow-striped away shirts: In 2002 and 2014–2016, the team wore all-white jerseys, and in 2011 the team wore an all-grey away kit.
| 1978 | Adidas | None |
| 1979 | Minolta | |
| 1980–1985 | 1x2 | |
| 1986–1987 | ICL | |
| 1988–1989 | ICA Gruppen or Svenska Spel | |
| 1990–1991 | Nike | Svenska Spel |
| 1992–1993 | Mitre | |
| 1994–1995 | Puma SE | |
| 1996–1998 | Folksam or Svenska Spel | |
| 1999 | Folksam or Falcon Brewery | |
| 2000–2001 | Folksam, Falcon or Kungsörnen | |
| 2002–2003 | Coop | |
| 2004–2005 | Siemens | |
| 2005–2006 | Kappa | |
| 2006 | BenQ-Siemens | |
| 2007 | Nike | UNICEF |
| 2008–2009 | Finlux | |
| 2010–2011 | Pepsi | |
| 2011 | Kappa | |
| 2012 | None | |
| 2013 | Herbalife | |
| 2014 | ||
| 2015–2017 | Puma | LW |
| 2018 | Jobman Workwear | |
| 2019–2020 | Craft | |
| 2021–2023 | Huski Chocolate | |
| 2024– | Projob Workwear |
In 2001, the football club split the A team, B team and youth team into separate legal entities. A limited company called Hammarby Fotboll AB was founded, in which the parent football club owns a majority stake. In Sweden, all sport teams in the league systems are regulated to be non-profit associations, which means that a majority of the voting rights, according to the "51 percent-rule", is controlled by the members of the club.
Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), the founder and owner of Major League Soccer club LA Galaxy, was the biggest external investor and minority shareholder of Hammarby Fotboll AB between 2001 and 2019.
On 27 November 2019, it was announced that Zlatan Ibrahimović, widely regarded to be the greatest Swedish football player of all time, had acquired 23.5 percent of the outstanding shares in Hammarby, which meant that AEG reduced their stake by half.
The highest transfer fee received by Hammarby for a player was reportedly 50 million SEK for Williot Swedberg who was sold to RC Celta de Vigo in 2022, followed by 46 million SEK for Akinkunmi Amoo who left for F.C. Copenhagen in 2022, 44 million SEK for Odilon Kossounou who transferred to Club Brugge in 2019, and 30 million SEK for Aziz Ouattara Mohammed who was signed by Genk in 2022.
Hammarby has historically been regarded as a club with a mainly working-class fan base, due to its connection with the formerly working-class (but today gentrification) Södermalm district of Stockholm. Nowadays the club attracts fans from all parts of society. According to a 2016 poll, a large part of the club's fan base tends to support left-wing politics compared to those of their local rivals AIK Fotboll and Djurgården.
Hammarby has strong ties to Söderort, the southern part of Stockholm urban area. A 2012 poll showed that Hammarby was the most popular club in Söderort; 40 percent of the area's residents who had a favourite club chose Hammarby.
Hammarby's training ground, Årsta Idrottsplats, is located in the district of Johanneshov, while some of the older youth teams still play at Hammarby IP in Södermalm.
The club's average attendance for the 2015 season was 25,507, a new record high for Swedish top-division football. The former record was set back in 1959, when Örgryte IS had an average home attendance of 25,490. In 2022, Hammarby broke a new Allsvenskan record, drawing an average attendance of 26,372.
Hollywood actors Alexander Skarsgård and Joel Kinnaman are supporters of Hammarby, and have acted in several skits to promote the club.
Hammarby has several supporter clubs, the largest of which, Bajen Fans, had over 6,000 members in 2012 and is one of the largest in Scandinavia. Hammarby also has a number of ultras such as Hammarby Ultras, Ultra Boys, Söder Bröder, and E1 Ultras – who together organize the club's Tifo. Hammarby Ultras won "tifo of the year" in both 2000 and 2005, an award handed out by the Swedish Football Association.
The club is known for its vociferous fans. Drawing inspiration from Premier League, Hammarby fans introduced football chants to the Swedish terraces in 1970. In the 1982 finals against IFK Göteborg, Hammarby supporters attracted much attention for bringing a live samba band to the stands to accompany their chants, inspired by supporters in South America. In 2008, sports broadcaster Setanta Sports listed Söderstadion, Hammarby's home ground at the time, as the 11th noisiest stadium in the world.
Before the first league home game of the season, Hammarby fans gather at Medborgarplatsen in Södermalm. They then march together along Götgatan and cross the Skanstullsbron bridge before arriving at the stadium in Johanneshov. This tradition has taken place since 1998 and annually attracts between 15,000 and 20,000 supporters.
| Mattias Fri |
| Björn Ekblom |
| Richard von Yxkull |
| Markus Nilsson |
| Mikael Hjelmberg |
| Adrian von Heijne |
| Jocke Rydberg |
| Erik Börjeson |
| Vacant |
| Vacant |
| Martin Sundgren |
| Ábel Lőrincz |
| Mikael Olsson |
| Niklas Egnell |
| Gustav Pettersson |
| Atena Gerontidou |
| Ange-Désiré Obrou |
| Anders Bitén |
| Magnus Carlsson |
| Tim Altmark |
| Stefan Tanda |
| Magnus Carlsson |
| Daniel Erlandsson |
| Amin Faily |
| Gustav Scheutz Dahlström |
| Harry Butterworth |
| Sven Johansson |
| Willy Meisl |
| Olle Holking |
| Willy Wolf |
| Gustaf Martinsson |
| Per Kaufeldt |
| Sven Bergqvist |
| Folke Adamsson |
| Åke Andersson Folke Adamsson |
| Folke Adamsson |
| Rune Larsson Folke Adamsson |
| Folke Adamsson |
| Georg Kraemer |
| Lars-Gösta Hall |
| Jan Holmberg |
| Olle Nyström |
| Björn Bolling |
| Tom Turesson |
| Bengt Gustavsson |
| Bengt Persson |
| Björn Bolling |
| Lars Wass |
| Hans Backe |
| Kenneth Ohlsson |
| Tommy Davidsson |
| Göran Göransson |
| Rolf Zetterlund |
| Sören Cratz |
| Anders Linderoth |
| Tony Gustavsson |
| Thom Åhlund (caretaker) |
| Michael Borgqvist |
| Jesper Blomqvist (caretaker) |
| Roger Franzén |
| Roger Sandberg (caretaker) |
| Gregg Berhalter |
| Thomas Dennerby (caretaker) |
| Nanne Bergstrand |
| Jakob Michelsen |
| Stefan Billborn |
| Miloš Milojević |
| Martí Cifuentes |
| Ábel Lőrincz (caretaker) |
| Kim Hellberg |
| Kalle Karlsson |
| 1983–84 | UEFA Cup Winners' Cup | First round | KF Tirana | 4–0 | 1–2 | 5–2 | |
| Second round | FC Haka | 1–1 | 1–2 | 2–3 | |||
| 1985–86 | UEFA Cup | First round | Pirin Blagoevgrad | 3–1 | 4–0 | 7–1 | |
| Second round | St Mirren | 3–3 | 2–1 | 5–4 | |||
| Third round | 1. FC Köln | 2–1 | 1–3 | 3–4 | |||
| 1999 | UEFA Intertoto Cup | Second round | FC Gomel | 4–0 | 2–2 | 6–2 | |
| Third round | SC Heerenveen | 0–2 | 0–2 | 0–4 | |||
| 2002–03 | UEFA Champions League | Second qualifying round | FK Partizan | 1–1 | 0–4 | 1–5 | |
| 2004–05 | UEFA Cup | Second qualifying round | ÍA | 2–0 | 2–1 | 4–1 | |
| First round | Villarreal CF | 1–2 | 0–3 | 1–5 | |||
| 2007 | UEFA Intertoto Cup | First round | Klaksvík | 1–0 | 2–1 | 3–1 | |
| Second round | Cork City | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | |||
| Third round | FC Utrecht | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 (Away goals) | Winner | ||
| 2007–08 | UEFA Cup | Second qualifying round | Fredrikstad | 2–1 | 1–1 | 3–2 | |
| First round | Braga | 2–1 | 0–4 | 2–5 | |||
| 2020–21 | UEFA Europa League | First qualifying round | Puskás Akadémia | 3–0 | |||
| Second qualifying round | Lech Poznań | 0–3 | |||||
| 2021–22 | UEFA Europa Conference League | Second qualifying round | NK Maribor | 3–1 | 1–0 | 4–1 | |
| Third qualifying round | Čukarički | 5–1 | 1–3 | 6–4 | |||
| Play-off round | FC Basel | 3–1 | 1–3 | 4–4 | |||
| 2023–24 | UEFA Europa Conference League | Second qualifying round | FC Twente | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–2 | |
| 2025–26 | UEFA Conference League | Second qualifying round | Charleroi | 0–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | |
| Third qualifying round | Rosenborg BK | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 |
Hammarby won the top tier Damallsvenskan in 1985 and two national cups in 1994 and 1995. In 1994 it was also the championship's runner-up. Previously, the team had been the cup's runner-up in its first three editions (1981–83). The home ground of the women's team is Hammarby IP, although occasionally they have played competitive games at Zinkensdamms IP and Tele2 Arena.
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