Östersunds FK

Östersunds FK

Full name	Östersunds Fotbollsklubb
Short name	ÖFK
Founded	31 October 1996; 28 years ago (31 October 1996)
Ground	Jämtkraft Arena, Östersund
Capacity	8,545[1]
Chairman	Peja Lindholm
Head coach	Thomas Gabrielsson Fredrik Åsmund Eliassen
League	Superettan
2024	Superettan, 14th of 16
Website	ostersundsfk.se
Home colours Away colours
Current season

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, that plays in the Swedish second tier, Superettan. The club was formed in 1996 as a merger of several Östersund clubs. The club is affiliated with 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.

From its creation, the club played mostly in the third tier of Swedish football but in 2013 Östersund achieved promotion to the second tier, Superettan, after achieving two consecutive promotions. In 2016, Östersund was promoted to the Swedish first tier, Allsvenskan, for the first time.^[3] In 2017, Östersund won the Svenska Cupen and qualified for the UEFA Europa League. The club was relegated to Superettan in 2021.^[4]

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.

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.^[5] 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.^[6] 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^[7] 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.^[8] 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%.^[9] 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.^[10]

On 27 October 2015, the club was promoted to Allsvenskan for the first time.^[11] 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, Östersund earned a shock 2–0 over 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 over 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.^[12]

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.^[13] Together with two other people, Kindberg is suspected of submitting false invoices in several companies, according to the prosecutor.^[14] Several of these companies have strong ties to Östersunds FK and the club's sponsorship deals.^[15][16] 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.^[17][18]

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 Allsvenskan after their loss to Varberg BoIS. In the 2022 season, Östersunds FK managed to barely escape relegation from Superettan, 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.^[19]

Accurate as of 23 February 2018

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

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.[1]

As of 15 July 2024^[21]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  GUI Aly Keita (captain) 3 DF  CAN Chrisnovic N'sa 4 DF  NOR Kristian Novak 5 DF  NGA Sunday Anyanwu 6 DF  SWE Jakob Hedenquist 7 MF  USA Nebiyou Perry 8 MF  BRA Erick Brendon 9 FW  SWE Sebastian Karlsson Grach 10 FW  SWE Simon Marklund 11 MF  UKR Mykola Musolitin 12 GK  ISL Adam Ingi Benediktsson 13 DF  NGA Onahi Ogbu 14 FW  GUA Arquimides Ordóñez (on loan from Cincinnati)

No. Pos. Nation Player 15 MF  ENG Jamie Hopcutt 16 FW  SWE Albin Sporrong 18 DF  SWE Philip Bonde 19 MF  SWE André Nader 20 MF  NGA Michael Aduragbemi Oluwayemi 21 MF  SWE Simon Kroon 22 MF  SWE Ahmed Bonnah 23 DF  SWE Ali Suljić 24 MF  SWE Henrik Norrby 25 MF  NOR Mansour Sinyan 27 DF  SYR Ziad Ghanoum 28 MF  CIV Yannick Adjoumani 77 GK  KEN Arnold Origi

This list of notable players includes those who have either been named player of the year at the club,^[22] or has become league top goalscorer, or went on to play in Allsvenskan (or for larger clubs abroad).

Nr	Name	Games	Goals
1	Aly Keita	213	0
2	Lars Oscarsson	212	10
3	Samuel Mensiro	204	4
4	Martin Johansson	193	15
5	Jamie Hopcutt	190	47
6	Daniel Westerlund	184	58
7	Dennis Widgren	179	3
8	Petter Jacobsson	172	7
9	Bobo Sollander	163	24
10	Brwa Nouri	154	23

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
2021	Aly Keita
2022	Ludvig Fritzson

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
8	Blair Turgott	21	68
10	Alex Dyer	19	93

As of 24 January 2021^[24]

Name Role Richard Persson Chairman Peja Anderson CEO Stefan Lundin Sporting Director Head Coach Fredrik Åsmund Eliassen Assistant Coach Arnold Origi Goalkeeping Coach Moubarak Abdallah Equipment Manager Vacant Doctor Jenny Larsson Head of Physiotherapists Michael Lagercrantz Physiotherapist Lisa Brandén Physiotherapist David Lidström Hultén Press Officer Vacant Supporter Liaison Officer

Östersunds FK (Föreningen)

Name Role Richard Persson Chairman Johan Lidenmark Boardmember Ulf Ringdahl Boardmember Åsa Bromée Boardmember Åsa Trolle Boardmember Mårten Ulander Boardmember

Östersunds FK Elitfotboll AB

Name Role Tom Pripp Chairman Kjell Andersson CEO Tommy Holmgren Vice Chairman Kent Hellström Board member

• 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)

^[26]

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

• 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

• 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. ^[29]

• Media related to Östersunds FK at Wikimedia Commons
• Östersunds FK – official site