Halmstads BK

Halmstads Bollklubb, also known simply as Halmstad ([ˈhǎlmsta, -stɑːd]) or (especially locally) HBK or Bollklubben, is a Swedish professional football club located in Halmstad in the county of Halland. The club, formed 7 February 1914 and approved membership in the Swedish Sports Confederation on 6 March the same year. The club competes in the highest tier of Swedish football, Allsvenskan, and has won four national championship titles and one national cup title. HBK is a member-controlled club.

The club gained some European recognition in October 1995, when they defeated the successful Italian club Parma A.C. 3–0 at Gamla Ullevi (in Gothenburg) in the first of two matches in the Cup Winners' Cup. However, their second encounter, in Parma in November of the same year, ended with a crushing 0–4 defeat, eliminating them from the tournament.

In 1913 a group of youngsters, who called themselves Viking, wishing to create a more serious organization, met at Hotel Lugnet and decided to create an organization. They gave their new organization the name Halmstads Bollklubb and chose Axel Winberg as the club's first chairman. They also applied for membership in the Swedish Sports Confederation.

Except for soccer, the club also played bandy during the early years.

On 6 March 1914, the club was allowed entrance to Swedish Sports Confederation; the following year they played in their first competition, Pokalserien, a local tournament in which they faced IS Halmia and Halmstads Kamraterna; the club ended up last with 2 points and 5–16 in goal difference, in 1916 the same result was seen again, but this time the club only managed to score 1 goal totally. In 1917 the club was able to defeat Halmstads Kamraterna twice and end up in second place behind IS Halmia; the same year an athletics department was made part of the club. The final in the district championship was reached in 1918, but yet again IS Halmia proved too strong. In 1919 the club was for the first time able to defeat IS Halmia and Gustav "Pytt" Söderholm became top goalscorer in the tournament. In 1919, a swimming department was made a part of the club.

In 1920 the club won its first district championship title by defeating Falkenbergs FF with 4–0 in the final and boxing was introduced by the club. In 1921 the club yet again won the championship, this time by defeating IS Halmia, the club also won Hallandspostens pokal after defeating Halmstads IF 5–0. The same year, a women's section was added to the athletics part of the club. Halmstads BK won the Bernhard Aronssons vandringspris after defeating IS Halmia in 1922; the club also won a series of tournaments in Jönköping, Malmö and Ängelholm, however the district championship was lost to Varberg this year. The local rivalry with Halmia was also seen in bandy. The first-ever bandy game between two organised teams in Halland, is thought to have been played between these rival clubs in 1922.

By winning Hallandsserien the club was able to reach Sydsvenskan in 1923, which led to third place in 1924 after Varbergs GIF and Malmö FF, an international exchange of matches was started with FC Rudolfshügel from Austria and Danish B 03. In 1925 the club won the district championship and came in second place in Sydsvenskan. Halmstads BK was able to win Sydsvenskan in 1926 and was to play qualifying matches against IF Elfsborg to reach Allsvenskan, however, Elfsborg proved to be too strong and won 2–1 after three matches. Halmstad only reached third place in 1927, a large series of injuries made the club use 32 different players in total. In 1928 the club took part in the newly formed Division 2 Söder; the club also employed amateur coach Henning Helgesson, Örjans Vall was only selected as the second-best arena in the series duo to the lack of warm showers. In 1929 Halmstads BK celebrated 15 years with a match against SpVgg Sülz from Cologne, Germany; 1600 people watched the game in heavy rain, SpVgg Sülz won 5–2, the club also failed to win Division 2 Söder after a hard race with Stattena IF and Redbergslids IK, ending up in third place.

Halmstads BK started the next decade by ending up in 4th place in the league. A visit by CD Europa pulled a large audience, as the Spanish team won 6–5. After a late league start in 1931, due to heavy snowing, the club ended up in 4th place yet again. IS Halmia won the league in 1932 and in a campaign in the local newspapers tried to get the better Halmstads BK players to join the team. This failed, however, and after Halmstads BK defeated IS Halmia in a charity match for the city's unemployed, the swimmers also left the club and founded SK Laxen. Under the leadership of playing manager Gunnar Olsson Halmstads BK was able to reach Division 1, the top league at the time, in 1933 for the first time in the club's history, this after defeating BK Drott and Helsingborgs IF for the league title and then defeating Krokslätts FF with 4–0 totally. Unexpectedly, the club won bronze in their first season in the top league as when they finished in 4th place, Emil Carlsson also became the club's first player in the Swedish national team. The club was unable to repeat last season's result and ended up in 9th place in 1935, handball was also made a part of the club this year. Halmstads BK left the top league in 1936 after ending up second last, the club would have been able to stay if they had won over IK Sleipner in the last game, however, the team lost 2–4. The club was able to return to Division 1 in 1937, but a defeat against top competitor Helsingborgs IF saw them come in 2nd, former English professional player Harry Bruce became the first non-Swedish manager for the club. 1938 was a middle year for Halmstads BK as they ended up in 6th position at the end of the season, English club Sheffield United played a friendly against the club and won with 5–2. In 1939 the club celebrated its 25th year and won Division 2, however IFK Göteborg proved too strong in the qualify and won with 1–5 over the club.