IK Sirius Fotboll

Sirius
Full nameIdrottsklubben Sirius
NicknameBlåsvart (Blue-Black)
Founded1907 (1907)
GroundStudenternas IP, Uppsala
Capacity10,522
ChairmanUlrika Moström Ågren
Head coachAndreas Engelmark
LeagueAllsvenskan
2025Allsvenskan, 9th of 16
Websitewww.siriusfotboll.se

Idrottsklubben Sirius, more commonly known as IK Sirius or Sirius, is a Swedish professional football club located in Uppsala. The club is affiliated with Upplands Fotbollförbund and play their home games at Studenternas IP.[1]

IK Sirius are currently playing in the Swedish top flight Allsvenskan for the tenth season in a row after having spent much of their history in lower divisions.

History

Founding

On 9 August 1907 the sports club that would become known as IK Sirius was founded in a ditch at the side of a sporting ground in Uppsala. Names like Svartbäckens IK and IK Spurt were originally used but on 5 April 1908 the members settled on the current name.[2] The club was originally founded for athletics, but took up football the following year.[3]

The IK Sirius football team of 1914.

In the 1910s Sirius started competing in Svenska Mästerskapet which was the cup competition that decided who would become the Swedish Champions at that time. In 1917 they reached the semi-finals after victories against teams such as Hammarby IF and IFK Norrköping, a feat which they would repeat again the following year. Their greatest success in the pre-Allsvenskan era came in 1924 when they made it all the way to the Svenska Mästerskapet final where they lost against Fässbergs IF.[2]

The Allsvenskan years

Roland Grip was a Sirius player when he participated in the 1974 FIFA World Cup.

After the formation of the Swedish football league system the club had spent forty years in lower divisions when businessman Owe Bergström became club president in 1964. Even though Sirius was playing in the third tier at the time he was able to use his personal wealth to sign five players from reigning Swedish champions Djurgårdens IF, three of who were part of the Sweden men's national football team. This enabled them to gain promotion to Allsvenskan in 1968, although they were relegated after just one season. The pinnacle was reached during the years of 1973–1974, when the club again gained promotion to the highest division and its squad contained a number of high-profile players, such as Roland Grip.[4][5]

Obscurity and comeback

A chart showing the progress of IK Sirius through the Swedish football league system. The different shades of grey represent league divisions.

After the club's relegation from Allsvenskan in 1974, Sirius played in the second division until they plummeted all the way down to the fourth tier following a couple of difficult years in the beginning of the 1980s. The club recovered slightly and the 1990s were mostly spent in the second tier of Swedish football. However, the club had accumulated large debts and was struggling financially during those decades.[6]

Just as the new fully national second tier Superettan was started in the early 2000s Sirius found themselves back down in the third division again. It would take until 2006 for the team under manager Magnus Pehrsson to be able to get promoted again through a promotion playoff against Väsby United where Uppsala-born team captain Olle Kullinger scored the deciding goal and the club would get to celebrate their 100 year anniversary in the 2007 Superettan.[7]

Superettan and promotion back to Allsvenskan

A big turning point for Sirius came in 2010 when businessman Bengt Ågerup started investing in the club. Even though they were at that point back in the third tier his financial backing enabled them to strengthen their organization with former player Ola Andersson as the new club president, Kim Bergstrand and Thomas Lagerlöf as first team coaches and Petter Hansson as head of the youth academy. Ågerup also paid the full salary of star signing Johan Arneng and covered any yearly losses the club had financially. His investments in the club ended abruptly in 2013 when his company was raided by the Swedish tax authorities due to around $120 million in unpaid taxes.[8]

Sirius playing away against Jönköpings Södra IF in the 2015 Superettan.

The investments had paid off however, as in that same year the club won the 2013 Division 1 without losing a single game and returned to Superettan. They also started seeing success in the Swedish Cup where they reached the quarter finals, and the following year the semi-finals. Sirius finished in sixth place in their first year back in the second tier and the next season they barely missed out on reaching the top division after losing the promotion play-offs on the away goals rule.[9] Success would come though in the 2016 Superettan where they finished in first place, qualifying them for promotion with two game left of the season and returning to Allsvenskan after a 42-year-absence.[10]

Allsvenskan and a strategy change

Since returning to Sweden's top flight the club has shifted away from relying on outside investments and is instead focused on developing and giving playing time to young players. When the players eventually get sold that money is reinvested both in infrastructure for the club and the next generation of young players. In the summer of 2026 Sirius made their biggest ever transfer when Robbie Ure was sold to La Liga club Sevilla FC for £5.6m plus add-ons.[11]

Kit

Stefano Vecchia wearing the clubs all white away kit in 2020.

Sirius play in blue and black vertically striped shirts with black shorts and socks, although historically there have been other variations. In the early days of the clubs existence they used all black shirts and during the era of being sponsored by businessman Owe Bergström in the 1960s and 1970s they wore all white home kits as he was a fan of Real Madrid and wanted Sirius to look similar to the spanish club. The all white version is now used as the teams away kit. Sirius are also known to at times have a yellow star underneath the club badge on their shirts.[5][12][13]

Period Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor (chest)
–2009 Germany Puma Phadia
2010–2014 United States Nike UNT
2015–2017 Volkswagen
2018–2019 Byggconstruct
2020– Denmark Select

Recent seasons

Summary of the ten most recent seasons for IK Sirius:[14]

Season Division Tier Pos Pl W D L + - P Cup Attendances
2016 Superettan 2 ↑ 1 301875 542361 Group stage 2,916
2017 Allsvenskan 1 7 3011712 465140 Group stage 5,174
2018 13 308616 376130 Group stage 3,998
2019 11 308517 345129 Group stage 4,288
2020 10 3091110 435138 Group stage 0
2021 11 3010713 395337 Group stage 4,580
2022 11 309813 314235 Group stage 5,614
2023 8 3012612 514442 Group stage 6,329
2024 9 3012513 474641 Group stage 7,033
2025 9 3011613 535139 Semifinals 6,742

Stadium

Sirius play their home games at Studenternas IP located at the side of the Fyris river running through central Uppsala. It was originally built in 1909 as a sports ground funded collaboratively by the Students' union and the government. Designed to also host a variety of other activities besides football the stadium opened with a game of bandy and also hosted athletics. In 2018 work began to gradually demolish the old stadium and replace it with a newly built football stadium with the same name which was finalized before the start of the 2020 Allsvenskan season.[15]

The old main stand being built in 1939.
Studenternas IP in 2013 before the rebuild.
The rebuilt stadium which is used by Sirius today.

Players

Current squad

As of 9 August 2026[16]

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  MLI Ismael Diawara
2 DF  GUI Mohamed Soumah
3 DF  UKR Bohdan Milovanov
4 DF  DEN Tobias Anker
5 DF  SWE Henrik Castegren
6 MF  DEN Marcus Lindberg
7 FW  SWE Joakim Persson
8 MF  NED Matthias Nartey
9 FW  SCO Robbie Ure
10 MF  SWE Melker Heier
11 FW  SWE Isak Bjerkebo
12 DF  SWE Isaac Höök
14 FW  NED Jesper Uneken
15 DF  SWE Simon Sandberg
No. Pos. Nation Player
17 FW  SWE Neo Jönsson
18 MF  SWE Adam Wikman
19 FW  SWE Noel Milleskog
20 DF  SWE Victor Ekström
21 MF  SWE Charlie Nildén
22 DF  SWE Oscar Krusnell
23 FW  SCO Finlay Neat
24 MF  SWE Victor Svensson
25 FW  NGA Samuel Adindu
27 DF  SWE Ben Magnusson
34 GK  SWE David Celic
36 MF  SWE August Ljungberg
39 GK  SWE Villy Strindlund
— MF  FIN Otso Liimatta

Out on loan

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
8 MF  DEN Andreas Pyndt (at Fredericia until 30 June 2027)
No. Pos. Nation Player
26 MF  SWE Hugo Mella (at IFK Värnamo until 30 November 2026)

Notable players

The following players are either included in the top ten of the Uppsala Nya Tidning article series on the greatest Sirius players of all time[17], or in the list of the supporters' favorite players from the official IK Sirius website.[18]

Sigge Parling on the right side of Brazilian footballer Pelé during the 1958 FIFA World Cup Final.
Name Years
Sweden Leif Eriksson 1967–1968, 1976–1979
Sweden Roland Grip 1971–1975
Sweden Hans Selander 1973–1974
Sweden Stefano Vecchia 2017–2020
Sweden Klebér Saarenpää 1993–1994
Sweden Björn Carlsson 1969–1974
Sweden Ola Andersson 1990–1994, 2001
Palestine Moustafa Zeidan 2021–2022
Sweden Hans Nilsson 1966–1968, 1974–1975, 1979
Nigeria Moses Ogbu 2010–2015, 2017–2018
Sweden Sigge Parling 1961–1962
Italy Jano Alicata 1966–196?
Sweden Morgan Hedlund 1968–1970
Sweden Henrik Östlin 1973–?
Iran Gholam Hashempour 1980–1981, 1984–1985
England Darren Foreman 1995
Sweden Kjell Johansson 1997–2001

Management

Technical staff

As of 21 August 2026[19]
Former Sweden men's national football team player Petter Hansson currently work as the clubs transition coach.
Name Role
Sweden Jonathan Ederström Sporting director
Sweden Andreas Engelmark Head coach
Sweden Max Westerberg Assistant coaches
Sweden Henrik Åhnstrand
Sweden Petter Hansson Transition coach
Morocco Karim Fegrouch Goalkeeping coach
Sweden John Swärd Head of scouting
Sweden Fredrik Leierdahl Scout
Sweden Tobias Myhrberg Analyst
Republic of Ireland Diarmuid Clancy Fitness coach
Sweden Jakob Johansson Team doctor
Sweden Oskar Widlund Chiropractics
Sweden Petter Isaksson
Sweden Gert Andersson Equipment manager

Managerial history

Honours

Cup

League

Footnotes

References

  1. ↑ "Kontaktuppgifter och tävlingar – Upplands Fotbollförbund – Svenskfotboll.se". Retrieved 13 January 2011.
  2. 1 2 "1907: Så började det".
  3. ↑ "IK Sirius". Nordisk familjeboks sportlexikon: uppslagsverk för sport, gymnastik och friluftsliv. Band 6 S–Övrevoll (in Swedish). Stockholm: Nordisk familjeboks förlag. 1946. p. 252.
  4. ↑ "Fotbollssverige häpnade över miljonrullningen". Retrieved 18 August 2026.
  5. 1 2 "Sirius från trean värvade landslagsspelare". Retrieved 18 August 2026.
  6. ↑ "Dokument: Sirius väg till allsvenskan del 1". Retrieved 18 August 2026.
  7. ↑ "Sirius till superettan". Retrieved 18 August 2026.
  8. ↑ "Mannen bakom succén krävs på 1,2 miljarder". Retrieved 20 August 2026.
  9. ↑ "Sirius på väg mot allsvenskan: "Byggt nånting bra under många år"". Retrieved 20 August 2026.
  10. ↑ "Sirius tillbaka i Allsvenskan – efter 42 år". Retrieved 20 August 2026.
  11. ↑ "High-flying Sirius chase shock Allsvenskan title despite losing 'best player in league'". Retrieved 20 August 2026.
  12. ↑ "IK Sirius Kit History - Football Kit Archive". Retrieved 22 August 2026.
  13. ↑ "Matchtröjan genom åren". Retrieved 22 August 2026.
  14. ↑ "Svensk fotboll - alla serier". Retrieved 26 August 2026.
  15. ↑ "Historien om Studenternas". Retrieved 26 August 2026.
  16. ↑ "Truppen" [Squad] (in Swedish). IK Sirius Fotboll. Retrieved 8 July 2026.
  17. ↑ "Sirius 100-bästalista". Retrieved 24 August 2026.
  18. ↑ "Kultspelarna – siriuspublikens egna favoriter". Archived from the original on 22 October 2013. Retrieved 9 November 2013.
  19. ↑ "Herrlaget Truppen". Retrieved 21 August 2026.