Landskrona BoIS

Roots of football in Landskrona

One of the first sports clubs in Landskrona was GF Idrott and the oldest one as of today, which was founded in 1882. Another early sports club was the cycling club Landskrona Velocipedklubb. In 1893 they built a simple kind of cycle track which included a grass field in the middle, which eventually would become the first home ground of Landskrona BoIS. A year later football was introduced to a wider audience in Landskrona, at an event hosted by GF Idrott, at the pitch which the grass at Banan formed. This was an exhibition game between players of the football section of Malmö Velocipedklubb and it was attended by 700 spectators.

As a ban on totalizators was adopted in 1896, the interest of the cycling sport at tracks decreased and Landskrona Velocipedklubb whose economy already was poor, was a few years later forced to transfer their sports ground to Landskrona Town. GF Idrott formed sections of several sports: Gymnatics (1882), Athletics (1894), Football (1902), Swimming (1906). GF Idrott soon become a leading football club in Scania.

But GF Idrott would not end up becoming Landskrona's primary football club, however, which can be connected to GF Idrott's focus on other disciplines, as well as their typical middle class appeal in a town whose heavy industry was increasing.

Thus, GF Idrott's football section declined during the 1910s. In contrast, Landskrona-based competitor Diana appealed to the community's socialist and sobriety movement subcultures. Diana also had a youth association with strict rules and the club had a formal leadership structure. Not much is known about the other team, IFK Landskrona, which together with Diana would merge into Landskrona BoIS. Their main contribution to the merging seem to have been their players.

Foundation and pre-Allsvenskan era

The respective strengths led to a merger between Diana and IFK Landskrona on 7 February 1915, forming a new club, Landskrona BoIS, with IFK Landskrona's strong player roster complementing Diana's structural advantages. The former chairman of Diana, Bror Nilsson, also became the first chairman of Landskrona BoIS, a position that he held until the end of the 1940s. Until the summer of 1924, the club's home pitch was Velocipedbanan, referred to as Banan locally.

In July 1918, BoIS played their first match abroad, against Copenhagen-based KFUM.

The best player in Landskrona BoIS during the pre-Allsvenskan era was Albin Dahl, who became the club's first, and only, Olympic competitor, as he represented Sweden at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerpen. Albin played for the club between 1915 and 1921 before joining Helsingborgs IF together with his younger brother Harry Dahl in 1922. The transfer was fractious, as the clubs couldn't agree on the terms. However, unlike Albin, Harry returned to BoIS after only one season. For the following Olympics, 1924 in Paris, both brothers were nominated to play for Sweden, however, Harry's supervisor at Thulinverket refused to let him go.

1924–42

The year 1924 brought the construction of Landskrona IP, occasionally referred to as "Karlsunds IP" in reference to the beech forest located just west of the arena. The new arena enabled Landskrona BoIS to become one of twelve clubs participating in the inaugural season of Allsvenskan. The inaugural Allsvenskan matchday concluded with Landskrona BoIS as the first ever Allsvenskan table leader, following a 1–0 away victory against IFK Norrköping. (Until 1940, goal ratio was tiebreaker when separating teams with the same number of points.) The club's first Allsvenskan home game at Landskrona IP was a 4–0 defeat against IFK Göteborg. Landskrona finished their first season in Allsvenskan in 6th place.

Harry Dahl continued to play for the club until the 1931–32 season. When he left, he had scored an unmatched 334 goals in 410 matches, and he is still the club's best goalscorer of all time.

The team was relegated for the first time following the 1932–33 season, the first season following the departure of Dahl, but the club was promoted back Allsvenskan the following season. This time they had their first real manager in Nisse Svensson and he took Landskrona to the top of the league. The club won their first medal in the 1937–38 season, the Little Silver Medal as it is called in Sweden, awarded to the 3rd placed team in the league. BoIS was only a small difference in goal ratio away from the runners-up Helsingborg IF. The following 1938–39 season ended with Landskrona BoIS winning the bronze medal for their fourth-place finish. Knut Hansson (known as "Buckla") was a notable player and striker during the late 1930s, who was in the squad that finished third in the 1937–38 Allsvenskan. He later had to leave the club due to not being able to find a job in Landskrona.

BoIS participated in 17 of the initial 18 seasons of Allsvenskan, from the inaugural season in 1924–25 to the 1941–42 season.

1942–54

The 1940s were not as positive for the club as the 1930s. The team had no stability and was a yo-yo club for most of the 1940s. An exception to the otherwise mediocre performance came in the 1949 Svenska Cupen, the eighth edition of the tournament, in which Landskrona made their way to the final, defeating Mjölby, Helsingborgs IF, Råå IF and BK Kenty on the way. In the final, played on 24 July, they met AIK in front of 14,718 spectators at Råsunda Stadium in Solna. They lost 1–0, with the sole goal coming on a penalty for a handball.

After the 1941/42 relegation, Landskrona BoIS first became a top team in their Division 2 group, and on two occasions they won their group, thereby winning promotion back to Allsvenskan. On both occasions their stays were short, finishing last in both the 1944–45 and 1948–49 Allsvenskan seasons. The situation worsened in the 1951–52 season, with BoIS finishing ninth of ten teams in the second tier, and being relegated to the third tier. With Landskrona's other notable club, BK Landora, also relegated from Division 2, Landskrona now lacked any representation in the two top tiers of Swedish football. That situation would last only one year, however, as BoIS were promoted back to the second tier in 1953.

Notable players from this period include Sigvard Pettersson who scored 297 goals and Knut Hansson who had previously been in the squads that had gained two Allsvenskan medals.

Mid-1950s and 1960s

The club was relegated from Allsvenskan in 1949 and didn't return until the 1971 season, however Landskrona BoIS played qualification games for Allsvenskan in 1958, 1959, 1962 and 1968, all without success. In 1962, the qualification games took place through a four team group, with the clubs meeting each other only once . The third round was played at neutral grounds. When Landskrona BoIS game was finished, appeared to have secured promotion to Allsvenskan, but the other match, which had been delayed a few minutes, ended with a late goal, resulting in Stockholm's AIK securing an Allsvenskan spot instead. During this period the main star player was Hasse Persson. In the early 1960s, Claes Cronqvist had some success with the club, but moved after the 1965 season to Djurgårdens IF in Stockholm. The 1965 season was also the last one for the club's main star, Hasse Persson.

1970s

The two following seasons ended without any notable success. But the club had for a while had their eyes on a tall and muscular youth, in the local small club BK Landora, who played their home games at the B-pitch of Landskrona IP. A very talented but heavy centre forward, his name was Sonny Johansson. He, just like Claes Cronqvist in 1966, was of interest for the Stockholm club Djurgårdens IF. Together with his father Oscar, they made the long journey up to the Swedish capital. Everything looked like Sonny should put his signature on the transfer papers, but he didn't, stating that "dad would be so lonesome without me". After his return from the capital, Sonny did instead sign for Landskrona BoIS, and he would become true to his new club for his entire career over 17 seasons.

After rival club Helsingborg IF was relegated from Allsvenskan in 1968 (for its first time ever), and after having no success in the qualification to Allsvenskan in 1969, the year 1970 became a very important one for Landskrona BoIS. To reach the promotion qualifiers, they had to win at home against Helsingborgs IF, and so they did, with a single goal scored by the Danish player Leif Carlsen in front of more than 15,000 attenders. In the home game of the qualification for Allsvenskan, more than 15,000 attenders came to Landskrona IP again, and BoIS after goals by Tommy Gustafsson and Sonny Johansson, won 2–0 against Sandvikens IF. The away game was played in the northern town Luleå, just as the winter began at the 66th latitude. BoIS managed a goalless draw as result. In the final game, at neutral Nya Ullevi in Gothenburg, BoIS had to play Skövde AIK and at least another draw was required for the promotion. It began bad, as Skövde scored twice, but by goals from Sonny Johansson and Leif Carlsen, Landskrona BoIS finally managed to be promoted back to Allsvenskan, after an absence for 21 seasons. As a result of the success, the Danish player Leif Carlsen was forced to leave BoIS. By 1971, the Swedish Football Association didn't allow foreign players in Allsvenskan. During the 1971 season Landskrona BoIS managed to finish on 6th place, but won only 5 games. Their home average attendance during the season was 8,504 presumably their best ever (by 2014).

BoIS stayed in Allsvenskan for ten seasons, which included two bronze medals 1975 and 1976 and a Swedish Cup victory in 1972. During the 1970s their former rivals from Helsingborg had no luck in their attempts to return to Allsvenskan, and the main rivals instead became Malmö FF. In 1974 BoIS beat Malmö FF, with 2–1, for the first time at Malmö Stadion, in front of 24,746 attenders. Worse was the 1975 home game against Malmö FF, as the guests won 0–5, the attendance in Landskrona that year was though as high as 17,696, the second best attendance at IP.

The club's ever main star Sonny Johansson contributed to this in a major way. Sonny played for the club from 1968 to 1984 and scored more than 300 goals. He was the highest-scoring player in Allsvenskan during the 1970s. In 1971, Claes Cronqvist returned to the club and remained until the relegation in 1980. Unlike in the 1960s when he was a forward, he mostly played as defender during the 1970s. Cronqvist holds the record for being sent off more than any player in Allsvenskan, 7 times, including 5 times while representing BoIS (1971–80) and twice during his time with Djurgården.

In autumn 1978, the club got into problems. The supposed manager for the years to come, Lennart Söderberg, changed his mind in a very late stage, and suddenly the club was without a manager for the next season. After a hasty search, Ulf Schramm became manager. But already in the spring of 1979, the players began to make severe complaints to the chairman and board, suggesting that Schramm was "incompetent". This soon led to the dismissal of Schramm. At this time, within Swedish football, a dismissal of a manager in the middle of a season was a rare event. And Ulf Schramm eventually decided to process the club. Landskrona BoIS chairman of the time Claes Munck af Rosenschöld, who also was a solicitor, represented the club successfully during a trial that attracted some national attention. Schramm never appealed the matter.

After the 1973 energy crisis, times became hard for the Swedish shipyards. There were six large shipyards along the Swedish western coast. Three of them were located in Gothenburg and in Landskrona was the Öresundsvarvet shipyard, by far the town's largest employer with 3500 employees. By 1978 most shipyards were nationalised and threatened with closure. Then the club and its players decided to do something for Öresundsvarvet. In the Allsvenskan premiere match, Landskrona BoIS faced IFK Göteborg from Gothenburg away. Just before kick-off the BoIS players unfurled a banderole which got the large crowd to applaud the away team in a very rare manner. The banderole simply stated "Save the shipyards", which greatly also appealed to the Gothenburg audience.

In spring 1979 the club suddenly had no goalkeeper, as first goal keeper Ronny Sörensson and second goalkeeper Leif Hult both had suffered injuries. Minor ones, but nevertheless none of them could play the away game against IFK Sundsvall in Sundsvall. In the end, it was decided to put the goalkeeper coach Rolf Nilsson behind the posts. He was then 46 years, 8 months and 13 days old, which was, and still is, the record for the oldest player ever to play in Allsvenskan (as of March 2015). Nilsson conceded two goals, but BoIS won the game with 3–2. Örebro SK has used an even older goal keeper in the zeroes, but only as a substitute goal keeper who never got to play.

1980s and early 1990s

The manager issue during the end of the 1970s and early 1980s led to a relegation from Allsvenskan, and ten consecutive seasons at the Swedish top level came to an end during the autumn of 1980. After having been close to reach qualification for Allsvenskan in 1983, the goal of a return to Allsvenskan ended the following season, as a relegation down to third tier of Swedish football followed 1984. This was the second time in the clubs' history that Landskrona BoIS had to play third tier football. The first time was in 1952/53, and the club had then been promoted back after one season.

The difference between tier 2 and 3 was huge in 1985. As the second tier comprised two leagues only, North and South, a total of 28 clubs, while third tier was divided into twelve regional leagues, and 144 clubs in all. In order to get promotion, the clubs had both to win its own regional league, followed by a home and away qualification against any of the other third tier league winners. Out of 12 league winners, 6 got promoted. The relegation from the higher league comprised the three last teams in both second-tier leagues, North and South.

An all-time low home attendance was noted on a rainy day in June 1985, as fewer than 400 people watched the club be defeated by Hittarp with a score of 1–2. In the regional league, after around half of the series, BoIS was excluded from the top by other clubs. However, after winning more games in combination with main contenders (Varbergs BoIS and Råå IF) began to lose their games, BoIS managed to win the league with several match days remaining. Now the away-home qualifying games against Linköpings FF would decide which club that would be promoted. Both games ended 1–1 and a penalty shoot-out became the final tie breaker. BoIS forward, the well-bearded Ole Jensen scored the winning penalty for the club in front of a crowd of 6,000, and Landskrona BoIS was back at the second level in Swedish football again. However, during the years 1986 until 1991, the club mostly had to fight to avoid a new relegation. In 1992 manager Conny Karlsson broke this trend, finishing on 3rd place. The following year, Karlsson got Landskrona BoIS promoted to Allsvenskan for the first time in 14 years.

1994–1996

However, the club chose not to prolong the contract with successful manager Conny Karlsson. Instead, the Dane Torben Storm became new manager. The club was relegated in the 1994 season. However, the relegation did not become definite until the last day of the season. Major financial troubles became evident during the later part of the season A temporary board, led by Allan Karlsson, now got the task from the club members, to take over after the former chairman. The club needed to sell some of their profile players, such as Andreas Jakobsson and Greger Andrijevski, and the club's financial troubles led to bad results in the second tier, Division 1 Södra. For the second year in a row, the club was relegated.

1997–1999

Now the temporary board brought the club's former legendary and celebrated striker Sonny Johansson back to the club as manager for a period of three years. And his first task, to bring the club back to the second tier of Swedish football was immediately accomplished during the 1997 season. And already the following season, 1998, Landskrona managed to become the runners-up in their league, just one single point behind the winners Kalmar FF. Only a lost home-away qualifier against Trelleborgs FF prevented a second promotion in a row for the club. During the 1999 season, a re-construction of the Swedish second tier was imminent. Instead of two geographical leagues, labeled as Division 1 South and North, the national Superettan would begin in 2000. Hence, it became imperative to finish the league at the upper half of the table, as the other half of the teams would be relegated. Landskrona BoIS secured their place in Superettan after a memorable game against Kristianstads FF. After 88 minutes, the score was 2–4 to Kristianstad, but when the referee blew his pipe this had changed into 5–4 to Landskrona BoIS.

2000–2005

During its first ever season, Landskrona BoIS managed to profile themselves in Superettan, and defeated Malmö FF away, but the club had to wait one season longer for promotion. They eventually become successful in the 2001 Superettan, securing promotion to Allsvenskan after winning against Assyriska in the final game. In the premiere in Allsvenskan 2002, Landskrona BoIS defeated local rivals Helsingborgs IF with 6–2 at home, after a hattrick scored by striker Danijel Milovanović. During the first half of the season, BoIS was in top of the league, and even leading the table. They finished on 11th place in 2002, 2003 and 2004, but were relegated after finishing on 12th place in 2005 and losing the qualification game against GAIS. Notable players during the latest period in the highest division were amongst others Danijel Milovanovic, Hasan Cetinkaya, Daniel Nannskog, Håkan Söderstjerna, Alexander Farnerud, and Jonas Olsson.

Since 2006

Between 2006 and 2014, Landskrona BoIS have played nine consecutive seasons in the second highest division, Superettan. Swedish footballer Henrik Larsson was appointed manager of the club in 2009, and remained for three years before his departure following the 2012 season. Landskrona BoIS was relegated after the 2014 season and had to celebrate its hundredth birthday as a third tier club. The 1998 to 2013 chairman, Kenneth Håkansson, who still was a member of the board, refused to answer criticism asked by the local newspaper. The club was relegated to the third tier (a division split in two regional leagues) just before the club's 100 year anniversary, in the 2014 season. After three years outside Swedish elite football, the club managed to return to Superettan for the 2018 season. This began rather well and included a memorable 1–1 tie vs local rivals Helsingborg IF in front 8.192 spectators, the highest home attendance since Allsvenskan in 2005. BoIS equalized a late HIF score around the 90th minute. But during the summer most went all wrong, and the club had to face a relegation and return to the third tier. After a failed qualification (vs Öster) for Superettan in 2019, the club managed to gain promotion to the second tier in December 2020, and finished the 2021 Superettan campaign in 6th place.