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In Borensberg footballers go for victory

16.01.2025
Tags: 
  • co-operation,
  • solar power,
  • Sweden

With a 100-year heritage and a wide range of football activities, Borensbergs IF FK is a vibrant sports club that strives to be truly inclusive. To us at Ilmatar, it is important to make a contribution to the community in the places where we develop our projects, and near Borensberg we are currently developing the Olivehult solar park.

This year on 24 August, Borensbergs IF turned 100 years old, celebrating with pomp and public festivities an organisation that started in 1924 with a few guys who wanted to play football against the neighbouring village. There was even a new song released in the club’s honour – ‘BIF – Vi går för seger’ (BIF – We go for victory), written and performed by a local rock band called The Moonshiners.

Over the years, the club has hosted a variety of sports, including athletics, handball, ice hockey, bandy, floorball, orienteering, walking and more. In 2006, the association was transformed into an umbrella organisation, Borensbergs IF Idrottsallians, and the football section, Borensbergs IF FK, is today solely a football club, but a very broad and popular one.

“In this club, anyone and everyone should be able to find a place. Players who want to go professional usually seek out larger clubs in the Motala or Linköping area, where there are teams with elite programmes,” says club chair Anna Andersson. 

Borensbergs IF FK currently has around 400 members, and has grown in recent years with the increasing number of families moving into the area.

-“We have the group ´Fun with Ball´ for children from about five years old, teams for boys and girls extending up to the upper teens, and in addition to that we currently have four senior teams, including one women’s team and three men’s teams in mixed series,” says Anna Andersson.

Thanks to the club’s co-operation with sponsors, the organisation and facilities can develop, the players are kept with match kits and the fees for members can remain at a reasonable level.

– Sponsorships are a very important part of our funding, and in addition to these, we receive grants from Motala Municipality and the Swedish Sports Confederation based on attendance at our activities. We also have some income-generating assignments during the year, for example, our members work as parking attendants at the Husbyfjöl market, drive support cars during Vätternrundan and sell various products.

Many Borensberg parents are very committed and involved in the the club.

“Sometimes though, we have to emphasise that not everyone involved needs to be a professional footballer. It’s equally important to be present and help, to comfort, refill water bottles, move cones at games and so on,” says Anna Andersson.

Currently, an astro-turf pitch is being built in Borensberg, which will provide even more space for both training and matches and extend the season thanks to lighting.

How do you see the club´s future? What are the long-term goals?

“Our ambition is that everyone who wants to play football should be able to do so, at any age and for as long as they want. It is meant to be fun, while also developing as a player and as a person. We obviously want our teams to achieve as much as possible, but we don’t have the ambition to make it to the top leagues. Borensberg is a small community and we as an association and community do not have the resources to do so, so we leave that to the teams in our neighbouring towns. At Borensberg, there is room for everyone – everyone is needed!

Three milestones in the history of Borensberg IF

  • 1943 when Bergvallen was inaugurated. And now, some 80 years later, it is being converted from natural grass to artificial turf.
  • 1971 when the ladies started playing football in BIF and also did two seasons in the highest series ‘ettan’ in the early 1980s.
  • 2006 when the reorganisation to Borensbergs IF Idrottsallians was carried out and the remaining sections became their own associations with a common BIF logo. 
Tags: 
  • co-operation,
  • solar power,
  • Sweden

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