IK Sirius

Full name	Idrottsklubben Sirius
Founded	1907
Ground	Studenternas IP, Uppsala (Capacity: 7,600)
Chairman	Lars Svensson
Manager	Andreas Brännström
League	Superettan
2008	Superettan, 12th
Home colours Away colours

IK Sirius is a Swedish football club located in Uppsala.

[edit] History

The club was formed in 1907, with its first (and perhaps only) success coming in 1924 when they reached the Svenska Mästerskapet final (not to be confused with Svenska Serien, which never acquired an official status of deciding the Swedish Champions). In the final, they were trounced 5-0 by Fässbergs IF.

The club spent the next forty years in lower division anonymity, before favourable economic circumstances enabled them to gain promotion to Allsvenskan in 1968, although they were relegated after just one season. The club's high point was arguably in the years 1973-1974, when the club again gained promotion to the highest league and its squad contained a number of high-profile players, such as Roland Grip, then a member of the Swedish national team.

After the club's relegation from Allsvenskan in 1974, the club played in the second division until they plummeted to fourth division level following a couple of hard years in the beginning of the 1980s. The 1990s were mostly spent at a second tier level, i.e. the old Division 1, corresponding to the modern Superettan. The club then played the first five years of the 21st century in Division 2, before returning to Division 1 in 2006 (although still playing at a third tier level).

With new manager Magnus Pehrsson and prodigal son and goal-getter Olle Kullinger (starting his career with IF VP and later also having played with Enköpings SK, Halmstads BK and IF Brommapojkarna in Superettan and Allsvenskan) bearing the captaincy, the club finished the season in second place, which meant they had to qualify in order to gain promotion to Superettan. IK Sirius played the first leg at home against Väsby United on October 25. Due to some seriously poor defending, Väsby were able to go 1-0 up just before the half-time break. Sirius recovered slightly in the second period, and were able to equalise in the 83rd minute. In the second leg, Sirius were completely dominant, but also rather wasteful with their chances. They managed, however to break the deadlock in the 73rd minute, Olle Kullinger managing to knock a rebound past the Väsby keeper. With the aggregate score of 2-1, Sirius celebrated their 100th anniversary in the Superettan, much to the delight of their fans.

Magnus Pehrsson resigned as manager and Pär Millqvist was appointed and brought in Gary Sundgren as his assistant manager. After a strong first half of the season the club finished 7:th in Superettan 2007. The team struggled through most of the 2008-season but finally finished 12:th and avoided relegation. Millqvist and Sundgren was sacked after the first six games and youth-team coaches Johan Mattsson and Andreas Brännström lead the team for the rest of the season.

As Sirius prepare for 2009 they have appointed Jens T Andersson as new manager. Key-players are Richard Richardsson, Gustaf Segerström, Pierre Gallo and Daniel Hoch

With just 6 games left to play of the 2009 season Jens T Andersson resigned as manager due to the lack of good results. Assistant coach Andreas Brännström were once again hired as new head manager but this time he could not save the team from degradation. In 2010 IK Sirius will play in Division 1 Norra.

[edit] Current squad

As of 25 April 2009

No. Position Player 1 GK Richard Richardsson 2 DF Love Lidström 3 DF Fredrik Söderbring 4 DF Jonas Lundmark 5 DF Daniel Blomgren 6 DF Haisem Ismail 7 MF Petter Österberg 8 MF Mani Tourang 9 FW Daniel Hoch 10 FW Johan Pettersson 11 MF Pierre Gallo 12 FW Viktor Olausson

No. Position Player 13 DF Gustaf Segerström 14 FW Shpetim Hasani 15 DF Daniel Fernberg 16 MF Eric Jernberg 17 MF Fredrik Olsson 18 DF Ian Ekstrand 19 MF Patrik St. Cyr 20 FW Markus Palmqvist 21 MF Martin Östlund 23 FW Sunday Bale 25 FW Ahmed Kango 31 GK Andreas Ahlm

[edit] Staff

• Head Coach: Andreas Brännström
• Assistant Coach: Johan Mattsson
• Assistant Coach: Mattias Eriksson

[edit] External links

• IK Sirius - official site
• Västra Sidan - supporter site