Hammarby FF

In 1889, Hammarby Roddförening ("Hammarby Rowing Association") was established in Södermalm, with engineer Axel Robert Schönthal, the first chairman, being credited as the founder. By 1897, it had diversified into different sports, and was renamed Hammarby Idrottsförening ("Hammarby Sports Club"), or Hammarby IF for short.

1915–1940s: Establishment of football club

In 1915, the sporting ground Hammarby IP was built in Södermalm. Due to a lack of football pitches in Stockholm, several other clubs proposed to merge with Hammarby IF to get access to the stadium. An offer from Klara SK was accepted and Hammarby officially established a football department on 13 August 1915. The club played its first competitive game two days later, and won 5–0 against Västerås SK in the "Östsvenska serien", a local league, with Ragnar Gunnarsson scoring the inaugural goal. In 1916, Hammarby competed in Svenska Mästerskapet, a cup by then held to decide the Swedish Champions, for the first time. In 1918, Hammarby also merged with Johanneshofs IF, a club from the neighbouring district Johanneshov.

In 1920, Hammarby first competed in the Svenska Serien, by then the highest league in Swedish football, with key players like goalkeeper Victor Olsson, defender Gösta Wihlborg and forward Gustav Björk. During the upcoming years, Hammarby had a strong showing where they went to the finals of Svenska Mästerskapet in 1922, losing 1–3 to GAIS.

Hammarby qualified to compete in Allsvenskan's inaugural season in 1924. On 3 August said year, Rikard Larsson became Hammarby's first goalscorer in Allsvenskan, and also the first goalscorer in the league's history, in a 1–5 loss against Örgryte IS. The club would eventually finish last in the 1924–25 Allsvenskan, and were relegated to Division 2, which was then the second highest league in Sweden.

During the upcoming years, Hammarby failed to produce any sort of challenge in Swedish football. Several star players emigrated to the United States, transferred to other clubs or opted to instead play ice hockey for Hammarby. In 1936–37 and 1937–38, the club won the second division, but lost the playoff matches that would have promoted them to Allsvenskan. Instead, Hammarby got promoted in 1938–39, where they knocked out IFK Norrköping following outstanding performances from goalkeeper and star player Sven Bergqvist.

Hammarby would, however, suffer from another relegation, finishing last in Allsvenskan in 1939–40. Back in Division 2, the club finished in the top four for the next six years. In the 1946–47 season, the club finished at the foot of the table, and because of a restructuring of the league system, the club got relegated to Division 4.

1950s–1960s: A period of yo-yoing

Hammarby did not return to the second highest league until the 1950–51 season. In the 1954–55 season, the club returned to Allsvenskan, but this time it finished sixth and managed to stay for another season. However, the club underwent yo-yoing, having been promoted and relegated between Allsvenskan and Division 2 seven times until 1970. Nacka Skoglund, one of the league's top players who played for Hammarby from 1944 to 1949, returned to Hammarby to play from 1964 to 1967. In his return debut, he landed a corner kick into the goal minutes into the match; in 1984, the club erected the Nackas Hörna (Nacka's corner) statue with his kick as the pose.

1970s–1980s: Stable Allsvenskan years

In the 1970 Allsvenskan season, Hammarby had acquired only 3 points in the spring portion of the season, but during the autumn, showed a dramatic improvement. With star players Kenneth Ohlsson and Ronnie Hellström, and with a crowd that tried out supporter songs for the first time, the club went through the autumn half undefeated and finished in fifth place, its best showing in Allsvenskan. The club would stay in Allsvenskan through the rest of the 1970s, attracting large crowds, despite not returning above fifth place. Also in 1978, the club changed from black/yellow to green/white colours.

In the 1982 season, Swedish football introduced a playoff system for the top 8 teams in Allsvenskan to decide a champion. The playoffs consisted of two matches in which the aggregate score would determine who would advance. The club had placed second overall that season and had not lost a home game. After defeating Örgryte in the quarter-finals, and coming back from a 1–3 deficit to beat Elfsborg 4–3 in the semi-finals, Hammarby was in the final against IFK Göteborg. Hammarby won its away match 2–1, but lost 1–3 in its home match to a sold-out crowd.

In the following year, Hammarby finished fifth in the league, but lost to AIK in the play-offs. In the Svenska Cupen tournament, Hammarby reached the finals but lost against IFK. However, since IFK qualified for the UEFA Cup that year, Hammarby qualified for the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, its first major international competition, where the club lost to Finland's FC Haka in the second round. The Hammarby squads finished consistently in the top six in the league every year through 1987.

In 1988, Hammarby finished last in the standings and were relegated to the second tier. Although the club placed first in 1989, it finished last in 1990.

1990s–2000s: Tough nineties, restructuring, champions

Hammarby would stay in the second tier in 1991 and 1992, but in 1993, the team finished in first place and were promoted to Allsvenskan. In 1995 Allsvenskan, the team finished last and were relegated, but returned to the 1998 Allsvenskan with a third-place finish.