IF Karlstad

Karlstad has run two football clubs through most of its recent history. In November 2019 that changed: Karlstad BK, a club dating to 1923 with roots stretching back to Karlstads IK and IF Göta, merged with Carlstad United BK, formed in 1998, to put the city's football under one roof and aim it at the professional leagues.

The new club took the name IF Karlstad and settled at Sola Arena in the Sandbäcken area, moving there in 2022 after Tingvalla IP had housed the game in the city for decades. Black shirts with blue stripes gave the club its nickname, SvartBlå.

The men's first team has never troubled the game's major honours, and its best league finish, fourth in Division 2, dates back to 1961 and again to 1980 — both well before the merger, under the old Karlstads BIK name. Local rivalry now runs two ways: the long-standing Karlstadsderby against Norrstrands IF, and a newer contest since FBK Karlstad climbed into Ettan Norra in 2024.

He arrived at Karlstads BIK in 1959 as player-manager, and it was his side that reached that fourth-place finish in 1961 before he moved on.