Allmänna Idrottsklubben. Stockholm's finest
footballteam.
AIK was founded February 15th, 1891, by Isidor Behrens in Stocholm. AIK is an abbreviation for "Allmänna Idrottsklubben" which in direct translation means something like "The public sport club". The name was chosen because it indicated that the club was open for everybody and also that one of the main events was to be athletics which at that time was called "allmän idrott" in Swedish.
During the first ten years AIK competed in a large number of sports such as
fencing,
skating,
cycling,
wrestling,
athletics,
gymnastics and
tug of war! In 1896 the first attempts in football took place, and as early as in
1900 AIK won its first Swedish championship in football.
In the 20's the nickname "Gnaget" (translated: the
gnaw) was born. The reason was the colour of the black shirts that after too many washes looked like the colour of rats (grey). Supporters of AIK are called "Gnagare" (translated:
rodents).