Sweden

Sweden (officially called the Kingdom of Sweden), is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe, bordered by Finland and Norway. It has been a member of the European Union since 1 January 1995. There is a little over 9 million people living in Sweden, which capital is Stockholm.
==Organisation==
Ice hockey is a very popular sport in Sweden, more or less equal with football (soccer) in term of spectator and practitioner popularity. The Swedish hockey pyramid is topped by the Swedish Hockey League, SHL, a league that exists since 1922, but only took its current name in 2013. It was previously called Elitserien. Second comes the HockeyAllsvenskan, usually simply referred to as the Allsvenskan, a name that has come and gone during the years in Swedish hockey to designate various competitions. The Allsvenskan as it is now, i.e. a true second division, was only implemented in 1999, as a league split in two 12 teams competitions, Norra (north) and Södra (south). Nowadays, the Allsvenskan is a single competition of 14 teams, as of 2009-10.
Ice hockey in Sweden wholy embraces the promotion and relegation system. The worst two teams from the Elitserien play the best four of the Allsvenskan at the end of the season in a league competition called the Kvalserien (qualification series). Likewise, the worst two teams from the Allsvenskan have to play in a similar competition, the Kvalserien til Allsvenskan, against the top Division 1 teams. Similar competitions exist for the promotion and relegation between the lower leagues.
Swedish hockey scheme	Swedish hockey scheme 	Swedish hockey scheme 	Swedish hockey scheme 	Swedish hockey scheme 	Swedish hockey scheme 	Swedish hockey scheme 	Swedish hockey scheme 	Swedish hockey scheme 	Swedish hockey scheme 	Swedish hockey scheme 	Swedish hockey scheme 	Swedish hockey scheme 	Swedish hockey scheme 	Swedish hockey scheme 	Swedish hockey scheme 	Swedish hockey scheme 	Swedish hockey scheme 	Swedish hockey scheme
League 	Divisions 	Divisions 	Divisions 	Divisions 	Divisions 	Divisions 	Divisions 	Divisions 	Divisions 	Divisions 	Divisions 	Divisions 	Divisions 	Divisions 	Divisions 	Divisions 	Divisions 	Divisions
Elite 	SHL 	SHL 	SHL 	SHL 	SHL 	SHL 	SHL 	SHL 	SHL 	SHL 	SHL 	SHL 	SHL 	SHL 	SHL 	SHL 	SHL 	SHL
Second 	Allsvenskan 	Allsvenskan 	Allsvenskan 	Allsvenskan 	Allsvenskan 	Allsvenskan 	Allsvenskan 	Allsvenskan 	Allsvenskan 	Allsvenskan 	Allsvenskan 	Allsvenskan 	Allsvenskan 	Allsvenskan 	Allsvenskan 	Allsvenskan 	Allsvenskan 	Allsvenskan
Third 	Division 1 A 	Division 1 A 	Division 1 A 	Division 1 B 	Division 1 B 	Division 1 B 	Division 1 C 	Division 1 C 	Division 1 C 	Division 1 D 	Division 1 D 	Division 1 D 	Division 1 E 	Division 1 E 	Division 1 E 	Division 1 F 	Division 1 F 	Division 1 F
Fourth 	Division 2 Norra A, B & C	Division 2 Norra A, B & C	Division 2 Norra A, B & C	Division 2 Norra A, B & C	Division 2 Norra A, B & C	Division 2 Norra A, B & C	Division 2 Västra A & B	Division 2 Västra A & B	Division 2 Västra A & B	Division 2 Stockholms A & B 	Division 2 Stockholms A & B 	Division 2 Stockholms A & B 	Division 2 Södra A, B & C 	Division 2 Södra A, B & C 	Division 2 Södra A, B & C 	Division 2 Södra A, B & C 	Division 2 Södra A, B & C 	Division 2 Södra A, B & C
Fifth 	Division 3 Norra A & B 	Division 3 Norra A & B 	Division 3 Norra A & B 	Division 3 Norra A & B 	Division 3 Norra A & B 	Division 3 Norra A & B 	Division 3  	Division 3  	Division 3  	Division 3 Stockholms A, Norra & Södra	Division 3 Stockholms A, Norra & Södra	Division 3 Stockholms A, Norra & Södra	Division 3 Södra / Östra	Division 3 Södra / Östra	Division 3 Södra / Östra	Division 3 Södra / Östra	Division 3 Södra / Östra	Division 3 Södra / Östra
Sixth 	Division 4  	Division 4  	Division 4  	Division 4  	Division 4  	Division 4  	Division 4  	Division 4  	Division 4  	Division 4 Stockholms Norra & Södra 	Division 4 Stockholms Norra & Södra 	Division 4 Stockholms Norra & Södra 	 	 	 	 	 	
====Women's====
*Riksserien
*Swedish Women Division 1
*Swedish Women Division 2
==History of hockey in Sweden==
Sweden became a member of the IIHF in 1912. Sweden made its debut at the Olympics in Antwerp in 1920, finishing 4th. Sweden was named the host city of the European Championships in 1921 and won the event after that only one nation (Czechoslovakia) had showed up.
==International==
		
Sweden	
Sweden	
Sweden					
		
Info		
Rinks		
Players		
Referees	
 2,024
		
Population	
9,354,462	
Indoor	
327	
Total	
60,374	
Male	
--
		
Capital	
Stockholm	
Outdoor	
136	
Male	
15,685	
Female	
--
		
IIHF Since	
March 23 1912			
Junior	
41,104		
						
Female	
3,612		
On the international level, Sweden is very competitive, continuously ranked in the elite of the world and part of the Big Seven. The Swedish National Team was created late in the 1920's. The team, nicknamed Tre Kronor ("three crowns", because of its logo) is highly regarded, and has several accomplishments justifying its reputation. Indeed, the team has won no less than eight Olympic medals, including two gold (1994 and 2006). Sweden also won eight World Championship editions (1953, 1957, 1962, 1987, 1991, 1992, 1998, 2006), as well as 18 silver medals and 15 bronze medals. Finally, the team ranked second at the 1984 Canada Cup.The Swedish U20, U18, Womens, and Womens U18 teams also participate in the world championships.
==Some great Swedish players==
Notable players from Sweden
*Thommy Abrahamsson
*Christer Abrahamsson
*Daniel Alfredsson
*Anders Andersson
*Niklas Andersson
*Åke Andersson
*Bo Berglund
*Charles Berglund
*Jonas Bergqvist
*Lars Björn
*Gert Blomé
*Göte Blomqvist
*Sigurd Bröms
*Erik Burman
*Nicklas Bäckström
*Anders Carlsson
*Andreas Dackell
*Ulf Dahlén
*Johan Davidsson
*Rolf Edberg
*Per-Erik Eklund
*Anders Eldebrink
*Peter Forsberg
*Bengt-Åke Gustafsson
*Inge Hammarström
*Leif Henriksson
*Leif Holmqvist
*Johan Holmqvist
*Tomas Holmström
*Lennart Häggroth
*Per-Olov Härdin
*Niclas Hävelid
*Göran Högosta
*Jonas Hoglund
*Calle Johansson
*Erik Johansson	
*Gustaf Johansson
*Gösta Johansson
*Magnus Johansson
*Mikael Johansson
*Nils Johansson (rojen 1905)
*Nils Johansson (rojen 1938)
*Tomas Jonsson
*Jörgen Jönsson
*Kenny Jönsson
*Nicklas Kronwall
*Jan Larsson
*Nicklas Lidström
*Hans Lindberg
*Pelle Lindbergh
*Peter Lindmark
*Stefan Liv
*Håkan Loob
*Henrik Lundqvist
*Tord Lundström
*Einar Lundell
*Lars-Eric Lundvall
*William Löfqvist
*Hans Mild
*Fredrik Modin
*Nils Molander
*Ove Molin
*Eilert Määttä
*Kent Nilsson
*Nisse Nilsson
*Ulf Nilsson
*Bert-Ola Nordlander
*Michael Nylander
*Markus Näslund
*Mats Näslund
*Carl-Göran Öberg	
*Hans Öberg
*Mattias Öhlund
*Uno Öhrlund
*Stig Östling
*Björn Palmqvist
*Ronald Pettersson
*Mikael Renberg
*Thomas Rundqvist
*Rolf Ridderwall
*Börje Salming
*Tommy Salo
*Tommy Samuelsson
*Tomas Sandström
*Daniel Sedin
*Henrik Sedin
*Lars-Erik Sjöberg
*Tommy Sjödin
*Thomas Steen
*Ulf Sterner
*Roland Stoltz
*Mats Sundin
*Niklas Sundström
*Patrik Sundström
*Hans Svedberg
*Lennart Svedberg
*Einar Svensson
*Kjell Svensson
*Håkan Södergren
*Dan Söderström
*Mikael Tellqvist
*Sven Thunman
*Sven Tumba Johansson
*Mats Waltin
*Håkan Wickberg
*Henrik Zetterberg
==National Teams==
*Sweden men's national ice hockey team
*Sweden men's national junior ice hockey team
*Sweden men's national U-18 ice hockey team
*Sweden national women's ice hockey team
*Sweden women's national U-18 ice hockey team
==See also==
* Elitserien
* Allsvenskan
* Allsvenskan (original)
Category:Hockey Countries
Category:Ice hockey in Sweden
Category:Countries