Allsvenskan

In the 1910s, national league play had been tried in Sweden with Svenska Serien, however it turned out that financing a national league was difficult. Svenska Serien evolved into two series, consisting of a southern and northern group.

On 13 January 1924, football clubs met in Stockholm to found a nationwide series and on 3 August later in the year the opening game was played of the 1924–25 Allsvenskan. The first winner of the one-league twelve team Allsvenskan was GAIS. In 1931, the league started to decide the Swedish football champions.

In the early years, Norrland and Gotland teams were not allowed to play at higher levels in the league system, which was gradually changed to include the Norrland and Gotland teams on higher levels.

For the 1959 Allsvenskan, the season start was changed from autumn to spring to be played in one calendar year. In 1973, the league was expanded to contain 14 teams. In the 1970s, Malmö FF, under the lead of Spanish Antonio Durán and later English Bob Houghton, won five Allsvenskan and managed to proceed to the 1979 European Cup final, which they lost to Nottingham Forest.

From the 1982 season, the league introduced a play-off to determine the Swedish football champions. In the late 1980s, Malmö FF were dominant, winning the league five times in a row, but only two Swedish championships. The 1990 season saw the introduction of three points per win. The play-off season years were followed by two years of continuation league, named Mästerskapsserien.

The 1993 season saw a return to the classical format, again with 14 teams. IFK Göteborg won six Allsvenskan league titles in the 1990s.

In the early 2000s, Djurgårdens IF won three titles (2002, 2003 and 2005). In 2004, Örebro SK lost its place in the league due to financial problems, and Assyriska FF got their place. Since 2008, the league consists of 16 teams.

For the 2017 season, a league match ball was introduced and Select Sport was chosen as supplier for four years.