Djurgårdens IFDjurgårdens IF was founded on 12 March 1891 at a café at Alberget 4A on the island of Djurgården in central Stockholm. The founder was 22-year-old John G. Jansson, and the club is bound up with the sporting tradition of the whole district. The neighbouring AIK was founded in the same month of 1891, and the Stockholm rivalry between the two clubs has run from the very start. The football section was formed in 1899 with the help of former GAIS player Teodor Andersson. The club plays in light-blue and dark-blue stripes, hence the nickname Blåränderna (the Blue Stripes), and it is also called Järnkaminerna (the Iron Stoves).
The first four Swedish championships were won in 1912, 1915, 1917 and 1920, at a time when the champion was decided in a cup-style final (Svenska Mästerskapet). The league of that period, Svenska Serien, Djurgården never won. Since 1944 it has been a regular member of Allsvenskan, and along the way it won four titles in the league era: in 1954–55, 1959, 1964 and 1966.
In 1955–56 Djurgården became the first Swedish club in the European Cup. In the first round it eliminated Poland's Gwardia Warsaw (0–0 at home, 4–1 away), and in the quarter-final it went out to Scotland's Hibernian (1–3 and 0–1). The results of the 1950s and 1960s belong to the club's historic best, but then came decades without a title. The club won the Swedish Cup in 1989–90, and in 2000, after promotion from Superettan, it returned to the top flight.
A particularly successful period came between 2002 and 2005. Under coaches Zoran Lukić and Sören Åkeby the club won the league and the Swedish Cup in 2002 and defended the title in 2003. Under Kjell Jonevret it won the Cup in 2004 and another double in 2005. In total, in those years the club won three league titles (2002, 2003, 2005) and three cups (2002, 2004, 2005).
After thirteen years without a trophy, Djurgården returned to the top in 2018. Under coach Özcan Melkemichel it beat Malmö FF 3–0 on 10 May in the Swedish Cup final, played at its own stadium before about 25,000 spectators, and Kerim Mrabti lifted the trophy. A year later the team of coach Kim Bergstrand won the Allsvenskan title, decided on the final day, for the first time in 14 years. The team won 20 of its 30 matches and collected 66 points, with Mohamed Buya Turay the top scorer (15 goals). It was the club's eighth title in the Allsvenskan era and twelfth championship overall.
The club's biggest European success came in 2024–25 in the Conference League. After the qualifiers (Progrès Niederkorn, Ilves and Maribor) it finished fifth in the league phase, eliminated Pafos (3–1 on aggregate), and in the quarter-final Rapid Wien. It lost the first leg 0–1 at home, and on 17 April 2025 in Vienna it won 4–1 after extra time and reached the semi-final, the first in the club's history. In the semi-final it lost to Chelsea 1–4 at home and 0–1 in London. The team was then coached by Finland's Jani Honkavaara.
Djurgården plays its home matches at a modern stadium in southern Stockholm, opened in 2013 and holding about 30,000 spectators, which it shares with local rival Hammarby IF. The club has spent more than 70 seasons in Allsvenskan and has one of the most devoted groups of supporters in the country. The tradition in which the sky-blue and navy stripes are bound up with the history of a district of port workers and sailors remains its point of reference.
