one in the early 1980s. Between the 1979 and 1981 season Gefle IF and Brynäs IF merged and played under the name Gefle IF/Brynäs, but the merger split up again in 1982. In 2004 manager Kenneth Rosén was finally able to bring the club back to the top division after finishing second in the 2004 Superettan. Rosén had missed part of the previous season due to illness and after the club was promoted he again had to be hospitalized and died soon after. Long-time club servant Per "Pelle" Olsson immediately stepped in and took over as manager during the off-season and managed to keep the club at the top level. Olsson would remain as the manager until 2014 when he was announced as Djurgårdens IF:s new manager. Supporters Due to their status as a second or third division club the Gefle supporters were late starters in creating an organized supporters club. After some fledgeling attempts in the mid 1990s when the interest in traveling to away games increased, the "Sky Blues" was finally founded in 2001 as the official supporter group. In 2009 Gefle IF caused controversy among its fans by changing the sky blue home shirt to white, the color which the club played in during its first 80 years. This caused groups of fans to boycott the singing sections of the home stadium. Eventually before the start of the 2011 season a compromise was reached where they kept the white shirt for their home kit but brought back the sky blue as their new away kit. Further compromise was then reached for the 2015 Allsvenskan season when a new sky blue and white striped kit was launched, inspired by the Argentina national football team. A decision that satisfied both the fans and the club. Stadium Gefle IF played at Strömvallen, built in 1923, for 92 years. On 30 May 2013 it was announced that the club had agreed with Gävle Municipality to build a new stadium in the Sätraåsen area of Gävle. The stadium, Gavlevallen, was ready for the 2015 season. European Cups history None of Gefle's appearances in European competition have been due to cup wins or their league positions (11th, 10th and 11th in the respective years). Instead they have qualified through the Fair Play initiative each time. Players First-team squad Managers Robert Carrick (1900–07) Sven Klang (1933–34) Erik Nilsson (1935) Václav Simon (1945–46) Erik Norin