association football is the most popular sport in sweden, with over 240,000 licensed players (approximately 56,000 women and 184,000 men) with another 240,000 youth players. there are around 3,200 active clubs fielding over 8,500 teams, which are playing on the 7,900 pitches available in the country. football was first played in sweden in the 1870s, the first championship was decided in 1896 and the swedish football association was founded in 1904. despite being a relatively small country population-wise, both the men's and women's national teams and the club teams have gained rather large success from time to time.