Lejonen

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title: "Lejonen" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["speedway-teams-in-sweden", "sports-clubs-and-teams-in-jönköping-county", "gislaved-municipality", "1936-establishments-in-sweden", "20th-century-establishments-in-jönköping-county"] description: "Swedish motorcycle speedway team" topic_path: "geography/sweden" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lejonen" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Swedish motorcycle speedway team ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox motorcycle speedway team"]

Field	Value
clubname	Lejonen
image	[[File:Lejonen.png
track	Gislaved Motorbana
(OnePartnerGroup Arena)
Gislaved
Jönköping County
Sweden
country	Sweden
founded	1936
manager	Anders Fröjd and Mikael Holmstrand
captain	Vacant
league	Elitserien
website	Official Website
colours	Black, gold and red
tracksize	368 metres
track record time	62.2 seconds
track record date	11 June 2024
track record holder	Robert Lambert
honour1	Team champions
year1	2008, 2009, 2024
honour2	silver medal
year2	1971, 1972, 2022
honour3	Second Division Champions
year3	1968, 1974, 1978
honour4	Third tier Champions
year4	1965, 1984, 2000
::

|clubname =Lejonen |image = [[File:Lejonen.png|centre|120px]] |track = Gislaved Motorbana (OnePartnerGroup Arena) Gislaved Jönköping County Sweden |country = Sweden |founded = 1936 |closed = |manager = Anders Fröjd and Mikael Holmstrand |captain = Vacant |league = Elitserien |website = Official Website |colours = Black, gold and red |nickname = |tracksize = 368 metres |track record time= 62.2 seconds |track record date= 11 June 2024 |track record holder= Robert Lambert |honour1 = Team champions |year1 = 2008, 2009, 2024 |honour2 = silver medal |year2 = 1971, 1972, 2022 |honour3 = Second Division Champions |year3= 1968, 1974, 1978 |honour4 = Third tier Champions |year4= 1965, 1984, 2000

Lejonen () is a motorcycle speedway team from Gislaved in Sweden, who compete in the Elitserien. Their home track is at the Gislaved Motorbana or the OnePartnerGroup Arena for sponsorship purposes, which is Sweden's oldest track still in use. The club are three times champions of Sweden.

History

1929 to 1968

In December 1929 Gislaved Motorclub was formed and by 1931 the track was built. The track was originally 6 m wide and 400 m long but in 1936 it was widened to 10 m and during the 1980s the inside edge of the track was moved and the length was reduced to 380 m.

In 1963, Smålands Lejon began racing in Division Three, becoming Lejonen the following season in 1964. During the 1965 Swedish speedway season, the club won their first honours by winning division three A. They were promoted to division 2 and finished 2nd in 1966 and 1967 before winning division 2 in 1968.

1969 to 1982

The club made their debut in the top flight in 1969, finishing 4th.

During the 1971 Swedish speedway season and 1972 Swedish speedway season, the club, led by Jan Simensen, Bo Josefsson and Therje Henriksson finished 2nd and won the silver medal. For the next decade the club found themselves bouncing between the first and second divisions.

1982 to 1989

With the introduction of the Elitserien in 1982, the club were relegated that season and dropped two divisions. Although they gained promotion back to the second tier they struggled to make any challenge in the division and at the end of 1989 the club stopped racing.

1998 to 2010

The team returned for the 1998 Swedish speedway season They won promotion in 2000 to the Allsvenskan and then seven years later, in 2007 won the Allsvenskan defeating Valsarna in the play-off final to gain promotion to the Elitserien for 2008.

During the winter of 2007-08 the track underwent major changes to accommodate Elitserien racing and the club announced the signing of Nicki Pedersen, the 2007 World Champion.

The club became champions of Sweden for two successive years in 2008 and 2009 after they won the Swedish Speedway Team Championship. Pedersen, Chris Holder, David Ruud, Mikael Max and were instrumental in bringing the success to the club.

2011 to present

The club were relegated and declared bankrupt in 2011 and dropped to division 1 (the third tier). They slowly recovered to win the Allsvenskan in 2014 and in 2022 won the Elitserien silver medal.

In 2024, the club became champions of Sweden for the third time after winning the Elitserien during the 2024 Swedish speedway season.

Smålänningarna and Team Dalej

Smålänningarna compete in the Allsvenskan and Team Dalej compete in the third tier (division 1), they are a collaboration between Dackarna and Lejonen allowing less senior riders the opportunity to race. The collaboration started in 2020 and the Smålänningarna name came from and old team that had riders from Småland.

Season summary

Main article: Swedish Speedway Team Championship

Notable riders

References

References

1. "Matchresultat".
2. . (23 July 2022). "Speedway Around The Globe - Sweden".
3. "Lejonen Speedway site". Lejonen speedway.
4. "HISTORICAL RESULTS 1948-2015".
5. "Speed, excitement and drama".
6. "1964".
7. "1966 season".
8. "1969 season".
9. (15 December 2014). "The elite series in speedway".
10. "History".
11. (December 2017). "Swedish Leagues". Benfield Sports International.
12. (December 2017). "Nicki makes the switch". Benfield Sports International.
13. "The Lions Swedish champions after 15 years of waiting: "So many failures"".
14. "Smålands team in Allsvenskt Speedway collaboration".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::