The foundation of IFK Göteborg was important for the development of football in the city, as until that point, Örgryte IS (ÖIS), the largest of the area clubs, had dominated the scene.

IFK finished the season by playing against international teams for their first time, the Danish clubs Østerbro BK and Boldklubben af 1893.

The first big scandal in Swedish football occurred in 1914 when several players, leaders, and supporters from IFK and ÖIS started a fight in the 1/8-final of Svenska Mästerskapet.

IFK Göteborg won Svenska Serien for the fifth consecutive season in 1917, but the ongoing war and the Spanish flu led to the dissolution of the competition.

The club, with its 875 members started the new decennium by beating both local rivals GAIS and ÖIS in Svenska Mästerskapet, but lost in the semi-finals against Djurgårdens IF.

After another conflict with the SvFF, the three clubs composing the Gothenburg-alliance, IFK, ÖIS and GAIS, boycotted the Swedish Championship tournament, Svenska Mästerskapen, in 1923.

IFK finally won its first Allsvenskan title in the spring of 1935 after eight silver and bronze medals since the league start.

As the only Swedish football club, IFK and its players boycotted the 1936 Summer Olympics held in Berlin, Nazi Germany.

IFK Göteborg gained the nickname "Änglarna" (the Angels) when a newspaper seller coined the name after seeing a heavenly freekick being shot by "Bebben".

The first season in Allsvenskan this decade ended with a sixth place, having bought many good players, including Ralf Edström, Glenn Holm and Tommy Holmgren.

After the troublesome start, IFK won everything they could win that year, including Allsvenskan, Svenska Cupen, and the UEFA Cup, after beating Valencia and Kaiserslautern on the way, and defeating Hamburger SV in the finals.

A new team of talents made the impossible and won both the UEFA Cup and Allsvenskan once again in 1987, after beating Dundee United in the finals.

1992 ended with a fifth place in Allsvenskan, but good results in the UEFA Champions League, beating PSV Eindhoven twice and FC Porto once, finishing second in their group after A.C. Milan.

Despite Gustafsson's departure, IFK continued to play well with new coach Mats Jingblad, and won Allsvenskan 1996 for the fourth consecutive season, and thus qualified for the Champions League.

The last years of the closing millennium were a disaster, with "only" a silver in 1997 and at eighth place in 1998, after any success coming from buying several expensive players.

The club bought the players Gustaf Andersson, Tomas Rosenqvist and Mikael Sandklef from local rival Västra Frölunda IF.

IFK again started off very good but when national team midfielder Håkan Mild was injured a couple of important games were lost.

Håkan Mild left the team for Wimbledon FC and IFK did not look like a appear as a title favourite as it had in previous seasons.

The team fell to the bottom of the table on the verge of being relegated but remained in Allsvenskan after two nervous playoff games against Västra Frölunda IF (1-1, 2-0).

With the new striker Stefan Selakovic IFK made it to the final in the first edition of the Scandinavian championship Royal League and the team again looked like a favourite for Allsvenskan 2005 with new coach Arne Erlandsen.

But because of avoiding tax for the transfer of players Ijeh and Selakovic, the director Mats Persson was sentenced to jail.

Few people believed that IFK could challenge for the title of the 2007 season since the squad mostly consisted of young, unknown players.

Berg scored 14 goals and was sold to Groningen at the end of the season while midfielder Tobias Hysén was bought from premier league club Sunderland FC.

IFK made a good effort in the qualification to Champions League but lost to FC Basel with 1-1 (home) and 2-4 (away).

The loss was a big disappointment but the season ended better after winning the Swedish cup against a victory over Kalmar FF after penalties.

During the 2009 season IFK Göteborg played at the new renovated stadium Gamla Ullevi and in the opening game the club beat Djurgården with 6–0.

The club bought players Tuomo Turunen, Hannes Stiller and Theodor Elmar Bjarnason and won a lot of games during the autumn.

IFK did not make any big changes in the squad but bought the striker Andreas Drugge from Trelleborgs FF and Hjörtur Logi Valgarðsson from Icelandic club Fimleikafélag Hafnarfjarðar.

The club did a good pre-season with victories over Rosenborg and Lilleström and draw against Russian team FC Spartak Moscow.

Allsvenskan started disastrously though with losses to Syrianska FC and IFK Norrköping and only draw against Örebro despite dominating the matches.