IFK was founded in Stockholm by two young students (Louis Zettersten and Pehr Ehnemark) that wanted to create a sports association, consisting of a main club in Stockholm with smaller clubs in other parts of the country.
An advertisement in the youth paper Kamraten (The Comrade) that was published 1 February 1895 called forth all sports interested boys and girls in Sweden to join the society.
[1][2] The society grew fast and the administration was too heavy for IFK Stockholm to handle, so a central organisation was created in 1901.
[3] Championships and other activities for IFK clubs were arranged and were big tournaments in a time when there existed no central Swedish sports administration to handle nationwide events.
The colours are believed to symbolise innocence and loyalty as written, by the IFK society master, in Kamraten in 1899.