Säffle is a locality

Urban areas in Sweden

Urban area is a common English translation of the Swedish term tätort. The official term in English, used by Statistics Sweden, is, however, locality. There are 1,940 localities in Sweden . They could be compared with census-designated places in the United States.A tätort in Sweden has a minimum of...

 and the seat of Säffle Municipality

Säffle Municipality

Säffle Municipality is a municipality in Värmland County in west central Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Säffle....

, Värmland County

Värmland County

Värmland County is a county or län in west central Sweden. It borders the Swedish counties of Dalarna, Örebro and Västra Götaland, as well as the Norwegian counties of Østfold, Akershus and Hedmark to the west.- Province :...

, Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 with 9,156 inhabitants in 2005.

Säffle is known for being the last place in Sweden formally getting the title of a City

City status in Sweden

Stad is a Swedish term which nominally means town but can also encompass the English word "city". Since 1971 stad has had no administrative or legal significance in Sweden and there exists no commonly accepted definition of the term.-History :...

 in 1951. This status was abolished in 1971. It is now the seat of the much larger Säffle Municipality

Säffle Municipality

Säffle Municipality is a municipality in Värmland County in west central Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Säffle....

.

History

Säffle started to grow right after a canal was built in 1837, allowing boats to safely bypass a section of turbulent water and rapids in the Byälven river.

In 1879 the railroad came to the city. In 1882 Säffle had a population of 700 inhabitants. Today, Säffle municipality has 16,077 inhabitants (January 1, 2005).

According to legend, the Viking Olof Trätälja settled down and lived in Säffle. Streets, churches, and a lot of other places are named after him.

Cultural references

Most parts of the Kanal 5

Kanal 5

Kanal 5 is the name of a number of television stations whose names translate into English as "Channel 5".* Kanal 5 , a Croatian station* Kanal 5 , a Danish station* Kanal 5 , a Macedonian station...

 reality series Lite sällskap, hosted by Swedish comedians Filip Hammar and Fredrik Wikingsson were recorded in Säffle. http://www.nwt.se/saffle/article718656.ece

Sports associations

• Säffle Hockey Club - Ice hockey
  Ice hockey
  Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
  
  
• SK Sifhälla - football
  Football (soccer)
  Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
  
  
• Säffle FF - football
  Football (soccer)
  Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
  
  

Art & museum

• Viking Trail Society
• The Viking center of Värmland - The Viking museum outside Säffle

Trade & industry

The economy of Säffle is largely based on industry. Säffle has continued to grow as the pulpwood industry has expanded in Sweden. The pulp mill in Säffle has been a major driver of the local economy.

In the early 19th Century there was also brick industry in Säffle, which supplied the town with facing bricks. This you can see on all of the old buildings from this time in the downtown area.

The biggest companies in Säffle today are:

SOMAS

Nordic Paper Seffle AB

Säffle Karosseri / Volvo Buses

BTG

CCI

MOELVEN

Famous people from Säffle

• Gunnar Andersson
  Gunnar Andersson
  Gunnar Andersson, was a football player from Sweden. He is widely considered as one of Olympique de Marseille best strikers, along with Josip Skoblar and Jean-Pierre Papinby who?....
  
  , football
  Football (soccer)
  Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
  
   player
• Daniel Carlsson, rally car
  Rallying
  Rallying, also known as rally racing, is a form of auto racing that takes place on public or private roads with modified production or specially built road-legal cars...
  
   driver
• Anders Jacobsson, member of the heavy metal
  Heavy metal music
  Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
  
   band Draconian
  Draconian (band)
  -External links:* at Napalm Records...
  
  
• Annichen Kringstad
  Annichen Kringstad
  Annichen Kringstad is a Swedish orienteer. Kringstad was the first household name orienteer in Sweden, and she was a major reason for the popularisation of the sport. Kringstad won the world championships individually as well as in the relay format in 1981, 1983 and 1985, before retiring at the...
  
  , orienteer
• Torsten Källe, inventor
• Jonas Rimeika, actor
• Esaias Tegnér
  Esaias Tegnér
  Esaias Tegnér , was a Swedish writer, professor of Greek language, and bishop. He was during the 19th century regarded as the father of modern poetry in Sweden, mainly through the national romantic epos Frithjof's Saga. He has been called Sweden's first modern man...
  
  , writer and bishop
• Tina Thörner, rally car co-driver