The Swedish Cup started in 1941 and the first time that AIK and Gefle IF met in the cup game was on June 26, 1988. It was two days after Midsummer’s Eve and on a sunny Strömvallen in Gävle, 1,631 spectators had gathered to see the league leaders in Division 1 Norra take on AIK, which was in tenth place in the Allsvenskan. AIK’s confidence was dented after suffering two losses against Malmö FF in the space of just a few days before the cup meeting with Gefle IF. The home team came to the game without having trained for a week, but it didn’t show. AIK was missing its top scorer Thomas Johansson and had goalkeeper Johny Murray between the posts. However, it was AIK who took the lead when Niclas Kindvall scored 1-0 in the middle of the first half, but Gefle turned it to 3-1 before the break and 4-1 a bit into the second half. AIK reduced late through Thomas Johansson and Björn Kindlund, but the final score was 4–3 to Gefle IF and AIK was eliminated. AIK also suffered an unfortunate injury in the first half, when centre-back Mats Olausson broke his nasal bone. Great match hero for the home team was Pelle Olsson, who for many years was the head coach for Gefle IF, with a goal and two assists.
Eleven years later, on March 20, 1999, it was time for the next cup meeting between AIK and Gefle IF. The match was actually supposed to have been played on a gravel pitch in Gävle, but was instead moved to Vagnhärad in Trosa municipality. However, the grim spring weather meant that the lawn was not suitable for play, and instead the match was moved to the artificial grass at Skytteholms IP in Solna. 2,233 spectators were in attendance and saw debutants Christer Mattiasson and Andreas Johansson shoot AIK to a 2–0 lead before the break. Midfielder Thomas Lagerlöf set the final score at 3–0 in the second half.
On April 13, 2000, the teams met for the third time in the Swedish Cup and it was then the round of 16 and the venue was the Råsunda football stadium in Solna. AIK was not good in the first half, but in the 57th minute of the match took the lead through Christer Mattiasson and two minutes later Andreas Andersson scored 2-0 before Hans Bergh in the final minutes made the final score 3-0 in front of the 4,536 spectators in place .
Before Saturday’s meeting, AIK recorded 2W-0O-1F against Gefle IF in the Swedish Cup. Tickets for Saturday’s game purchased via this page.