The club was formed on 13 August 1919, originally playing
bandy and
ski competitions. In 1920 they also took up
football. The first hockey game was played in 1938, when they beat
Mora IK 11–0, and this sport is now the only sport the club competes in. Despite the fact that the town of
Leksand only has 6,000 inhabitants, Leksands IF is one of the most popular teams in Sweden, and the team averages over 4,000 spectators per game in their home arena despite playing in the second tier. Leksand played in the top hockey division in Sweden from 1951 until 2001. The club was very successful between 1969 and 1975, when they became Swedish champions four times (
1969,
1973–
1975). Before the current top division,
Elitserien (now known as the SHL), was formed prior to the
1975–76 season, they had been the runners-up four times:
1959,
1964,
1971 and
1972. Leksand has never become SHL champions despite winning the SHL's regular season in
1980,
1994 and
1997, and being the runners-up in
1989. In 2001, they were the club with the second most consecutive seasons in the highest division at that point (the record is held by
Södertälje SK, with 53 consecutive seasons between 1925 and 1978). Following the relegation to
HockeyAllsvenskan in April 2001, Leksand commuted between the top and second divisions until
2005–06, when the team was relegated to the second tier again, where they would find themselves until the
2012–13 season. in 2013. For the
2007–08 season, Leksand signed former
NHL goaltender
Ed Belfour in an attempt to regain top league status. After winning the second league with relative ease, the team failed in the final qualification stage,
Kvalserien, to gain promotion. Ed Belfour retired after the 2007–08 season. Leksand once again won Allsvenskan in the
2008–09 season, but once again failed to qualify for the Elitserien in the
2009 Kvalserien. The managers
Thomas Kempe and
Thomas Jonsson were sacked following three straight defeats in the beginning of the
Kvalserien. The team finished the 2009 Kvalserien with five wins in the last six games, but still failed to qualify. For the 2009–10 season, Leksand employed
Leif Strömberg, who had previously successfully guided
Södertälje SK through Kvalserien. The team once again won Allsvenskan and qualified for the
2010 Kvalserien, finishing three points ahead of
AIK. In the ninth round of the 2010 Kvalserien, Leksand had a good chance to put them in the driver's seat for promotion to Elitserien, but Leksand failed to beat the Kvalserien's worst ranked team
Växjö Lakers and, despite a win in the tenth and final round, Leksand missed Elitserien as both AIK and
Rögle BK won their respective games in the final round. After failing promotion, Leif Strömberg was replaced by ex-Leksand forward
Niklas Eriksson, under whom the following season Leksand attempted to reach the Kvalserien for the seventh consecutive season. The team finished fourth in Allsvenskan and missed automatic qualification for the Kvalserien and had to play in a pre-qualification series to reach the Kvalserien, but Leksand finished third and missed the Kvalserien. Before the 2011/12 season, assistant head coach
Christer Olsson took over the reins, but was sacked following a defeat at
Sundsvall Hockey in late November and replaced by
Andreas Appelgren. After winning the regular season in the
2012–13 season, Leksand once again qualified for play in
Kvalserien. In the
2013 Kvalserien, Leksand finally promoted back to the
Swedish Hockey League (SHL; formerly Elitserien), the top-tier league, for the first time since the
2005–06 season. ==Season-by-season record==