The idea to start an athletic association began when the brothers Isidor and Paul Behrens were taking a walk through Hantverkargatan, in central Stockholm. They were walking pretty fast; and noticed that there were two other youngsters behind them who also walked quickly. The strangers tried to walk past the Behrens, so they had to speed up to keep the lead; but the strangers did the same. Finally all of them started to run in what now looked like an improvised competition. When Isidor and Paul were far away from the unknown youngsters, Isidor said that they should start an athletic association and compete with others. So the brothers gathered their friends, who had strong athletic interest, and held a meeting at Behrens' on February 15, 1891, on Biblioteksgatan 8, in central Stockholm. Isidor introduced his idea to everyone, and they liked it. Since the boys agreed that every thinkable sport should be practiced, they decided that “Allmänna Idrottsklubben” would be a suitable name. The name also had other meanings: AIK allowed anybody to become a member; and at this time many athletic clubs were limited.
During the 1980s and 1990s AIK's official supporter groupBlack Army raged havoc around the country, making headlines in national newspapers. As a result of Black Army's bad behaviour another supporter group was created in 2000, Allmänna Supporterklubben ', as an option to Black Army. In 2002 Allmänna Supporterklubben was renamed to the much more AIK related name "Smokinglirarna" '. In 2002 an ultras group was formed, Ultras Nord ', and two years later, 2004, Sol Invictus was formed. Black Army, Smokinglirarna, Ultras Nord and Sol Invictus together with AIK-Tifo forms the so-called AIK-Alliansen '. Crown princess Victoria's spouse Daniel Westling and princess Madeleine's former boyfriend Jonas Bergström both are ardent AIK fans. From time to time the royal family visits the club's home matches. His Swedish MajestyCarl XVI Gustaf is an honorary member of the club, although he has stated that he is a fan of Djurgårdens IF, allegedly. Among Swedish politicians the former party chairman of the Swedish Social Democratic PartyMona Sahlin is an AIK supporter as well as former Minister for JusticeThomas Bodström. The Wallenberg family are also closely attached with AIK as a club, being one of the major share holders. The chant used by AIK is Å vi é AIK.
