{{Infobox settlement | official_name = Degerfors | image_skyline = Degerfors.jpg | image_caption = Degerfors Church, Degernäs Manor, Stora Valla and the Degerfors Works | pushpin_map = Sweden Örebro#Sweden | pushpin_label_position = | settlement_type = Locality | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = {{SWE}} | subdivision_type3 = Municipality | subdivision_name3 = Degerfors Municipality | subdivision_type2 = County | subdivision_name2 = Örebro County | subdivision_type1 = Province | subdivision_name1 = Värmland | area_footnotes = <ref name=scb>{{cite web |url=http://www.scb.se/Statistik/MI/MI0810/2010A01/Tatorternami0810tab1_4.xls |title=Tätorternas landareal, folkmängd och invånare per km<sup>2</sup> 2005 och 2010 |date=14 December 2011 |publisher=Statistics Sweden |language=sv |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120127055525/http://www.scb.se/Statistik/MI/MI0810/2010A01/Tatorternami0810tab1_4.xls |archive-date=27 January 2012 |url-status=live |access-date=10 January 2012 }}</ref> | area_total_km2 = 7.14 | population_as_of = 31 December 2010 | population_footnotes = <ref name=scb /> | population_total = 7,160 <!-- This is the official figure from Statistics Sweden (Statistiska centralbyrån). --> | population_density_km2 = 1003 | timezone = CET | utc_offset = +1 | timezone_DST = CEST | utc_offset_DST = +2 | coordinates = {{coord|59|14|10|N|14|25|47|E|region:SE|display=inline,title}} | website = }} '''Degerfors''' ({{IPA|sv|ˈdêːɡɛrˌfɔʂ|audio=LL-Q9027 (swe)-Moonhouse-Degerfors.wav}})<ref>{{cite book|url=https://runeberg.org/ortnamn/0011.html|author1=Jöran Sahlgren|author2=Gösta Bergman|title=Svenska ortnamn med uttalsuppgifter|language=sv|year=1979|page=7}}</ref> is a locality and the seat of Degerfors Municipality, Örebro County, Sweden, with 7,160 inhabitants in 2010.<ref name=scb /> Degerfors is the sixth-largest city in Örebro County. It is located at the southern shore of lake Möckeln, 13 km (8 mi) south of neighboring Karlskoga.
Degerfors evolved around the ironworks, that is nowadays owned by the Finnish conglomerate Outokumpu Oyj. It is also home to the football club Degerfors IF, which is playing in the first tier of Swedish football, Allsvenskan.
== History == Degerfors has traditionally been an industrial community closely connected to the large ironworks, associated with members of the Camitz family. The settlement (originally called Johannelund) grew up around this industry and got the status of a ''municipalsamhälle'' (a type of borough within a municipality) in 1912. Today it acts as seat of the larger Degerfors Municipality.
In the 1870s, a group of people native to the Degerfors-area emigrated to the Ural region (then part of the Russian Empire).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Olsson |first=Kenth |date=14 March 2001 |title=De utvandrade till Ryssland |url=https://popularhistoria.se/sveriges-historia/de-utvandrade-till-ryssland |access-date=7 November 2022 |website=Popularhistoria.se |language=sv}}</ref>
==Economy== The steelworks is now owned by the Finnish conglomerate Outokumpu Oyj.<ref name="dlp">{{cite news |title=Degerfors Long Products |url=https://www.outokumpu.com/en/locations/degerforslongproducts |access-date=3 April 2021 |publisher=Outokumpu}}</ref>
The location has a railway station and a narrow-gauge railway connecting it with Bredsjö, the {{interlanguage link|Bredsjö–Degerfors Järnväg|qid=Q10435042 }}.
Tourists to the region usually stop at the Sveafallen nature reserve.
==Sveafallen== {{multiple image | direction = vertical | width = 220 | image1 = Bergtjärnsdalen - KMB - 16001000210666.jpg | caption1 = Bergtjärnsdalen | image2 = Sveafallen 01.JPG | caption2 = Sveafallen | align = left }} Degesfors is the site of Sveafallen, a geological landscape of small canyons and giant's kettles. Immediately south of Degerfors lies the nature reserve of Sveafallen.<ref name=NaturreservatSveafallen>{{cite web |url=https://www.lansstyrelsen.se/Orebro/Sv/djur-och-natur/skyddad-natur/naturreservat-och-nationalparker/sevarda-naturmiljoer/degerfors/sveafallen/Pages/index.aspx?keyword=hund |title=Sveafallen |website=Länsstyrelsen Örebro Län|access-date=January 3, 2018|language=sv}}</ref> The reserve contains a series of small canyons as well as numerous and large giant's kettles.<ref name=NaturreservatSveafallen/> Sveafallen was long held to be the outlet of the Ancylus Lake, a fresh-water predecessor to the Baltic Sea.<ref name=NaturreservatSveafallen/> The site was first discovered in 1923 by Lennart von Post being the focus of a protracted and sometimes bitter scientific debate that involved not only von Post but also figures such as Henrik Munthe, Astrid Cleve and Curt Fredén.<ref name=NaturreservatSveafallen/><ref name=Bjork1995>{{cite journal |last1=Björck |first1=Svante |author-link=Svante Björck |date=1995 |title=A review of the history of the Baltic Sea, 13.0-8.0 ka BP |journal=Quaternary International |volume=17 |pages=19–40 |doi=10.1016/1040-6182(94)00057-C |bibcode=1995QuInt..27...19B }}</ref> The site was initially proposed to be the dry remnant of a dramatic river or waterfall comparable to Niagara Falls.<ref name=NaturreservatSveafallen/><ref name=Curt1967>{{cite journal |last1=Fredén |first1=Curt |author-link=Curt Fredén |date=1967 |title=A Historical Review of the Ancylus Lake and the Svea River |journal=Geologiska Föreningen i Stockholm Förhandlingar |volume=89 |issue=3 |pages=239–267 |doi=10.1080/11035896709448372 }}</ref> Research by Curt Fredén cast well founded doubts on this view,<ref name=NaturreservatSveafallen/><ref name=Bjork1995/> with the final demise being a 1981 study by Birgitta Ericsson et al showing that the giant's kettles in the area are older than the Ancylus Lake.<ref name=Bjork1995/><ref name=Ericssonetal>{{cite journal |last1=Ericsson |first1=Birgitta |last2=Lidén |first2=Eva |last3=Robertsson |first3=Ann-Marie|date=1981 |title=New pothole supports reinterpretation of Svea River |journal=GFF |volume=104 |issue=1 |pages=95–97 |doi=10.1080/11035898209454547 }}</ref> Sveafallen is now believed to have formed by meltwater streams under the Fennoscandian ice sheet.<ref name=Ericssonetal/>
==Sports== Nationally, Degerfors is best known for the football team Degerfors IF. Despite the relatively small size of the town, Degerfors has always had strong local support, and played a total of 29 years in the highest division Allsvenskan. In 1997 the team were relegated and were playing in the second highest Swedish league, Superettan until they achieved promotion back to Allsvenskan (highest Swedish league) in 2020.
Another sports club located in Degerfors is Strömtorps IK.
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
== External links == * {{commons inline}}
{{Localities in Degerfors Municipality}} {{Örebro County}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Populated places in Degerfors Municipality Category:Municipal seats of Örebro County Category:Swedish municipal seats Category:Populated lakeshore places in Sweden Category:Degerfors