Djurgårdens IF Fäktförening is a fencing club in Stockholm. We welcome complete beginners – children, teenagers, adults and people over 65. Your first two sessions are free, and we lend you all the equipment.

We are a Swedish club, and we will not pretend otherwise. But if someone in the hall does not speak Swedish, we switch to English. That is all there is to it.

You do not need experience. You do not need equipment. And you do not need Swedish.

You may already speak the language of fencing.

Fencing speaks French, not Swedish. En garde. Prêts. Allez. Touché. Every fencer in the world uses the same words – and Swedes learn them exactly the way you will: by copying someone who already knows them.

Our coaches speak English. Our fencing master speaks English and Italian. And fencing is taught by showing rather than explaining: you watch, you copy, you try, someone moves your arm into place. It works long before the language does.

Sign up for your two free sessions →

Or write to us in English at info@diffencing.se. Someone will answer in English.

Most people who start with us have never held a weapon before. That is normal, and it is exactly how we like it.

We lend you everything: mask, jacket, glove, weapon and the protective plastron worn underneath. No exceptions, for anybody.

Bring training clothes – long trousers are required – indoor shoes, and a bottle of water. That is all.

Fencing is a combat sport. It is not a violent one.

It is a fair question to ask before you put a weapon in your hand, or your child’s. So here is the honest answer.

You fence in full protective gear, with a blunt and flexible blade, under a referee, in a sport that has been part of every modern Olympic Games since 1896. Training is led by coaches at all times. The injuries that do occur are ordinary sports injuries – sprains and overuse – rather than hits from a blade.

And respect is not an optional extra here. It is in the rules.

You salute your opponent and the referee before and after every bout. If you do not, you are given a warning. It is written into the sport itself.

Swedish fencing runs a safeguarding programme called Trygg fäktning – safe fencing. Its standard is plain: a safe sport is a sport free from bullying, harassment, threats, violence and abuse. We have a safeguarding plan and a code of conduct, and our coaches submit criminal record checks.

Women and men fence each other here.

Fencing is one of very few sports where that is simply routine. On the piste, timing and distance matter more than size or strength – so the training floor is shared, and nobody thinks twice about it.

We already have many girls and women in the club. We would like more. If you are wondering whether you would be the only one: you would not be.

Moving to Stockholm is not the hard part. Making it feel like home is.

Fencing is an individual sport that you cannot do alone. You always stand opposite another person. You salute, you fence, you shake hands, and then you talk about what just happened. Meeting people is not a side effect of this sport. It is how it works.

Our fencers come from Bulgaria, England, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India, Iran, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, Paraguay, Ukraine, the United States and Uruguay. And Sweden.

We have almost certainly left someone out of that list. We usually do – because nobody here keeps one. That is rather the point.

You will not be the only foreigner in the hall. You will not even be unusual.

So come on a Wednesday. Someone will show you how to hold the weapon. Someone will lend you a mask. Someone will ask where you are from – and then talk to you about something else entirely, which is usually the moment a city starts to feel like home.

We run beginner groups for children, adults and over-65s. These are the times for the autumn term 2026:

Children 7–10, beginners – Mondays 16.30–18.00, Hjorthagshallen

Children 11–13, beginners – Wednesdays 16.00–17.30, Hjorthagshallen

Teenagers 13–15 – Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays 16.30–18.00, Artemisgatan 19. This group trains fencers who already compete. It is not a beginner group.

Adults, beginners – Wednesdays 18.00–19.30, Artemisgatan 19

65+ – Mondays 15.00–16.00, Artemisgatan 19

Para-fencing – Mondays 18.00–19.30, Hjorthagshallen

Aged 13–15 and new to fencing? The group above is not the place to start. Write to info@diffencing.se and we will find you a group.

What it costs, per term

Children and youth: 2 850 kr · Adults: 3 250 kr · Students: 2 500 kr · 65+ and para-fencing: 1 500 kr

Plus a membership fee of 500 kr per year. A term runs January–June, or August/September–December.

But start with the two free sessions. You are not invoiced unless you decide to continue.

Our fencing section was founded in 1958 by Béla Rerrich – a fencing master who had come to Sweden from Hungary. Under him the club produced Olympic and World Cup medallists, and in 2025 a Djurgården fencer became Swedish national champion in épée.

Today, our fencing master is also Hungarian. He speaks fluent English and Italian.

So when we say that newcomers belong here, it is not a slogan we adopted recently. It is who built this club – and it is who will be teaching you.

All of our coaches are trained within the Swedish Fencing Federation.

We are a club with national champions – and we teach absolute beginners every single week. Those two facts are not in conflict. They are the point.

We train in Hjorthagen, in the north-east of Stockholm, in two halls.

Fäktsalen – the old hall. Artemisgatan 19.

It is inside the exit hall of Ropsten metro station – roughly 50 metres from the ticket barriers. You walk out of the metro and you are there. In February, that matters more than you would think.

It is a fencing salle and nothing else. No basketball lines on the floor, no other clubs sharing the space. We have fenced there for decades, and it is ours alone. Most of our adult training happens here.

Hjorthagshallen – the new hall. A separate hall about 500 metres away, also by Ropsten. This is where most of our children’s groups train.

Buses 6, 57, 75 and 76 stop nearby, as do all buses from Lidingö.

This is the wall most newcomers hit, and it stops them before they start. It does not stop you here.

If you have a samordningsnummer, you can sign up yourself, exactly like everyone else.

And if you have neither – no personnummer, no samordningsnummer – you are still welcome. Our membership system can register you as a foreign resident. All we need is your nationality and date of birth. You can log in, you can train, you can compete.

So if the online form asks for something you do not have, do not give up on it. Write to info@diffencing.se and we will register you by hand.

How to start – three steps

1. Sign up for two free sessions. It costs nothing, and you are not committing to anything.

2. Come and fence. Bring long trousers and indoor shoes. We lend you the rest.

3. Decide afterwards. If you continue, we invoice you. If not, that is fine too.

Sign up for your two free sessions →

Questions? Write to us in English at info@diffencing.se. Someone will answer in English.

🇫🇷 Vous parlez français ?

L’escrime parle français, elle aussi : en garde, prêts, allez, touché. Vous connaissez donc déjà la langue de ce sport – et vous ne serez pas le seul Français sur la piste. Nos entraîneurs parlent anglais, et les débutants sont les bienvenus, à tout âge. Les deux premières séances sont gratuites et nous prêtons tout l’équipement. Écrivez-nous à info@diffencing.se.

🇮🇹 Parli italiano?

Il nostro maestro d’armi parla italiano. Per allenarti da noi non ti serve lo svedese: gli allenatori parlano inglese e i principianti sono benvenuti, a qualsiasi età. Le prime due lezioni sono gratuite e ti prestiamo tutta l’attrezzatura. Scrivici a info@diffencing.se.

🇩🇪 Sprechen Sie Deutsch?

Sie müssen kein Schwedisch können, um bei uns zu fechten. Unsere Trainer sprechen Englisch, und Anfänger sind ausdrücklich willkommen – in jedem Alter. Die ersten beiden Trainingseinheiten sind kostenlos, und die gesamte Ausrüstung leihen wir Ihnen. Schreiben Sie uns an info@diffencing.se.

🇺🇦 Ви розмовляєте українською?

У нашому клубі вже фехтують люди з України. Щоб почати, вам не потрібна шведська мова – наші тренери говорять англійською, і ми раді початківцям у будь-якому віці. Перші два тренування безкоштовні, і ми позичаємо все спорядження. Напишіть нам: info@diffencing.se.