Arbeidernes Idrettsforbund

Arbeidernes Idrettsforbund (English: "Workers' Federation of Sports") was a sporting organization in Norway between 1924 and 1946. As of 1935, AIF had around 50,000 members. AIF published the magazine Arbeideridrett.

The first explicit workers' sports club in Norway was Arbeidernes TIF, founded in 1909 and renamed to Fagforeningernes TIF in 1916. In the 1920s, the Norwegian Wrestling Federation banned fifteen members of this club for taking part in a "politicized" wrestling meet where "The Internationale" was played. This helped spur the creation of a workers' federation of sports, although a Workers' Sports Opposition (Norwegian: Arbeidernes Idrettsopposisjon) had existed since 1922.

The decision to found AIF was taken (with 51 votes against 4) at the third national conference of the Workers' Sports Opposition in Folkets Hus in Oslo on June 8 and 9, 1924. Harald Liljedahl was elected as chairman of AIF, with 29 votes against 9 for Olaf Thorsen (a communist and executive member of the Red Sport International). The conference unanimously decided to appeal for membership in the Red Sport International.

AIF grew rapidly. Initially an Oslo-based movement, AIF began forming clubs in different parts of the country. At the time of its foundation, the organization had affiliated clubs with a combined membership of 4,810. By the end of the year, it had 85 sports teams and a combined membership of 5,686. In 1925, AIF had 96 sports teams and a combined membership of 6,608. The stronghold was still Oslo and Akershus, whereas Sogn og Fjordane did not have a single workers' sports club.

The foundation of AIF was not met with complete enthusiasm in the Norwegian Labour Party. Trygve Lie opposed the idea of having a politicized sporting organization. The national party conference of 1925 did however decide that the party would back the new organization, rejecting Lie's criticism.

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