FC Haka is a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club based in the industry town of

Valkeakoski Valkeakoski (; lit. "white rapids") is a town and municipality in Finland. It is located south of Tampere, north of Hämeenlinna and north of Helsinki in the Pirkanmaa region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of wh ...

. It is currently competing in Finland's premier division of football,

Veikkausliiga Veikkausliiga (; sv, Tipsligan) is the premier division of Finnish football, the highest tier of the Finnish football league structure, comprising the top 12 clubs of the country. Its main sponsor is the Finnish national betting agency Veikka ...

. It is one of the most successful clubs in Finland, with nine Finnish championships and 12

Finnish Cup The Finnish Cup ( fi, Suomen cup; sv, Finlands cup) is Finland's main national cup competition in football. This yearly competition is open for all member clubs of the FA of Finland and has been played since 1955. The winner qualifies for the ...

wins.

History

Haka has historically had close ties with the paper industry in the Valkeakoski area, and it is still sponsored by

UPM Kymmene UPM-Kymmene Oyj is a Finnish forest industry company. UPM-Kymmene was formed by the merger of Kymmene Corporation with Repola Oy and its subsidiary United Paper Mills Ltd in 1996. UPM consists of six business areas: UPM Fibres, UPM Energy, UPM R ...

. The club was founded as ''Valkeakosken Haka'' in 1934. In 1949 it was promoted to Finland's top division ''Mestaruussarja'' (now called

), and in 1955 won the inaugural

. The 1960s was the most successful era in the club's history, winning both the league and cup three times, including the first

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * Th ...

in Finnish football history in 1960. The club was relegated in 1972, but came straight back, and won the double again in 1977. The club's name was changed to ''FC Haka'' in the early 1990s. Haka won the title again 1995, but was relegated the next season. Keith Armstrong was hired as the new coach, and the club came straight back again, winning three straight championships from 1998 to 2000. Goalkeeping legend

Olli Huttunen Olavi "Olli" Huttunen (born 4 August 1960 in Kajaani) is a Finnish football coach and former goalkeeper. He is the former head coach of the Finnish national team. Considered one of the best Finnish goalkeepers of all time, Huttunen represent ...

succeeded Armstrong as coach in 2002, and has already led the club to the championship (2004) and two cups (2002 and 2005). Haka's best performance in

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

competition was in the 1983–1984 season when they reached the quarterfinals of the

Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

, losing to eventual winners Juventus 0–2 on aggregate. The club has been involved in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an competitions every year since 1998, the streak ending in 2008–2009 season. In the recent years the club's financial situation has deteriorated on two occasions (like many other small market teams in Veikkausliiga). The first one was the 2008–09 season when a group of investors led by local businessman and restaurateur Sedu Koskinen (owner and founder of a nationwide night-club chain) formed FC Haka Oy to help an essentially bankrupt team to finish the season. In 2010 Sedu Koskinen left, after having put around 1 million euros of his own money into the club. Since then the club's operations have been reformed to make it financial sound or at least not running on deficit. The team, having been one of the most successful and high stature in Finland, had been on run of deficit for several years during the 2000s. At the same time the overall economic situation in the world and also the sponsorship payments from UPM Kymmene diminished. This forced the club to rationalize its operations and adopt a new role as one of the smaller clubs in Finnish top flight football. The current situation at the start of 2012 Finnish football season is described by the current chairman and board members as difficult but stable. These times of financial struggles have seen the club move from a perennial championship challenger to a team usually poised for relegation. Both 2011 and 2012 the pre-season media predictions have placed the club in the bottom three. Haka finished last in the standings in 2012 and were relegated to the Finnish First Division. The club finally won promotion back to the Veikkausliiga for the 2020 season following a near perfect campaign in the

2019 Ykkönen The 2019 Ykkönen was the 48th season of Ykkönen, the second highest football league in Finland. The season started on 27 April 2019. The winning team was qualified promoted to the 2020 Veikkausliiga, 2020 Veikkausliiga, while the second-placed te ...

, where the club only dropped 7 points and finished 19 points ahead of second-place TPS.

Honours

Mestaruussarja/Veikkausliiga *Champions (9): 1960, 1962, 1965, 1977, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2004

*Winners (12): 1955, 1959, 1960, 1963, 1969, 1977, 1982, 1985, 1988, 1997, 2002, 2005

Finnish League Cup The Finnish League Cup was a knock-out football competition contested annually during the pre-season in winter by teams from Veikkausliiga. The league cup was abolished after the 2016 tournament and replaced with the Finnish Cup group stage startin ...

*Winners: 1995

Ykkönen ''Ykkönen'' ( Finnish for 'Number One'; sv, Ettan) is the second highest level of the Finnish football league system (after the Veikkausliiga), although it is the highest league managed by the Football Association of Finland. The teams also pla ...

*Champions: 1997, 2019 *Promoted: 1973

European campaigns

Divisional movements

*Top Level (60 seasons): 1945, 1950–72, 1974–96, 1998–2012, 2020– *Second Level (18 seasons): 1938–43/44, 1945/46–49, 1973, 1997, 2013–2019

Season to season

*63 seasons in ''

'' *18 seasons in ''

'' *1 seasons in ''

Kakkonen Kakkonen or II divisioona is the third level in the Finnish football league system, league system of Finnish football and comprises 36 Finland, Finnish football (soccer), football teams. The II divisioona was introduced in 1973 and in the mid-1 ...

Current squad

Management and boardroom

Management

''As of 15 February 2021''

Boardroom

''As of 15 February 2021''

Managers

Jukka Vakkila Jukka Keijo Olavi Vakkila (2 April 1951, Joutseno) is a Finnish football manager. He coached FC Haka in 1982–1984, 1986–1987, 1993–1996 and FC Jazz FC Jazz is a football club from Pori, Finland. It plays in the Finnish third tier Kakko ...

(1982–84, 1986–87, 1993–96) * Keith Armstrong (January 1998 – December 2001) *

(January 2002 – September 2009) *

Sami Ristilä Sami Ristilä (born 15 August 1974) is a Finnish football manager and former player. Player career Ristilä was born in Valkeakoski. Before he joined Drogheda Ristilä played for MyPa, SC Neukirchen, FC Zwolle and FC Haka. He played an impor ...

(September 2009 – August 2012) *

Asko Jussila Asko Jussila (born 25 January 1963) is a Finnish football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that ...

(August 2012 – September 2012) * Harri Kampman (November 2012 – June 2013) *

(June 2013 – July 2013) * Juho Rantala (July 2013 – December 2014) *

Teemu Tainio Teemu Mikael Tainio (born 27 November 1979) is a Finnish football coach and former player. He is the current head coach of FC Haka. Tainio began his career with his local club, TP-47, before moving to FC Haka in 1996. A year later, he moved to ...

(2018–present)

References

External links

Official website
{{Finnish Champions in Football

Haka Haka (; plural ''haka'', in both Māori and English) are a variety of ceremonial performance art in Māori culture. It is often performed by a group, with vigorous movements and stamping of the feet with rhythmically shouted or chanted accompani ...

Association football clubs established in 1934 1934 establishments in Finland