Kronohagens Idrottsförening (abbreviated KIF or Kiffen) ( en,

Kruununhaka Kruununhaka (; ) is a neighbourhood of Helsinki, the capital of Finland. Kruununhaka became the area next to the harbour and the center, when Helsinki was moved from the earlier location in the mid-1660s. From the very beginning, the residents i ...

Sports Association) is a

sports club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

from

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. The club was founded on 27 September 1908, and has been mainly known for the achievements of its

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

and handball teams. In the past the club also played at the top level in

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

and has won the ''Kalevan malja'' (Kaleva Cup) in

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

. Other sports that the club participates include

shooting Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missiles ...

, bandy,

bowling Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), thou ...

, and

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...

. The men's football team is historically one of the most successful teams in Finland, and won the national football championship on three occasions during the 1910s, but currently plays in the

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 ...

(Second Division), the third tier of Finnish football. The football section of Kronohagens Idrottsforening is now known as FC Kiffen 08.

Football

History

Kiffen football is known as the ''Mustat Hurmurit'' (Black charmers). The name comes from the late 1920s when the black coloured jersey was first introduced bu Kiffen bandy team. Kiffen had two representatives, Ragnar Wickström and Lars Schybergson, in the Finnish football team at the Stockholm Olympics in 1912. The club then won the Finnish football championship (

Mestaruussarja Mestaruussarja (Championship series) was the top division of Finnish football from 1930 to 1989. It was replaced by Veikkausliiga in 1990. In 1930 league format was used for the first time to decide the Finnish champion. Before that from 1908 to ...

) in 1913, 1915 and 1916 in the years prior to Finnish independence in 1917. Kiffen’s last championship win came much later in 1955. The decline in Kiffen football set in a decade later when the club were relegated from the ''Mestaruussarja'' and then a further relegation from the ''Suomensarja'' (Finland League), the second tier, followed in 1965 to the ''Maakuntasarja'', the third tier. Fortunes fluctuated in the late 1960s and early 1970s before the club made its last appearances in the ''Mestaruussarja'' in 1977 and 1978. Among the players representing Kiffen at that time were Erkki Alaja, Juha Dahllund,

Kai Haaskivi Kai Haaskivi (born 28 December 1955 in Lahti) is a retired Finnish soccer player. He starred in the North American Soccer League, playing outdoor as well as indoor soccer. He also played for the Finland national football team. He now coaches ...

, Atik Ismail and Reima Kokko. The following year in 1978 Kiffen had dropped to the ''Ykkönen'' (First Division) and in the subsequent years the club have not reached second tier football. Over the last 30 years the club has fluctuated between the ''Kakkonen'' (Second Division) and ''

Kolmonen Kolmonen or III divisioona is the fourth level in the league system of Finnish football and comprises 104 Finnish football teams. The III divisioona was introduced in 1973 and in the mid-1990s became known as the Kolmonen (''Number Three'' in E ...

'' (Third Division). In 1982 and 1983 Kiffen’s ladies team reached the Finnish Women’s league championship qualifiers and from 1984 until 1989 played in the Premier Division after which the team withdrew with their divisional place being inherited by

MP Mikkeli Mikkelin Palloilijat (or MP) is a Finnish professional football club, based in Mikkeli, that competes in the Ykkönen. The club was founded in 1929 and also included volleyball, bandy and ice hockey sections. History In 1998, MP merged with Mi ...

Honours and achievements

* Finnish Champions (Mestaruussarja Winners): 1913, 1915, 1916 and 1955 * Finnish Cup (Suomen Cup): Runners–up in 1958 (2–4 to KTP Kotka).

Divisional movements since 1930

Top Level (25 seasons): 1930–32, 1940/41–46/47, 1948–57, 1960–64, 1977–78
Second Level (16 seasons): 1936–39, 1947/48, 195859, 1965, 1969–74, 1976, 1979
Third Level (21 seasons): 1975, 1980–85, 1990, 1994–2004, 2009–2012, 2015–

Season to season

*25 seasons in ''

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 ...

'' *19 seasons in ''

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 ...

'' *29 seasons in ''

'' *13 seasons in ''

Club structure

Kiffen runs 3 men's teams and 6 veteran's teams. FC Kiffen are competing in Group A of the ''

''. This is the third tier of the Finnish football system. In 2020 the team finished in fifth position in their

group. FC Kiffen/3 are participating in the Section 1 of the ''

Nelonen Nelonen () is a Finnish commercial television channel. It started out as Helsinki's local television channel PTV in 1990 on the HTV cable network (now part of DNA Welho), and changed its name first to PTV4. On June 1, 1997, the channel expand ...

'' (Fourth Division). FC Kiffen/3 are participating in the Section 3 of the ''

Vitonen Vitonen or V divisioona is the sixth level in the Finnish football league system and comprises 228 teams. The V divisioona was introduced in 1973 and in the mid-1990s became known as the Vitonen (''Number Five'' in English and ''Femman'' in Swed ...

'' (Fifth Division).

Current squad

Management

''As of 9 January 2021''

Bandy

The club played bandy in its early years and was the runner-up for the

Finnish championship 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 ...

five times between 1917 and 1932.

Ice hockey

Kiffen played under the name KIF in the Finnish '' SM-sarja'' for several occasions. KIF won the ''SM-sarja'' 3 times ( 1939, 1941 and

1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 ...

). KIF played its final ''SM-sarja'' season in

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...

and has not been playing top level ice hockey since.

Handball

Kiffen has one of the most successful Handball teams in Finland. Kiffen played in the Finnish Handball League from 1969 to 2003. Kiffen's best years were during the 1970s when they were 10 times in the medals.

References and sources

Official Club websiteOfficial Football website
*

Finnish Wikipedia The Finnish Wikipedia ( fi, Suomenkielinen Wikipedia) is the edition of Wikipedia in the Finnish language. By article count, it is the largest Wikipedia with about articles as of . Wikipedia is the only encyclopedia in Finnish which is still up ...

Suomen Cup

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kiffen 08 Bandy clubs in Finland Football clubs in Helsinki Association football clubs established in 1908 Bandy clubs established in 1908 1908 establishments in Finland