Pohjois-Haagan Urheilijat (abbreviated FC POHU) is a football club from

Pohjois-Haaga Pohjois-Haaga (Finnish), Norra Haga (Swedish, translates as Northern Haaga) is a neighborhood of Helsinki, Finland. On east it borders with Hämeenlinna's highway. Etelä-Haaga (Southern Haaga) is in its southern side, separated by park areas an ...

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

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 formed in 1957 and has developed into a very large organisation with a large number of teams competing in various leagues. There are currently around eleven teams competing at senior level, and many more at junior level.

History

The construction of the Pohjois-Haaga (North Haaga) district of Helsinki began in the early 1950s and at that time there were about a thousand inhabitants. By 1957 the population had grown to nearly ten thousand, including a substantial number of children. This created pressure on the establishment of a sports club. On 15 November 1957 a number of proactive residents held a meeting and founded the Pohjois-Haagan Urheilijat club (North Haaga Sportsmen's club). The club soon offered multi-sports opportunities and a focus for young people who were interested in sport. By 1960 the club had representative sides competing at

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 ...

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

and

bandy Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two teams wearing ice skates on a large ice surface (either indoors or outdoors) while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal. The international governing body for bandy is ...

. By the late 1970s POHU specialised at club football and women's football activity increased. Success in the late 1960s saw the club men's team progress to Division IV and then to Division III and almost gain promotion to the old Division II in 1971. They eventually succeeded in 1976. The year 1977 proved to be the club's pinnacle with one season in the

Kakkonen Kakkonen or II divisioona is the third level in the league system of Finnish football and comprises 36 Finnish football teams. The II divisioona was introduced in 1973 and in the mid-1990s became known as the Kakkonen (Finnish for 'Number Two' ...

, the third tier of Finnish football. In the subsequent years the team has played in Division III (

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 En ...

) and Division IV (

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 ...

). The late 1980s and the 1990s saw the rapid expansion of the junior section with the formation of numerous boys and girls teams.

Season to season

*2 seasons in ''

'' *11 seasons in ''

'' *2 seasons in ''

Structure

The club runs a large number of teams including 7 men's teams, 3 veteran's teams, 1 ladies team and a very wide range of boys and girls junior teams.

2010 season

FC POHU are competing in Section 2 (Lohko 2) of the

administered by the Helsinki SPL and Uusimaa SPL. This is the fourth highest tier in the Finnish football system. In 2009 FC POHU were promoted from the

. FC POHU/2 are competing in Section 1 (Lohko 1) of the

administered by the Helsinki SPL. FC POHU/Playboys are competing in Section 1 (Lohko 1) 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 ...

administered by the Helsinki SPL. In 2009 they were promoted from the

Kutonen Kutonen or VI divisioona is the seventh level in the Finnish football league system and comprises 265 teams. The VI divisioona was introduced in 1973 and in the mid-1990s became known as the Kutonen (''Number Six'' in English and ''Sexan'' in ...

. FC POHU/Swigu are competing in Section 2 (Lohko 2) of the

administered by the Helsinki SPL. In 2009 they were promoted from the

. FC POHU/Simpsons are competing in Section 3 (Lohko 3) of the

administered by the Helsinki SPL. FC POHU/Susijengi are competing in Section 1 (Lohko 1) of the

administered by the Helsinki SPL. In 2009 they were promoted from the

Seiska ''Seiska'', also known as ''7 päivää'' (Finnish for 7 days), is a Finnish gossip magazine published in Helsinki, Finland. History and profile ''7 päivää'' was first published in 1992. The magazine is owned by the Aller Media and is publish ...

. FC POHU/Shrimps are competing in Section 2 (Lohko 2) of the

administered by the Helsinki SPL.

References and sources

Official WebsiteSuomen Cup
{{DEFAULTSORT:POHU, FC Football clubs in Helsinki Association football clubs established in 1957 1957 establishments in Finland