FC Viikkarit (previously FC Viikingit/2) are 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 ...

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 ...

team based in

Vuosaari Vuosaari ( sv, Nordsjö) is a neighbourhood in the City of Helsinki, Finland. It is located by the sea in East Helsinki and with its area of is geographically the largest district in the city. It also has two Helsinki Metro stations, Rastila ...

East Helsinki East Helsinki ( fi, Itä-Helsinki, sv, Östra Helsingfors) is an area in Helsinki, Finland, usually thought to comprise the city's eastern and south-eastern major districts (, ), including the districts of Vartiokylä, Myllypuro, Mellunkylä, ...

. They play 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 ...

'', the third tier of football in Finland, and are the

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

of second-tier club

FC Viikingit FC Viikingit is a Finnish football club based in Vuosaari, East Helsinki, and currently playing in the ''Kakkonen'', the third tier of Finnish football. They play their home matches at Vuosaaren urheilukenttä, also called Heteniitty. The club ...

. The reserve team was established in 2007 and won promotion to the Kakkonen after the 2013 season. The team is managed by Alexei Zhukov, who had a long career as a player for the first team of the East Helsinki club.

History

FC Viikingit/2 was founded as the reserve team of FC Viikingit for the 2007 season, when the first team was promoted to the ''

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 ...

''. The team started out in the third division (''

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 did moderately well, finishing between 5th and 9th in its first seasons up to 2011. For the 2012 season, the club began to invest more in the success of the reserve team. Cooperation between the first team, the reserve team and youth teams was increased, and former first-team players Alexei Zhukov and

Vitali Suetov Vitaly Gennadyevich Suetov (russian: Виталий Геннадьевич Суетов; born 28 April 1971) is a former Russian professional footballer. Career Suetov played in the Russian First Division with FC Rubin-TAN Kazan and FC Torpedo V ...

were hired to coach the reserves. As a result, the team did well in the 2012 Kolmonen, but the close-run season ended with FC Viikingit/2 in fourth place, just two points behind group winners FC POHU, who were promoted to the second division. In 2013, the reserve team led by Zhukov consisted mostly of FC Viikingit Under-19s with a few older players. The young side enjoyed success both in the Kolmonen and in the 2013 Finnish Cup. In the cup, they progressed to the fifth round, knocking out two-second-division clubs ( JäPS and

PK Keski-Uusimaa Pallokerho Keski-Uusimaa (abbreviated PK Keski-Uusimaa) is a football club serving the sub-region of Keski- Uusimaa in Finland and is centred on the towns of Järvenpää, Kerava and Tuusula. The club was formed in 2005 and the men's first tea ...

), before finally losing out to

FC Jazz FC Jazz is a football club from Pori, Finland. It plays in the Finnish third tier Kakkonen. It was invented in 1934. FC Jazz has won two Finnish championships ( 1993 & 1996 ). History PPT 1934–1991 FC Jazz was established in 1934 as ...

, who went on to achieve promotion to the ''

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 ...

'' at the end of the season. In the league, FC Viikingit/2 held on to first place for most of the season. They secured their first-place finish, and therefore promotion, on the penultimate match day by beating

local rivals Herttoniemen Toverit. For the 2014 season, the team changed its name to ''FC Viikkarit''. They will play in the Eastern group of the

2014 Kakkonen The 2014 Kakkonen season started on 18 April and ended on 4 October 2014. Teams A total of 40 teams contested the league divided into four groups, Eteläinen (Southern), Pohjoinen (Northern), Läntinen (Western) and Itäinen (Eastern). 29 returni ...

, with the aim of succeeding in the competition and developing the club's players in cooperation with the first team and youth teams. Reserve team manager Alexei Zhukov signed a new contract in December 2013, and will therefore remain in charge for the upcoming season. The home ground for 2014 has not yet been announced. In 2013, the team played their home matches at Kartanon kenttä in

Nordsjön kartano Nordsjön kartano (Finnish), Nordsjö gård (Swedish) is an eastern neighborhood of Helsinki, Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land ...

. However, the ground does not, at least in its current state, fulfil second-division requirements due to e.g. lack of sufficient seating, and therefore cannot host Kakkonen matches without major changes.

Season records

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Viikkarit Football clubs in Helsinki Association football clubs established in 2007 2007 establishments in Finland