City Stars was a

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 from

Lahti Lahti (; sv, Lahtis) is a city and municipality in Finland. It is the capital of the region of Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme) and its growing region is one of the main economic hubs of Finland. Lahti is situated on a bay at the southern e ...

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 1982 and their home ground is at the Kisapuiston kenttä. The team last plays 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' ...

(Second Division). The Head coach was to this time Petri Järvinen.

History

City Stars spent many seasons in the lower divisions of the Finnish football league following their formation in 1982. The year 2006 saw a huge change in fortunes when they won Section 2 of the

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 ...

(Helsinki and Uusimaa). The team then won the promotion play-off group to seal promotion. In early 2007 City Stars became part of the Lahti club,

FC Kuusysi FC Kuusysi (Finnish for ''FC sixty-nine'') is a football club in Lahti, Finland. Its men's team is currently playing in the fourth tier of Finnish football (''Kolmonen''), and its women's team is playing in Kakkonen. The homeground of FC Kuusysi ...

, and established their own business unit within the organisation. At the same time City Stars received support from

Petri Pasanen Petri Pasanen (born 24 September 1980) is a Finnish former professional footballer who played as a defender. He was most comfortable as centre-back, but also played right-back and left-back as well. Pasanen began his senior career in his native ...

, the Finnish international, and Kari Kangasaho, the Kuusysi coach. In 2007–2008 seasons the club also formed a cooperative link with

FC Lahti FC Lahti is a Finnish football club based in the city of Lahti. It currently plays in the Finnish Premier League (''Veikkausliiga'') after placing first in the Finnish First Division (''Ykkönen'') during season 2011. The homeground of FC Lah ...

. City Stars played two seasons in the

(Second Division), the third tier of Finnish football from 2007 to 2008 before relegation back to the

(Third Division). Their stay at the lower level was short-lived as another promotion in 2009 saw them back in the Kakkonen for 2010 after narrowly beating local rivals Salpausselän Reipas by 2 points. City Stars have fine reputation as a good cup team, especially in the

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 ...

(Suomen Cup). In the 2009 competition they battled their way through to quarter finals before losing 0–3 to

FC Honka FC Honka is a Finnish football club based in Espoo. It was founded in 1957 as Tapion Honka, and changed its name to FC Honka in 1975. The club currently play in the Finnish premier division (''Veikkausliiga''), having been promoted for the fir ...

. City Stars are proud to take part in the Uusi Lahti Cup tournament. In 2007 they beat Estonian first division club

FC Levadia Tallinn Football Club Infonet Levadia Tallinn, commonly known as FCI Levadia, or simply as Levadia, is a professional football club based in Tallinn, Estonia, that competes in the Meistriliiga, the top flight of Estonian football. The club's home groun ...

and were ranked in positions 5–6. In 2008, the team reached a similar position by winning a penalty shoot-out against

JJK Jyväskylä JJK Jyväskylä (JJK; full name Jyväskylän Jalkapalloklubi) is a Finnish football club, based in Jyväskylä. JJK plays its home matches at Harjun Stadion. History Early years 1923–1992 Jyväskylän Palloilijat (abbreviated JyP), the p ...

from the (First Division). In 2010 the team lost 3–0 to

HJK Helsinki Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi (), commonly known as HJK Helsinki, or simply as HJK, is a professional football club based in Helsinki, Finland. The club competes in the Finnish Veikkausliiga. Founded in 1907, the club has spent most of its history ...

in the quarter-finals but beat PoPa Pori 2–1 in the ranking match.

Season to season

Club Structure

City Stars is part of the

structure which has 1 men's team, 1 veteran's team, 1 ladies team, 1 disability team, 15 boys teams and 9 girls teams.

2010 season

City Stars are competing in Group A (Lohko A) of the

administered by the

Football Association of Finland The Football Association of Finland ( fi, Suomen Palloliitto, abbr. SPL; sv, Finlands Bollförbund) is the governing body of football in Finland. It was founded in Helsinki on 19 May 1907. The SPL organises the men's and women's national footb ...

'' (Suomen Palloliitto) ''. This is the third highest tier in the Finnish football system. In 2009 City Stars finished in first position in their

(Third Division) section and were promoted to the Kakkonen..

References and sources

Official 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 FC City Stars / FC Kuusysi Fans Facebook

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:City Stars Football clubs in Finland Sport in Lahti 1982 establishments in Finland