Gamlakarleby Bollklubb 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 from

Kokkola Kokkola (; sv, Karleby, ) is a cities of Finland, town and municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. The town is located in the Central Ostrobothnia regions of Finland, region. The town has a population of () and covers an area of of ...

(''Gamlakarleby'' in Swedish). It currently plays in the Finnish Second Division (''

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' ...

''), which is the third-highest level in Finnish football. GBK play their home games at the Keskuskenttä in Kokkola, which has the capacity to accommodate around 3,000 people. GBK is a bilingual club that organises its activities in both Finnish and Swedish.

Club history

Year 1920 IV (Idrottens vänner) and GUIK (Gamlakarleby Ungdomsförenings Idrottsklubb) joined their teams and the new club Gamlakarleby Idrottsförenig (GIF) was founded. Year 1921 the sponsor of GIF, August Kyntzell, had visited England and seen Stoke City playing in their red and white striped dress. Kyntzell became fond of the costumes and decided that his team (GIF and later GBK) would play in the same colours. In the summer of 1921 GIF appeared in red and white striped costumes. 19 February 1924 GIF changed its name to GBK, and it is therefore one of Finland's oldest football clubs. GBK's activity is currently focused on football, but the club has also played

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 hock ...

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 ...

until the 1950s. The ice hockey club Kokkolan Hermes, (now Hermes HT) was formed in 1953, when GBK and KPV ice hockey sections amalgamated. The club has a long tradition and has played 5 seasons in the Finnish Championship in 1959, 1964–66 and 1976. They have also played 39 seasons at the second tier and 15 seasons in the third tier. In recent years GBK have played in 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 play ...

(First Division) and

(Second Division). The club secured promotion to the

in September 2006 but their return to the second tier was short-lived as they were relegated at the end of the 2007 season. Since 2008 they have been playing in the Kakkonen. In 2000 GBK became the first women's beach soccer champion in Finland and the following year became a new championship team .

Divisional Movements since 1930

Top Level (5 seasons): 1959, 1964–66, 1976
Second Level (39 seasons): 1938–39, 1945-46/47, 1948–49, 1951–58, 1960–63, 1967–75, 1977–80, 1995–97, 2002–04, 2007
Third Level (15 seasons): 1981, 1984–85, 1990–91, 1993–94, 1998–2001, 2005–06, 2008–

Season to season

*5 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 Veikkau ...

'' *39 seasons in ''

'' *30 seasons in ''Kakkonen'' *7 seasons in ''

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 ...

Kokkola Cup

The football tournament known as the Kokkola Cup is organised by GBK and is held in mid-July each year. This four-day tournament attracts about 300 teams to Kokkola and is recognised as Finland's second biggest football tournament after the Helsinki Cup. The Kokkola Cup was initiated in 1981 by Lars-Erik Stenfors and the tournament has grown from 50 teams to 330 teams at its peak. Current professional players who have participated in the Kokkola Cup include

Andy Marshall Andrew John Marshall (born 14 April 1975) is an English former professional footballer who played for Norwich City, AFC Bournemouth, Gillingham, Ipswich Town, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Millwall, Coventry City and the England under-21 team. He ...

Jimmy Nielsen Jimmy Nielsen (born 6 August 1977) is a Danish-American retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Until June 2007, he played 398 games for Danish team AaB Fodbold. Playing every league match for AaB since 1997, Nielsen won the 1999 Danish ...

Craig Bellamy Craig Douglas Bellamy (born 13 July 1979) is a Welsh former professional footballer who played as a forward and is current assistant manager at EFL Championship side Burnley. Born in Cardiff, Bellamy began his senior playing career with Norw ...

, Adam Drury,

Danny Mills Daniel John Mills (born 18 May 1977) is an English former professional footballer best known for his time at Leeds United. His main position was right-back, though he could also play as a centre-back. On 7 August 2009, he announced his retirem ...

, Simon Davies and

Matthew Etherington Matthew Etherington (born 14 August 1981) is an English professional football manager and former player who was most recently the manager of club Crawley Town. As a player, Etherington played as a winger, most notably in the Premier League for ...

2014 season

GBK are competing in Group C (Lohko C) 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). In 2013 the team finished in fifth place in Group C of the

. GBK II are participating in 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 ...

section administered by the Keski-Pohjanmaa SPL. GBK III are competing in Section B (Lohko B) of 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 ...

administered by the Keski-Pohjanmaa SPL.

Current squad Legende GBK Kokkola

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 GBK(Gamlakarleby Bollklubb) Facebook

Footnotes

{{reflist Football clubs in Finland Defunct bandy clubs in Finland Kokkola Association football clubs established in 1924 Bandy clubs established in 1924 1924 establishments in Finland