IF Gnistan (''The Spark'' in English) is a Finnish football club from the city of

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 ...

, founded in 1924. The club is currently playing 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 ...

, the second tier of the Finnish league system. IF Gnistan play their home matches at Mustapekka Areena. Club's home district is

Oulunkylä Oulunkylä ( sv, Åggelby, also known as ''Ogeli'') is a suburb and a neighbourhood of Helsinki, the capital of Finland. It is located north from the center of the city. It has been inhabited since the 13th century. Earlier an independent munic ...

, which locates in northern part of the capital city. The club is originally Swedish-speaking, but nowadays it is supported by Finnish-speaking majority also. The club was founded by a few Svenska Reallyceum and Åggelby Svenska Samskola students from

in 1924. IF Gnistan were

multi-sport 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 ...

and had several competitive departments including

ski A ski is a narrow strip of semi-rigid material worn underfoot to glide over snow. Substantially longer than wide and characteristically employed in pairs, skis are attached to ski boots with ski bindings, with either a free, lockable, or partia ...

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 ...

, swim and

pesäpallo Pesäpallo (; sv, boboll, both names literally meaning "nest ball", colloquially known in Finnish as pesis, also referred to as Finnish baseball) is a fast-moving bat-and-ball sport that is often referred to as the national sport of Finland a ...

(Finnish baseball). Football department were founded in 1935, when the club joined

Finnish Football Association 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 footba ...

Helsinki district. Later in the 1950s Gnistan had strong teams in

orienteering Orienteering is a group of sports that require navigational skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain whilst moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a s ...

, women's

gymnastics Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, shou ...

table tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

and

cross country running Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open coun ...

alongside the classical sports. During the late 1950s the club decided to dissolve all the other departments except for the football teams. When ski and athletics were eliminated, Gnistan turned to a football club, and named

Jacob Söderman Jacob-Magnus (Jacob) Söderman (born 19 March 1938 in Helsinki, Finland) is a Finnish politician who served as Eduskunta, Finnish Member of Parliament in 1972–1982 and again in 2007–2011. Söderman is a member of the Social Democratic Party of ...

as their new chairman. They became a significant team in lower leagues of the capital region but never promoted to the top tier. After season 1994, they achieved their place to

for the first time. They stayed in the second tier four years and then relegated back to

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' ...

in 1998. They have been in Ykkönen level three occasions.

Background

Gnistan has played seven seasons in the

(First Division), the second tier of

Finnish football ) , country = Finland , sport = association football , noncountry = , teamlabel1 = , nationalteam = Men's national team Women's national team , teamlabel2 = , repteam = , nickname = , first ...

in 1995–98, 2001–02 and from the season 2017. The club has played fourteen seasons in the

(Second Division), the third tier of

in 1990, 1994, 1999–2000 and 2003–2016. In 2002, the club nearly made it to the semi-finals of the Finnish Cup, by leading FC Lahti 2–0 till the 90th minute. A FC Lahti fan, ran naked to the field, which caused 5 minutes of added time. Lahti scored twice in injury time and in extra time they made the final score 2–3. After season 2016, the club won their

group and achieved a chance to qualify for

for the next season. They faced another group winner

Musan Salama Musan Salama (acronym MuSa) is a football club based in Pori, Finland, currently playing in the Finnish second tier Kakkonen. It was founded in 1960 in the Musa suburb of Pori. Literally, the name of the club means the ″Lightning of Musa″. Mu ...

on two-legged tie, which started away from home in

Pori ) , website www.pori.fi Pori (; sv, Björneborg ) is a city and municipality on the west coast of Finland. The city is located some from the Gulf of Bothnia, on the estuary of the Kokemäki River, west of Tampere, north of Turku and north-w ...

. Both meetings ended 1–0 victories for the home teams, so the promoting team were solved by penalty shoot-out. Gnistan beat their opponents by 4–3 and promoted to the second tier of Finnish football after spending 14 seasons in a row in

Season to season

*9 seasons in ''

'' *44 seasons in ''

'' *10 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 ...

'' *9 seasons in ''

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 ...

'' *2 seasons in ''

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 ...

Club Structure

Gnistan run a number of teams including 4 men's teams, 3 veteran's teams, 2 ladies teams, 11 boys team and 6 girls teams. The club also runs a Football School for youngsters.

2010 season

IF Gnistan 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 Gnistan finished in second position in their

section. Gnistan / 2 are participating in Section 1 (Lohko 1) of the

(Fourth Division) administered by the Helsinki SPL. Gnistan / Ogeli are participating in Section 2 (Lohko 2) of the

(Fourth Division) administered by the Helsinki SPL. Gnistan / Roots are participating in Section 2 (Lohko 2) 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 ...

(Sixth Division) administered by the Helsinki SPL. In 2009 Roots finished in second position in Section 2

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 ...

(Seventh Division).

Current squad

References

Sources

Suomen Cup

External links

Official Website IF Gnistan Facebook
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gnistan Football clubs in Helsinki 1924 establishments in Finland