The Palloseura Kemi Kings is a Finnish

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 ...

team based in the town of

Kemi Kemi (; sme, Giepma ; smn, Kiemâ; sms, Ǩeeʹmm; Swedish (historically): ''Kiemi'') is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located very near the city of Tornio and the Swedish border. The distance to Oulu is to the south and to Rovani ...

, who are currently playing in 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 ...

. The club have spent three seasons in the

top flight Top Flight (April 15, 1929 – 1949) was an American U.S. Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse. She was the leading American filly of her generation at two and three years of age. Background Bred in Kentucky by the very prominent horseman Harry ...

in their history.

History

The club was established on October 21, 1999. Kemi Kings was created out of a merger between Kemin Palloseura (KePS), Kemin Pallotoverit-85 (KPT-85) and Visan Pallo. All three teams continue only as junior teams–having younger than B-juniors–while PS Kemi took over A and B juniors. The best achievement of PS Kemi Kings so far has been reaching eighth place 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 ...

competition 2006. The team also played in Finnish Cup's small final, but lost it to Kultsu FC after the penalty shootout. In the 2007 season PS Kemi Kings won 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' ...

's C-sector and were promoted to the second division, the Ykkönen. In the 2008 season PS Kemi Kings successfully fought against the relegation and also Qualified for the Top-16 in the Finnish Cup. In January 2011 the sport director Jukka Kuusisto signed a contract with finish TopSpot – Sports, Development and Technology – Sports Management with Social Responsibility and signed later his first two Nigerian players for his club the forward Patrick Chibuzor Onyeaghala from Nigerian Football Academy and the defender Faith Friday Obilor from FC Odiaba. PS Kemi won two successive promotions to the first division in 2014, 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 ...

, and then, for the first time in their history, to the premier division, 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 Veikkau ...

in 2015. The club ran into financial difficulties in the Veikkausliiga and the club's parent company ceased operations due to financial problems in February 2019. PS Kemi formed a new club, Kemi City FC, in early 2019 and continued its sports activities at the Palloseura Kemi Kings Association's Serie 3 in Northern Finland. In March, it was announced that English-based Redstrike Group had acquired a 40% holding in Kemi City FC. Kemi City FC ended the 19/20 Season champions of Finnish Football Division ‘Kolmonen' and gained automatic promotion to the

for season 2020/21. In February 2022, the club were taken over by a group led by Mark Ellis and reverted back to their original PS Kemi name.

Season to season

References

External links

Official Website
{{in lang, fi Football clubs in Finland 1999 establishments in Finland Kemi Association football clubs established in 1999