Palloiluseura Apollo (abbreviated Apollo) is a football club from

Hyvinkää Hyvinkää (; sv, Hyvinge, ) is a city and municipality of Finland. It is located in the Uusimaa region, approximately north of the capital Helsinki. The city was chartered in 1960. The population of Hyvinkää is (). Its neighboring municipal ...

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 1956 and currently plays in the

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 ...

(Fifth Division). Their home ground is at the Kankurin tekonurmi. The Club chairman is Ari Alajoki.

History

Apollo has spent many seasons in the lower divisions of the Finnish football league but they have had two spells covering 5 seasons in the third tier, 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 ...

(Second Division), in 1980–81 and 1985–87. In the 1985 season Atik Ismail, the former Finnish international, scored 11 goals for Apollo. The team finished in third position in the West Group of the Second Division and achieved their highest ever attendance of 965 spectators for a home match against Honka. However the most startling attendance of the 1985 season was the 4,349 people who attended the KontU-Apollo league match. In the 1986 season Apollo finished in second place in the East Group of the Second Division, falling just one league point behind the leaders

GrIFK Grankulla IFK, or GrIFK as the name is commonly abbreviated, is a Finnish sports club from the city of Kauniainen. The club was formed in 1925 and the main activities covered are football, ice-hockey, handball, floorball and alpine. The clu ...

who were promoted. This was the high point of the club's history and was followed in 1987 by relegation and the downward spiral that was soon to gain momentum. One of the highlights of Hyvinkää football in the 1970s and 1980s were the derby matches with local rivals, Hyvinkään Palloseura, and for a period Apollo were the leading club in the town. However, over the last two decades the club's fortunes have fluctuated and they have sadly dropped to the

(Fifth Division) in recent years. There remain links with the club's halcyon days with Pekka Mononen (now the club coach) and Rudel Matamala still registered as players with Apollo some 25 years later.

Season to season

Club Structure

Palloiluseura Apollo run one team. The club do not have a junior section.

2010 season

Apollo are competing in Section 4 (Lohko 4) of the

administered by the Uusimaa SPL. This is the sixth highest tier in the Finnish football system. In 2009 Apollo finished in 5th place in Section 4 of the

Notable former players

Former players that have played in a fully professional league: * Atik Ismail *

Alan Waddle Alan Waddle (born 9 June 1954) is an English former footballer who played as a striker. Waddle began his career with Halifax Town, signing professional forms in October 1971. He made 22 League appearances and scored the crucial goal in the last ...

* Mark Miller

References and sources

Official Website

Footnotes

{{Reflist Football clubs in Finland Hyvinkää 1956 establishments in Finland