Sudet (''"Wolves"'' in English) is a sports club from

Kouvola Kouvola () is a cities of Finland, city and Municipalities of Finland, municipality in southeastern Finland. It is located along the Kymijoki, Kymijoki River in the Regions of Finland, region of Kymenlaakso, kilometers east of Lahti, west of Lapp ...

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 ...

, playing

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 ...

and

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

. The club was formed in 1912 and was based firstly in Viipuri (

Vyborg Vyborg (; rus, Вы́борг, links=1, r=Výborg, p=ˈvɨbərk; fi, Viipuri ; sv, Viborg ; german: Wiborg ) is a town in, and the administrative center of, Vyborgsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Karelian Isthmus ne ...

), then in

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 ...

, before finally moving to

. Sudet formerly played in the

Bandyliiga The Bandyliiga (; 'Bandy League') is the top level of men's bandy in Finland. The league was founded in 1908 as the Jääpallon SM-sarja ('Bandy Finnish Championship Series') and the present name has been used since the 1991–92 season. Bandyl ...

, the top bandy league in Finland, and has become Finnish champions many times. As of 2014, the club is the reigning national champion in women's bandy. Sudet currently plays football 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 ...

(Fourth Division) and their home ground is at the Keskusurheilukenttä, Kouvola. The Club Chairman is Vesa Vainio.

History

Sudet were originally established in Viipuri (Vyborg) on 13 December 1912 under the name Wiipurin Bandy & Jalkapalloseura (WB & JS). The name was changed in 1924 to Wiipurin Sudet. In 1940 the

Winter War The Winter War,, sv, Vinterkriget, rus, Зи́мняя война́, r=Zimnyaya voyna. The names Soviet–Finnish War 1939–1940 (russian: link=no, Сове́тско-финская война́ 1939–1940) and Soviet–Finland War 1 ...

resulted in the club moving to Helsinki as the city of Viipuri fell into Soviet hands. From 1950 the name was changed to its current form, Sudet. In 1962 the club made its final move to Kouvola. In the early decades of the twentieth century WB & JS were very successful at

winning their first Finnish Championship in 1914. The club won no fewer than six consecutive Finnish Championships and has won 14 in total as of 2014. In 2014, the women's bandy team of Sudet claimed the women's national championship for the first time. Sudet also made great progress at football and reached the semi-finals of the Finnish Championship in 1924, 1925, 1928 and 1929. They were promoted to the new

Mestaruussarja Mestaruussarja (Championship series) was the top division of Finland, Finnish association football, football from 1930 to 1989. It was replaced by Veikkausliiga in 1990. In 1930 league format was used for the first time to decide the Finnish cham ...

at the end of the 1930 season. In total the club played 15 seasons in the Finnish Football Championship (

) in 1931–38, 1940/41-46/47, 1948 and 1951. On 28 July 1940 Sudet won the Finnish Championship by beating TPS Turku 2–0 in the Final. The Mestaruussarja could not be played as a league in

1940 A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until the year 5280. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January *January ...

so a cup competition was held instead. Sudet played 18 seasons in the Suomensarja (Finland League), 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 1939, 1947/48, 1949–50, 1952–61 and 1963–66. They also have had two spells in the third tier, 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' ...

(the Second Division), in 1981 and 1985–90. Sudet's recent history has been less spectacular. After a period of inactivity in the 1990s the club was revived in 2001 following a cooperative venture with Kymen Salibandy and FC Kouvola. Sudet is now a strong club, which has benefited by an increase of around 300 in the number of members. The club currently remains in the

(Third Division) but their potential was demonstrated in the 2010 Finnish Cup when they battled their way through to the Sixth Round before going down 0–1 at home to

FC Haka FC Haka is a Finnish football club based in the industry town of Valkeakoski. It is currently competing in Finland's premier division of football, Veikkausliiga. It is one of the most successful clubs in Finland, with nine Finnish championships a ...

from 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 ...

watched by 514 spectators. The highest ever attendance for a Sudet match was in 1937 in Viipuri when 3,264 people attended the home game with

Turun Palloseura Turun Palloseura, commonly known as TPS, is a professional football club based in Turku, Finland. During the 2022 season, the men's first team of the club competes in Ykkönen, the second highest tier of men's football, and the women's repr ...

Divisional Movements since 1930

– Sudet Viipuri until 1944
– Sudet Helsinki from 1945 to 1961
– Sudet Kouvola since 1962 Top Level (15 seasons): 1931–38, 1940/41-46/47, 1948, 1951
Second Level (18 seasons): 1939, 1947/48, 1949–50, 1952–61, 1963–66
Third Level (7 seasons): 1981, 1985–90

Season to season

Club Structure

Sudet run 3 men's teams, 1 ladies team, 12 boys teams and 7 girls teams. In addition the FC Arosudet and FC Hukat clubs form part of the Sudet structure. The club also run a football school for youngsters.

2010 season

Sudet Men's Team are competing in the

(Third Division) administered by the Kaakkois-Suomi SPL. This is the fourth highest tier in the Finnish football system. In 2009 STPS finished in third place in the

. Sudet/2 and Sudet Pure Amis are participating in 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 Kaakkois-Suomi SPL. They are both new teams.

Current squad 2016

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 CupSuomen Cup

Footnotes

{{veikkausliiga Bandy clubs in Finland Football clubs in Finland Kouvola Bandy clubs established in 1912 Association football clubs established in 1912 1912 establishments in Finland