FC Honka 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 club based in Espoo. It was founded in 1957 as Tapion Honka, and changed its name to FC Honka in 1975. The club currently play in the Finnish premier division (''

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 Veikka ...

''), having been promoted for the first time in their history at the end of the 2005 season. It plays its home matches at the Tapiolan Urheilupuisto. FC Honka is largely renowned in Finland for its extensive youth scheme with over 1,000 youth players playing in various age groups. It also has a women's team in the

Kansallinen Liiga The Kansallinen Liiga ('National League') is the premier division of women's football in Finland. It was previously called the Jalkapallon naisten SM-sarja ('Women's Football Finnish Championship Series') during 1974 to 2006 and the Naisten Lii ...

History

Until 2005 FC Honka was thought of as a "nearly, but not quite" team, a promising but always underachieving side in the Finnish First Division (

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 pla ...

). In the late 1990s the objective was promotion, but year after year they failed. At the beginning of the 21st century FC Honka almost went bankrupt but was saved at the last moment. In early 2005 the club was taken over by Jouko Pakarinen and Jouko Harjunpää, who had a plan to turn FC Honka from underachievers to a UEFA Champions League candidate. In the first year of their take-over of FC Honka, the new management succeeded in assembling a squad which won the First Division (Ykkönen) with ease and also made the semi-finals of 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 ...

where they eventually lost 1–0 to FC Haka. FC Honka was able to fight for top positions instantly, but narrowly missed the top three in their first two seasons. In 2007 the team reached the Finnish Cup final, losing to

Tampere United Tampere United is a Finnish football club from the city of Tampere. The club plays in Kakkonen, the third highest level of football in Finland. The club had a team in Veikkausliiga, the premier football league in Finland, until the end of the ...

on penalties after extra time. As Tampere United also won the league title that season, FC Honka qualified for the 2008–09 UEFA Cup. In 2008, FC Honka achieved its highest place by finishing 2nd in the league. FC Honka won the Finnish Cup in 2012. However, due to financial difficulties the team was relegated to the third tier Kakkonen in 2015. In 2015 the fitness center company Esport bought the club and after that, the club has also been known as Esport Honka. The club dominated their first season in the Kakkonen in 2015 and lost only two games, but were defeated in the promotion battle. After the 2016 season, the team was promoted to the second tier Finnish First Division (Ykkönen). After the 2017 Ykkönen season Honka was promoted to the highest Finnish tier (Veikkausliiga) after Promotion playoffs against HIFK.

Honours

League

*Runners-up (3): 2008, 2009, 2013

*Champions: 2005

Cups

*Winners:

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*Runners-up (3): 1969, 2007, 2008

Finnish League Cup The Finnish League Cup was a knock-out football competition contested annually during the pre-season in winter by teams from Veikkausliiga. The league cup was abolished after the 2016 tournament and replaced with the Finnish Cup group stage startin ...

*Winners (3): 2010, 2011, 2022

Friendly

La Manga Cup *Winners: 2009

European competitions

As runners-up in the 2007 Finnish Cup to Tampere United, who had also won the league title, FC Honka qualified for the 2008–09 UEFA Cup, beating the Icelandic club ÍA 4–2 in the 1st qualifying round and the

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

club Viking in the 2nd. In the first round of actual competition, they were drawn against

Racing Santander Real Racing Club de Santander, S.A.D. (), also known as Racing de Santander () or simply Racing, is a football club based in Santander, Spain, Santander, Cantabria, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Span ...

and lost 0–2 on aggregate. Next year, Honka qualified for the new UEFA Europa League, starting from the second qualifying round. The club beat Welsh side Bangor City F.C. 3–0 on aggregate but lost 1–3 to FK Karabakh from Azerbaijan in the third qualifying round. For the 2010–11 season, FC Honka was again drawn against Bangor City in the second round but lost 3–2 on aggregate. During the winter of 2009, Honka won the annual La Manga Cup, beating

FC Nordsjælland Football Club Nordsjælland, commonly known as FC Nordsjælland, Nordsjælland () or FCN, is a professional Danish football team from the North Zealand town of Farum. Founded as ''Farum Boldklub'' from the merger of the town's two football club ...

in the final.

European cups record

Matches

UEFA club ranking

This is the UEFA Club Ranking , including season 2013–14. ''Last update: 22 June 2021''

Season to season

Current squad

Management

''Updated 19 February 2021.''

FC Honka Akatemia

FC Honka Akatemia is the reserve team of FC Honka. The team plays in Kakkonen in 2022 season.

Managers

* Jari Europaeus (1 Jan 2001 – 31 Dec 2003) * Abdou "Dalla" Talat (1 Jan 2004 – 31 Dec 2004) * Mika Lehkosuo (1 Jan 2005 – 7 Feb 2014) * Shefki Kuqi (15 Feb 2014 – 31 Dec 2014) * Juho Rantala (7 Feb 2015 – 1 Dec 2016) * Vesa Vasara (5 Dec 2016– )

Footnotes

References

External links

Official Website

Honka Supporters
{{Veikkausliiga teamlist Honka Sport in Espoo Association football clubs established in 1957 1957 establishments in Finland