Reipas Lahti is a sports club based in

Lahti Lahti (; sv, Lahtis) is a city and municipality in Finland. It is the capital of the region of Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme) and its growing region is one of the main economic hubs of Finland. Lahti is situated on a bay at the southern e ...

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 ...

. It is involved in various of

ball game This is a list of ball games and ball sports that include a ball as a key element in the activity, usually for scoring points. Ball games Ball sports fall within many sport categories, some sports within multiple categories, including: *Bat-and- ...

s and also other sports. The club emerged in the late 1940s, when the inhabitants of Viipuri had mostly been relocated in Lahti, after evacuation during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. As a consequence, the activities of Viipurin Reipas, which had been founded in 1891, were continued in the new home town of the evacuees. The name of the club was still Reipas Viipuri until 1962, when the ball game section became simply Reipas. Reipas has played in top-flight football,

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

and bandy, with particular success in football. In bandy, Reipas last appeared in top flight in

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

, but then discontinued its involvement in this sport the following year. In 1975, the football and ice hockey sections became independent clubs, football being continued under the name of Lahden Reipas, and ice hockey under the name of Kiekkoreipas, who now play as

Pelicans Pelicans (genus ''Pelecanus'') are a genus of large water birds that make up the family Pelecanidae. They are characterized by a long beak and a large throat pouch used for catching prey and draining water from the scooped-up contents before s ...

Football

The hallmark of Reipas in football is a shirt with vertical orange and black stripes. From 1963 to 1970, Reipas won the

Mestaruussarja Mestaruussarja (Championship series) was the top division of Finnish 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 champion. Before that from 1908 to ...

three time, thus achieving a hat trick of Finnish championships. However, by 1996 the club was in financial difficulties, and the problem was solved by merging Reipas and they more recently arrived local rival Kuusysi. At the time both clubs played in the northern section of Division 1, i.e. on the second level, but at the end of the season Reipas found themselves in the relegation zone.

FC Lahti

The new club was simply called

FC Lahti FC Lahti is a Finnish football club based in the city of Lahti. It currently plays in the Finnish Premier League ('' Veikkausliiga'') after placing first in the Finnish First Division ('' Ykkönen'') during season 2011. The homeground of FC ...

, and it inherited Kuusysi's place in Division 1, now in the southern section. The place of Reipas, in 1997 Kakkonen was given to FC Pallo-Lahti, which was founded as a reserves team. Later this team was discontinued and the place in the division in question was given up.

FC Reipas

Together with the other changes, a club named FC Reipas was founded in 1996. Its task is to continue the tradition of bringing up new generations of footballers in Lahti, more specifically A and B juniors. Nowadays the club has teams in all age groups. The club also has an elderly men's team. The club organises the annual Lahti Soccer tournament.

Return of Reipas Lahti

Lahden Reipas, i.e. Reipas Lahti returned to men's competitive football for the season 2012, when it was given the former place of Reipas Salpausselkä in Division 3.

Season to season

*27 seasons in ''

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 ...

'' *19 seasons in ''

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 ...

'' *16 seasons in ''

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 ...

'' *7 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 E ...

Honours in football

*Finnish champion (3): **

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Co ...

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...

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 ...

(7): **1964, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1978 *Finnish Cup runners-up (3): **1963, 1967, 1970

References

External links

Reipas Lahti homepagesFC Reipas homepages
by

Sports Museum Foundation of Finland Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...

. {{Finnish Champions in Football Football clubs in Finland Reipas Viipuri Reipas Viipuri Reipas Viipuri Sport in Vyborg Sport in Lahti it:Lahden Reipas lt:Reipas Lahti