FC Haka

FC Haka

Full name	Valkeakosken Haka
Nickname(s)	Haka
Founded	1934
Ground	Tehtaan kenttä, Valkeakoski
Capacity	3,516
Chairman	Olli Huttunen
Manager	Andy Smith[1]
League	Veikkausliiga
2024	Veikkausliiga, 6th of 12
Website	fchaka.fi
Home colours Away colours

FC Haka, originally Valkeakosken Haka, commonly known as Haka, is a Finnish professional football club based in the industrial town of Valkeakoski. The club was founded in 1934, competing in Finland's premier division of football, Veikkausliiga. It is one of the most successful clubs in Finland, with nine Finnish championships and 12 Finnish Cup wins.

Haka has historically had close ties with the paper industry in the Valkeakoski area, and it is still sponsored by UPM Kymmene.

The club was founded as Valkeakosken Haka in 1934, with a strong contribution of Juuso Walden. In 1949 it was promoted to Finland's top division Mestaruussarja (now called Veikkausliiga), and in 1955 won the inaugural Finnish Cup.

The 1960s was the most successful era in the club's history, winning both the league and cup three times, including the first double in Finnish football history in 1960. The club was relegated in 1972, but came straight back, and won the double again in 1977.

The club's name was changed to FC Haka in the early 1990s. Haka won the title again 1995, but was relegated the next season. Keith Armstrong was hired as the new coach, and the club came straight back again, winning three straight championships from 1998 to 2000.^[2] Goalkeeping legend Olli Huttunen succeeded Armstrong as coach in 2002, and has already led the club to the championship (2004) and two cups (2002 and 2005).

Haka's best performance in UEFA competition was in the 1983–1984 season when they reached the quarterfinals of the Cup Winners' Cup, losing to eventual winners Juventus 0–2 on aggregate. The club has been involved in European competitions every year since 1998, the streak ending in 2008–2009 season.

In the recent years the club's financial situation has deteriorated on two occasions (like many other small market teams in Veikkausliiga). The first one was the 2008–09 season when a group of investors led by local businessman and restaurateur Sedu Koskinen (owner and founder of a nationwide night-club chain) formed FC Haka Oy to help an essentially bankrupt team to finish the season. In 2010 Sedu Koskinen left, after having put around 1 million euros of his own money into the club.

Since then the club's operations have been reformed to make it financial sound or at least not running on deficit. The team, having been one of the most successful and high stature in Finland, had been on run of deficit for several years during the 2000s. At the same time the overall economic situation in the world and also the sponsorship payments from UPM Kymmene diminished. This forced the club to rationalize its operations and adopt a new role as one of the smaller clubs in Finnish top flight football. The current situation at the start of 2012 Finnish football season is described by the current chairman and board members as difficult but stable.

These times of financial struggles have seen the club move from a perennial championship challenger to a team usually poised for relegation. Both 2011 and 2012 the pre-season media predictions have placed the club in the bottom three. Haka finished last in the standings in 2012 and were relegated to the Finnish First Division. The club finally won promotion back to the Veikkausliiga for the 2020 season following a near perfect campaign in the 2019 Ykkönen, where the club only dropped 7 points and finished 19 points ahead of second-place TPS.

• Mestaruussarja/Veikkausliiga
  • Champions (9): 1960, 1962, 1965, 1977, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2004
• Finnish Cup
  • Winners (12): 1955, 1959, 1960, 1963, 1969, 1977, 1982, 1985, 1988, 1997, 2002, 2005
• Finnish League Cup
  • Winners: 1995
• Ykkönen
  • Champions: 1997, 2019
  • Promotion: 1973

Season	Competition	Round	Country	Club	Score	Agg.
1961–62	European Cup	First round		Standard Liège	1–5, v 0–2	1–7
1963–64	European Cup	Preliminary round		Jeunesse d'Esch	4–1, v 0–4	4–5
1964–65	European Cup Winners' Cup	First round		Skeid Fotball	0–1, v 2–0	2–1
		Second round		AC Torino	0–1, v 0–5	0–6
1966–67	European Cup	First round		RSC Anderlecht	1–10, v 0–2	1–12
1970–71	European Cup Winners' Cup	First round		CSKA Sofia	0–9, v 1–2	1–11
1977–78	UEFA Cup	First round		Górnik Zabrze	3–5, v 0–0	3–5
1978–79	European Cup	First round		Dynamo Kiev	0–1, v 1–3	1–4
1981–82	UEFA Cup	First round		IFK Göteborg	2–3, v 0–4	2–7
1983–84	European Cup Winners' Cup	First round		Sligo Rovers	1–0, v 3–0	4–0
		Second round		Hammarby IF	1–1, v 2–1(aet)	3–2
		Quarter-finals		Juventus	0–1, v 0–1	0–2
1986–87	European Cup Winners' Cup	First round		FC Torpedo Moscow	2–2, v 1–3	3–5
1989–90	European Cup Winners' Cup	First round		Ferencvárosi TC	1–5, v 1–1	2–6
1996–97	UEFA Cup	First qualifying round		FC Flora Tallinn	2–2, v 1–0	3–2
		Second qualifying round		Legia Warszawa	0–3, v 1–1	1–4
1998–99	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	Qualifying round		Bangor City	2–0, v 1–0	3–0
		First round		Panionios FC	0–2, v 1–3	1–5
1999–2000	UEFA Champions League	First qualifying round		HB Tórshavn	1–1, v 6–0	7–1
		Second qualifying round		Rangers	1–4, v 0–3	1–7
2000–01	UEFA Champions League	First qualifying round		Linfield	1–2, v 1–0	2–2 (a)
		Second qualifying round		Inter Bratislava	0–0, v 0–1(aet)	0–1
2001–02	UEFA Champions League	First qualifying round		Valletta FC	0–0, v 5–0	5–0
		Second qualifying round		Maccabi Haifa	0–1, v 3–0[3]	3–1
		Third qualifying round		Liverpool	0–5, v 1–4	1–9
2001–02	UEFA Cup	First round		1. FC Union Berlin	1–1, v 0–3	1–4
2002	UEFA Intertoto Cup	First round		FK Obilić	2–1, v 1–1	3–2
		Second round		Fulham	0–0, v 1–1	1–1 (a)
2003–04	UEFA Cup	Qualifying round		Hajduk Split	2–1, v 0–1	2–2 (a)
2004–05	UEFA Cup	First qualifying round		Etzella Ettelbruck	2–1, v 3–1	5–2
		Second qualifying round		Stabæk IF	1–3, v 1–3	2–6
2005–06	UEFA Champions League	First qualifying round		Pyunik F.C.	1–0, v 2–2	3–2
		Second qualifying round		Vålerenga IF	0–1, v 1–4	1–5
2006–07	UEFA Cup	First qualifying round		Levadia Tallinn	0–2, v 1–0	1–2
2007–08	UEFA Cup	First qualifying round		Rhyl	1–3, v 2–0	3–3 (a)
		Second qualifying round		FC Midtjylland	1–2, v 2–5	3–7
2008–09	UEFA Cup	First qualifying round		Cork City	2–2, v 4–0	6–2
		Second qualifying round		Brøndby IF	0–4, v 0–2	0–6
2023–24	UEFA Europa Conference League	First qualifying round		Crusaders	2–2, v 0–1	2–3

• Top Level (60 seasons): 1945, 1950–72, 1974–96, 1998–2012, 2020–
• Second Level (18 seasons): 1938–43/44, 1945/46–49, 1973, 1997, 2013–2019^[4]

As of 7 October 2024^[6]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  NIR Liam Hughes 2 DF  FIN Nikolas Talo 3 DF  FIN Niklas Friberg 4 DF  CMR Hassan Ndam 5 DF  BRA Nicolas Gianini Dantas 6 MF  POR Guilherme Morais 7 MF  FIN Elias Mastokangas 8 MF  FIN Tuure Siira 9 FW  SRB Marko Bačanin 10 MF  BEL Evangelos Patoulidis 11 MF  ENG Imani Lanquedoc (on loan from Fulham U21) 12 GK  FIN Anton Lepola 13 MF  FIN Oskari Sallinen 15 MF  FIN Akseli Lehtomäki

No. Pos. Nation Player 16 FW  FIN Oiva Laaksonen 17 MF  KOS Arlind Sejdiu 18 DF  FIN Ryan Mahuta 19 MF  NED Benjamin Reemst 20 DF  FIN Jesse Nikki 21 DF  TOG Haymenn Bah-Traoré 23 MF  SEN Maissa Fall 25 MF  FIN Eemeli Mäkelä 26 MF  FIN Tuukka Törmä 27 FW  FIN Anthony Olusanya (on loan from HJK Helsinki) 32 GK  FIN Oliver Heino 77 MF  NZL Oliver Whyte — MF  FIN Simon Lindholm — MF  GHA Abraham Okyere

As of 15 February 2021^[7]

Name Role Andy Smith Head Coach Sander Guerreiro Coach Mikko Manninen Coach Pauli Jussila Goalkeeping Coach Alejandro Peris Mora Fitness Coach Janne Hannu Fitness Coach Jonna Kauppinen Team Manager Jari Jalava Kit Manager Juuso Niemenpää Doctor Kalle Myyrä Masseur

As of 15 February 2021^[8]

Name Role Marko Laaksonen Chairman Olli Huttunen CEO

• Jukka Vakkila (1982–84, 1986–87, 1993–96)
• / Keith Armstrong (January 1998 – December 2001)
• Olli Huttunen (January 2002 – September 2009)
• Sami Ristilä (September 2009 – August 2012)
• Asko Jussila (August 2012 – September 2012)
• Harri Kampman (November 2012 – June 2013)
• Asko Jussila (June 2013 – July 2013)
• Juho Rantala (July 2013 – December 2014)
• Kari Martonen (January 2015 – September 2016)
• Asko Jussila/ Olli Huttunen (September 2016 – December 2016)
• / Keith Armstrong (January 2017 – December 2018)
• Teemu Tainio (January 2019 – October 2023)
• Andy Smith (October 2023 – present)

• Official website