FC Honka
FC Honka (also known as Esport Honka) is a Finnish 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), having been promoted for the first time in their history at the end of the 2005 season. The club's manager is Vesa Vasara and it plays its home matches at Tapiolan urheilupuisto.
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| Full name | Honka | ||
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| Founded | 1957 | ||
| Ground | Tapiolan Urheilupuisto, Espoo | ||
| Capacity | 6,000 | ||
| Chairman | Färid Ainetdin | ||
| Manager | Vesa Vasara | ||
| League | Veikkausliiga | ||
| 2020 | 4th | ||
| Website | Club website | ||
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FC Honka is largely renowned in Finland for its extensive youth scheme with over 1000 youth players playing in various age groups. It also has women's football team in the Kansallinen Liiga.
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). 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 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 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
Cups
European competitions
As runners-up in yh 2007 Finnish Cup to Tampere United, who had also won the league title, FC Honka qualified for the 2008–09 UEFA Cup, beating Icelandic ÍA 4–2 in the 1st qualifying round and Norwegian Viking in the 2nd. In the first round of actual competition, they were drawn against Racing Santander 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 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 in the final.
European cups record
| Competition | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UEFA Europa League / UEFA Cup | 17 | 5 | 3 | 9 | 14 | 21 |
| UEFA Intertoto Cup | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 5 |
| Total | 21 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 21 | 26 |
Matches
| Season | Competition | Round | Club | Home | Away | Aggregate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | UEFA Intertoto Cup | First round |  TVMK |
0–0 | 4–2 | 4–2 |  |
| Second round |  AaB |
2–2 | 1–1 | 3–3 (a) |  | ||
| 2008–09 | UEFA Cup | First qualifying round |  IA Akranes |
3–0 | 1–2 | 4–2 | |
| Second qualifying round |  Viking Stavanger |
0–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | | ||
| First round |  Racing Santander |
0–1 | 0–1 | 0–2 | | ||
| 2009–10 | UEFA Europa League | Second qualifying round | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Bangor City |
2–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | |
| Third qualifying round |  Qarabağ FK |
0–1 | 1–2 | 1–3 | | ||
| 2010–11 | UEFA Europa League | Second qualifying round | Bangor City |
1–1 | 1–2 | 2–3 | |
| 2011–12 | UEFA Europa League | First qualifying round | JK Nõmme Kalju |
0–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | |
| Second qualifying round |  BK Häcken |
0–2 | 0–1 | 0–3 | | ||
| 2013–14 | UEFA Europa League | Second qualifying round |  Lech Poznań |
1–3 | 1–2 | 2–5 | |
| 2014–15 | UEFA Europa League | First qualifying round | Sillamäe Kalev |
3–2 | 1–2 | 4–4 (a) | |
| 2020–21 | UEFA Europa League | First qualifying round | AGF |
N/A | 2–5 | N/A | |
| 2021–22 | UEFA Europa Conference League | First qualifying round | |||||
UEFA club ranking
This is the UEFA Club Ranking As of June 2014, including season 2013–14.[1]
Last update: 24 June 2014
| Rank | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 299 |  PFC Cherno More Varna | 4.125 |
| 300 |  Skonto FC | 4.000 |
| 301 |  HŠK Zrinjski Mostar | 4.000 |
| 302 | FK Liepājas Metalurgs | 4.000 |
| 303 |  FC Honka | 3.935 |
| 304 | Fredrikstad FK | 3.855 |
| 305 | Breiðablik UBK | 3.850 |
| 306 |  FC Milsami Orhei | 3.825 |
| 307 | Khazar Lankaran FK | 3.825 |
Season to season
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Current squad
As of 19 January 2021.[3]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Current youth players with first-team experience
- As of 29 January 2021[upper-alpha 1]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Out on loan
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Management
As of 19 February 2021.[4]
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FC Honka Akatemia
FC Honka Akatemia is the reserve team of FC Honka. The team plays in Kakkonen in 2021 season.
- As of 29 January 2021[5]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Managers
- Jari Europaeus (Jan 1, 2001 – Dec 31, 2003)
- Abdou "Dalla" Talat (Jan 1, 2004 – Dec 31, 2004)
- Mika Lehkosuo (Jan 1, 2005 – Feb 7, 2014)
- Shefki Kuqi (Feb 15, 2014 – Dec 31, 2014)
- Juho Rantala (Feb 7, 2015 – Dec 1, 2016)
- Vesa Vasara (Dec 5, 2016– )
See also
Footnotes
- Current youth players who at least have sat on the bench in a competitive match.
References
- "Club coefficients 2013/14". UEFA.com. 24 June 2014. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
- http://www.finlandfootball.net/
- "Joukkue" [Team]. esporthonka.com (in Finnish). Retrieved 19 January 2021.
- "Valmentajat" (in Finnish). Esport Honka. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
- "Esport Honka Akatemia". esporthonka.com. Esport Honka. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
External links
Media related to FC Honka at Wikimedia Commons
- Official Website (in Finnish)
- Honka Supporters (in Finnish)