FC Honka
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| Full name | FC Honka Espoo | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1957 | ||
| Ground |
Tapiolan Urheilupuisto, Espoo | ||
| Capacity | 6,000 | ||
| Chairman | Harri Pellikka | ||
| Manager | Juho Rantala | ||
| League | Kakkonen | ||
| 2016 | Kakkonen, 1st | ||
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FC Honka Espoo (commonly known as FC Honka or Esport Honka) is a Finnish football club, based in Espoo. It was promoted into the Finnish premier division (Veikkausliiga), for the first time in its history, at the end of the 2005 season. The club's manager is Juho Rantala and it plays its home matches at Tapiolan urheilupuisto. It was founded in 1957 as Tapion Honka, and changed its name to FC Honka in 1975.
FC Honka is largely renowned in Finland for its extensive youth scheme with over 1000 youth players playing in various age groups.
Until 2005 FC Honka was thought of as a "nearly, but not quite" team, always underachieving in the Finnish First Division (Ykkönen). In the late 1990s the objective was promotion but year after year they failed. In 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 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. However, in 2007 team lost the Finnish Cup final to Tampere United on penalties. As Tampere United also won the league title, FC Honka qualified for the 2008–09 UEFA Cup. In 2008, FC Honka achieved its first medal by finishing 2nd in the league.
FC Honka won the Finnish Cup in 2012. Due to financial difficulties the team was relegated to the third tier Kakkonen in 2015. FC Honka dominated their first season in Kakkonen and lost only two games, but were defeated in the promotion battle. After the 2016 season the team was promoted to the second tier Ykkönen.
Honours
- Veikkausliiga:
- Finnish Cup:
- Finnish League Cup:
- Winners (2): 2010, 2011
- Ykkönen:
- Winners (1): 2005
- La Manga Cup:
- Winners (1): 2009
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 Nordsjaelland in the final.
European cups record
| Competition | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UEFA Europa League / UEFA Cup | 16 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 12 | 16 |
| UEFA Intertoto Cup | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 5 |
| Total | 20 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 19 | 21 |
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 |  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) |
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 13 July 2016.[2] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Available youth players
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)
- Dalla (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–)
References
- ↑ "Club coefficients 2013/14". UEFA.com. 24 June 2014. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
- ↑ "FC Honka" (in Finnish). Suomen Palloliitto. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
External links
- Official Website (Finnish)
- Honka Supporters (Finnish)
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