FC Lahti

Lahti

Full name	Football Club Lahti[1][2]
Nickname(s)	Mustat kuhnurit (The Black Drones)
Founded	1996
Ground	Lahden Stadion, Lahti
Capacity	14,500
Chairman	Mika Halttunen
Manager	Toni Korkeakunnas
League	Veikkausliiga
2015	5th
Home colours Away colours

Lahden Stadion

Lahden Stadion – Aerial view

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 Lahti is Lahden Stadion.

History

FC Lahti was founded in 1996 when two rival clubs from Lahti – FC Kuusysi and Reipas Lahti (founded in Viipuri and moved to Lahti after Viipuri was ceded to USSR in 1947) – decided to merge and create a new club to make the people of Lahti proud. Also, the reserve club FC Pallo-Lahti was formed, but it was closed down after a couple of seasons due to economic difficulties. Both Reipas and Kuusysi controlled the junior section of the club.

FC Lahti played its first season in 1997, in the southern group of Ykkönen, the second tier of Finnish football. It finished second in the first half of the split league format Ykkönen but was placed third in the final half, behind FC Haka and PK-35, both of which were promoted to Veikkausliiga. The next season, 1998, saw success and FC Lahti finally gained promotion to the highest tier. They were relegated at the end of the 2010 season.

In the premier division, Lahti has not yet achieved the success of Kuusysi and Reipas. In 2007 Lahti won the Finnish League Cup. In 2008 FC Lahti was third in the Veikkausliiga final table and was placed in the UEFA Europa League qualification rounds for season 2009.

Honours

• Finnish League Cup (2):
  • 2007, 2013, 2016

FC Lahti in Europe

As of 23 July 2009

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2009–10	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Dinamo Tirana	4–1	0–2	4–3
		2Q	Gorica	2–0	0–1	2–1
		3Q	Club Brugge	1–1	2–3	3–4
2015–16	UEFA Europa League	1Q	IF Elfsborg	2–2	0–5	2–7

Notes

• 1Q: First qualifying round
• 2Q: Second qualifying round
• 3Q: Third qualifying round

Season to season

Season Level Division Section Administration Position Movements 1997 Tier 2 Ykkönen (First Division) South Group Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 2nd Promotion Group – 3rd 1998 Tier 2 Ykkönen (First Division) South Group Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 1st Promotion Group – 1st – Promoted 1999 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 10th Relegation Group – Play-offs 2000 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 8th 2001 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 9th 2002 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 7th Upper Group – 8th 2003 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 5th 2004 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 7th 2005 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 6th 2006 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 8th 2007 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 8th 2008 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 3rd 2009 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 11th 2010 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 14th Relegated 2011 Tier 2 Ykkönen (First Division) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 1st Promoted 2012 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 5th 2013 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 5th 2014 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 3rd 2015 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 5th 16 seasons in Veikkausliiga 3 seasons in Ykkönen

Current squad

As of 29 November 2016.

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

No. Position Player 3 DF Mikko Hauhia (Captain) 6 MF Pyry Kärkkäinen 12 GK Santeri Pakkanen 14 FW Jasse Tuominen 16 FW Santeri Hostikka 18 MF Pavel Osipov 19 MF Aleksi Paananen 21 FW Fareed Sadat

No. Position Player 24 DF Paavo Voutilainen 25 MF Mikko Kuningas TBA GK Joona Tiainen TBA DF Kalle Taimi TBA FW Loorents Hertsi TBA FW Pavel Nazimov TBA FW Irfan Sadik

Managers

Name Role Toni Korkeakunnas Head Coach Joni Kallioinen Coach Ari Korhonen Coach Toni Huuhka Coach Jussi Juurikka Team Manager Miko Heikkinen Spokesman

Managers

• Esa Pekonen (Jan 1, 1998 – Dec 31, 1999)
• Jari Pyykölä (Aug 27, 1999 – Dec 31, 2001)
• Harri Kampman (Jan 1, 2002 – Dec 31, 2005)
• Antti Muurinen (Jan 1, 2006 – Oct 10, 2007)
• Luciano (Oct 10, 2007 – Dec 31, 2007)
• Ilkka Mäkelä (Jan 1, 2008 – Dec 31, 2010)
• Tommi Kautonen (Jan 1, 2011 – June 4, 2013)
• Juha Malinen (June 5, 2013 – Dec 31, 2013)
• Toni Korkeakunnas (Jan 1, 2014–)

References

1. "FC Lahti Profile". Worldfootball.net. HEIM:SPIEL Medien GmbH & Co. KG. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
2. "Football Club Lahti". Fussball.com. Active Agent AG. Retrieved 24 January 2016.

External links

• (Finnish) Official website