RoPS

RoPS

Full name	Rovaniemen Palloseura
Founded	1950
Ground	Keskuskenttä, Rovaniemi
Capacity	4,000
Chairman	Risto Niva
Manager	Juha Malinen
League	Veikkausliiga
2015	2nd
Home colours Away colours

Rovaniemen Palloseura (RoPS), also known as Rovaniemi, is a football club, founded in 1950 and based in Rovaniemi, Finland. In 2015 RoPS plays in the Finnish Premier Division (Veikkausliiga). The club plays home games at Keskuskenttä in downtown Rovaniemi.

History

Keskuskenttä, home ground of RoPS

RoPS won the Finnish Cup in 1986 and 2013, and placed third in the Finnish Premier Division in 1988 and 1989 before finishing as runner-up in 2015. Its most notable international achievement was reaching the quarter-finals of the European Cup-Winners' Cup in 1987–88.

Match fixing allegations and scandal

Throughout the 2000s, RoPS became infamous for suspected involvement in match fixing.

In spring 2011 the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation started a large investigation into match fixing. On February 25 Singaporean businessman Wilson Raj Perumal, a convicted match fixer, was arrested after entering Finland with a fake passport. The National Bureau of Investigation suspected that over 30 games between 2008 and 2011, mostly from the Finnish premier league, had been fixed or manipulated.^[1]

On July 19, 2011, the Rovaniemi Court of Appeal convicted Perumal and nine RoPS players of match fixing. Altogether 24 games had been manipulated, and the intended score had been achieved in 11 of them. Perumal was sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to return 150,000 euros deemed to be match-fixing profits. The bribes ranged from 500 euros offered to one player to a total of 80,000 euros offered to eight players. The highest total of bribes for one individual was slightly over 40,000 euros. The players received suspended sentences. The sentenced players were six Zambian and two Georgian players: Godfrey Chibanga, Chileshe Chibwe, Francis Kombe, Stephen Kunda, Christopher Musonda, Chanda Mwaba, Nchimunya Mweetwa, Pavle Khorguashvili, and Valter Khorguashvili. and ^[2]

Domestic history

Season Level Division Section Administration Position Movements 1991 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 7th 1992 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 7th 1993 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 8th Upper Group – 7th 1994 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 5th 1995 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 9th 1996 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 9th Lower Group – 8th 1997 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 9th Third Round – 6th 1998 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 7th Third Round – 8th 1999 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 8th Upper Group – 8th 2000 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 9th 2001 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 12th Relegated 2002 Tier 2 Ykkönen (First Division) North Group Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 4th Lower Group North – 5th 2003 Tier 2 Ykkönen (First Division) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 2nd Promotion Play-offs – Promoted 2004 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 12th 2005 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 13th Relegation Play-offs – Relegated 2006 Tier 2 Ykkönen (First Division) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 7th 2007 Tier 2 Ykkönen (First Division) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 2nd Promotion Play-offs – Promoted 2008 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 10th 2009 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 14th Relegated 2010 Tier 2 Ykkönen (First Division) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 1st Promoted 2011 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 12th Relegated 2012 Tier 2 Ykkönen (First Division) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 1st Promoted 2013 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 11th 2014 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 10th 2015 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 2nd 19 seasons in Veikkausliiga 6 seasons in Ykkönen

European history

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1987–88	Cup Winners' Cup	1R	Glentoran	0–0	1–1	1–1(a)
		2R	Vllaznia Shkodër	1–0	1–0	2–0
		Quarter-finals	Marseille	0–1	0–3	0–4
1989–90	UEFA Cup	1R	GKS Katowice	1–1	1–0	2–1
		2R	Auxerre	0–5	0–3	0–8
1990–91	UEFA Cup	1R	1. FC Magdeburg	0–1	0–0	0–1
2014–15	UEFA Europa League	2Q	Asteras Tripoli	1–1	2–4	3–5

Notes

• 1R: First round
• 2R: Second round
• 1Q: First qualifying round

Honours

Finnish Cup (2)

1986, 2013

Ykkönen (2)

2010, 2012

Current squad

As of 3 May 2016

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

No. Position Player 1 GK Tyler Back 2 DF Akseli Kalermo 3 DF Jarkko Lahdenmäki 4 MF Antti Okkonen (captain) 5 DF Janne Saksela 6 DF Juha Pirinen 7 MF Mika Mäkitalo 8 MF Robert Taylor 10 MF Jean Fridolin Nganbe Nganbe 11 FW Aleksandr Kokko 12 GK Juhani Kangas 14 MF Eetu Muinonen

No. Position Player 16 MF Ville Saxman 17 MF Mamut Saine 19 FW Ransford Osei 20 FW Simo Roiha 21 MF Aapo Heikkilä 22 GK Ricardo 23 MF Michal Mravec 25 GK Antonio Reguero 47 DF Juuso Hämäläinen 85 FW Will John 86 DF Abdou Jammeh

Available youth players

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

No. Position Player 14 FW Jarkko Luiro

No. Position Player 15 MF Juho Hyvärinen

Managers

Jerzy Masztaler (1990–91) Graham Williams (1991) Olavi Tammimies (1992) Keith Armstrong (1993–94) Timo Salmi (1995) Graham Williams (1995) Ari Matinlassi (1995) Ari Rantamaa (1996–97) Kari Virtanen (1997–99) Olavi Tammimies (2000) Mauri Holappa (2001) Tomi Molin (2002)

György Hamori (Jan 1, 2003 – June 23, 2004) Mika Lumijärvi (June 23, 2004 – June 30, 2005) Matti Vikman (interim) (June 30, 2005 – Dec 31, 2005) Jukka Ikäläinen (2006) Tom Saintfiet (Jan 1, 2008 – April 7, 2008) Valeri Bondarenko (April 14, 2008 – May 27, 2009) Mika Lumijärvi (May 27, 2009 – Oct 6, 2009) Zeddy Saileti (Oct 6, 2009 – Dec 31, 2009) John Allen (Jan 1, 2010 – Aug 9, 2011) Matti Hiukka (Aug 9, 2011 – Dec 31, 2011) Kari Virtanen (Jan 1, 2012–Oct, 2013) Juha Malinen (Nov, 2013–)

References

1. Susanna Kemppainen. "RoPS:lla yli 30 epäiltyä sopupeliä | Pohjois-Suomi". Kaleva.fi. Retrieved 2012-02-12.
2. Uusi Suomi. "Oikeus: Sopupeleistä 150 000 euroa – 2 vuotta vankeutta — Uusi Suomi". Uusisuomi.fi. Retrieved 2012-02-12.

External links

• Official website (Finnish)