RoPS

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

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

European history

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

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 United States GK Tyler Back
2 Finland DF Akseli Kalermo
3 Finland DF Jarkko Lahdenmäki
4 Finland MF Antti Okkonen (captain)
5 Finland DF Janne Saksela
6 Finland DF Juha Pirinen
7 Finland MF Mika Mäkitalo
8 Finland MF Robert Taylor
10 Cameroon MF Jean Fridolin Nganbe Nganbe
11 Finland FW Aleksandr Kokko
12 Finland GK Juhani Kangas
14 Finland MF Eetu Muinonen
No. Position Player
16 Finland MF Ville Saxman
17 The Gambia MF Mamut Saine
19 Ghana FW Ransford Osei
20 Finland FW Simo Roiha
21 Finland MF Aapo Heikkilä
22 Brazil GK Ricardo
23 Slovakia MF Michal Mravec
25 Spain GK Antonio Reguero
47 Finland DF Juuso Hämäläinen
85 United States FW Will John
86 The Gambia 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 Finland FW Jarkko Luiro
No. Position Player
15 Finland MF Juho Hyvärinen

Managers

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

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