Vaasan Palloseura

VPS

Full name	Vaasan Palloseura
Nickname(s)	Vepsu, "Vepsi"
Founded	1924
Ground	Hietalahti, Vaasa
Capacity	4,600
Chairman	Riku Asukas
Manager	Petri Vuorinen
League	Veikkausliiga
2015	10th
Home colours Away colours

Hietalahden Jalkapallostadion

Vaasan Palloseura (or VPS) is a Finnish football club, based in Vaasa. It currently plays in the Finnish Premier Division (Veikkausliiga). The club's manager is Olli Huttunen and assistant manager is Petri Vuorinen. The club plays its home matches at Hietalahti. VPS played twice in the UEFA Cup in 1998–99 and in 1999–00, but were knocked out in the 2nd Qualifying Round by Grazer AK of Austria and in the 1st Qualifying Round by St Johnstone of Scotland. In 2014, it qualified for the Europa League qualifiers and although they won the first leg 2–1, with Jordaan Brown setting up a spectacular goal for Jordan Seabrook, they lost the second leg to Swedish club Brommapojkarna.

in spring 2015 it was announced that the construction of VPS's new stadium would start soon. The construction of the new stadium began in the summer of 2015 and is expected to be completed by the summer of 2016.^[1]

Achievements

• Mestaruussarja/Veikkausliiga:

Winners (2): 1945, 1948

Runners-up (5): 1932, 1940–41, 1949, 1997, 1998

3rd placed (2): 1938, 2013

• Finnish Cup:

Runners-up (1): 1972

• Finnish League Cup:

Winners (2): 1999, 2000

Runners-up (2): 1997, 2014

European Campaigns

Season	Competition	Round	Club	1st Leg	2nd Leg	Aggregate
1998–99	UEFA Cup	1Q	HB Tórshavn	0–2	4–0	4–2
		2Q	Grazer AK	0–0	0–3	0–3
1999–00	UEFA Cup	QR	St Johnstone	1–1	0–2	1–3
2014–15	UEFA Europa League	1Q	IF Brommapojkarna	2–1	0–2	2–3
2015–16	UEFA Europa League	1Q	AIK Fotboll	2–2	0–4	2–6

Season to season

Season to Season

Season Level Division Section Administration Position Movements 1988 Tier 3 II divisioona (Second Division) North Group Finnish FA (Suomen Pallolitto) 9th 1989 Tier 3 II divisioona (Second Division) North Group Finnish FA (Suomen Pallolitto) 5th 1990 Tier 3 II divisioona (Second Division) North Group Finnish FA (Suomen Pallolitto) 4th 1991 Tier 3 II divisioona (Second Division) North Group Finnish FA (Suomen Pallolitto) 1st Promoted 1992 Tier 2 I divisioona (First Division) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 5th 1993 Tier 2 I divisioona (First Division) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 10th 1994 Tier 2 Ykkönen (First Division) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 2nd Promoted 1995 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 10th 1996 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 7th Relegation Group – 7th 1997 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 2nd UEFA Cup First qualifying round 1998 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 2nd UEFA Cup Qualifying round 1999 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 11th Relegation Group – Play-offs 2000 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 10th 2001 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 6th 2002 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 11th Relegation Group – 7th – Relegated 2003 Tier 2 Ykkönen (First Division) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 5th 2004 Tier 2 Ykkönen (First Division) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 6th 2005 Tier 2 Ykkönen (First Division) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 2nd Play-offs – Promoted 2006 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 9th 2007 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 10th 2008 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 11th 2009 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 8th 2010 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 10th 2011 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 9th 2012 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 8th 2013 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 3rd UEFA Europa League First qualifying round 2014 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 4th UEFA Europa League First qualifying round 2015 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 10th 18 seasons in Veikkausliiga 6 seasons in Ykkönen 4 seasons in Kakkonen

^[2]

Current squad

As of 17 March 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 Yevgeni Kobozev 2 DF Timi Lahti 3 DF Ville Koskimaa 4 DF Jesper Engström 5 DF Mikko Viitikko 6 MF Jerry Voutilainen 7 MF Eero Tamminen 8 DF Veli Lampi 9 MF Juho Lähde 10 FW Steven Morrissey 11 FW Pyry Soiri

No. Position Player 12 GK Juuso Kevari 13 FW Samu Alanko 14 MF Kevin Peth 15 DF Jonas Levänen 16 MF Aatu Laatikainen 17 MF Joonas Vahtera 18 FW Andre Clennon 19 MF Nikko Boxall 21 MF Arttu Nuutinen 22 FW Loorents Hertsi 24 GK Mathias Östergård

Managers

Nuutti Lintamo (1945–46) Heikki Kultti (1945–48) Géza Toldi (1948–49) Tauno Koistinen (1950) Jussi Sillanpää (1951) Tauno Koistinen (1952–53) Martti Häyhä (1954–58) Ole Stolpe (1959) Erkki Riihimäki (1960–62) Niilo Kinnunen (1963) Jussi Sillanpää (1964–68) Jovan Jevtić (1969–70) Kari Dahlsten (1970–72) Raimo Hudd (1973) Eero Tuhkanen (1974–77) Pekka Mäkelä (1978)

Erkki Myllyaho (1979) Esa Virta (1980–82) Raimo Hudd (1983) Jarmo Meltoranta (1984) Jerzy Wojtowicz (1985–87) Jarmo Meltoranta (1988–89) Markku Myötänen (1989–90) Boguslaw Hajdas (1991–92) Jerzy Wojtowicz (1993) Bogusław Hajdas (1993–95) Tomasz Arceusz (1995) Heikki Suhonen (1995) Hannu Touru (1996–98) Sören Cratz (1999) Kimmo Lipponen (1999) Jukka Ikäläinen (2000–01)

Keijo Paananen (2002) Stephen Ward (2003–04) Jari Pyykölä (Jan 1, 2006 – June 9, 2007) Mika Koivumäki (2007) Janne Lindberg (June 18, 2007 – Dec 31, 2007) Tomi Kärkkäinen (Jan 1, 2008 – May 15, 2009) Petri Vuorinen (Jan 1, 2009 – May 15, 2009) Tommi Pikkarainen (2010–11) Petri Vuorinen (Jan 10, 2011 – July 28, 2011) Olli Huttunen (Jan 1, 2012– Jun 29, 2015) Petri Vuorinen (Jun 29, 2015–)

References

1. http://stadiumdb.com/designs/fin/hietalahden_stadion
2. Jalkapallokirjat 1946–>, Suomen Palloliitto, ISSN 0787-7188

External links

• (Finnish) Official Site