FC Honka

FC Honka is a Finnish football club, based in Tapiola, 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 Mika Lehkosuo, and it plays its home matches at Tapiolan urheilupuisto. Originally founded in 1957 as Tapion Honka it 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 the year 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 Finnish Cup final to Tampere United on penalties. As Tampere United also won 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.

Honours

• Veikkausliiga:
  • Runners-up (2): 2008, 2009
• Finnish Cup:
  • Runners-up (3): 1969, 2007, 2008
• 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

Europa League

Intertoto Cup

UEFA club ranking

This is the current UEFA Club Ranking, including season 2010–11.^[1]

Last update: June 12, 2011

Season to season

Current squad

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

Notable former players

See also Category:FC Honka players.

References

External links

• Official Website (Finnish)
• Honka Supporters (Finnish)