FC Lahti

Lahti

Full name	FC Lahti
Nickname(s)	Mustat kuhnurit (The Black Drones)
Founded	1996 (1996)
Ground	Lahden Stadion, Lahti
Ground Capacity	14,500
Chairman	Mika Halttunen
Manager	Toni Korkeakunnas
League	Veikkausliiga
2014	Veikkausliiga, 3rd
Home colours Away colours

Lahden Stadion

Lahden Stadion - Aerial view

FC Lahti is a Finnish football club, based in a Finnish city of Lahti. It currently plays in the Finnish Premier League (Veikkausliiga) after placing first in Finnish First Division (Ykkönen) during season 2011. The homeground of FC Lahti is Lahden Stadion.

History

FC Lahti was founded in 1996 when two time-honoured archrival 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 end their time in Finnish top-football and create a new club to make 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, 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 type league system, but was placed third in the final half behind FC Haka and PK-35 which were promoted to Veikkausliiga. The next season, 1998, was victorious and FC Lahti finally gained promotion to the highest tier until relegating at the end of the season 2010.

In the premier division Lahti hasn't yet achieved as much as Kuusysi and Reipas did. In 2007 Lahti won the Finnish League Cup. In 2008 FC Lahti was third in the Veikkausliiga final table and took a place for Uefa Europa League qualification rounds season 2009.

Honours

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

FC Lahti in Europe

As of July 23, 2009.

Season	Competition	Round		Club	Home	Away
2009–10	UEFA Europa League	1QR		Dinamo Tirana	4–1	0–2
		2QR		ND Gorica	2–0	0–1
		3QR		Club Brugge	1–1	2–3
2015–16	UEFA Europa League	1Q

Season to season

Current squad

As of 28 April 2015.

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 Henrik Moisander 2 FW Matheus Alves (on loan from Fluminense FC) 3 DF Mikko Hauhia (captain) 4 MF Xhevdet Gela 5 DF Simo Majander 6 DF Pyry Kärkkäinen 7 FW Drilon Shala 9 FW Rafael 10 MF Pekka Lagerblom 11 FW Mika Ääritalo 12 GK Joonas Meronen 13 DF Markus Joenmäki

No. Position Player 16 DF Henri Toivomäki 17 FW Aleksi Ristola 18 MF Justus Kauppinen 19 MF Aleksi Paananen 20 MF Hassan Sesay 24 DF Petri Pasanen 25 MF Mikko Kuningas 28 FW Driton Shala 30 GK Miikka Mujunen 31 FW Jussi Länsitalo 92 MF Leandro Motta (on loan from Fluminense FC)

On loan

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

No. Position Player 8 MF Onuray Köse (on loan at MP)

No. Position Player 14 MF Jasse Tuominen (on loan at MP)

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–)

External links

• (Finnish) Official website
• (Finnish) LahtiFutis.net
• (Finnish) FCLK - supporters