FC Lahti

Lahti

Full name	Football Club Lahti[1][2]
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
2015	5th
Home colours Away colours

Lahden Stadion

Lahden Stadion – Aerial view

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

History

FC Lahti was founded in 1996 when two rival 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 merge and create a new club to make the 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 in 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 Ykkönen but was placed third in the final half, behind FC Haka and PK-35, both of which were promoted to Veikkausliiga. The next season, 1998, saw success and FC Lahti finally gained promotion to the highest tier. They were relegated at the end of the 2010 season.

In the premier division, Lahti has not yet achieved the success of Kuusysi and Reipas. In 2007 Lahti won the Finnish League Cup. In 2008 FC Lahti was third in the Veikkausliiga final table and was placed in the UEFA Europa League qualification rounds for season 2009.

Honours

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

FC Lahti in Europe

As of 23 July 2009

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2009–10	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Dinamo Tirana	4–1	0–2	4–3
		2Q	ND Gorica	2–0	0–1	2–1
		3Q	Club Brugge	1–1	2–3	3–4
2015–16	UEFA Europa League	1Q	IF Elfsborg	2–2	0–5	2–7

Notes

• 1Q: First qualifying round
• 2Q: Second qualifying round
• 3Q: Third qualifying round

Season to season

Current squad

As of 4 February 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 Tomi Maanoja 2 DF Jani Tanska 3 DF Mikko Hauhia (Captain) 5 MF Bonilha (on loan from Fluminense) 6 DF Pyry Kärkkäinen 7 FW Drilon Shala 8 DF Paavo Voutilainen 9 FW Rafael 13 DF Paavo Ahola 14 MF Jasse Tuominen

No. Position Player 16 FW Santeri Hostikka 17 FW Kalle Multanen 19 MF Aleksi Paananen 20 DF Boris Tatar 25 MF Mikko Kuningas 28 FW Driton Shala 30 GK Miikka Mujunen 31 FW Jussi Länsitalo TBA MF Duarte Tammilehto TBA FW Euller (on loan from Fluminense)

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–)

References

External links

• (Finnish) Official website