FC Inter Turku

FC Inter Turku

Full name	Football Club International Turku
Nickname(s)	Sinimustat ('Black and Blues')
Founded	1990 (1990)
Ground	Veritas Stadion Kupittaa, Turku
Ground Capacity	9,372
Chairman	Stefan Håkans
Manager	Fabrizio Piccareta
League	Veikkausliiga
2016	11th
Home colours Away colours

Veritas Stadion

Football Club International Turku (commonly known as Inter Turku) is a football club based in Turku, Finland. It was founded in 1990, and has played in the Veikkausliiga, the highest level of Finnish football since 1996. TPS Turku are considered main rivals for Inter.

FC Inter operates 12 youth teams and a youth academy in association with the city of Turku.

History

FC Inter was founded in 1990 by Stefan Håkans, the managing director of the towage and salvage company Alfons Håkans, allegedly after his 11-year-old son couldn't fit into any of the other youth teams in Turku. The club started out as a youth team, but in 1992 a senior squad was founded and it entered the Finnish league system at the fourth level (Third Division). The following year, the club assumed the place of the financially troubled local club Turun Toverit in the Second Division. Manager Timo Sinkkonen invested in new players, and eventually the club finished first and was promoted to the First Division (Ykkönen).

In 1995, Inter finished first in the Ykkönen and was promoted, as well as reaching the semi-final stage in the Finnish Cup. The squad was strengthened with new players, and in 1996, as both of Turku's better teams were now playing in the Veikkausliiga, the club's attendance records were broken with 8,200 spectators in the local derby between TPS and Inter.

In 1997, the club were relegated after finishing last in the Veikkausliiga, but achieved promotion again the following season. New foreign players were bought to strengthen the squad, such as Richard Teberio and Fernando della Sala. Since then the club has consistently finished between 7th and 4th in the league, and maintained a steady inflow of foreign players as well as young starlets from its own youth academy.

During the 2006 season Inter sacked their manager Kari Virtanen and hired new coach, Dutch Rene van Eck. After the season van Eck returned to Switzerland to coach FC Wohlen, and another Dutchman Job Dragtsma took over.

In 2008 Inter led the league since early season and clinched their first Finnish championship title after winning against FF Jaro in their final game.

European cup history

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2005	UEFA Intertoto Cup	1R	ÍA	0–0	4–0	4–0
		2R	NK Varteks	2–2	3–4	5–6
2009–10	UEFA Champions League	2Q	Sheriff	0–1	0–1	0–2
2010–11	UEFA Europa League	3Q	Genk	1–5	2–3	3–8
2012–13	UEFA Europa League	2Q	Twente	0–5	1–1	1–6
2013–14	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Víkingur Gøta	0–1	1–1	1–2

Season to season

Current squad

As of 30 June 2017

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 Jere Koponen 2 DF Niko Markkula 3 DF Kosta Manev 4 DF Alan Henrique 6 DF Petros Kanakoudis 7 MF Ari Nyman 9 FW Benjamin Källman 10 FW Guy Gnabouyou 11 FW Albion Ademi 12 GK Henrik Moisander 13 GK Aati Marttinen 14 FW Macoumba Kandji

No. Position Player 15 FW Timo Furuholm (captain) 16 MF Kalle Kauppi 17 MF Kevin Mombilo 18 MF Julien Faubert 22 DF Arttu Hoskonen 23 MF Lucas García 24 MF Oskari Qvick 25 MF Philip Njoku 28 MF Mika Mäkitalo 29 MF Henri Lehtonen 32 MF Elias Mastokangas 99 FW Njazi Kuqi

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 19 FW Elias Untamala 27 DF Juho Nurmi 34 FW Lassi Viholainen 35 DF Floriand Idrizi

No. Position Player 36 GK Lauri Inkeroinen — FW Ansu Sherrif — MF Matias Simola

Out on loan

As of 1 March 2017

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

No. Position Player — DF Tatu Varmanen (at JJK)

Management

As of 8 February 2017.

Name	Role
Shefki Kuqi	Head Coach
Fabrizio Piccareta	Coach
John Allen	Coach
Jani Meriläinen	First Team Administrator, Goalkeeping Coach
Marko Yrjövuori	Fitness Coach
Eduardo Rodriguez	Physiotherapist

Honours

• Veikkausliiga:

Winners (1): 2008

• Finnish Cup:

Winners (1): 2009

• Finnish League Cup:

Winners (1): 2008

• Most goals scored: Tero Forss (74 goals, 1993–01)
• Most matches played: Petri Lehtonen (227 matches, 1993–03)

Past managers

• Anders Romberg (1992)
• Timo Sinkkonen (1993–94)
• Hannu Paatelo (1995–97)
• Tomi Jalo (1997–98)
• Steven Polack (1998)
• Timo Askolin (1999-00)
• Pertti Lundell (Jan 1, 2001 – Dec 31, 2002)
• Kari Virtanen (Jan 1, 2003 – Sept 16, 2006)
• Jan Stahre (tactical coach, 2004–05)
• René van Eck (Sept 16, 2006 – Nov 16, 2006)
• Job Dragtsma (Jan 1, 2007–May 26, 2016)
• Jami Wallenius (May 26, 2016–Aug 3, 2016)
• Shefki Kuqi (Aug 3, 2016–)

External links

• FCInter.com – The club's official site.
• Ultraboyz – A supporters' club in Finnish.