Seinäjoen Jalkapallokerho

SJK Seinäjoki

Full name	Seinäjoen Jalkapallokerho
Nickname(s)	SJK
Founded	2007 (2007)
Ground	OmaSP Stadion, Seinäjoki, Finland
Ground Capacity	5,876
Chairman	Raimo Sarajärvi
Manager	Manuel Roca
League	Veikkausliiga
2016	3rd
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours Third colours

OmaSP Stadion

Wallsport Areena, indoor training facility of SJK

Seinäjoen Jalkapallokerho (or SJK Seinäjoki or SJK) is a Finnish football club from the city of Seinäjoki. The club is currently (2016) playing in the Veikkausliiga, the highest tier of the Finnish league system, of which they are the reigning champions, winning their first title in 2015.

History

SJK was formed in 2007 after the merger of TP-Seinäjoki and Sepsi-78. In 2015, SJK won their first ever Finnish Veikkausliiga title, ending HJK Helsinki's run of 6 titles in a row. SJK has one men's team and two boys' teams. In addition there is the successful Wall-Academy which is sponsored by Wallsport.

Domestic history

Season	Level	Pos	Pld	W	D	L	For	Against	Points	Finnish Cup	League Cup	Top goalscorer[1]
2008	3rd	8	26	10	7	9	57	37	37		-	Tommi Haanpää  – 12
2009		5	26	14	1	11	56	52	43	Third Round	-	Mikael Muurimäki  – 14
2010		5	26	11	9	6	46	31	42	Fifth Round	-	Mikael Muurimäki  – 9
2011		1	26	22	4	0	72	14	70	Seventh Round	-	Petter Meyer  – 23
2012	2nd	2	27	14	5	8	42	29	47	Fifth Round	-	Toni Lehtinen – 12
2013		1	27	18	5	4	51	17	59	Third Round	-	Toni Lehtinen – 10
2014	1st	2	33	16	11	6	40	26	59	Quarterfinal	Winners	Akseli Pelvas – 11
2015		1	33	18	6	9	50	22	60	Fifth Round	Quarterfinal	Akseli Pelvas – 14
2016		3	33	17	6	10	49	36	57	Winners	Runners Up	Roope Riski – 16

European history

Season	Competition	Round	Opponent	Home	Away	Aggregate
2015–16	UEFA Europa League	1Q	FH	0–1	0–1	0–2
2016–17	UEFA Champions League	2Q	BATE	2–2	0–2	2–4
2017–18	UEFA Europa League	1Q	KR Reykjavík	0–2	0–0	0–2

Notes

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

Stadium

SJK play their home matches at OmaSP Stadion. Previously SJK played their home matches at Seinäjoen keskuskenttä.

In 2010, it was reported for the first time that SJK were planning a new football stadium. Eventually, in autumn 2014 it was announced that the construction of SJK's new stadium would start soon. The construction began in summer 2015 and the new stadium was completed in June 2016.^[2] Stadium has a capacity of 5817 seats.

SJK play their friendlies and cup matches during the winter at Wallsport Areena which is an indoor training facility owned and operated by the team.

Honours

• Veikkausliiga (1): 2015
• Finnish League Cup (1): 2014
• Ykkönen (1): 2013
• Kakkonen (1): 2011
• Finnish Cup (1): 2016

Current squad

As of 19 July 2017^[3]

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

No. Position Player 2 DF Joel Mero 3 DF Marc Vales 4 DF Richie Dorman 5 DF Dani Hatakka (on loan from Brann) 6 MF Matej Hradecky 7 DF Timo Tahvanainen 8 MF Johannes Laaksonen 9 FW Sergi Arimany 10 FW Billy Ions 11 MF Tomas Hradecky 14 FW Kaine Sheppard 15 MF Matti Klinga 17 MF Ville Tikkanen 18 DF Jarkko Hurme 19 MF Obed Malolo

No. Position Player 20 DF Arttu Aromaa 22 DF Diego Bardanca 25 FW Elias Ahde 26 MF Jesse Sarajärvi 29 DF Chema Antón 31 GK Paavo Valakari 33 GK Mihkel Aksalu (captain) 37 FW Aristote Mboma 58 MF Mehmet Hetemaj 80 MF Erfan Zeneli — GK Luís Fernando — MF Cristian Echavarría — FW Vahid Hambo — DF Joonas Sundman

Management and boardroom

Management

As of 2 June 2017^[4][5][6][7]

Name Role Manuel Roca Head Coach Toni Lehtinen Coach Brian Page Coach (SJK Akatemia Head Coach) Luís Fernando Goalkeeping Coach Juha-Jaakko Ulvila Physiotherapist Pekka Lehtinen Team Manager Axel Storbacka Data Analyst

Boardroom

As of 2 January 2017^[8]

Name Role Raimo Sarajärvi Chairman Teemu Virtanen Managing Director Janne Kotamäki Director of Football Christoffer Kloo Sport Manager

Managers

• Tommy Dunne (2008)
• Jari Kujala (2008)
• Esa Haanpää (2009)
• Tomi Kärkkäinen (2010)
• Christoffer Kloo (1 January 2011 – 13 August 2012)
• Simo Valakari (1 September 2012–)

References

External links

• Official Website