FC Viikingit is a Finnish football club based in Vuosaari, East Helsinki, that competes in the Vitonen, the sixth tier of Finnish football. They play their home matches at Vuosaaren urheilukenttä, also called Heteniitty. The club's name and crest refer to Vikings, and they are known for their red colour.
FC Viikingit played the 2007 season in the Finnish premier division (Veikkausliiga), but were relegated to the Ykkönen and competed there until 2014, when they were relegated to Kakkonen. The club's reserve team, FC Viikkarit, were promoted to the Kakkonen for the 2014 season but they had to give it up, because they were not able to play on the same division as the main team.
History
Early history (1965–1997)
The club was first founded as Vuosaaren Viikingit ('Vuosaari Vikings') in 1965. The new club started at the very bottom of the Finnish football pyramid, spending their first years in the fifth and sixth divisions. For the 1973 season, they were promoted to the IV division and played there for the next ten seasons. In 1983, the team were promoted to the III division, but this visit was cut short, as they were relegated again the following season. They were promoted again for the 1993 season, and this time managed to stay up. They even made a year-long visit to the Kakkonen in 1996, but were relegated after finishing last in their group. In 1997, the footballing section of the club was split into its own organisation with the name FC Viikingit.
Climb to the Veikkausliiga (1997–2007)
With the new organisation in place, the football club started to enjoy some success in the third division, and were promoted back to the Kakkonen for the 2001 season. The newly promoted team did well in the second division, finishing at first place in their group and winning direct promotion to the Ykkönen for the 2002 season. In their first season in the first division, FC Viikingit finished second to last and had to compete in a play-off against WJK from Varkaus. The Reds won the play-off and remained in the first division. For the 2003 season, Markku Kanerva was appointed the club's manager. He led the club to a successful season, finishing third in a 14-team league, only one point from a promotion play-off spot. In 2004, the club were managed by Steven Polack and finished fourth.
In 2013, the club were in danger of relegation to the Kakkonen, but played well in the closing stage of the season, finishing seventh in the end. This was the club's worst finish since 2002. The season's bright spot was that the reserve team, FC Viikkarit, won their group in the Kolmonen and were promoted to the second division for the 2014 season.
Season records 2001–2013
350px|thumb|Vuosaaren urheilukenttä
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|-
!width="50"|Season
!width="150"|League
!width="50"|Pos
!width="30"|MP
!width="30"|W
!width="30"|D
!width="30"|L
!width="70"|GD
!width="30"|P
|-
|2001
|align="left"|Kakkonen <small>(South)</small>
|1st
|22
|15
|5
|2
|56–19
|50
|-
|2002
|align="left"|Ykkönen <small>(South)</small>
|8th
|22
|3
|7
|12
|31–45
|16
|-
|2003
|align="left"|Ykkönen
|3rd
|26
|13
|8
|5
|38–28
|47
|-
|2004
|align="left"|Ykkönen
|4th
|26
|11
|9
|6
|40–33
|42
|-
|2005
|align="left"|Ykkönen
|6th
|26
|11
|4
|11
|43–34
|37
|-
|2006
|align="left"|Ykkönen
|1st
|26
|17
|5
|4
|65–25
|56
|-bgcolor=#FFFF99
|2007
|align="left"|Veikkausliiga
|13th
|26
|5
|8
|13
|25–44
|23
|-
|2008
|align="left"|Ykkönen
|2nd
|26
|13
|7
|6
|44–26
|46
|-
|2009
|align="left"|Ykkönen
|3rd
|26
|15
|5
|6
|48–19
|50
|-
|2010
|align="left"|Ykkönen
|2nd
|26
|15
|7
|4
|49–19
|52
|-
|2011
|align="left"|Ykkönen
|5th
|24
|13
|4
|7
|50–28
|43
|-
|2012
|align="left"|Ykkönen
|3rd
|27
|14
|3
|10
|36–36
|45
|-
|2013
|align="left"|Ykkönen
|7th
|27
|7
|8
|12
|35–39
|29
|}
Ground
FC Viikingit play their home matches at Vuosaaren urheilukenttä, often called Heteniitty or Hettari. The ground is located in Central Vuosaari in a former gravel pit, and for this reason is sometimes also called Monttu ('the Pit'). The ground currently has a capacity of 1,500, but has opportunities for expansion. For the 2007 Veikkausliiga season, the ground was expanded to 3,500 seats, but these expansions were removed after the club were relegated.
The reserve side FC Viikkarit play their home matches at Kartanon kenttä in Nordsjön kartano. This is likely to change for the 2014 season, however, as the ground currently does not fulfil the stadium requirements for the Kakkonen. The women's first team, as well as youth teams, also play at Kartanon kenttä.
Current squad
<small>As of 23 August 2014.</small>
Coaching staff
- Manager:
- Coach: Vyacheslav Malakeev
- Goakeeping coach: Juha-Pekka Pantsu
- Fitness coach: Ari Räsänen
- Physio: Raimo Böök
Backroom staff
- Chairman: Jorma Koivukangas
- Managing director: Marko Peltola
- Director of football: Joonas Sarelius
- Team director: Pasi Solehmainen
Former managers
- 2001–2002: Alexander Baranov
- 2003: Markku Kanerva
- 2004: Steven Polack
- 2005–2007: Jari Europaeus
- 2008–2010: Toni Korkeakunnas
- 2011–2014: Ilkka Jäntti
- 2014–: Mika Sandberg
Other teams
The women's first team was established in 2001, and it was promoted to the women's first division (Naisten Ykkönen) for the 2014 season. The manager of the women's first team is Akseli Grasutis, who is assisted by coach Kari Simula.
FC Viikingit have a total of twenty youth teams, thirteen for boys and seven for girls. The youth teams have a total of 602 registered players, making Viikingit the seventh largest club in Helsinki in terms of youth football.
In addition, the club runs two amateur teams in lower leagues, FC Viikingit 05 and FC Viikingit/KoMa. , both of these teams play in the Kutonen.
References
External links
- FC Viikingit ry
- FC Viikingit on Facebook
- The women's first team on Facebook
- Twitter account