IF Gnistan

IF Gnistan

Nickname(s)	Kipinä
Founded	1924; 100 years ago (1924)
Ground	Mustapekka Areena, Oulunkylä, Helsinki, Finland
Capacity	2,200
Chairman	Risto Murto
Head Coach	Jussi Leppälahti[1]
League	Veikkausliiga
2024	Veikkausliiga, 8th of 12
Home colours Away colours

IF Gnistan (Kipinä in Finnish; The Spark in English), commonly known as Gnistan, is a Finnish football club from the city of Helsinki, founded in 1924. The club is currently playing in the Veikkausliiga, the first tier of the Finnish league system. IF Gnistan play their home matches at Mustapekka Areena. Club's home district is Oulunkylä,^[2] which locates in northern part of the capital city.

The club is originally Swedish-speaking, but nowadays it is supported by Finnish-speaking majority also. The club was founded by a few Svenska Reallyceum and Åggelby Svenska Samskola students from Oulunkylä in 1924. IF Gnistan were multi-sport club and had several competitive departments including ski, athletics, swim and pesäpallo (Finnish baseball). Football department were founded in 1935, when the club joined Finnish Football Association Helsinki district. Later in the 1950s Gnistan had strong teams in orienteering, women's gymnastics, table tennis and cross country running alongside the classical sports.^[3]

During the late 1950s, the club decided to dissolve all the other departments except for the football teams. When ski and athletics were eliminated, Gnistan turned to a football club, and named Jacob Söderman as their new chairman. They became a significant team in lower leagues of the capital region but never promoted to the top tier. After season 1994, they achieved their place to Ykkönen for the first time. They stayed in the second tier four years and then relegated back to Kakkonen in 1998. They have been in Ykkönen level on four occasions.^[3]

Gnistan has played seven seasons in the Ykkönen (First Division), the second tier of Finnish football in 1995–98, 2001–02 and from the season 2017. The club has played fourteen seasons in the Kakkonen (Second Division), the third tier of Finnish football in 1990, 1994, 1999–2000 and 2003–2016.^[4]

In 2002, the club nearly made it to the semi-finals of the Finnish Cup, by leading FC Lahti 2–0 till the 90th minute. A FC Lahti fan, ran naked to the field, which caused 5 minutes of added time. Lahti scored twice in injury time and in extra time they made the final score 2–3.

After season 2016, the club won their Kakkonen group and achieved a chance to qualify for Ykkönen for the next season. They faced another group winner Musan Salama on two-legged tie, which started away from home in Pori. Both meetings ended 1–0 victories for the home teams, so the promoting team were solved by penalty shoot-out. Gnistan beat their opponents by 4–3 and promoted to the second tier of Finnish football after spending 14 seasons in a row in Kakkonen.

After establishing their place in then second-tier Ykkönen, Gnistan finished 2nd in the 2023 season, and earned a spot to Veikkausliiga promotion play-offs, where they eventually fell short to IFK Mariehamn. However, it was later announced that Gnistan were granted a Veikkausliiga league license via supplemental process, after FC Honka was declared for bankruptcy. 2024 Veikkausliiga season will be the first in the Finnish top-tier level in the club's entire history.^[5][6] After the 2023 season, the CEO Marko Kolsi, who had served for four seasons, left the position and Ilkka Vanala was named the new chief executive officer of Gnistan.

Early in the morning on 13 July 2024, the main stand and the facilities of Gnistan's home stadium Mustapekka Areena were destroyed in a fire.^[7]

Gnistan run a number of teams including 4 men's teams, 3 veteran's teams, 2 ladies teams, 11 boys team and 6 girls teams. The club also runs a Football School for youngsters.

IF Gnistan are competing in Group A (Lohko A) of the Kakkonen administered by the Football Association of Finland (Suomen Palloliitto) . This is the third highest tier in the Finnish football system. In 2009 Gnistan finished in second position in their Kakkonen section.

Gnistan / 2 are participating in Section 1 (Lohko 1) of the Nelonen^{[broken anchor]} (Fourth Division) administered by the Helsinki SPL.

Gnistan / Ogeli are participating in Section 2 (Lohko 2) of the Nelonen^{[broken anchor]} (Fourth Division) administered by the Helsinki SPL.

Gnistan / Roots are participating in Section 2 (Lohko 2) of the Kutonen^{[broken anchor]} (Sixth Division) administered by the Helsinki SPL. In 2009 Roots finished in second position in Section 2 Seiska (Seventh Division).

As of 18 November 2024 ^[10]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 3 MF  FIN Saku Heiskanen 4 DF  FIN Oliver Pettersson 6 MF  FIN Hannes Woivalin 7 DF  FIN Tim Väyrynen 9 FW  NOR Jonas Enkerud 10 FW  FIN Joakim Latonen 15 MF  FIN Gabriel Europaeus 19 MF  FIN Vertti Hänninen 22 DF  FIN Jukka Raitala

No. Pos. Nation Player 26 MF  FIN Roman Eremenko 28 MF  FIN Armend Kabashi 37 GK  FIN Kasper Hietanen 40 DF  FIN Juhani Ojala 99 FW  FIN Jere Kujanpää — DF  FIN Linus Kahisalo — FW  FIN Kristian Yli-Hietanen — MF  GHA Edmund Arko-Mensah — MF  FIN Elmer Vauhkonen — DF  FIN Benjamin Dahlström

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

No. Pos. Nation Player

As of 15 February 2024^[11]

Name Role Jussi Leppälahti Head Coach Mikke Salonen Assistant Coach Eero Laurila Assistant Coach Marko Frantsi Goalkeeping Coach Patrick Cousins Team Manager Ari Ahonen Kit Manager Joni Välilä Physiotherapist

As of 28 August 2024^[12]

Name Role Risto Murto Chairman Patrik Ekström Vice Chairman Ilkka Vanala CEO Jarkko Jokiranta Sporting Director

• Suomen Cup

• Official Website
• IF Gnistan Facebook