JJK Jyväskylä
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| Full name | JJK Jyväskylä[1] | ||
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| Nickname(s) | Ketut (Foxes) | ||
| Founded | 2000 (1992)[1] | ||
| Ground | Harjun Stadion, Jyväskylä (capacity: 5,000) |
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| Chairman | Janne Särkkä | ||
| Manager | Kari Martonen | ||
| League | Veikkausliiga | ||
| 2012 | Veikkausliiga, 9th | ||
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JJK Jyväskylä (JJK) is a Finnish football club, based in Jyväskylä. It currently plays in the Finnish top-flight Veikkausliiga. The club's manager is Kari Martonen. JJK plays its home matches at Harjun Stadion.
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History [edit]
Early years 1923-1992 [edit]
Jyväskylän Palloilijat (abbreviated JyP), the predecessor of JJK, was founded in December 1923. In addition to football JyP had also a pesäpallo team and a bandy team. In the JJK's first football match it was defeated 2-3 by Mikkelin Kilpaveikot. In its early years, JyP played football infrequently and usually worked just to make the game of football known in the city. JyP began competing in football leagues in 1928 when it was beaten in a qualification match by Savo in the regional league. In 1939, JyP qualified for the first time to play in the second highest level of Finnish football leagues.
Nevertheless, World War II halted the promising progress of the team. In 1941, JyP played against a friendly match against a German military team. As many as 6000 spectators followed the match in Harju Stadium.
In the following decades, JyP played in the Finnish lower divisions varying from the 3rd tier to 6th tier, but in 1976 JyP managed to rise to Kakkonen (third tier). In the next year, a new organisation was founded for the football team. The new team was named JYP-77. In the beginning of 1980s JYP-77 played couple of years in the First Division. But, 1992 the team relegated again to Kolmonen (fourth tier). [2]
New JJK 1992-2006 [edit]
In autumn 1992 football managers in Jyväskylä decided that a reform is needed in football in Jyväskylä. JYP-77 merged with JyPK (Jyväskylän Pallokerho) and formed a new team JJK (Jyväskylän Jalkapalloklubi). Already first season was a success and JJK was promoted to Kakkonen (third tier) in 1993. 1994 JJK was far from the top of the league even though Mika Väyrynen won the top scorer award of the league with 22 goals. In 1995 JJK won a qualifier against KPT-85 and was promoted to Ykkönen (second tier).
In the Ykkönen JJK played strongly especially at home, where it was defeated only once. Ville Priha and Sükrü Uzuner were some of the leading heroes of the team. Also audience found Harju and a match against Kuusysi Lahti had already 2547 spectators.
Season 1997 ended in a catastrophe. Even though the team had invested a lot to the new season it relegated back to Kakkonen (third tier). JJK could not promote back during next seasons. When JJK Juniors in 2000 managed to promote also to Kakkonen a new reform was started. The name was changed to JJK Jyväskylä. Nevertheless, JJK could not promote back to the Ykkönen.
Between 2000 and 2006 the team lost many gifted juniors including Jukka Sinisalo, Touko Tumanto, Mikko Manninen to teams playing on higher levels. [3]
From a black hole to the top 2006- [edit]
During unsuccessful decades Central Finland was nicknamed a black hole of Finnish football. Jyväskylä was the only major Finnish city, which had not had a football team in the top league. In 2006 Ville Priha returned to his home city - this time as a couch. The new couch with his team including Lassi Lehtonen, Jussi Hakasalo and a young promising striker Tommi Kari celebrated in the end of the season a promotion back to Ykkönen.
Before the 2007 season JJK got new strengthenings with a defender Jukka Sinisalo returning from FC Inter, midfielder Matti Lähitie and striker Babatunde Wusu from Mikkeli. The team ended up being third in the league. The team continued to strengthen with Markus Paija, Mika Lahtinen, Anssi Viren and Ady. The hero of team Babatunde Wusu capped in the last game against PS Kemi and secured a historic moment for Jyväskylä - a promotion to the Veikkausliiga (highest level).
First top league season 2009 was not easy for JJK even though Jukka-Pekka Tuomanen from Jaro and Christian Sund joined the team. It finished playing relegation games but managed to win them. Nevertheless, the average number of spectators was third highest in the league, 3238 per game.
2010 was not easier but 2011 JJK exploded the bank. The team finished 3rd in the league and celebrated the first medal in its history in Finnish Veikkausliiga. This meant also that in 2012 JJK plays for the first time in its history in UEFA European League.[4]
European campaigns [edit]
| Season | Competition | Round | Country | Club | Score | Agg. |
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| 2012–13 | UEFA Europa League | First round |  |
Stabæk | 2–0, 2−3 | 4−3 |
| Second round |  |
FK Zeta | 3–2, 0–1 | 3−3 |
Current squad [edit]
As of 6 May 2013. Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Season to season [edit]
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Notable players [edit]
Janne Korhonen- Ville Lehtinen
- Mikko Manninen
- Markus Paija
- Juha Pasoja
- Tomi Petrescu
- Touko Tumanto
Ǵorǵi Hristov
Babatunde Wusu
Nam Ik-Kyung
Adailton dos Santos
Diego Molares
Managers [edit]
- Markku Kekäläinen (1994–95)
- Ilkka Hyvärinen (1994–95)
- Markku Kekäläinen (1996)
- Anssi Leino (1996)
- Esa Kuusisto (1997)
Boguslaw Hajdas (1998)- Juha-Pekka Nuutinen (1999)
- Heikki Nurmi (2000)
- Matti Lahtinen (2001–02)
- Ari Kautto (2003–05)
- Markku Kekäläinen (2005)
- Ville Priha (Jan 2006–Dec 09)
- Kari Martonen (Jan 2010–)
References [edit]
- ^ a b http://www.veikkausliiga.com/Team.aspx?id=30
- ^ title=Aika ennen JJK:n syntyä: 1923-1992 |author= Erkki Arvaja |date= 1975 |work= Jyväskylän Palloilijat palloilun suurseuraksi|publisher= Järvenpään Kirjapaino ja Valolatomo Ky.
- ^ "JJK:n synty ja ensimmäinen nousukausi: 1992-2005". JJK Jyväskylä. 19 April 2010. Retrieved 7 July 2012.
- ^ "Valoa mustaan aukkoon: 2006-". JJK Jyväskylä. 19 April 2010. Retrieved 7 July 2012.
External links [edit]
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