Rovaniemen Palloseura

Rovaniemen Palloseura (RoPS) is a football club founded in 1950 and based in Rovaniemi, Finland. In 2019 RoPS participated in the Finnish Premier Division, (Veikkausliiga) marking their 32nd season in the top flight (previously called "Veikkausliiga") since 1981. The club plays home games at the Rovaniemen Keskuskenttä in the Arctic Circle of Lapland. The closest affiliated team is RoPS/2 from Kakkonen who participates in the third tier of Finnish football.

RoPS
Full nameRovaniemen Palloseura
Founded1950 (1950)
GroundKeskuskenttä,
Rovaniemi
Capacity4,000
ChairmanRisto Niva
ManagerVesa Tauriainen
LeagueVeikkausliiga
201910th
WebsiteClub website

History
Keskuskenttä, home ground of RoPS

RoPS have won the Finnish Cup on two occasions, in 1986 and 2013, and were runners-up in 1962. They placed third in the Finnish Premier Division in 1988 and 1989, before finishing as runner-up in 2015, losing out on the title by 1 point to eventual champions SJK. The club's most notable international achievement was reaching the quarter-finals of the European Cup-Winners' Cup in 1987–88 against Marseille.

Match fixing allegations and scandal

Throughout the 2000s, RoPS became infamous for suspected involvement in match fixing.

In spring 2011 the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation started a large investigation into match fixing. On February 25 Singaporean businessman Wilson Raj Perumal, a convicted match fixer, was arrested after entering Finland with a fake passport. The National Bureau of Investigation suspected that over 30 games between 2008 and 2011, mostly from the Finnish premier league, had been fixed or manipulated.[1]

On July 19, 2011, the Rovaniemi Court of Appeal convicted Perumal and nine RoPS players of match-fixing. Altogether 24 games had been manipulated, and the intended score had been achieved in 11 of them. Perumal was sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to return 150,000 euros deemed to be match-fixing profits. The bribes ranged from 500 euros offered to one player to a total of 80,000 euros offered to eight players. The highest total of bribes for one individual was slightly over 40,000 euros. The players received suspended sentences. The sentenced players were six Zambian and two Georgian players: Godfrey Chibanga, Chileshe Chibwe, Francis Kombe, Stephen Kunda, Christopher Musonda, Chanda Mwaba, Nchimunya Mweetwa, Pavle Khorguashvili, and Valter Khorguashvili.[2]

Domestic history
Season Level Pos Pld W D L For Against Points Finnish Cup League Cup Top goalscorer
19911st73314811635150-
199273312615534942-
199372911513323538Runners-up-
19945261088323238
19959268810293032Ninth Round
199682711610352939Quarter-finalRunners-up
19976279612313033Semi-final
19988276147273132
199982971012314631Seventh Round
200093310617355036
200112335919255624Sixth Round-
20022nd422949411031Quarter-final- Niclas Grönholm  – 11
20032261475402749Sixth Round-
20041st12267415284525Quarter-final
200513263815185017
20062nd7261088403538-
20072261673442355-
20081st10268612313730Sixth RoundQuarter-finals
200914264418216616Sixth RoundGroup stage Echiabhi Okodugha  – 5
20102nd1261592611754Fourth round- Nchimunya Mweetwa  – 13
20111st12335820397823Fifth RoundGroup stage José Manuel Rivera  – 10
20122nd1271854532059Fifth Round- Aleksandr Kokko  – 15
20131st113381015253634WinnersQuarter-finals Aleksandr Kokko  – 6
201493311517374138Sixth RoundGroup stage Aleksandr Kokko  – 9
20152331788442959Sixth RoundRunners-up Aleksandr Kokko  – 17
201663313119433350Sixth RoundGroup stage Robert Taylor  – 11
201773312615435142Quarter-final Play-offs- Emeka Friday Eze  – 7
20182331887422562Sixth Round- Lassi Lappalainen  – 8
201910278613233530Quarterfinal- Youness Rahimi  – 5

European history
Season Competition Round Club Home Away Aggregate
1987–88 Cup Winners' Cup 1R Glentoran 0–0 1–1 1–1(a)
2R Vllaznia 1–0 1–0 2–0
QF Marseille 0–1 0–3 0–4
1989–90 UEFA Cup 1R GKS Katowice 1–1 1–0 2–1
2R Auxerre 0–5 0–3 0–8
1990–91 UEFA Cup 1R 1. FC Magdeburg 0–1 0–0 0–1
2014–15 UEFA Europa League 2Q Asteras Tripoli 1–1 2–4 3–5
2016–17 UEFA Europa League 1Q Shamrock Rovers 1–1 2–0 3–1
2Q Lokomotiva 1–1 0–3 1–4
2019–20 UEFA Europa League 1Q Aberdeen 1–2 1–2 2–4
Notes
  • 1R: First round
  • 2R: Second round
  • 1Q: First qualifying round
  • QF: Quarter-finals

Honours
Champions (2): 1986, 2013
Champions (2): 2010, 2012

Current squad
As of 21 July 2020

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK  POL Martin Kompalla
2 DF  FIN Simo Majander
3 DF  FIN Otto Kemppainen
5 DF  FIN Kalle Katz (on loan from HJK)
6 DF  FIN Atte Sihvonen
7 FW  FIN Youness Rahimi
8 MF  FIN Obed Malolo
9 FW  GHA Raymond Gyasi
11 FW  FIN Aleksandr Kokko
12 GK  FIN Mikko Rantala
14 MF  FIN Eetu Muinonen
15 DF  FIN Jussi Niska
17 FW  FIN Sampo Ala
No. Pos. Nation Player
18 FW  FIN Veka Pyyny
19 MF  FIN Tuomas Kaukua
20 DF  FIN Juho Hyvärinen
21 FW  FIN Matias Tamminen
22 MF  FIN Rasmus Degerman
23 FW  FIN Enoch Banza (on loan from HJK)
24 MF  FIN Tommi Jäntti
25 FW  TRI Daniel Carr
27 DF  NGA Samuel Olabisi
28 FW  FIN Jarkko Luiro
32 GK  FIN Matias Niemelä (on loan from HJK)
77 DF  GEO Zurab Tsiskaridze

Management and boardroom

Management

As of 18 February 2020.

Name Role
Vesa Tauriainen Head Coach
Mika Pulkkinen Coach
Jari Alamäki Fitness Coach
Ossi Koskela Goalkeeping Coach
Tuomas Könönen Physiotherapist
Vilma Poutiainen Physiotherapist
David Coull Kit Manager
Essi Jokelainen Masseur
Olavi Tammimies Team Manager

Boardroom

As of 18 February 2020[3]

Name Role
Risto Niva Chairman, Managing director
Pekka Konstenius Vice chairman
Jari Ilola Director of Football

Rovaniemi Football Academy

Rovaniemi Football Academy (RFA)[4] is the reserve team of RoPS. The team plays in Kakkonen in 2020 season. It is coached by Aleksi Tanner.

As of 20 February 2020[5]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
11 GK  FIN Lauri-Eemil Vetri
24 MF  FIN Kirill Bullat
26 DF  FIN Eerik Kantola
30 DF  FIN Luka Kuittinen
35 GK  FIN Pauli Tuisku
36 MF  FIN Vertti Hänninen
37 DF  FIN Joona Lahdenmäki
39 DF  FIN Akseli Kantola
40 FW  FIN Santeri Matilainen
41 MF  FIN Jonne Koistinen
42 MF  FIN Riku-Veli Niska
No. Pos. Nation Player
43 FW  FIN Joona Kähkönen
44 DF  FIN Tuomas Leppäkangas
46 FW  FIN Adam Mekki
47 FW  FIN Janne Ojaniemi
50 DF  FIN Severi Salmirinne
52 DF  FIN Miska Ylitolva
53 MF  FIN Roni Pietsalo
54 FW  FIN Antti Salmi
55 DF  FIN Otto Kemppainen

Managers
gollark: Everyone should have one hundred (100) guns, four (4) high-yield recreational nuclear weapons, orbital laser system control codes, and a tank.
gollark: But what if you need to give someone 92 guns?
gollark: To be truly marxist, you should have communism where literally everyone is given 100 guns by the state.
gollark: Didn't Marx say something about not taking away guns from the proletariat?
gollark: They seem to have decided that now knives are EXTREME DANGER™ and are overregulating them, despite them being waaaay more useful as general-use tools than guns.

References
  1. Susanna Kemppainen. "RoPS:lla yli 30 epäiltyä sopupeliä | Pohjois-Suomi". Kaleva.fi. Archived from the original on 2012-09-10. Retrieved 2012-02-12.
  2. Uusi Suomi. "Oikeus: Sopupeleistä 150 000 euroa – 2 vuotta vankeutta — Uusi Suomi". Uusisuomi.fi. Retrieved 2012-02-12.
  3. "Yhteystiedot" (in Finnish). RoPS. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  4. "RoPS/2 on jatkossa Rovaniemi Football Academy". rops.fi. RoPS. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  5. "Kokoonpano: Rovaniemi Football Academy 2020". rops.fi. RoPS. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
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