Tampere United

Tampere United is a Finnish football club from the city of Tampere. The club plays in Kolmonen, the third highest level of football in Finland.

Full nameJalkapalloseura Tampere United ry
Nickname(s)Sinipaidat
Founded1998
GroundPyynikin urheilukenttä, Tampere
ChairmanHeikki Wilen
ManagerMourad Seddiki
LeagueKolmonen
WebsiteClub website
Ratina Stadion

The club had a team in Veikkausliiga, the premier football league in Finland, until the end of the 2010 season. It was excluded from participating in Finnish football during the 2011 season amidst suspicions of money laundering. The club was kept alive by its supporters, who entered a team called TamU-K in Kutonen, the lowest level of football in Finland, in 2012. The club earned three promotions in four years, and all its teams were taken over by Tampere United in the lead up to the 2016 season. Tampere United is now a fan-owned club and controlled by the same supporters who ran TamU-K.

History

The club was formed in July 1998. The initial plan was to merge two local football clubs FC Ilves and TPV but TPV decided to continue as its own team. FC Ilves continued to play in lower divisions and Tampere United inherited its place in the second highest division.

In their first season, 1999 they won promotion to the top division, 15 months after the formation of the club. During season 2000 they reached sixth place in the league. In their third season 2001 they won the Finnish championship.

In 2002, they finished in fifth place, and in 2003, third place. In 2006, Tampere United won their 2nd Finnish Championship and one year later, in 2007, they were the champions yet again taking home their 3rd title.

During the 2007 season, Tampere United also reached the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League. Tampere defeated Bulgarian champions Levski Sofia 2–0 on aggregate in the second qualifying round. Tampere United failed to reach the Champions League group stage when Rosenborg BK defeated them 5–0 on aggregate. In the UEFA Cup first round, United lost to Girondins de Bordeaux 4–3 on aggregate.

Exclusion and collapse

On 14 April 2011 the club were suspended indefinitely by the Football Association of Finland because they had received money from a dubious company based in Singapore, known for involvement in fixed games and money laundering. The club was excluded from the 2011 season of Veikkausliiga.[1] Players under contract were released due to lack of funds.

The club did not participate in any league in 2012 or 2013. In April 2013 the Turku Court of Appeal found the former CEO Deniz Bavautdin and the former chairman of the board Harri Pyhältö guilty of money laundering.

Revival by the supporters

Supporters of Tampere United founded a supporters' trust in 2009 after the club had hit financial difficulties. The aim was to help fans gain a voice within the club and to buy shares of the club.

In 2012 the supporters' trust founded a new team named after the supporters' trust, TamU-K, In 2012 the team played in Kutonen, the bottom division in Finnish football, and gained promotion to Vitonen. The promotion playoff match that decided promotion had the attendance of 441.[2] In 2013 the team was promoted to Vitonen and in 2014 the team made it to penalties in the promotion playoff and lost.[3] After another season in Nelonen TamU-K was promoted to Kolmonen,

In the lead up to the 2016 season, Tampere United took over all the teams that played under TamU-K. Thereby the first team played in Kolmonen in 2016, and after the season it got promoted Kakkonen. In 2017 Tampere United finished sixth in Kakkonen Group B and in 2018 it finished ninth in Group C, and remains in Kakkonen in the 2019 season.

Honours

Veikkausliiga

  • Champions: 2001, 2006, 2007

Finnish Cup

Finnish League Cup

Tampere United in Europe
Season Competition Round Opponent Score (home-away)
2002–03 UEFA Champions League Q1 Pyunik F.C. 0–4, 0–2
2003 UEFA Intertoto Cup 1 Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț 1–0, 1–2
2 FK Sutjeska Nikšić 0–0, 1–0
3 HNK Cibalia 0–2, 1–0
2004 UEFA Intertoto Cup 1 CS Grevenmacher 0–0, 1–1
2 Inter Baku 3–0, 0–1
3 OFK Beograd 0–0, 0–1
2005 UEFA Intertoto Cup 1 Skála ÍF 2–0, 1–0
2 R. Charleroi S.C. 1–0, 0–0
3 SS Lazio 1–1, 0–3
2006 UEFA Intertoto Cup 1 Carmarthen Town 5–0, 3–1
2 Kalmar FF 1–2, 2–3
2007–08 UEFA Champions League Q1 SS Murata 2–0, 2–1
Q2 PFC Levski Sofia 1–0, 1–0
Q3 Rosenborg BK 0–3, 0–2
2007–08 UEFA Cup 1 Girondins de Bordeaux 2–3, 1–1
2008–09 UEFA Champions League Q1 FK Budućnost Podgorica 2–1, 1–1
Q2 FC Artmedia Petržalka 1–3, 2–4

Season to season
Season Level Division Section Administration Position Movements
1999 Tier 2 Ykkönen North Group Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 1st Promotion Group – 1st
2000 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 6th
2001 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 1st Champions
2002 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 6th Upper Group – 5th
2003 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 3rd
2004 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 3rd
2005 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 3rd
2006 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 1st Champions
2007 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 1st Champions
2008 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 7th
2009 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 7th
2010 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 7th
2011 N/A Suspended
2012 Tier 7 Kutonen Group 4 Finnish FA Tampere District 2nd Promoted
2013 Tier 6 Vitonen Group 1 Finnish FA Tampere District 1st Promoted
2014 Tier 5 Nelonen Finnish FA Tampere District 2nd
2015 Tier 5 Nelonen Finnish FA Tampere District 1st Promoted
2016 Tier 4 Kolmonen Finnish FA Tampere District 1st Promoted
2017 Tier 3 Kakkonen Group B Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 6th
2018 Tier 3 Kakkonen Group C Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 9th
2019 Tier 3 Kakkonen Group B Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 12th Relegated
2020 Tier 4 Kolmonen Finnish FA Tampere District TBD

Current squad
As of 12 July 2019

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  FIN Mikael Köngäs
3 DF  FIN Sami Ekmark
4 DF  FIN Mustafa Hussein Zada
5 DF  FIN Eetu Rahkola
7 MF  FIN Niko Äkräs
8 MF  FIN Ali Aitbenzanzoun
9 FW  FIN Elias Harala
10 FW  FIN Haris Ibrahimovic
13 DF  FIN Aleksi Sainio
15 FW  FIN Eemil Pasanen
16 FW  FIN Marcio Severino
17 FW  FIN Taavi Abruquah
18 MF  FIN Jere Remes
No. Pos. Nation Player
19 FW  FIN Valtteri Uimonen
20 DF  FIN Verneri Uimonen
21 FW  FIN Topi Järvi
22 DF  FIN Matias Stark
23 FW  FIN Niklas Lindholm
24 GK  FIN Oskari Ikonen
25 MF  FIN Omar Khary
26 GK  FIN Sami Maja
27 MF  FIN Nils Strömsholm
28 FW  FIN Deng Malwal
29 DF  FIN Ali Al-Fatli
32 MF  FIN Arttu Mättö
62 GK  FIN Elias Alanen

Managers

UEFA ranking

Current Club Ranking

Current National League ranking

References
  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 20 December 2013. Retrieved 19 December 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. "New beginnings". When Saturday Comes. December 2012. p. 35.
  3. Negrin, Matt (1 May 2014). "Fans Lose Soccer Team, Then Build Their Own". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
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