FC Honka
FC Honka is a Finnish football club, based in Espoo. It was founded in 1957 as Tapion Honka, and changed its name to FC Honka in 1975. The club currently play in the Finnish premier division, having been promoted for the first time in their history at the end of the 2005 season. The club's manager is Vesa Vasara and it plays its home matches at Tapiolan urheilupuisto.
FC Honka is largely renowned in Finland for its extensive youth scheme with over 1000 youth players playing in various age groups. It also has women's football team in the Naisten Liiga.
Until 2005 FC Honka was thought of as a "nearly, but not quite" team, a promising but always underachieving side in the Finnish First Division. In the late 1990s the objective was promotion, but year after year they failed. At the beginning of the 21st century FC Honka almost went bankrupt but was saved at the last moment.
In early 2005 the club was taken over by Jouko Pakarinen and Jouko Harjunpää, who had a plan to turn FC Honka from underachievers to a UEFA Champions League candidate.
In the first year of their take-over of FC Honka, the new management succeeded in assembling a squad which won the First Division with ease and also made the semi-finals of the Finnish Cup where they eventually lost 1–0 to FC Haka.
FC Honka was able to fight for top positions instantly, but narrowly missed the top three in their first two seasons. In 2007 the team reached the Finnish Cup final, losing to Tampere United on penalties after extra time. As Tampere United also won the league title that season, FC Honka qualified for the 2008–09 UEFA Cup. In 2008, FC Honka achieved its highest place by finishing 2nd in the league.
FC Honka won the Finnish Cup in 2012. However, due to financial difficulties the team was relegated to the third tier Kakkonen in 2015. In 2015 the fitness center company Esport bought the club and after that, the club has also been known officially as Esport Honka. The club dominated their first season in the Kakkonen in 2015 and lost only two games, but were defeated in the promotion battle. After the 2016 season, the team was promoted to the second tier Finnish First Division. After the 2017 Ykkönen season Honka was promoted to the highest Finnish tier after Promotion playoffs against HIFK.
In Veikkausliiga the team is also officially titled as Esport Honka, although the team is still colloquially known as FC Honka.
Honours
League
VeikkausliigaYkkönen
- Champions: 2005
Cups
- Winners: 2012
- Runners-up : 1969, 2007, 2008
La Manga Cup
- Winners: 2009
European competitions
Next year, Honka qualified for the new UEFA Europa League, starting from the second qualifying round. The club beat Welsh Bangor City F.C. 3–0 on aggregate but lost 1–3 to FK Karabakh from Azerbaijan in the third qualifying round.
For the 2010–11 season, FC Honka was again drawn against Bangor City in the second round but lost 3–2 on aggregate.
During the winter of 2009, Honka won the annual La Manga Cup, beating Nordsjaelland in the final.
European cups record
Matches
UEFA club ranking
This is the UEFA Club Ranking, including season 2013–14.Last update: 24 June 2014
Rank | Team | Points |
299 | PFC Cherno More Varna | 4.125 |
300 | Skonto FC | 4.000 |
301 | HŠK Zrinjski Mostar | 4.000 |
302 | FK Liepājas Metalurgs | 4.000 |
303 | FC Honka | 3.935 |
304 | Fredrikstad FK | 3.855 |
305 | Breiðablik UBK | 3.850 |
306 | FC Milsami Orhei | 3.825 |
307 | Khazar Lankaran FK | 3.825 |
Season to season
Current squadOut on loanAvailable youth playersManagementAs of 6 February 2020.
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