Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi


Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi, commonly known as HJK Helsinki, or simply as HJK, is a professional football club based in Helsinki, Finland. The club competes in the Finnish Veikkausliiga. Founded in 1907, the club has spent most of its history in the top tier of Finnish football. The club's home ground is the 10,770-seat Telia 5G -areena, where they have played since 2000.
Generally considered as Finland's biggest club, HJK is the most successful Finnish club in terms of championship titles with 29. The club has also won 13 Finnish Cups and 5 Finnish League Cups. Many of Finland's most successful players have played for HJK before moving abroad. The club has also similar success with women's Naisten Liiga.
HJK is the only Finnish club that has participated in the UEFA Champions League group stage. In 1998, they beat Metz in the play-off round to clinch their place in the competition for the following season. HJK has also participated in the UEFA Europa League, in 2014–15, defeating Rapid Wien in the play-off round. The club's highest score in a European competition came during the 2011–12 season, with a 13–0 aggregate victory over Welsh champions Bangor City, which included a 10–0 home win.
HJK's traditional kit colours have long been blue and white striped shirts with blue shorts and socks. The club's crest has been nearly untouched for a century, it has only undergone one minor font change in order to modernize it.

History

The club was founded as Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi – Helsingfors Fotbollsklubb in 1907 by Fredrik Wathén. The founding meeting was held at a bowling alley in Kaisaniemi Park in May. The first ever competitive fixture was played against Ekenäs IF in Ekenäs. HJK won 2–4.
Early on, HJK became popular amongst Finnish-speaking students, while Swedish-speaking students preferred to play mainly for Unitas or HIFK. In late 1908, after a heated debate, the language was switched to unilingually Finnish and this resulted in many Swedish-speaking members switching over to HIFK and other clubs, although a few chose to stay.
In 1909, the colours blue and white were chosen to support the fennoman movement and bandy was introduced as the club's second official sport. The club moved from Kaisaniemi Ground to the new Eläintarha Stadium. At the end of the year, Fredrik Wathen was forced to leave his post as the club's chairman due to illness.
In 1910, Lauri Tanner became the longest-running club chairman to date. The same year, the club's first international match was played, against Eriksdals IF from Stockholm in Kaisaniemi. The first championship title was won in 1911. In 1915, the club moved to newly build Töölön Pallokenttä. In 1916, tennis was introduced as the third official sport in HJK, and it was played in the club until the early 1920s. During the Finnish Civil War in 1918, two HJK club members, fighting for the "Whites", were killed.
, located in the Töölö district of Helsinki.
In 1921, the first bandy championship was won and during the following five seasons, HJK reached five finals, winning three more titles. Bowling was added to the club's repertoire in 1925, but the bowlers formed their own club, Helsingin Keilaajat, the following year. In 1928, ice hockey became an official sport and the first championship was won in 1929. League format was introduced to Finnish football in 1930 but HJK failed to qualify for the first season. In 1931, HJK played their first season in the league, however at the end of the season, they were relegated.
of AIK taking on HJK winger Demba Savage during a friendly match between the two teams in March 2013.
During World War II, HJK lost 22 members serving in the military, of which nine fell in the Winter War, twelve in the Continuation War and one in the Lapland War. In 1943, handball was introduced as the club's sixth official sport. HJK won one silver and two bronze medals in handball during the following three seasons but did not gain further success. Handball was first of HJK's sports where women also competed. The women's team played a total of 22 seasons at the highest level; their highest finish was fourth.
In 1963, HJK played their last ever season in the second level of the football pyramid, winning 20 out of 22 matches and scoring 127 goals. In 1964, the newly promoted club won their tenth championship title and the following season, in 1965–66, they played their first European Cup match, against Manchester United at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium. However, a 2–9 aggregate loss resulted in HJK's elimination from the competition.
In 1966, the club secured their first ever cup title by winning KTP 6–1 in the final in front of 7,000 spectators. Bandy section was disbanded in the late 1960s. The last official sport, figure skating, was added into the club's repertoire in 1966, was abolished in 1972. The ice hockey section was also disbanded in 1972 and the last season in handball was played in 1978. Hereafter, HJK therefore only participated in football following 69 years as a multisport club.
The 1998–99 season saw HJK become the first and, to date, only Finnish club to play in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League after defeating Metz in the second qualifying round. The club also managed a respectable five points in their group, defeating Benfica at home and earning draws at home to 1. FC Kaiserslautern and away to Benfica. They lost to PSV twice and to Kaiserslautern away.
The club's current home stadium, the Telia 5G -areena, was opened in 2000. The 20th championship title was won in 2002 and in 2008, the club won its tenth Finnish Cup title. The 2009 season was the start of a championship run that resulted in six titles in a row from 2009 to 2014.
In 2014, HJK became the first Finnish club to play in the UEFA Europa League group stage after defeating Rapid Wien in the play-off round. HJK, with wins over Torino and Copenhagen at home, finished third in their group with six points.
HJK made several acquisitions during the winter of 2015, including Córdoba forward Mike Havenaar, J-league playmaker Atomu Tanaka and Birmingham City holding midfielder Guy Moussi. With the new signings on their side, HJK began the season on a high by winning the league cup, a feat they had not accomplished since 1998. HJK also played its first local derby against HIFK since April 1972, drawing 1–1. However, HJK could not replicate the league success they had enjoyed for the last six seasons, finishing the 2015 season in third place, behind champions SJK and runners-up RoPS.
During the 2017 campaign the club lost only three games, which resulted in a domestic double.

Honours

Football

Season to season

Supporters and rivalries

Historically HJK had a wide support within Finnish speaking, prosperous middle class of Helsinki. The club's supporters were often nationalistic after the fashion of almost every other Finnish FA club at the time. Leftist working class' clubs played their own leagues and competitions under the Finnish Workers' Sports Federation. However, The club remained open to all 'honorable citizens' regardless of their native language, race or social class, and always had members from other communities as well. Before the 1970s HJK came to be known especially as a Töölöan club due to most of their activity taking place in this particular district.
During recent decades the club's old image as a prosperous, middle class group from Töölö has largely disappeared due to social changes in Finland as well as migration from inner city to housing projects built during the mass migration from the countryside during the 1960s and the 1970s.

The Helsinki Derby">Stadin derby">The Helsinki Derby and other local rivalries

HJK's main rivals in Helsinki were widely considered to be Kiffen, HPS and HIFK. In the past these were the four big clubs from Helsinki. The clubs were mainly separated by language, HJK and HPS being Finnish speaking clubs whereas HIFK and KIF were Swedish speaking, and to some extent by neighborhoods. These four clubs competed also in bandy, ice hockey and handball. The support for HJK mainly came from around the city center and in later years also from Töölö, HPS' support was mostly active around Vallila and Alppila districts. KIF and HPS were both struggling to survive and were both relegated to lower leagues after 1964 season and rapidly lost their support. KIF made a brief stint to first level in 1977–78.
HJK and HIFK share the biggest rivalry being two of the oldest and most successful clubs. Both were also successful in Bandy which was major winter sport in the first half of the 20th century, KIF and HPS gained lesser success. Also in Ice Hockey clubs faced numerous times and played more seasons in first level than HPS or KIF. A match between these two clubs is called as Stadin derby. Language was the biggest separating factor between the clubs, HIFK was the club of choice for the Swedish speaking population of the city and HJK for the Finnish speaking. In 2015 HIFK was promoted back to the top flight after 40 years of struggling in the lower leagues having played their last season in the top division in 1972. Since HJK ceased their activity in other sports during the 1960s and 1970s the rivalry faded away on a large scale and in recent decades many even supported both clubs at the same time, HJK in football and HIFK in ice hockey. However, due to the rise of the Finnish supporter scene in the 2000s, there is a high tension between the most vocal supporters.
HJK shared a short but fierce rivalry with FC Jokerit around the late 1990s and the early 2000s. Jokerit were well supported due to their popular ice hockey section and the clubs also competed against each other in ice hockey in the late 1960s and the early 1970s.
Multiple Helsinki based clubs have played in the league but due to their short term visits and relatively low support base large scale rivalries were never born. Some notable clubs were Ponnistus, FinnPa, Pallo-Pojat and Helsingin Toverit.

Helsinki-Lahti rivalry

HJK has competed against Lahti based clubs from the 1960s, between 1964 and 1980 HJK and Lahden Reipas had a minor rivalry as both clubs gained good success winning some titles and were also generally well supported. Reipas also won seven cup titles against one of HJK. Reipas was relegated after 1980 season. More notable rivalry was against Kuusysi from the early 1980s to the mid-1990s. Between 1981 and 1992 HJK won six league titles against Kuusysi's five, both clubs also won the cup twice, facing two times in the finals. Both clubs also performed well in the European competitions. In 1996 both the Lahti clubs merged and FC Lahti was born, HJK and FC Lahti matches are more known from outside pitch activities, some crowd disturbances and small fights have occurred which otherwise are rare in Finnish football. Due to a relatively short distance between the two cities, these matches often draw more notable away support than others.

HJK-Haka rivalry

HJK and Valkeakosken Haka are the two most successful clubs in Finnish football, HJK with 27 league and 12 cup titles and Haka with 9 league and 12 cup titles. The match is also considered as "urban vs. rural" rivalry as HJK is a club from Finland's biggest city Helsinki and Haka is representing the small town of Valkeakoski.

Players

First team squad

Out on loan

Klubi 04

HJK's reserve team currently plays in the Finnish Second Division. It is coached by Joonas Rantanen.

Management and boardroom

Management

As of 19 June 2019

Boardroom

As of 22 January 2018

Managers

UEFA club competition record

As of 6 August 2019.
CompetitionPldWDLGFGA
UEFA Champions League7125123489110
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup126151824
UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League611893462124
UEFA Intertoto Cup412166
Total148502474175264

SeasonCompetitionRoundOpposing teamHomeAwayAggregate
1965–66European CupPR Manchester United2–30–62–9
1967–68UEFA Cup Winners' Cup1R Wisla Kraków1–40–41–8
1974–75European Cup1R Valletta4–10–14–2
1974–75European Cup2R Åtvidabergs FF0–30–10–4
1975–76UEFA CupPR Hertha Berlin1–21–42–6
1979–80European Cup1R Ajax Amsterdam1–81–82–16
1982–83European Cup1R Omonia3–00–23–2
1982–83European Cup2R Liverpool1–00–51–5
1983–84UEFA Cup1R Spartak Moscow0–50–20–7
1984–85UEFA CupPR Dinamo Minsk0–60–40–10
1985–86UEFA Cup Winners' Cup1R Flamurtari3–22–15–3
1985–86UEFA Cup Winners' Cup2R Dynamo Dresden1–02–73–7
1986–87European Cup1R APOEL3–20–13–3
1988–89European Cup1R FC Porto2–00–32–3
1989–90European Cup1R AC Milan0–10–40–5
1991–92European Cup1R Dynamo Kyiv0–10–30–4
1993–94UEFA Champions LeaguePR Norma Tallinn1–11–02–1
1993–94UEFA Champions League1R Anderlecht0–30–30–6
1994–95UEFA Cup Winners' CupPR B71 Sandur2–05–07–0
1994–95UEFA Cup Winners' Cup1R Beşiktaş1–10–21–3
1995UEFA Intertoto CupGroup 5 IFK Norrköping1–13rd
1995UEFA Intertoto CupGroup 5 Bohemians3–23rd
1995UEFA Intertoto CupGroup 5 OB Odense1–23rd
1995UEFA Intertoto CupGroup 5 Bordeaux1–13rd
1996–97UEFA CupPR Pyunik Yerevan5–2 1–36–5
1996–97UEFA CupQR Chernomorets Odessa2–20–22–4
1997–98UEFA Cup Winners' CupQR Red Star Belgrade1–00–31–3
1998–99UEFA Champions League1QR FC Yerevan2–03–05–0
1998–99UEFA Champions League2QR FC Metz1–01–12–1
1998–99UEFA Champions LeagueGroup F PSV Eindhoven1–31–24th
1998–99UEFA Champions LeagueGroup F 1. FC Kaiserslautern0–02–54th
1998–99UEFA Champions LeagueGroup F Benfica2–02–24th
1999–00UEFA CupQR Shirak Gyumri2–00–12–1
1999–00UEFA Cup1R Lyon0–11–51–6
2000–01UEFA CupQR CS Grevenmacher4–10–24–3
2000–01UEFA Cup1R Celtic2–1 0–22–3
2001–02UEFA CupQR FK Ventspils2–11–03–1
2001–02UEFA Cup1R Parma0–20–10–3
2002–03UEFA CupQR FC Gomel0–40–10–5
2003–04UEFA Champions League1QR Glentoran1–00–01–0
2003–04UEFA Champions League2QR MTK Budapest1–01–32–3
2004–05UEFA Champions League1QR Linfield1–01–02–0
2004–05UEFA Champions League2QR Maccabi Tel Aviv0–00–10–1
2006–07UEFA Cup1QR Drogheda United1–11–3 2–4
2007–08UEFA Cup1QR FC Etzella Ettelbruck2–01–03–0
2007–08UEFA Cup2QR Aalborg BK2–10–32–4
2009–10UEFA Europa League2QR FK Vėtra1–31–02–3
2010–11UEFA Champions League2QR FK Ekranas2–0 0–12–1
2010–11UEFA Champions League3QR FK Partizan1–20–31–5
2010–11UEFA Europa LeaguePO Beşiktaş0–40–20–6
2011–12UEFA Champions League2QR Bangor City10–03–013–0
2011–12UEFA Champions League3QR Dinamo Zagreb1–20–11–3
2011–12UEFA Europa LeaguePO Schalke 042–01–63–6
2012–13UEFA Champions League2QR KR Reykjavik7–02–19–1
2012–13UEFA Champions League3QR Celtic0–21–21–4
2012–13UEFA Europa LeaguePO Athletic Bilbao3–30–63–9
2013–14UEFA Champions League2QR Nõmme Kalju0–01–21–2
2014–15UEFA Champions League2QR FK Rabotnički2–10–02–1
2014–15UEFA Champions League3QR APOEL2–20–22–4
2014–15UEFA Europa LeaguePO SK Rapid Wien2–13–35–4
2014–15UEFA Europa LeagueGroup B Copenhagen2–10–23rd
2014–15UEFA Europa LeagueGroup B Club Brugge0–31–23rd
2014–15UEFA Europa LeagueGroup B Torino2–10–23rd
2015–16UEFA Champions League2QR FK Ventspils1–03–14–1
2015–16UEFA Champions League3QR Astana0–03–43–4
2015–16UEFA Europa LeaguePO Krasnodar0–01–51–5
2016–17UEFA Europa League1QR FK Atlantas1–12–03–1
2016–17UEFA Europa League2QR Beroe Stara Zagora1–01–12–1
2016–17UEFA Europa League3QR IFK Göteborg0–22–12–3
2017–18UEFA Europa League1QR Connah's Quay Nomads3–00–13–1
2017–18UEFA Europa League2QR Shkëndija1–11–32–4
2018–19UEFA Champions League1QR Víkingur Gøta3–12–15–2
2018–19UEFA Champions League2QR BATE Borisov1–20–01–2
2018–19UEFA Europa League3QR Olimpija Ljubljana1–40–31–7
2019–20UEFA Champions League1QR HB Tórshavn3–02–25−2
2019–20UEFA Champions League2QR Red Star Belgrade2–10–22−3
2019–20UEFA Europa League3QR Riga FC2–21–13−3

UEFA Club Ranking

This is the current UEFA Club Ranking.
Last update: 8 July 2019
RankTeamPoints
129 C.D. Nacional9.646
130 Asteras Tripoli F.C.9.500
131 Fehérvár FC9.000
132 FC Dinamo Minsk9.000
133 HJK 9.000
134 FC Sion9.000
135 FC Slovan Liberec9.000
136 FC Spartak Trnava8.500
137 AEK Larnaca FC8.000

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