Turun Palloseura
Turun Palloseura, commonly known as TPS, is a professional football club based in Turku, Finland. During the 2020 season, the men’s first team of the club competes in Veikkausliiga, the highest tier of men’s football, and the women’s first team in Kansallinen Liiga, the highest level of women’s football in Finland. Nicknamed "Tepsi", the club was founded in 1922.
TPS have won 8 League titles and 3 Finnish Cups. They play their home league matches at Veritas Stadion, with a capacity of 9,372 seats for most matches.
History
In the early stages of the UEFA Cup of the season 1987–1988, TPS beat Internazionale at the San Siro stadium in Milan, thanks to a goal by Mika Aaltonen, who was later signed by Inter. They lost the return leg with 0–2, but this is widely regarded as the highest point by the club in international football.After season 2000 TPS lost its place in Finland's Premier League and played for two seasons in the Ykkönen in the Finnish first division. They aimed to get back up to the Premier League with determination and it took them two seasons to complete the mission. Since season 2003 TPS has again played in the Finland's Premier League, Veikkausliiga. TPS managed to get in the final of the Finnish Cup in 2005, but lost to Haka 4–1 in Finnair Stadium
Before season 2007 TPS hired famous Finnish striker Mixu Paatelainen as their manager. In his guidance TPS won bronze and so ended their ten years medalless run. After the end of season Paatelainen left for Scottish club Hibernian FC in early January 2008. Quickly TPS hired heralded Finnish manager Martti Kuusela. However Kuusela didn't get the best out of his squad and was fired mid September 2008. Overall TPS ended sixth in Veikkausliiga. So again TPS have to get a new manager, their third in as many seasons. This time they picked Pasi Rautiainen.
In recent years, TPS has had the highest average attendance in Veikkausliiga but it has suffered from a poor rental agreement with Veritas Stadion. This has led TPS for planning to build their own stadium in Nummi. They also considered the possibility of using the Paavo Nurmi Stadion as their home ground, but these plans faced scheduling problems with Athletics competitions and were scrapped. Both Turku based teams however played few games at the Paavo Nurmi Stadion during 2014 season when the Veritas Stadion was under maintenance. After relegation TPS changed their home venue to the Urheilupuiston yläkenttä, which is close to the Paavo Nurmi Stadion in the Turku Sports Park, but is not eligible to be used in the Veikkausliiga. Future plans for home ground development have not been made public.
TPS returned to the Veikkausliiga for the 2018 season, winning the Ykkönen title on 21 October 2017 with a 1–1 draw against Honka. However, after the 2018 season, TPS was again relegated to Ykkönen, after finishing second-to-last in the league and losing the two-leg play-off against Kokkolan Pallo-Veikot, the Ykkönen runner-up. Since the 2018 season, TPS plays all home games at Veritas Stadion.
Honours
Season to season
Current squadManagement and boardroomManagementAs of 28 July 2020.
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