Nickname(s) Klubi (The Club) Chairman Olli-Pekka Lyytikäinen Arena/Stadium Sonera Stadium League Veikkausliiga Founded 1907 | Ground Capacity 10,770 2016 Veikkausliiga, 2nd Manager Mika Lehkosuo Location Helsinki, Finland Chairperson Olli-Pekka Lyytikäinen | |
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Full name Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi Ground Sonera Stadium,
Helsinki Profiles | ||
Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi (literally "The Football Club of Helsinki", simply known as HJK and HJK Helsinki) is a professional football club based in Helsinki, Finland. 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 Sonera Stadium, where they have played since 2000.
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Generally considered Finland's biggest club, HJK is the most successful Finnish club in terms of championship titles with 27. The club has also won twelve Finnish Cups and five Finnish League Cups. Many of Finland's most successful players have played for HJK before moving abroad.
HJK is the only Finnish club that has participated in the UEFA Champions League group stage. In 1998 they beat FC Metz in the playoff round to clinch their place in the competition for the following season. HJK has also participated in the UEFA Europa League in 2014, beating SK Rapid Wien in the playoff 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 win at home.
HJK's regular kit colors have long been blue and white 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. First match was played against Ekenäs IF in Ekenäs, HJK won the match 2–4. From 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 end of the year Fredrik Wathen was forced to leave his post as the club's chairman due to his illness and in 1910 Lauri Tanner became the longest running club chairman to date. Same year 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 HJK lost two club members, both fighting for the white side.
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 but at the end of the season they got relegated.
During the Second World War 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, women's team played a total of 22 seasons at the highest level, their best finish being 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 team won their tenth championship title and following year the first European cup match was played against Manchester United at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium. However, a 2–9 loss on aggregate threw the Helsinki-based club out of the competition.
In 1966 the club secured their first ever cup title by winning KTP 6–1 in the final in front of 7000 spectators. Bandy section was disbanded in the late 1960s. The last official sport, figure skating, was added into the club's repertoire in 1966 but it was abolished soon after in 1972. The ice hockey section was also disbanded in 1972 and the last season in handball was played in 1978. From this moment on the HJK were again a football only club after 69 years of being a multisport club.
1998 saw HJK to be the first and to date only Finnish club to play in the UEFA Champions League, triumphing over FC Metz in the second qualifying round. The club also managed a respectable five points in their group, beating Benfica at home and earning draws at home to Kaiserslautern and away to Benfica. They lost to PSV Eindhoven twice and to Kaiserslautern away.
The club's current home stadium, Sonera Stadium, was opened in 2000. The twentieth championship title was won in 2002 and in 2008 the club won its tenth 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 beating Rapid Wien in the playoff round. HJK, with wins over Torino FC and FC Copenhagen at home, finished third in the group with six points.
The Club 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 Fotboll since 1972 in April, drawing 1–1. However they couldn't replicate the league success they had enjoyed for the last six seasons, finishing the 2015 season third.