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Tampere United

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Tampere United
Full nameJalkapalloseura Tampere United ry
FoundedJuly 1998; 26 years ago (1998-07)
GroundTammela Stadion
Capacity8,000
ChairmanAntti Niemistö
ManagerTero Suonperä
LeagueKakkonen
Websitehttp://www.tampereunited.fi/
Tammela Stadion, home of Tampere United.

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

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 amid 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

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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

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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

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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

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Veikkausliiga

Finnish Cup

Finnish League Cup

Finnish Regions’ Cup

  • Champions: 2021

Tampere United in Europe

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Season Competition Round Opponent Score (home-away)
2002–03 UEFA Champions League Q1 Armenia Pyunik F.C. 0–4, 0–2
2003 UEFA Intertoto Cup 1 Romania Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț 1–0, 1–2
2 Serbia and Montenegro FK Sutjeska Nikšić 0–0, 1–0
3 Croatia HNK Cibalia 0–2, 1–0
2004 UEFA Intertoto Cup 1 Luxembourg CS Grevenmacher 0–0, 1–1
2 Azerbaijan Khazar Universiteti 3–0, 0–1
3 Serbia OFK Beograd 0–0, 0–1
2005 UEFA Intertoto Cup 1 Faroe Islands Skála ÍF 2–0, 1–0
2 Belgium R. Charleroi S.C. 1–0, 0–0
3 Italy SS Lazio 1–1, 0–3
2006 UEFA Intertoto Cup 1 Wales Carmarthen Town 5–0, 3–1
2 Sweden Kalmar FF 1–2, 2–3
2007–08 UEFA Champions League Q1 San Marino SS Murata 2–0, 2–1
Q2 Bulgaria PFC Levski Sofia 1–0, 1–0
Q3 Norway Rosenborg BK 0–3, 0–2
2007–08 UEFA Cup 1 France Girondins de Bordeaux 2–3, 1–1
2008–09 UEFA Champions League Q1 Montenegro FK Budućnost Podgorica 2–1, 1–1
Q2 Slovakia FC Artmedia Petržalka 1–3, 2–4

Season to season

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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 3rd
2021 Tier 4 Kolmonen Finnish FA Tampere District 1st Promoted
2022 Tier 3 Kakkonen Group B Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 8th
2023 Tier 3 Kakkonen Group B Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) TBD

Current squad

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As of 9 May 2021

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 Finland FIN Riku Tanila
29 GK Finland FIN Henri Savolainen
30 GK Finland FIN Aapo Sipponen
32 GK Finland FIN Antti Kuusinen
3 DF Finland FIN Matias Stark
4 DF Finland FIN Eino-Veikko Ek
6 DF Finland FIN Severi Kankkunen
7 DF Finland FIN Mauno Sirén
8 FW Finland FIN Topias Järvelä
9 FW Finland FIN Eric Bullock
10 MF Finland FIN Ali Aitbenzanzoun
11 FW Finland FIN Roope Kostiainen
13 MF Finland FIN Anton Bright
15 DF Finland FIN Jesse Vuori
16 DF Finland FIN Paavo Kujala
No. Pos. Nation Player
17 FW Finland FIN Jesse Oksanen
18 FW Finland FIN Panu Väliaho
19 FW Finland FIN Hakim Belbachir
20 MF Finland FIN Arttu Haapala
21 DF Finland FIN Pyry Virtanen
22 MF Germany GER Markus Kopf
23 DF Finland FIN Po Law
24 MF Finland FIN Arttu Mättö
25 FW Finland FIN Iikka Häkkinen
26 DF Finland FIN Verneri Uimonen
27 MF Finland FIN Nils Strömsholm
41 MF Finland FIN Eetu Räisänen
MF Finland FIN Taha Özcelik
FW Ghana GHA Baba Haruna (on loan from SalPa)

Managers

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  • Finland Harri Kampman (1999–2000)
  • Finland Ari Hjelm (2001–2010)
  • Finland Jarkko Wiss (2011)
  • Finland Antti Pettinen (2011–2012)
  • Finland Mika Suonsyrjä (2012–2015)
  • Finland Mikko Mäkelä (2016–2018)
  • South Africa Leroy Maluka (2018)
  • Finland Mourad Seddiki (2019)
  • Finland Jukka Listenmaa (2020–2024)
  • Finland Tero Suonperä (2024 – present)

References

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  1. ^ "Helsingin Sanomat - International Edition - Sport". Archived from the original on 20 December 2013. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
  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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