FC Santa Claus

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FC Santa Claus
FC Santa original.png
Full nameFC Santa Claus
Nickname(s)Santa
Founded1992 (as FC Santa Claus Rovaniemi)
2012 (re-founded as FC Santa Claus Arctic Circle)
2021 (third edition as FC Santa Claus)
GroundSaarenkylän Stadion, Rovaniemi, Finland
ChairmanJuha Eteläinen
CoachSanttu Pätäri
League Nelonen
Website Club website

FC Santa Claus is a football club from Rovaniemi, Finland that currently plays in the Nelonen, the sixth tier of the Finnish football league system. The club has played as high as the third tier, Kakkonen, where they have played a total of 14 seasons. They were nearly promoted to the second-tier, Ykkönen, but lost their promotion playoff match to HIFK in 2010. The club plays at the Saarenkylän Stadion. Previously, they played at the Keskuskenttä Stadium, which seats 4,000 spectators, of which 2,800 are covered. [1] [2] They shared that stadium with Rovaniemen Palloseura (RoPS), [3] who played in the top tier Veikkausliiga, until their relegation at the end of the 2020 season.

Contents

The club was formed as FC Santa Claus Rovaniemi in 1992, through the merger of Rovaniemen Reipas and Rovaniemen Lappi. Following a bankruptcy filing in 2012, the club was re-formed as a new entity under the name FC Santa Claus Arctic Circle. In 2021, the youth club re-founded a senior men's side, as simply FC Santa Claus, following the club's disbanding following the 2019 season.

Origin of name

The origin of the name stems from the legend that Rovaniemi, Finland, is the home town of Santa Claus. [4] [5] They chose to use the English name of Santa Claus, as opposed to the Finnish translation Joulupukki, since English is the most commonly spoken language in the world, allowing for increased awareness of the club. [6] The club receives regular coverage from media outlets around the world, especially during the Christmas season. [7]

Despite playing in the lower divisions, the club has fans around the world due to the unique circumstances of their name. [8] FC Santa Claus developed a legend about how the club was formed that claimed that the club was founded by Santa's elves kicking a leather football in the snow, when they were not wrapping Christmas presents. [9] The club states that they had to ask permission from Santa to use his name, which was granted after Terho Iljin, the club's founder, made the request. [10] In addition, Santa Claus serves as their honorary coach [1] and he attends the team's first match of every season to launch their campaign and often shows up at games during the season as well. [8] [11]

The club's colours are red and white, the colours of Santa Claus, [4] with their alternate kits being white and green, another Christmas themed colour. [12] [13] Their motto is "Don't Stop Believing", referring to the belief of children in the legendary figure. [14] The club is heavily involved with multiple charities, including UNICEF, donating proceeds from their jersey sales to the charity. [15]

The players of the club are mostly made up of local students or workers, who are often involved with the local Christmas market and helping out at the local post office, which receives all of the Finnish letters to Santa, [16] [17] although they have had professional and foreign players in the past. 2021 manager and head of the youth division, German-native Ralf Wunderlich, described FC Santa Claus as the second team of the city of Rovaniemi, with Rovaniemen Palloseura (RoPS) being the more successful and competitive club, but supporting "the spirit of Christmas". [18] [19]

History

Formation (1992–2012)

Original club crest Original FC Santa crest.png
Original club crest

The club was formed in 1992, [20] [21] under the name FC Santa Claus Rovaniemi, following the merger of the Rovaniemen Reipas (RoRe) and Rovaniemen Lappi (RoLa) football clubs. [22] RoRe was the more successful of the two founder clubs, playing 12 seasons in the Kakkonen, the third tier of the Finnish football system in the periods of 1978–81, 1984–89, and 1991–92, while RoLa played three seasons at this level in 1987–88 and 1992. The merger consolidated FC Santa Claus as a Kakkonen club, since both founding clubs were in that division. [23]

Early club crest Santa Claus FC logo.png
Early club crest

The club's first crest had a picture of Santa waving while controlling a football, but it was later changed to one of him sitting at a writing desk checking his naughty and nice lists. [1] [24]

Crest of club under original formation FC Santa original.png
Crest of club under original formation

They played their first official match in 1993. [25] In their first season, the club finished in 3rd place in the third tier. [23] The following season, in 1994, they won the Midnattsolscupen (Midnight Sun Cup), an invitational tournament held in Sweden. [26] [27] In 1997, they faced English Premier League club Crystal Palace in a friendly, losing 5–0, with 5000 spectators showing up to the match. [10] [24] They have also played against Nottingham Forest and West Ham United. [28] [29]

After eight seasons in the third tier, they were relegated to the fourth tier Kolmonen, at the end of the 2000 season. They won their Kolmonen division in their first season, but failed to win promotion back to the third tier. They gained promotion back to the Kakkonen after winning their Kolmonen division, and qualifying through the promotion playoffs group, in 2008. [30]

In 2010, they nearly won promotion to the second-tier Ykkönen, after winning their division, however, they lost the promotion playoff match to HIFK. [24]

Bankruptcy and re-formation (2013–2019)

Revived club logo as FC Santa Claus AC FC Santa Claus.png
Revived club logo as FC Santa Claus AC

In 2012, the club experienced significant financial difficulties, resulting in them filing for bankruptcy with debts of €20,000. [31] They re-formed the club under a new association using the name FC Santa Claus Arctic Circle, but the Finnish Football Association denied their request to transfer their position in the third tier Kakkonen to the new group, ruling that they had not taken over the debts of the previous group. The club appealed on the basis that they were willing to take on debts incurred by the sports department, not the bingo activities that had caused the bankruptcy, but their appeal was rejected. [32]

Consequently, FC Santa Claus returned to the fourth tier for 2013, after being unable to re-join the third tier. They finished in third place in 2013, but the following season they won the division, being promoted back to the third tier for the 2015 season. [33] [34] Also in 2013, they reached an agreement with fellow Rovaniemi side RoPS in the top tier, to form a partnership and act as their affiliate club. [35] [36]

They again faced financial difficulties in 2015, but they were saved through signing one-year partnerships with EA Sports and Puma, [24] with Puma manufacturing the jerseys with EA as the kit sponsor. [37] Prior to this they has worn Adidas kits. [38] Nike became their manufacturer the following season. [39] For 2016, they partnered with Chinese company Bewin Sports and their CEO Marc Gao, who entered into a five-year shirt sponsorship with the club as well as Gao becoming the club's vice-president. [24] [40]

The 2016 season was a difficult one for the club, who, following the departure of several experienced players, were relegated back to the fourth tier after the season, after earning only eight points from two wins and two draws in 22 matches, conceding 102 goals, [8] including a 16–0 loss to AC Kajaani in which they were only able to field 11 players in total, including three goalkeepers, two of whom were forced to play striker, due to a rash of injuries. [24] [41] Later that year, they travelled to Beijing, China, arranged by their new Chinese sponsors, to play a friendly match on Christmas Eve against a group of Chinese celebrities called the China Doubi all-stars, and won the match by a single goal. [42] [43] The following year, they returned to China for another exhibition, where they played with former Italian national team player Alessandro Del Piero and former English national team player Michael Owen. [44]

FC Santa Claus finished in last place in the Kolmonen in 2018, being relegated to the fifth tier Nelonen for 2019. [10] In 2019, they again finished last, being relegated to the sixth tier for 2020. [10] However, instead this edition of the club disbanded after the 2019 season, leaving the league system as the club went bankrupt. [45] A couple of the players decided to register a team in an 8v8 recreational league organized by the referee's association of Rovaniemi, continuing the club unofficially. [46]

Third edition of the club (2021–present)

It was announced FC Santa Claus would be re-launched in the Finnish national system, for the 2021 season. [18] [47] The new re-launch would be headed by the youth club, FC Santa Claus Juniorit, [48] which had continued to operate, and would revert to the Rovaniemi logo. [49] They re-entered in the sixth tier Vitonen. [50] [51] [52] In their debut match in the sixth tier, after their re-formation, they defeated Kolarin Kontio 4–2. [53] They finished bottom of the table in their return season in 2021. [54] After two seasons in the sixth tier, they were promoted to the fifth tier of Finnish football, Nelonen.

Seasons

The following includes the historical season results for FC Santa Claus: [23]

As FC Santa Claus Rovaniemi:

Year Level DivisionSectionPositionRecordMovements Finnish Cup
1993Tier 3 Kakkonen Northern Group3rd (12)10–6–6Fifth Round
1994Tier 3Northern Group7th (12)8–4–10Quarter-Finals
1995Tier 3Northern Group6th (12)9–3–10Sixth Round
1996Tier 3Northern Group9th (12)6–5–11Fifth Round
1997Tier 3Northern Group7th(12)8–4–10Fifth Round
1998Tier 3Northern Group7th (12)9–4–9Fifth Round
1999Tier 3Northern Group10th (12)7–2–13Relegation Play-offsDid not enter
2000 Tier 3Northern Group8th (12)7–5–10Relegated
2001Tier 4 Kolmonen Northern Finland – Lapland1st (8)11–0–3Play-offsDid not enter
2002 Tier 4Northern Finland – Lapland – Group 22nd (6)7–0–3
2003 Tier 4Group C4th (7)7–1–4
2004 Tier 4Lapland2nd (8)9–3–2
2005 Tier 4Northern Finland5th (10)9–3–6
2006 Tier 4Northern Finland5th (12)11–1–10
2007 Tier 4Northern Finland3rd (11)11–5–4
2008 Tier 4Northern Finland1st (11)15–3–2Play-offs – Promoted Fourth round
2009 Tier 3KakkonenGroup C10th (14)9–2–15 Fifth round
2010 Tier 3Group C1st (14)16–3–7Play-offs, runner-up Third round
2011 Tier 3Group C11th (14)8–8–10 Fifth round
2012 Tier 3Northern Group8th (9)6–6–12Relegated (due to bankruptcy) Fifth round

As FC Santa Claus AC:

Year Level DivisionSectionPositionRecordMovements Finnish Cup
2013Tier 4KolmonenNorthern Finland3rd (12)15–2–5 Third round
2014Tier 4Northern Finland1st (11)16–2–2PromotedDid not enter
2015 Tier 3KakkonenNorthern Group7th (10)12–2–13Did not enter
2016 Tier 3Northern Group11th (12)2–2–18Relegated
2017Tier 4KolmonenNorthern Finland2nd (11)15–3–2 Third round
2018Tier 4Northern Finland11th (11)2–2–16RelegatedNot eligible
2019Tier 5 Nelonen Northern Finland11th (11)3–3–14RelegatedNot eligible
2020Club did not enter a competitive division this season

As FC Santa Claus:

Year Level DivisionSectionPositionRecordMovements Finnish Cup
2021 [54] Tier 6 Vitonen Northern Finland - Northern Block5th (5)3–1–8Not eligible
2022 [55] Tier 6Northern Finland2nd (9)11–1–4 First round
2023 [56] Tier 5 Nelonen Northern Finland5th (12)
5th (6)		6–1–4 (First stage)
1–0–4 (Promotion stage)		 First round
2024 [57] Tier 6 [note 1] Nelonen Northern Finland4th (11)
3rd (6)		6–1–3 (First stage)
2–0–3 (Promotion stage)		 First round
  1. ↑ In 2024, a new second tier was established, pushing all the other divisions down one level

Notable former players

Reserve Team

In 2014, the club established a reserve team under the name FC Santa, which began play in the fifth tier Nelonen. [58] In 2015, the club won the fifth tier, being promoted to the fourth tier Kolmonen for 2016. They were immediately relegated back to the fifth tier for 2017, where they once again won the division and promotion. However, they ended the operation of the second team after 2017, as the reserves reached the same level as the senior team.

The following includes the historical season results for FC Santa: [23]

Year Level DivisionSectionPositionRecordMovements
2014Tier 5 Nelonen Northern Finland - Lapland5th (8)5–5–4
2015Tier 5Northern Finland - Lapland1st (8)11–2–1Promoted
2016Tier 4 Kolmonen Northern Finland11th (12)6–0–12Auto-Relegation
2018-2023Reserves stopped operating
2024Tier 7 Vitonen Northern Finland - North Group3rd (9)9–1–6

Honours

First Team

Reserve Team

Women

FC Santa Claus AC formed a women's team in 2016. They began play in the Naisten Kolmonen, the women's fourth tier. [59] They finished in 7th place in their division in 2016 and 5th place in 2017. They did not play in 2018. [23] The reformed club announced they will be re-introducing a women's club. [60] [61]

as FC Santa Claus AC

Year Level DivisionSectionPositionRecordMovements
2016Tier 4Naisten KolmonenNorthern Finland7th (10)4–4–10
2017Tier 4Naisten KolmonenNorthern Finland5th (8)5–2–7
2018Women stopped operating

as FC Santa Claus

Year Level DivisionSectionPositionRecordMovements
2023 [62] Tier 4Naisten KolmonenNorthern Finland10th (11)
4th (5)		1–2–7 (First stage)
1-2-1 (Second stage)
2024 [62] Tier 4Northern Finland6th (7)3–0–9

Juniors

FC Santa Claus Juniorit.jpg

FC Santa Claus Juniorit was formed in 1994 under the name FC Lynx. [48] In 2013, they became known as FC Santa Claus Juniorit after partnering with the two Rovaniemi clubs, RoPS and FC Santa Claus AC. [35] They operate youth teams at every age group. [63]

Beginning in 2017, the Junior club established a partnership with Football Development Schools and English Premier League club West Bromwich Albion. [64]

Every summer, they host the Santa Claus Cup which attracts teams from several countries, for both boys and girls teams. [24]

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References

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  4. 1 2 "Christmas comes early for Santa's red-and-white football club; team promoted to 2nd division". Fox News . 29 September 2014. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
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  46. ↑ "FC Santa Claus (Hobby)". FC Santa Claus. Archived from the original on 22 April 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  47. ↑ "FC Santa Claus: echipa unde Moș Crăciun e prezent tot timpul anului și fanii din toată lumea vin să-l vadă" [FC Santa Claus: the team where Santa Claus is present all year round and fans from all over the world come to see him]. Digi Sport (in Romanian). 22 December 2020. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  48. 1 2 "About Our Club". FC Santa Claus. Archived from the original on 20 April 2021. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  49. ↑ "FC Santa Claus is back on track!". Facebook . FC Santa Claus. 28 January 2021. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
  50. ↑ "Uusi miesten edustusjoukkue alkaa helmikuussa" [The new men’s representative team will begin in February]. FC Santa Claus Juniorit (in Finnish). 18 January 2021. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  51. ↑ "Miesten Edustusjoukkue" [Men's Representative Team]. FC Santa Claus Juniorit (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 24 January 2021.|access-date=24 January 2021
  52. ↑ "Pohjoinen Jalkapallo 2021 ilmoittautuneet joukkueet" [Northern Football 2021 enrolled teams]. Pallolitto. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  53. ↑ "FC Santa Claus 4-2 Kolarin Kontio". Suomen Palloliitto. 28 May 2021.
  54. 1 2 "Miesten Vitonen" [Men's Vitonen]. Football Association of Finland (in Finnish).
  55. ↑ "2022 Miesten Vitonen" [2022 Men's Vitonen]. Football Association of Finland (in Finnish).
  56. ↑ "2023 Miesten Nelonen" [Men's Fourth]. Football Association of Finland (in Finnish).
  57. ↑ "2024 Miesten Nelonen" [2024 Men's Nelonen]. Football Association of Finland (in Finnish).
  58. ↑ "El equipo de Papá Noel: FC Santa Claus" [Santa's team: FC Santa Claus]. Goal (in Spanish). 24 December 2017. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  59. ↑ "FC Santa Claus AC Naiset" [FC Santa Claus AC Women]. FC Santa Claus AC. Archived from the original on 18 May 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  60. ↑ Tóth, Balázs B. (4 December 2021). ""Célunk, hogy azonos értékeket képviseljünk a Mikulással" – Exkluzív interjú Ralf Wunderlich-kel, az FC Santa Claus vezetőedzőjével" ["Our goal is to share the same values with Santa Claus" - Exclusive interview with Ralf Wunderlich, head coach of FC Santa Claus]. Büntető (in Hungarian).
  61. ↑ Izabachene, Samy (23 December 2022). "FC Santa Claus, le club de foot du père Noël en Laponie" [FC Santa Claus, Santa Claus' football club in Lapland]. L'Équipe (in French). Retrieved 24 December 2022.
  62. 1 2 "Naisten Kolmonen" [Women's Third]. Football Association of Finland (in Finnish).
  63. ↑ "FC Santa Claus Napapiiri ry". FC Santa Claus Juniorit (in French). Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  64. ↑ "FDS-WBA -toiminta" [FDS-WBA Operation]. FC Santa Claus Juniorit (in Finnish). Retrieved 22 January 2021.
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