Rovaniemen Palloseura

Last updated
RoPS
Rovaniemen Palloseura logo.svg
Full nameRovaniemen Palloseura
Founded1950;75 years ago (1950)
Ground Keskuskenttä,
Rovaniemi
Capacity2,803
Chairman Matti Poikajärvi
ManagerJari Alamäki
League Ykkönen
2024 Ykkönen, 5th of 12
Website www.rops.fi

Rovaniemen Palloseura (RoPS) is a football club founded in 1950 and based in Rovaniemi, Finland. RoPS played in the Finnish Premier Division, ( Veikkausliiga ) for 32 years, from 1981 to 2021. In 2021, RoPS withdrew from professional football and voluntarily relegated to the amateur Kakkonen division. The club plays home games at the Rovaniemen Keskuskenttä in the Arctic Circle of Lapland.

Contents

History

Keskuskentta, home ground of RoPS Rovaniemen keskuskentta, uudistettu.jpg
Keskuskenttä, home ground of RoPS

RoPS have won the Finnish Cup on two occasions, in 1986 and 2013, and were runners-up in 1962. They placed third in the Finnish Premier Division in 1988 and 1989, before finishing as runner-up in 2015, losing out on the title by 1 point to eventual champions SJK. The club's most notable international achievement was reaching the quarter-finals of the European Cup-Winners' Cup in 1987–88 against Marseille.

Match fixing allegations and scandal

Throughout the 2000s, RoPS became infamous for suspected involvement in match fixing.

In spring 2011 the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation started a large investigation into match fixing. On February 25 Singaporean businessman Wilson Raj Perumal, a convicted match fixer, was arrested after entering Finland with a fake passport. The National Bureau of Investigation suspected that over 30 games between 2008 and 2011, mostly from the Finnish premier league, had been fixed or manipulated. [1]

On July 19, 2011, the Rovaniemi Court of Appeal convicted Perumal and nine RoPS players of match-fixing. Altogether 24 games had been manipulated, and the intended score had been achieved in 11 of them. Perumal was sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to return 150,000 euros deemed to be match-fixing profits. The bribes ranged from 500 euros offered to one player to a total of 80,000 euros offered to eight players. The highest total of bribes for one individual was slightly over 40,000 euros. The players received suspended sentences. The sentenced players were six Zambian and two Georgian players: Godfrey Chibanga, Chileshe Chibwe, Francis Kombe, Stephen Kunda, Christopher Musonda, Chanda Mwaba, Nchimunya Mweetwa, Pavle Khorguashvili, and Valter Khorguashvili. [2]

Domestic history

European history

SeasonCompetitionRoundClubHomeAwayAggregate
1987–88 Cup Winners' Cup 1R Ulster Banner.svg Glentoran 0–01–11–1 (a) Symbol keep vote.svg
2R Flag of Albania.svg Vllaznia 1–01–02–0 Symbol keep vote.svg
QF Flag of France.svg Marseille 0–10–30–4 Symbol delete vote.svg
1989–90 UEFA Cup 1R Flag of Poland.svg GKS Katowice 1–11–02–1 Symbol keep vote.svg
2R Flag of France.svg Auxerre 0–50–30–8 Symbol delete vote.svg
1990–91 UEFA Cup 1R Flag of East Germany.svg 1. FC Magdeburg 0–10–00–1 Symbol delete vote.svg
2014–15 UEFA Europa League 2Q Flag of Greece.svg Asteras Tripoli 1–12–43–5 Symbol delete vote.svg
2016–17 UEFA Europa League 1Q Flag of Ireland.svg Shamrock Rovers 1–12–03–1 Symbol keep vote.svg
2Q Flag of Croatia.svg Lokomotiva 1–10–31–4 Symbol delete vote.svg
2019–20 UEFA Europa League 1Q Flag of Scotland.svg Aberdeen 1–21–22–4 Symbol delete vote.svg
Notes

Honours

Current squad

As of 1 January 2022

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.Pos.NationPlayer
1 GK Flag of Finland.svg  FIN Miikka Mujunen
2 DF Flag of Finland.svg  FIN Simo Majander
6 MF Flag of the Netherlands.svg  NED Nino Roffelsen
7 FW Flag of Finland.svg  FIN Veka Pyyny
8 MF Flag of Finland.svg  FIN Vili Saarikoski
12 GK Flag of Finland.svg  FIN Mikko Rantala
15 DF Flag of Finland.svg  FIN Miska Ylitolva
16 FW Flag of Finland.svg  FIN Kirill Bullat
19 DF Flag of Finland.svg  FIN Joona Lahdenmäki
No.Pos.NationPlayer
20 FW Flag of Finland.svg  FIN Simo Roiha
21 MF Flag of Finland.svg  FIN Elmeri Hirvonen
22 DF Flag of Portugal (official).svg  POR Rodrigo Antunes
23 DF Flag of Finland.svg  FIN Sampo Ala-Iso
26 DF Flag of Finland.svg  FIN Eerik Kantola
28 FW Flag of Finland.svg  FIN Jarkko Luiro
33 MF Flag of Ghana.svg  GHA Geoffrey Acheampong
34 FW Flag of Serbia.svg  SRB Srđan Vujaklija
— DF Flag of Finland.svg  FIN Aaro Tiihonen

Management and boardroom

Management

As of 18 February 2020.

NameRole
Flag of Finland.svg Vesa Tauriainen Head Coach
Flag of Finland.svg Mika Pulkkinen Coach
Flag of Finland.svg Jari AlamäkiFitness Coach
Flag of Finland.svg Ossi KoskelaGoalkeeping Coach
Flag of Finland.svg Tuomas KönönenPhysiotherapist
Flag of Finland.svg Vilma Poutiainen
Flag of Scotland.svg David CoullKit Manager
Flag of Finland.svg Essi JokelainenMasseur
Flag of Finland.svg Olavi TammimiesTeam Manager

Boardroom

As of 18 February 2020 [4]

NameRole
Flag of Finland.svg Risto NivaChairman, Managing director
Flag of Finland.svg Pekka KonsteniusVice chairman
Flag of Finland.svg Jari Ilola Director of Football

Rovaniemi Football Academy

Rovaniemi Football Academy (RFA) [5] is the reserve team of RoPS. The team plays in Kakkonen in 2020 season. It is coached by Aleksi Tanner.

As of 14 September 2020 [6]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.Pos.NationPlayer
11 GK Flag of Finland.svg  FIN Lauri Vetri
24 MF Flag of Finland.svg  FIN Kirill Bullat
30 GK Flag of Finland.svg  FIN Tino Korhonen
35 GK Flag of Finland.svg  FIN Pauli Tuisku
36 MF Flag of Finland.svg  FIN Vertti Hänninen
37 DF Flag of Finland.svg  FIN Joona Lahdenmäki
36 MF Flag of Finland.svg  FIN Jonne Länsipää
39 DF Flag of Finland.svg  FIN Akseli Kantola
40 MF Flag of Finland.svg  FIN Ville Ojala
40 FW Flag of Finland.svg  FIN Santeri Matilainen
41 MF Flag of Finland.svg  FIN Jonne Koistinen
42 MF Flag of Finland.svg  FIN Riku-Veli Niska
No.Pos.NationPlayer
43 FW Flag of Finland.svg  FIN Joona Kähkönen
44 DF Flag of Finland.svg  FIN Tuomas Leppäkangas
46 FW Flag of Finland.svg  FIN Adam Mekki
47 FW Flag of Finland.svg  FIN Janne Ojaniemi
49 MF Flag of Egypt.svg  EGY Karam Hadhoud
50 DF Flag of Finland.svg  FIN Severi Salmirinne
52 DF Flag of Finland.svg  FIN Miska Ylitolva
53 MF Flag of Finland.svg  FIN Roni Pietsalo
54 FW Flag of Finland.svg  FIN Antti Salmi
56 DF Flag of Finland.svg  FIN Luka Kuittinen
57 DF Flag of Finland.svg  FIN Sampo Ala-Iso

Managers

References

  1. ↑ Susanna Kemppainen. "RoPS:lla yli 30 epäiltyä sopupeliä | Pohjois-Suomi". Kaleva.fi. Archived from the original on 2012-09-10. Retrieved 2012-02-12.
  2. ↑ Uusi Suomi. "Oikeus: Sopupeleistä 150 000 euroa – 2 vuotta vankeutta — Uusi Suomi". Uusisuomi.fi. Retrieved 2012-02-12.
  3. ↑ "Home". finlandfootball.net.
  4. ↑ "Yhteystiedot" (in Finnish). RoPS. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  5. ↑ "RoPS/2 on jatkossa Rovaniemi Football Academy". rops.fi. RoPS. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  6. ↑ "Kokoonpano: Rovaniemi Football Academy 2020". rops.fi. RoPS. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.