FC Lahti

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Lahti
Club crest
Full nameFootball Club Lahti[1][2]
Nickname(s)Mustat kuhnurit (The Black Drones)
Founded1996; 25 years ago (1996)
GroundLahden Stadion,
Lahti
Capacity14,500 (7,465 seated)
ChairmanMika Halttunen
ManagerIlir Zeneli
LeagueVeikkausliiga
20217th
WebsiteClub website
Lahden Stadion
Lahden Stadion – Aerial view

FC Lahti is a Finnish football club based in the city of Lahti. It currently plays in the Finnish Premier League (Veikkausliiga) after placing first in the Finnish First Division (Ykkönen) during season 2011. The homeground of FC Lahti is Lahden Stadion. FC Lahti is famous of being the local team of the most successful Finnish player, Jari Litmanen, who played for the club in two stints in 2004 and 2009–10. In his youth years and the start of his career, he played in Reipas Lahti.

History[]

FC Lahti was founded in 1996 when two rival clubs from Lahti – FC Kuusysi and Reipas Lahti (founded in Viipuri and moved to Lahti after Viipuri was ceded to USSR in 1947) – decided to merge. Also, the reserve club FC Pallo-Lahti was formed, but it was closed down after a couple of seasons due to economic difficulties. Both Reipas and Kuusysi controlled the junior section of the club.

FC Lahti played its first season in 1997, in the southern group of Ykkönen, the second tier of Finnish football. It finished second in the first half of the split league format Ykkönen but was placed third in the final half, behind FC Haka and PK-35, both of which were promoted to Veikkausliiga. The next season, 1998, saw success and FC Lahti finally gained promotion to the highest tier. They were relegated at the end of the 2010 season but bounced back after just one season in Ykkönen.

In the premier division, Lahti has not yet achieved the success of Kuusysi and Reipas. In 2007 Lahti won the Finnish League Cup. In 2008 FC Lahti was third in the Veikkausliiga final table and was placed in the UEFA Europa League qualification rounds for season 2009. FC Lahti repeated the success in 2014 by finishing third for the second time in their history. The club qualified to the Europa League qualifiers for the third time in 2018 when the club finished fourth in the table the season before.

Honours[]

Finnish League Cup

  • Winners: 2007, 2013, 2016
  • Runners-up: 2004, 2005

Finnish Cup

FC Lahti in Europe[]

As of 20 July 2018

Season Competition Round Club Home Away Aggregate
2009–10 UEFA Europa League 1Q Albania Dinamo Tirana 4–1 0–2 4–3 Symbol keep vote.svg
2Q Slovenia Gorica 2–0 0–1 2–1 Symbol keep vote.svg
3Q Belgium Club Brugge 1–1 2–3 3–4 Symbol delete vote.svg
2015–16 UEFA Europa League 1Q Sweden IF Elfsborg 2–2 0–5 2–7 Symbol delete vote.svg
2018–19 UEFA Europa League 1Q Iceland FH 0–3 0–0 0–3 Symbol delete vote.svg
Notes
  • 1Q: First qualifying round
  • 2Q: Second qualifying round
  • 3Q: Third qualifying round

Season to season[]

Season Level Division Section Administration Position Movements
1997 Tier 2 Ykkönen (First Division) South Group Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 2nd Promotion Group – 3rd
1998 Tier 2 Ykkönen (First Division) South Group Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 1st Promotion Group – 1st – Promoted
1999 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 10th Relegation Group – Play-offs
2000 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 8th
2001 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 9th
2002 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 7th Upper Group – 8th
2003 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 5th
2004 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 7th
2005 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 6th
2006 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 8th
2007 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 8th
2008 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 3rd
2009 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 11th
2010 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 14th Relegated
2011 Tier 2 Ykkönen (First Division) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 1st Promoted
2012 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 5th
2013 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 5th
2014 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 3rd
2015 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 5th
2016 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 8th
2017 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 4th
2018 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 8th
2019 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 8th
2020 Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 6th

Players[]

Current squad[]

As of 14 July 2021[3]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
2 DF Finland FIN Timi Lahti
3 DF Finland FIN Daniel Koskipalo
4 DF Finland FIN Riyad El Alami
5 DF Finland FIN Mikko Viitikko
6 MF Spain ESP Javier Hervás
7 FW Kosovo KVX Altin Zeqiri
8 MF Finland FIN Matti Klinga
9 FW Nigeria NGA Geoffrey Chinedu (on loan from Olimpik Donetsk)
10 MF Finland FIN Eemeli Virta
13 DF France FRA Jean-Christophe Coubronne
14 DF Finland FIN Tapio Torpo
15 DF Finland FIN Kari Arkivuo
16 DF Finland FIN Lassi Forss
No. Pos. Nation Player
17 FW Kosovo KVX Arlind Sejdiu
19 DF Finland FIN Viljami Isotalo
20 MF Togo TOG Henri Eninful
21 MF Finland FIN Pyry Lampinen
22 FW Finland FIN Loorents Hertsi
23 FW Finland FIN Kristian Yli-Hietanen
24 FW Finland FIN Asaad Babiker
25 GK Spain ESP Antonio Reguero
27 DF Finland FIN Teemu Penninkangas
30 GK Finland FIN Anton Munukka
31 GK Finland FIN Joona Tiainen
59 FW Senegal SEN Macoumba Kandji

Management[]

As of 11 September 2020.

Name Role
Finland Ilir Zeneli Head Coach
Finland Mika Heino Fitness Coach
Finland Toni Lindberg Coach
Finland Ari Korhonen Goalkeeping Coach
Finland Joni Kallioinen Talent Coach
Finland Mikko Poutiainen Physiotherapist
Finland Erno Jokinen Physiotherapist
Finland Pekka Penttinen Kit Manager
Finland Janne Kaartti Masseur
Finland Jussi Juurikka Team Manager

FC Lahti Akatemia[]

FC Lahti's reserve team played its last season in Kakkonen in 2017. After they were relegated to Kolmonen for the season 2018 the team's activity was taken over by its administrational parent club FC Kuusysi.

Managers[]

References[]

  1. ^ "FC Lahti Profile". Worldfootball.net. HEIM:SPIEL Medien GmbH & Co. KG. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
  2. ^ "Football Club Lahti". Fussball.com. Active Agent AG. Archived from the original on 1 September 2009. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
  3. ^ "Pelaajat" [Players] (in Finnish). FC Lahti. 2021 squad

External links[]

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