Kuopion Palloseura, commonly referred to as KuPS, is a Finnish football club based in Kuopio. KuPS competes in Veikkausliiga, the top flight of Finnish football. The team plays its home matches at Kuopio Football Stadium.
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| Full name | Kuopion Palloseura | ||
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| Nickname(s) | Keltamusta (The Yellow-black) Kanarialinnut (The Canaries) | ||
| Founded | 1923 | ||
| Ground | Väre Areena Kuopio | ||
| Capacity | 5,000 (2,700 seated) | ||
| Chairman | Ari Lahti | ||
| Manager | Jani Honkavaara | ||
| League | Veikkausliiga | ||
| 2024 | Veikkausliiga, 1st of 12 (champions) | ||
| Website | http://www.kups.fi | ||
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KuPS has won the Finnish championship seven times, the Finnish Cup five times and the Finnish League Cup once. The club is placed fourth in the all-time Finnish Premier League honor table.[1]
History
editThe club was officially founded on March 16, 1923, at Kuopion Seurahuone. The club was named to Kuopio Palloseura and the abbreviation KPS. [2]
The 1920s the club spent mostly by playing friendly games against other local clubs. In the 1930s and early 1940s, the club played second in the highest tier of Finnish football. KuPS was first promoted to Mestaruussarja in 1947 only for a single season. The club was promoted again in 1949 and this time remained in the top tier for 44 seasons. [2]
The first years, KuPS played in black and green shirts with vertical stripes, white pants and black socks. In 1935, the colors were changed to yellow shirt, black pants and yellow and black socks. At the same time, the club's abbreviation changed to KuPS. [3][2]
The golden decades of KuPS take place between the 1950s and 1970s, when the club won five championships, eight silver and one bronze medal. The club also won its first Finnish Cup championship in 1968. [2]
KuPS played in the top flight without significant success in the 1980s. However, the 1980s ended with the club's second Finnish Cup victory in 1989. [2]
In the 1990s, KuPS was in financial problems and even dropped to the third highest league level.[3] In the early 2000s, KuPS spent seasons in both in the First Division and in Veikkausliiga, where it has played ever since 2008. [4]
In the 2010s, KuPS re-established its position in the top-flight. In the 2019 season the club won its fifth top-flight title, coached by Jani Honkavaara. In 2021 and 2022 the club won its third and fourth Cup titles. In 2023 the club achieved its seventh consecutive medal in the top tier. For the 2024 season, KuPS announced the cut of its budget and the player policy changed to focus more on homegrown players. At the end of the 2024 season, KuPS won its first-ever double, after winning the Finnish Championship and the Finnish Cup titles, led again by coach Honkavaara and the captain Petteri Pennanen.
European campaigns
editUEFA club competition record
editAs of 18 July 2023.
| Competition | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UEFA Champions League | 7 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 26 |
| UEFA Cup Winners' Cup | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
| UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League | 29 | 8 | 6 | 15 | 27 | 59 |
| UEFA Conference League | 18 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 32 | 26 |
| Total | 58 | 14 | 16 | 28 | 65 | 118 |
Competitions
edit| Season | Competition | Round | Country | Club | 1st leg | 2nd leg | Agg. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1959–60 | European Cup | Preliminary round | Eintracht Frankfurt | KuPS withdrew | |||
| 1967–68 | European Cup | First round | Saint-Étienne | 0–2 | 0–3 | 0–5 | |
| 1969–70 | Cup Winners' Cup | First round | Académica de Coimbra | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | |
| 1975–76 | European Cup | First round | Ruch Chorzów | 0–5 | 2–2 | 2–7 | |
| 1976–77 | UEFA Cup | First round | Östers | 3–2 | 0–2 | 3–4 | |
| 1977–78 | European Cup | First round | Club Brugge | 0–4 | 2–5 | 2–9 | |
| 1978–79 | UEFA Cup | First round | Boldklubben 1903 | 2–1 | 4–4 | 6–5 | |
| Second round | Esbjerg fB | 0–2 | 1–4 | 1–6 | |||
| 1980–81 | UEFA Cup | First round | Saint-Étienne | 0–7 | 0–7 | 0–14 | |
| 1990–91 | Cup Winners' Cup | First round | Dynamo Kyiv | 2–2 | 0–4 | 2–6 | |
| 2011–12 | Europa League | 2nd qualifying round | Gaz Metan Mediaș | 1–0 | 0–2 | 1–2 | |
| 2012–13 | Europa League | 1st qualifying round | Llanelli | 2–1 | 1–1 | 3–2 | |
| 2nd qualifying round | Maccabi Netanya | 0–1 | 2–1 | 2–2 (a) | |||
| 3rd qualifying round | Bursaspor | 1–0 | 0–6 | 1–6 | |||
| 2018–19 | Europa League | 1st qualifying round | FC Copenhagen | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 | |
| 2019–20 | Europa League | 1st qualifying round | Vitebsk | 2–0 | 1–1 | 3–1 | |
| 2nd qualifying round | Legia Warsaw | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | |||
| 2020–21 | Champions League | 1st qualifying round | Molde | 0–5 | |||
| Europa League | 2nd qualifying round | Slovan Bratislava | 1–1 (4–3 p) | ||||
| 3rd qualifying round | Sūduva | 2–0 | |||||
| Play-off round | CFR Cluj | 1–3 | |||||
| 2021–22 | Europa Conference League | 1st qualifying round | Noah | 0–1 | 5–0 | 5–1 | |
| 2nd qualifying round | Vorskla Poltava | 2–2 | 3–2 | 5–4 | |||
| 3rd qualifying round | Astana | 1–1 | 4–3 | 5–4 | |||
| Play-off round | Union Berlin | 0–4 | 0–0 | 0–4 | |||
| 2022–23 | Europa Conference League | 1st qualifying round | Dila Gori | 2–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | |
| 2nd qualifying round | Milsami Orhei | 2–2 | 4−1 | 6–3 | |||
| 3rd qualifying round | Young Boys | 0–2 | 0–3 | 0–5 | |||
| 2023–24 | Europa Conference League | 2nd qualifying round | Derry City | 1–2 | 3−3 | 4−5 | |
| 2024–25 | Conference League | 1st qualifying round | UNA Strassen | 0−0 | 5−0 | 5−0 | |
| 2nd qualifying round | Tromsø | 0−1 | 0−1 | 0−2 | |||
| 2025–26 | Champions League | 1st qualifying round | |||||
Season to season
editSeason to Season
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Current squad
editAs of 2 August 2024. [7][8] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Out on loan
editNote: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Management
edit
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Boardroom
editAs of 22 October 2024
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Jonni Heikkinen escapes from a PK-37 player in Finnish Cup 5th Round, 2006
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Miikka Turunen near the corner flag in Finnish League Cup, 2008
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Arto Lindberg trying to keep Tuomas Haapala away
Honours
edit- Mestaruussarja/Veikkausliiga
- Finnish Cup
- Finnish League Cup
- Champions: 2006
- Runners-up: 2024
- Ykkönen (second tier)
- Kakkonen (third tier)
- Champions: 1998
Managers
editAaro Heikkinen (1945–57)
Imre Nagy (1947)
Bogusław Hajdas (1983–85)
Arne Erlandsen (2020)
References
edit- ^ "Finnish League Premier Division All-Time Tables 1930–2007". rsssf.org Archived 28 January 2023 at the Wayback Machine. (March 12, 2008)
- ^ a b c d e Karjalainen, Markus & Huttunen, Jouni (2005). Kuopion Palloseura 1923–2004. Kuopion Palloseura.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ a b "Historia & Saavutukset". KuPS - Kuopion Palloseura (in Finnish). Retrieved 13 April 2024.
- ^ "Tilastot ja taulukot". KuPS - Kuopion Palloseura (in Finnish). Retrieved 12 April 2024.
- ^ "Finland – List of League First Level Tables". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 17 July 2010. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
- ^ "Finland – List of League Second Level Tables". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 24 September 2022. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
- ^ KuPS. "KuPS miehet edustusjoukkue 2023". kups.fi. Retrieved 21 July 2023.
- ^ Edustusjoukkueen rakennus etenee, on aika kiittää pois lähteviä pelaajia
- ^ "KuPS miehet edustusjoukkue 2021" (in Finnish). KuPS. Archived from the original on 27 February 2021. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
- ^ "Simo Valakari on KuPS:n uusi päävalmentaja". kups.fi. Retrieved 5 November 2020.
External links
editWikimedia Commons has media related to Kuopion Palloseura.
- Official website (in Finnish)
- Banzai – Supporters of KuPS, club's website (in Finnish)