Seinäjoen Jalkapallokerho
Seinäjoen Jalkapallokerho (or SJK Seinäjoki or SJK) is a Finnish professional football club from the city of Seinäjoki. The club plays in the Veikkausliiga, the highest tier of the Finnish league system. Their home ground is OmaSP Stadion, which is located near the city center and next to SJK's training facility Wallsport. SJK was formed in 2007 after the merger of TP-Seinäjoki and Sepsi-78.
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| Full name | Seinäjoen Jalkapallokerho | |||
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| Nickname(s) | SJK, Kerho (The Club) | |||
| Founded | 5 November 2007 | |||
| Ground | OmaSP Stadion, Seinäjoki, Finland | |||
| Capacity | 5,817 | |||
| Chairman | Raimo Sarajärvi | |||
| Manager | Jani Honkavaara | |||
| League | Veikkausliiga | |||
| 2019 | 9th | |||
| Website | Club website | |||
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History
SJK was formed in 2007 after the merger of TP-Seinäjoki and Sepsi-78. SJK played seasons 2008–2011 in Kakkonen, the third level of Finnish football. Seasons 2012–2013 SJK played in Ykkönen and 2013 got promoted to Veikkausliiga. In 2014 SJK won the Finnish League Cup. The final was against Vaasan Palloseura, main rival of SJK. The final ended 2–0 for SJK. In the league SJK surprised many and placed second and achieved league silver. SJK also got the place for Europa League qualifications. In 2015, SJK won their first ever Finnish Veikkausliiga title, ending HJK Helsinki's run of 6 titles in a row, and also took part in the Europa League qualifications. 2016 SJK finished third in the league and achieved league bronze, SJK also won the Finnish Cup and played in the Champions League qualifications. In February 2017 SJK surprisingly sacked Simo Valakari before the start of Veikkausliiga and replaced him with Sixten Boström. He was sacked too after 6–0 defeat to HJK. His replacement was Spanish Manuel Roca. After difficulties with players and staff, he was sacked as well. Toni Lehtinen and Brian Page took the lead for the rest of the season. SJK placed 6th in the league and were runners-up in the Finnish Cup. It was announced that the next head coach would be Tommi Kautonen. He was sacked in May 2018 after bad results. His replacement was Aleksei Borisovich Yeryomenko. SJK placed ninth in the Veikkausliiga season 2018 and lost to FC Honka in Finnish Cup quarter-finals. The season was the worst in SJK's Veikkausliiga history. In 2019 SJK didn’t get through the Finnish Cup group stage and once again placed ninth in Veikkausliiga. Yeryomenko was sacked in August and Brian Page took the lead. After the season it was announced that Jani Honkavaara would be the next head coach.
Domestic history
| Season | Level | Pos | Pld | W | D | L | For | Against | Points | Finnish Cup | League Cup | Top goalscorer[1] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 3rd | 8 | 26 | 10 | 7 | 9 | 57 | 37 | 37 | – |  | |
| 2009 | 5 | 26 | 14 | 1 | 11 | 56 | 52 | 43 | Third round | – | | |
| 2010 | 5 | 26 | 11 | 9 | 6 | 46 | 31 | 42 | Fifth Round | – | | |
| 2011 | 1 | 26 | 22 | 4 | 0 | 72 | 14 | 70 | Seventh Round | – | | |
| 2012 | 2nd | 2 | 27 | 14 | 5 | 8 | 42 | 29 | 47 | Fifth Round | – | |
| 2013 | 1 | 27 | 18 | 5 | 4 | 51 | 17 | 59 | Third round | – | | |
| 2014 | 1st | 2 | 33 | 16 | 11 | 6 | 40 | 26 | 59 | Quarter-final | Winners | |
| 2015 | 1 | 33 | 18 | 6 | 9 | 50 | 22 | 60 | Fifth Round | Quarter-final | | |
| 2016 | 3 | 33 | 17 | 6 | 10 | 49 | 36 | 57 | Winners | Runners-up | | |
| 2017 | 6 | 33 | 13 | 8 | 12 | 42 | 47 | 47 | Runner-up | – |  | |
| 2018 | 9 | 33 | 8 | 8 | 17 | 28 | 37 | 32 | Quarter-final | – | | |
| 2019 | 9 | 27 | 7 | 9 | 11 | 18 | 29 | 30 | Group-stage | - |  |
European history
| Season | Competition | Round | Opponent | Home | Away | Aggregate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015–16 | UEFA Europa League | 1Q |  |
0–1 | 0–1 | 0–2 |  |
| 2016–17 | UEFA Champions League | 2Q |  |
2–2 | 0–2 | 2–4 | |
| 2017–18 | UEFA Europa League | 1Q | |
0–2 | 0–0 | 0–2 | |
- Notes
- 1Q: First qualifying round
- 2Q: Second qualifying round
Stadium
SJK play their home matches at OmaSP Stadion. Previously SJK played their home matches at Seinäjoen keskuskenttä.
In 2010, it was reported for the first time that SJK were planning a new football stadium. Eventually, in autumn 2014 it was announced that the construction of SJK's new stadium would start soon. The construction began in summer 2015 and the new stadium was completed in June 2016.[2] Stadium has a capacity of 5817 seats.
SJK play their friendlies and cup matches during the winter at Wallsport Areena which is an indoor training facility owned and operated by the team.
Honours
Current squad
- As of 19 May 2020[3]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Management and boardroom
Management
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Boardroom
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SJK Akatemia
SJK Akatemia contains three teams: SJK U17, SJK U20 and SJK U23 which is the reserve team of SJK. SJK's reserve team currently plays in Ykkönen (the second highest league in Finland). It is coached by Thomas Dunne.[8] In 2018 SJK started a football high school with Kuortane sports school. It produces young players to SJK and SJK Akatemia.
Managers
References
- "Tilastot ja ennätykset". www.sjk2007.fi (in Finnish). Seinäjoen Jalkapallokerho. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
- "Design: Seinäjoki Stadion – StadiumDB.com". stadiumdb.com. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
- "SJK". sjk.fi. SJK. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
- "Valmentajat" (in Finnish). SJK. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
- "Taustaryhmät valmiina talven kilpailuihin" (in Finnish). SJK. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
- "Yhteystiedot" (in Finnish). SJK. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
- "Jussi Kankaanpäästä SJK-konsernin markkinointijohtaja" (in Finnish). SJK. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
- "SJK U23". sjk.fi. Retrieved 5 April 2018.