Honka

FC Honka (also known as Esport Honka) is a Finnish football club, based in Espoo. It was founded in 1957 as Tapion Honka, and changed its name to FC Honka in 1975. The club currently play in the Finnish premier division (Veikkausliiga), having been promoted for the first time in their history at the end of the 2005 season. The club's manager is Vesa Vasara and it plays its home matches at Tapiolan urheilupuisto.

FC Honka is largely renowned in Finland for its extensive youth scheme with over 1000 youth players playing in various age groups. It also has women's football team in the Kansallinen Liiga.

History

Until 2005 FC Honka was thought of as a "nearly, but not quite" team, a promising but always underachieving side in the Finnish First Division (Ykkonen). In the late 1990s the objective was promotion, but year after year they failed. At the beginning of the 21st century FC Honka almost went bankrupt but was saved at the last moment. In early 2005 the club was taken over by Jouko Pakarinen and Jouko Harjunpaa, who had a plan to turn FC Honka from underachievers to a UEFA Champions League candidate.

In the first year of their take-over of FC Honka, the new management succeeded in assembling a squad which won the First Division (Ykkonen) with ease and also made the semi-finals of the Finnish Cup where they eventually lost 1–0 to FC Haka.

FC Honka was able to fight for top positions instantly, but narrowly missed the top three in their first two seasons. In 2007 the team reached the Finnish Cup final, losing to Tampere United on penalties after extra time. As Tampere United also won the league title that season, FC Honka qualified for the 2008–09 UEFA Cup. In 2008, FC Honka achieved its highest place by finishing 2nd in the league.

FC Honka won the Finnish Cup in 2012. However, due to financial difficulties the team was relegated to the third tier Kakkonen in 2015. In 2015 the fitness center company Esport bought the club and after that, the club has also been known as E

This page also has a version in other languages :  Хонка (russian)