PEPO

PEPO Lappeenranta (abbreviated PEPO) is a football club from Lappeenranta in Finland. The club was formed in 1958 and their home ground is at the Kimpinen Sports Centre. The men's first team currently plays in the Kakkonen (Third Division). The chairman of PEPO is Kari Suninen and the men's first team is managed by Jyrki Saarela.

History

PEPO's inaugural meeting was held at the Lavola School in Lappee municipality on 12 November 1958. The name of the club was chosen as Uus-Lavolan Peli-Pojat at the first annual general meeting of the club held on 30 November 1958. The first official match played by the club was at the Vanha kentta against Lauritsalan Pallokerho on 10 May 1959.

During the 1970s and 1980s PEPO played in the lower divisions of the Finnish football system in the Nelonen (Fourth Division) and Vitonen (Fifth Division). Between 1973 and 1975 the club also ran a women's team. In 1987 the men's team were promoted to the Kolmonen (Third Division) but their visit lasted only one year. In the mid-1990s PEPO changed league several times playing in the Nelonen in 1994, Kolmonen in 1995, Kakkonen (Second Division) in 1996 before returning to the Kolmonen again in 1997.

The 1996 season proved a big disappointment in the Kakkonen when despite a good start with three wins and a draw there followed a downturn, which not even the former national team coach Jukka Vakkila, who came to coach Markku Timonen's aid, could stop.

PEPO played their second season in the Kakkonen in 2001 in the Eastern Group and finished in the tenth position which was the final relegation position. In 2002 the club reached the sixth round of the Finnish Cup which was the highest attained by a club playing in Kolmonen or below. PEPO lost 5–0 at home to Premier Division side Haka but the reward for their achievement was to be Finland's representative in the UEFA Regions' Cup, an amateur tournament, in which they faced the teams from Belgium (the host country), Andorra and Spain. PEPO lost their three