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Rovaniemen Palloseura

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Rovaniemen Palloseura (RoPS) is a football club founded in 1950 and based in Rovaniemi, Finland. RoPS participated 32 years in the Finnish Premier Division, (Veikkausliiga) since 1981. In 2021 RoPS withdrew from professional football and voluntarily relegated to the amateur Kakkonen third division. The club plays home games at the Rovaniemen Keskuskenttä in the Arctic Circle of Lapland.

RoPS
Full nameRovaniemen Palloseura
Founded1950; 74 years ago (1950)
GroundKeskuskenttä,
Rovaniemi
Capacity4,000
ChairmanMatti Poikajärvi
ManagerVille Ulanen
LeagueYkkönen
2024Ykkönen, 5th of 12
Websitehttps://www.rops.fi/

History

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Keskuskenttä, home ground of RoPS

RoPS have won the Finnish Cup on two occasions, in 1986 and 2013, and were runners-up in 1962. They placed third in the Finnish Premier Division in 1988 and 1989, before finishing as runner-up in 2015, losing out on the title by 1 point to eventual champions SJK. The club's most notable international achievement was reaching the quarter-finals of the European Cup-Winners' Cup in 1987–88 against Marseille.

Match fixing allegations and scandal

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Throughout the 2000s, RoPS became infamous for suspected involvement in match fixing.

In spring 2011 the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation started a large investigation into match fixing. On February 25 Singaporean businessman Wilson Raj Perumal, a convicted match fixer, was arrested after entering Finland with a fake passport. The National Bureau of Investigation suspected that over 30 games between 2008 and 2011, mostly from the Finnish premier league, had been fixed or manipulated.[1]

On July 19, 2011, the Rovaniemi Court of Appeal convicted Perumal and nine RoPS players of match-fixing. Altogether 24 games had been manipulated, and the intended score had been achieved in 11 of them. Perumal was sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to return 150,000 euros deemed to be match-fixing profits. The bribes ranged from 500 euros offered to one player to a total of 80,000 euros offered to eight players. The highest total of bribes for one individual was slightly over 40,000 euros. The players received suspended sentences. The sentenced players were six Zambian and two Georgian players: Godfrey Chibanga, Chileshe Chibwe, Francis Kombe, Stephen Kunda, Christopher Musonda, Chanda Mwaba, Nchimunya Mweetwa, Pavle Khorguashvili, and Valter Khorguashvili.[2]

Domestic history

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Season Level Pos Pld W D L For Against Points Finnish Cup League Cup Top goalscorer
1991 1st 7 33 14 8 11 63 51 50 -
1992 7 33 12 6 15 53 49 42 -
1993 7 29 11 5 13 32 35 38 Runners-up -
1994 5 26 10 8 8 32 32 38
1995 9 26 8 8 10 29 30 32 Ninth Round
1996 8 27 11 6 10 35 29 39 Quarter-final Runners-up
1997 6 27 9 6 12 31 30 33 Semi-final
1998 8 27 6 14 7 27 31 32
1999 8 29 7 10 12 31 46 31 Seventh Round
2000 9 33 10 6 17 35 50 36
2001 12 33 5 9 19 25 56 24 Sixth Round -
2002 2nd 4 22 9 4 9 41 10 31 Quarter-final -   Niclas Grönholm  – 11
2003 2 26 14 7 5 40 27 49 Sixth Round -
2004 1st 12 26 7 4 15 28 45 25 Quarter-final
2005 13 26 3 8 15 18 50 17
2006 2nd 7 26 10 8 8 40 35 38 -
2007 2 26 16 7 3 44 23 55 -
2008 1st 10 26 8 6 12 31 37 30 Sixth Round Quarter-finals
2009 14 26 4 4 18 21 66 16 Sixth Round Group stage   Echiabhi Okodugha  – 5
2010 2nd 1 26 15 9 2 61 17 54 Fourth round -   Nchimunya Mweetwa  – 13
2011 1st 12 33 5 8 20 39 78 23 Fifth Round Group stage   José Manuel Rivera  – 10
2012 2nd 1 27 18 5 4 53 20 59 Fifth Round -   Aleksandr Kokko  – 15
2013 1st 11 33 8 10 15 25 36 34 Winners Quarter-finals   Aleksandr Kokko  – 6
2014 9 33 11 5 17 37 41 38 Sixth Round Group stage   Aleksandr Kokko  – 9
2015 2 33 17 8 8 44 29 59 Sixth Round Runners-up   Aleksandr Kokko  – 17
2016 6 33 13 11 9 43 33 50 Sixth Round Group stage   Robert Taylor  – 11
2017 7 33 12 6 15 43 51 42 Quarter-final Play-offs -   Emeka Friday Eze  – 7
2018 2 33 18 8 7 42 25 62 Sixth Round -   Lassi Lappalainen  – 8
2019 10 27 8 6 13 23 35 30 Quarterfinal -   Youness Rahimi  – 5
2020 12
2021 2nd 2

European history

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Season Competition Round Club Home Away Aggregate
1987–88 Cup Winners' Cup 1R   Glentoran 0–0 1–1 1–1(a)  
2R   Vllaznia 1–0 1–0 2–0  
QF   Marseille 0–1 0–3 0–4  
1989–90 UEFA Cup 1R   GKS Katowice 1–1 1–0 2–1  
2R   Auxerre 0–5 0–3 0–8  
1990–91 UEFA Cup 1R   1. FC Magdeburg 0–1 0–0 0–1  
2014–15 UEFA Europa League 2Q   Asteras Tripoli 1–1 2–4 3–5  
2016–17 UEFA Europa League 1Q   Shamrock Rovers 1–1 2–0 3–1  
2Q   Lokomotiva 1–1 0–3 1–4  
2019–20 UEFA Europa League 1Q   Aberdeen 1–2 1–2 2–4  
Notes
  • 1R: First round
  • 2R: Second round
  • 1Q: First qualifying round
  • QF: Quarter-finals

Honours

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Current squad

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As of 1 January 2022

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK   FIN Miikka Mujunen
2 DF   FIN Simo Majander
6 MF   NED Nino Roffelsen
7 FW   FIN Veka Pyyny
8 MF   FIN Vili Saarikoski
12 GK   FIN Mikko Rantala
15 DF   FIN Miska Ylitolva
16 FW   FIN Kirill Bullat
19 DF   FIN Joona Lahdenmäki
No. Pos. Nation Player
20 FW   FIN Simo Roiha
21 MF   FIN Elmeri Hirvonen
22 DF   POR Rodrigo Antunes
23 DF   FIN Sampo Ala-Iso
26 DF   FIN Eerik Kantola
28 FW   FIN Jarkko Luiro
33 MF   GHA Geoffrey Acheampong
34 FW   SRB Srđan Vujaklija
— DF   FIN Aaro Tiihonen

Management and boardroom

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Management

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As of 18 February 2020.

Name Role
  Vesa Tauriainen Head Coach
  Mika Pulkkinen Coach
  Jari Alamäki Fitness Coach
  Ossi Koskela Goalkeeping Coach
  Tuomas Könönen Physiotherapist
  Vilma Poutiainen Physiotherapist
  David Coull Kit Manager
  Essi Jokelainen Masseur
  Olavi Tammimies Team Manager

Boardroom

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As of 18 February 2020[3]

Name Role
  Risto Niva Chairman, Managing director
  Pekka Konstenius Vice chairman
  Jari Ilola Director of Football

Rovaniemi Football Academy

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Rovaniemi Football Academy (RFA)[4] is the reserve team of RoPS. The team plays in Kakkonen in 2020 season. It is coached by Aleksi Tanner.

As of 14 September 2020[5]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
11 GK   FIN Lauri Vetri
24 MF   FIN Kirill Bullat
30 GK   FIN Tino Korhonen
35 GK   FIN Pauli Tuisku
36 MF   FIN Vertti Hänninen
37 DF   FIN Joona Lahdenmäki
36 MF   FIN Jonne Länsipää
39 DF   FIN Akseli Kantola
40 MF   FIN Ville Ojala
40 FW   FIN Santeri Matilainen
41 MF   FIN Jonne Koistinen
42 MF   FIN Riku-Veli Niska
No. Pos. Nation Player
43 FW   FIN Joona Kähkönen
44 DF   FIN Tuomas Leppäkangas
46 FW   FIN Adam Mekki
47 FW   FIN Janne Ojaniemi
49 MF   EGY Karam Hadhoud
50 DF   FIN Severi Salmirinne
52 DF   FIN Miska Ylitolva
53 MF   FIN Roni Pietsalo
54 FW   FIN Antti Salmi
56 DF   FIN Luka Kuittinen
57 DF   FIN Sampo Ala-Iso

Managers

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References

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  1. ^ Susanna Kemppainen. "RoPS:lla yli 30 epäiltyä sopupeliä | Pohjois-Suomi". Kaleva.fi. Archived from the original on 2012-09-10. Retrieved 2012-02-12.
  2. ^ Uusi Suomi. "Oikeus: Sopupeleistä 150 000 euroa – 2 vuotta vankeutta — Uusi Suomi". Uusisuomi.fi. Retrieved 2012-02-12.
  3. ^ "Yhteystiedot" (in Finnish). RoPS. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  4. ^ "RoPS/2 on jatkossa Rovaniemi Football Academy". rops.fi. RoPS. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  5. ^ "Kokoonpano: Rovaniemi Football Academy 2020". rops.fi. RoPS. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
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