VPS

Full name	Vaasan Palloseura
Nickname(s)	Vepsu, "Vepsi"
Founded	1924
Ground	Hietalahti, Vaasa (Capacity: 4,600)
Chairman	Asko Kamppinen
Manager	Tommi Pikkarainen
League	Veikkausliiga
2009	Veikkausliiga, 8th
Home colours Away colours

Vaasan Palloseura (or VPS) is a Finnish football club, based in Vaasa. It currently plays in the Finnish Premier Division (Veikkausliiga). The club's manager is Tommi Pikkarainen and assistant manager is Petri Vuorinen. The club plays its home matches at Hietalahti. VPS played twice in the UEFA Cup in 1998/1999 and in 1999/2000, but were knocked out in the 2nd Qualifying Round by Grazer AK of Austria and in the 1st Qualifying Round by St Johnstone of Scotland.

[edit] Current squad

As of 31 January 2009 (2009 -01-31)^[update] Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Kwon Jung-Hyuk 2 DF Jani Tanska 3 DF Greg Eckhardt 4 DF Jussi Äijälä 5 MF Joacim Tuuri 6 DF Jussi-Pekka Savolainen 7 MF Tero Koskela (captain) 9 FW Jussi Aalto 10 FW Antonio Inutile 12 GK Brian Pope 14 DF Jens Nygård

No. Position Player 15 FW Kim Böling 19 MF Jan Berg 20 FW Valtter Laaksonen 21 FW Arttu Seppälä 22 MF Tony Björk 23 MF Jyri Hietaharju 24 GK Henry Backman 25 FW Pekka Kainu 26 FW Markus Hangelin 28 FW Sami Salmi

[edit] Noted players

• Jussi Jääskeläinen
• Jyrki Huhtamäki
• Juha Reini
• Tommi Kautonen
• Henri Sillanpää
• Tomas Nygård
• Jani Lyyski
• Kimmo Tarkkio
• Ansi Agolli
• Tomasz Arceusz
• Dean Edwards (1982-85)
• Roy Essandoh (1998-99) 25 apps 3 goals [1]
• Björn Stringheim

[edit] Achievements

• Mestaruussarja/Veikkausliiga:
  • Winners (2): 1945, 1948
  • Runners-up (5): 1932, 1940-1941, 1949, 1997, 1998

• Finnish Cup:
  • Runners-up (1): 1972

• Finnish League Cup:
  • Winners (2): 1999, 2000
  • Runners-up (1): 1997

[edit] External links

• (Finnish) Official Site