FC Inter Turku

Full name	Football Club International Turku
Nickname(s)	Sinimustat ('Black and Blues')
Founded	1990; 34 years ago (1990)
Ground	Veritas Stadion Kupittaa, Turku, Finland
Capacity	9,372
Chairman	Stefan Håkans
Manager	Vesa Vasara
League	Veikkausliiga
2023	Veikkausliiga, 6th of 12
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours

Football Club International Turku, commonly referred to as Inter Turku ( Swedish: Inter Åbo) and colloquially known as Inter, is a Finnish football club based in Turku that competes in the Veikkausliiga, the top flight of Finnish Football. Founded in 1990 by Stefan Håkans, the club has a rivalry with Turun Palloseura.

Inter have won one League title, two Finnish Cups, and one League Cup. They play their home league matches at Veritas Stadion, with a capacity of 9,372 seats for most matches.

History

FC Inter was founded in 1990 by Stefan Håkans, the managing director of the towage and salvage company Alfons Håkans, allegedly after his 11-year-old son could not fit into any of the other youth teams in Turku. The club started out as a youth team, but in 1992 a senior squad was founded and it entered the Finnish league system at the fourth level (third division Kolmonen). The following year, the club assumed the place of the financially troubled local club Turun Toverit in the Second Division. Manager Timo Sinkkonen invested in new players, and eventually the club finished first and was promoted to the First Division ( Ykkönen).

In 1995, Inter finished first in the Ykkönen and was promoted, as well as reaching the semi-final stage in the Finnish Cup. The squad was strengthened with new players, and in 1996, as both of Turku's better teams were now playing in the Veikkausliiga, the club's attendance records were broken with 8,200 spectators in the local derby between TPS and Inter.

In 1997, the club were relegated after finishing last in the Veikkausliiga, but achieved promotion again the following season. New foreign players were bought to strengthen the squad, such as Richard Teberio and Fernando della Sala. Since then the club has consistently finished between 7th and 4th in the league, and maintained a steady inflow of foreign players as well as young starlets from its own youth academy.

During the 2006 season Inter sacked their manager Kari Virtanen and hired new coach, Dutchman Rene van Eck. After the season van Eck returned to Switzerland to coach FC Wohlen, and another Dutchman Job Dragtsma took over.

In 2008 Inter led the league since early season and clinched their first Finnish championship title after winning against FF Jaro in their final game.

European cup history

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2005	UEFA Intertoto Cup	1R	ÍA	0–0	4–0	4–0
		2R	NK Varteks	2–2	3–4	5–6
2009–10	UEFA Champions League	2Q	Sheriff	0–1	0–1	0–2
2010–11	UEFA Europa League	3Q	Genk	1–5	2–3	3–8
2012–13	UEFA Europa League	2Q	Twente	0–5	1–1	1–6
2013–14	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Víkingur Gøta	0–1	1–1	1–2
2019–20	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Brøndby	2–0	1–4	3–4
2020–21	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Honvéd	—	1−2 ( a.e.t.)	—
2021–22	UEFA Europa Conference League	1Q	Puskás Akadémia	1–1	0–2	1–3
2022–23	UEFA Europa Conference League	1Q	Drita	1–0	0–3	1–3

Season to season

Current squad

As of 27 February 2024 ^[1]

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 Eetu Huuhtanen 2 DF   FIN Jussi Niska 3 DF   FIN Juuso Hämäläinen 4 DF   FIN Mikael Almén 5 DF   FIN Albin Granlund 6 DF   CIV Dimitri Legbo 8 MF   NED Kevin Jansen 9 FW   RSA Darren Smith 10 MF   GER Florian Krebs 12 GK   FIN Eero Vuorjoki 13 GK   FIN Tino Kangasaho 14 MF   FIN Thomas Lahdensuo 17 MF   GHA Bismark Ampofo

No. Pos. Nation Player 19 MF   FIN Iiro Järvinen 20 MF   FIN Djoully Nzoko 21 FW   FIN Matias Tamminen 22 DF   FIN Luka Kuittinen 23 FW   FIN Daniel Rökman 24 FW   FIN Timo Stavitski 25 MF   FIN Joonas Kekarainen 26 FW   FIN Otto Lehtisalo 27 GK   FIN Anton Aaltonen 28 MF   CIV Axel Kouame 30 DF   FIN Valentin Purosalo — DF   ESP Derik Osede — FW   BFA Jean Botué

Out on loan

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

Management

As of 19 January 2021.

Name	Role
Vesa Vasara	Manager
Riku Paularinne	Assistant coach
Ramiro Muñoz	Assistant coach
Jussi-Pekka Savolainen	Reserve team head coach
Ville Vastamäki	Goalkeeping Coach
David Moore	First Team Administrator
Ville Peltonen	Physiotherapist
Teemu Ahonen	Physiotherapist
Seppo Pajunen	Kit Manager

Honours

• Veikkausliiga
  • Winners: 2008
  • Runners-up: 2019
• Finnish Cup
  • Winners: 2009, 2017–18
  • Runners-up: 2014, 2020, 2022
• Finnish League Cup
  • Winners: 2008

Player records

• Most goals scored: Tero Forss (74 goals)
• Most matches played: Petri Lehtonen (227 matches)

Past managers

• Anders Romberg (1992)
• Timo Sinkkonen (1993 – 1994)
• Hannu Paatelo (1995 – 1997)
• Tomi Jalo (1997 – 1998)
• Steven Polack (1998)
• Timo Askolin (1999 – 2000)
• Pertti Lundell (January 1, 2001 – December 31, 2002)
• Kari Virtanen (January 1, 2003 – September 16, 2006)
• René van Eck (September 16, 2006 – November 16, 2006)
• Job Dragtsma (January 1, 2007 – May 26, 2016)
• Jami Wallenius (May 26, 2016 – August 3, 2016)
• Shefki Kuqi (August 3, 2016 – August 3, 2017)
• Fabrizio Piccareta (August 3, 2017 – June 10, 2018)
• José Riveiro (January 1, 2019 – December 31, 2021)
• Miguel Grau (January 1 2022 – September 19, 2022)
• Ramiro Muñoz (September 20, 2022 – December 31, 2022)
• Jarkko Wiss (January 1, 2023 – November 6, 2023)
• Vesa Vasara (January 1, 2024 – present)

References

External links

• FCInter.fi – The club's official site.
• Ultraboyz – A supporters' club in Finnish.