# Seinäjoen Jalkapallokerho

Seinäjoen Jalkapallokerho, commonly referred to as SJK, also internationally SJK Seinäjoki, is a Finnish professional football club from the city of Seinäjoki. The club plays in the Veikkausliiga, the highest tier of the Finnish league system. Their home ground is OmaSP Stadion, which is located near the city center and next to SJK's training facility Wallsport. SJK was formed in 2007 after the merger of TP-Seinäjoki and Sepsi-78. After starting in the third-tier, the club won the promotion to Veikkausliiga in 2014, and the next year won its first Finnish championship title.

## History
### The early years

SJK was formed on 5 November 2007 as a merger between the first teams of TP-Seinäjoki and Sepsi-78. It was told to the public five days later. Sepsi-78 had a board meeting on 24 October and TP-Seinäjoki on the next day. Both clubs supported the merger. Sepsi-78 and TP both gave up their place in Kakkonen. The first signing of the new club was Petri Huttu. There were several negotiations about the merger over the years. The main reason was the inadequacy of players. The clubs continued doing junior work after the merger, but could also have their own team in the lower divisions. The work name of the club was Seinäjoki Futis, and there was a contest about the official name, where everyone could suggest a name. The final name was Seinäjoen Jalkapallokerho, that had been suggested by many people. There was also a contest about the logo and uniform. The registered name of the club is Seinäjoen Jalkapallokerho ry, and it was registered on January 22, 2008. Mikko Latomäki was chosen as the first chairman. Jukka Saarijärvi was chosen as the vice chairman. Saarijärvi was a former TP-Seinäjoki chairman.

### Promotion to Veikkausliiga
#### 2012–2016: Simo Valakari era

In 2013 SJK started its second season in Ykkönen. In 2012 SJK had been placed second. SJK made some signings for 2013, which included a Spanish La Masia graduate Josu and Estonian Mihkel Aksalu. SJK started the season on May 4 with a 2–1 win over PK-35 Vantaa. SJK played AC Kajaani on June 30 and won 1–7. Kajaani made a complaint to Palloliitto about the amount of foreigners in SJK. The complaint went through and AC Kajaani was changed as the winner of the match. SJK complained about the decision and the result was again changed. AC Kajaani complained again, but later canceled it. After that SJK lost five matches in a row. SJK however did win eight matches in a row after that. The promotion to Veikkausliiga was confirmed on 29 September 2013 in a homematch against FC Haka. There was a record breaking attendance (4 798). The match was a 1–1 draw.
SJK started the season 2014 with winning the League Cup. SJK won the final 2–0 against local rivals Vaasan Palloseura. The season started poorly, at the end of May the club was at the eleventh place. After that SJK won seven games in a row and those results lifted SJK to the second place. HJK won the league and SJK was second. SJK was the only club to win against HJK under Mika Lehkosuo. SJK lost only two of the last 24 games. The most important players were Mihkel Aksalu, the league's best defender Cedric Gogoua, Johannes Laaksonen and Toni Lehtinen.
For the 2015 season SJK got even stronger. There were new signings like Mehmet Hetemaj and Ariel Ngueukam. SJK was considered as the biggest challenger of HJK. SJK was at the top of the table in September. SJK won HJK 3–0 in Seinäjoki. At the end of the season SJK's biggest challenger was Rovaniemen Palloseura. SJK won the league with one point difference to RoPS. The most important players were Roope Riski and Liverpool FC loanee Allan. SJK was chosen as the team of the year in Finland's sports gala.
SJK won the Finnish Cup in 2016. It was the first time in the club's history.

#### 2017–present

SJK's head coach Simo Valakari was surprisingly sacked on February 17, 2017. He was replaced by Sixten Boström. Sixten Boström got also sacked after poor results in May and was replaced by Spanish José Manuel Roca Roca was sacked in September. SJK Akatemia coaches Brian Page and Toni Lehtinen did the job for the rest of the poor season. Under Page and Lehtinen SJK lost the Finnish Cup final to HJK. Tommi Kautonen was hired as the new head coach in October 2017. The season 2018 didn't start as planned and Kautonen was sacked. He was replaced by Aleksei Borisovich Yeryomenko. Yeryomenko could save SJK from relegation. Yeryomenko continued as the head coach in 2019. SJK signed for example Sergei Eremenko and Moshtagh Yaghoubi. SJK didn't win a single game in the group stage of the Finnish Cup in the winter. The Veikkausliiga-campaign started well, because SJK won in the first round for the first time ever. SJK won KPV in the end of April and was at the first place of the league. Despite the good start, SJK couldn't get good results. Yeryomenko was sacked in August. The replacement was Brian Page. SJK didn't win any games for the rest of the season. SJK placed ninth.
After the season SJK appointed Jani Honkavaara as the new head coach. Honkavaara signed many prolific players for the 2020 season, such as Ariel Ngueukam, Robin Sid, Tero Mäntylä and Niko Markkula. In the winter, SJK once again could not get through from the group stage of the Finnish Cup. As the Veikkausliiga season started in July, SJK won in the first round against TPS. SJK had a good start to the season, but the results started to get worse quite quickly. In the summer transfer window the club signed a couple of players, such as Jake Jervis and Emmanuel Ledesma. They proved themselves quickly and with their lead SJK could end the season somewhat brightly. SJK finished seventh, which was disappointing for the club and the supporters. In the 2021 season, Honkavaara led SJK to finish 3rd in the league and win bronze medals.
During the 2022 and 2023 seasons, the first team was managed by Joaquín Gómez. In August 2022, club's academy product Daniel Håkans was loaned out to FK Jerv in Norwegian top-tier, and later acquired by Jerv on a permanent contract.
On 6 March 2023, SJK officially announced a co-operation deal with Ghanaian football academy Vision FC, presented by the sporting director Richie Dorman. SJK and Vision had already worked together for a while before the announcement. After the 2023 season, Terry Yegbe, who had arrived to SJK from Vision, was acquired by IF Elfsborg for a reported transfer fee of €600.000–700.000.
For the 2024 Veikkausliiga season, the reserve team head coach Stevie Grieve was appointed the manager of the first team. However, due to his lack of required UEFA Pro-license, he worked first as an assistant coach to Toni Lehtinen. On 29 May 2024, he was named the manager officially, after he was earlier accepted to UEFA Pro-class.

## Statistics
### Domestic history

| Season | Tier | Pos | Pld | W | D | L | For | Against | Points | Finnish Cup | League Cup | Top goalscorer (League) | Top goalscorer (All competitions) |
| 2008 | 3 | 8 | 26 | 10 | 7 | 9 | 57 | 37 | 37 | | – | Tommi Haanpää – 10 | - |
| 2009 | 3 | 5 | 26 | 14 | 1 | 11 | 56 | 52 | 43 | Third round | – | Mikael Muurimäki – 14 | - |
| 2010 | 3 | 5 | 26 | 11 | 9 | 6 | 46 | 31 | 42 | Fifth Round | – | Mikael Muurimäki – 9 | - |
| 2011 | 3 | 1 | 26 | 22 | 4 | 0 | 72 | 14 | 70 | Seventh Round | – | Petter Meyer – 23 | - |
| 2012 | 2 | 2 | 27 | 14 | 5 | 8 | 42 | 29 | 47 | Fifth Round | – | Toni Lehtinen – 13 | Toni Lehtinen - 14 |
| 2013 | 2 | 1 | 27 | 18 | 5 | 4 | 51 | 17 | 59 | Third round | – | Toni Lehtinen – 10 | Toni Lehtinen – 10 |
| 2014 | 1 | 2 | 33 | 16 | 11 | 6 | 40 | 26 | 59 | Quarter-final | Winners | Akseli Pelvas – 11 | Akseli Pelvas – 12 |
| 2015 | 1 | 1 | 33 | 18 | 6 | 9 | 50 | 22 | 60 | Fifth Round | Quarter-final | Akseli Pelvas – 14 | Akseli Pelvas – 20 |
| 2016 | 1 | 3 | 33 | 17 | 6 | 10 | 49 | 36 | 57 | Winners | Runners-up | Roope Riski – 17 | Roope Riski – 25 |
| 2017 | 1 | 6 | 33 | 13 | 8 | 12 | 42 | 47 | 47 | Runners-up | – | Billy Ions – 12 | Billy Ions – 14 |
| 2018 | 1 | 9 | 33 | 8 | 8 | 17 | 28 | 37 | 32 | Quarter-final | – | Johannes Laaksonen – 6 | Johannes Laaksonen, Aristote M'Boma – 6 |
| 2019 | 1 | 9 | 27 | 7 | 9 | 11 | 18 | 29 | 30 | Group-stage | - | Denys Oliynyk - 8 | Denys Oliynyk - 10 |
| 2020 | 1 | 7 | 22 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 27 | 29 | 29 | Group-stage | - | Emmanuel Ledesma - 5 | Joonas Lepistö - 6 |
| 2021 | 1 | 3 | 27 | 14 | 6 | 7 | 45 | 34 | 48 | Quarter-final | - | Ariel Ngueukam –14 | Ariel Ngueukam – 14 |
| 2022 | 1 | 6 | 27 | 10 | 5 | 12 | 33 | 38 | 35 | Quarter-final | Semi-final | Jake Jervis –6 | Jake Jervis – 10 |
| 2023 | 1 | 4 | 27 | 12 | 6 | 9 | 35 | 33 | 42 | Fourth round | Group-stage | Jaime Moreno –11 | Jaime Moreno – 12 |
| 2024 | 1 | 4 | 27 | 11 | 7 | 9 | 46 | 44 | 40 | Semi-final | Group-stage | Jaime Moreno -12 | Jaime Moreno - 22 |

### European history

    Accurate as of 28 July 2022
| Competition | Played | Won | Drew | Lost | GF | GA | GD | Win% |
| UEFA Champions League | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | −2 | 000.00 |
| UEFA Europa League | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 | −4 | 000.00 |
| UEFA Europa Conference League | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 9 | −3 | 025.00 |
Legend: GF = Goals For. GA = Goals Against. GD = Goal Difference.
| Season | Competition | Round | Opponent | Home | Away | Aggregate |
| 2015–16 | UEFA Europa League | 1Q | FH | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–2 |
| 2016–17 | UEFA Champions League | 2Q | BATE Borisov | 2–2 | 0–2 | 2–4 |
| 2017–18 | UEFA Europa League | 1Q | KR Reykjavík | 0–2 | 0–0 | 0–2 |
| 2022–23 | UEFA Europa Conference League | 1Q | Flora | 4–2 (a.e.t.) | 0–1 | 4–3 |
| 2022–23 | UEFA Europa Conference League | 2Q | Lillestrøm | 0–1 | 2–5 | 2–6 |
| 2025–26 | UEFA Conference League | 1Q | | | | |

#### Notes

* 1Q: First qualifying round
* 2Q: Second qualifying round

## Stadium and sponsors
### Stadium

SJK play their home matches at OmaSP Stadion. Previously SJK played their home matches at Seinäjoen keskuskenttä.
In 2010, it was reported for the first time that SJK were planning a new football stadium. Eventually, in autumn 2014 it was announced that the construction of SJK's new stadium would start soon. The construction began in summer 2015 and the new stadium was completed in June 2016. Stadium has a capacity of 5817 seats.
SJK play their friendlies and cup matches during the winter at Wallsport Areena which is an indoor training facility owned and operated by the team.

### Kit suppliers and shirt sponsors

    As of 23 December 2024
| Period | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsors |
| 2008–2009 | Umbro | Nordea, S-Market |
| 2010–2011 | Adidas | Nordea, Carlsberg, Eepee |
| 2012 | Adidas | Kotijoukkue, Prisma |
| 2013 | Adidas | Kotijoukkue, LähiTapiola, ABC, Sokos Hotels |
| 2014 | Adidas | Conline, Ilkka, LähiTapiola, GapCon, Sokos Hotels |
| 2015 | Adidas | Conline, Kotijoukkue, LähiTapiola, EPPK, ABC, Sokos Hotels |
| 2016 | Adidas | Conline, Kotijoukkue, LähiTapiola, EPPK, Prima Power |
| 2017 | Adidas | FinCap, I-Print, OmaSp, LähiTapiola, Prima Power, Elisa |
| 2018 | Adidas | Visura, ProPrint, Peab, LähiTapiola, OmaSp, Elisa |
| 2019 | Adidas | Atria, ProPrint, Peab, LähiTapiola, OmaSp, Elisa |
| 2020 | Adidas | Atria, ProPrint, LähiTapiola, OmaSp, Elisa |
| 2021 | Adidas | Atria, ProPrint, Ilkka-Pohjalainen, LähiTapiola, OmaSp, Elisa |
| 2022-2023 | Adidas | Ilkka-Pohjalainen, ProPrint, Lecklé, LähiTapiola, OmaSp, Pihlajalinna |
| 2024 | Adidas | Seinäjoki, ProPrint, Lecklé, LähiTapiola, OmaSp, Pihlajalinna |

## Honours

* Veikkausliiga
** Winners (1): 2015
** Runners-up (1): 2014
** 3rd place (2): 2016, 2021
* Finnish Cup
** Winners (1): 2016
** Runners-up (1): 2017
* Finnish League Cup
** Winners (1): 2014
** Runners-up (1): 2016

## Players
### First team squad

    As of 19 December 2024
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | FIN | Roope Paunio |
| 3 | DF | GNB | Babacar Fati |
| 4 | DF | CPV | Kelvin Pires |
| 5 | DF | FIN | Oskari Väistö |
| 7 | FW | FIN | Rasmus Karjalainen |
| 8 | MF | ARG | Valentin Gasc (vice-captain) |
| 14 | MF | FIN | Lauri Laine |
| 15 | MF | GHA | Salim Yussif |
| 16 | DF | FIN | Tuomas Koivisto |
| 18 | MF | FIN | Markus Arsalo |
| 19 | FW | FIN | Elias Mastokangas |
| 21 | FW | GAM | Momodou Bojang |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 24 | DF | FIN | Arvi Liljaniemi |
| 25 | GK | NCA | Miguel Rodríguez |
| 26 | MF | FIN | Marius Könkkölä |
| 29 | FW | FIN | Jeremiah Streng |
| 30 | MF | ZIM | Prosper Padera |
| 33 | MF | FIN | Aniis Machaal |
| 34 | DF | FRO | Samuel Chukwudi |
| 35 | DF | FIN | Gabriel Oksanen |
| 37 | FW | FIN | Kasper Paananen |
| 47 | FW | BEN | Olatoundji Tessilimi |
| 80 | GK | FIN | Hemmo Riihimäki |

### Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | MF | FIN | Pyry Hannola (at Stal Mielec until 30 June 2025) |

## SJK Akatemia
### Reserve team squad

    As of 16 January 2025
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 3 | DF | FIN | Sebastian Savini |
| 5 | DF | FIN | Ronal Malik |
| 6 | FW | FIN | Justus Ojanen |
| 11 | MF | FIN | Noah Rantasalmi |
| 14 | DF | GHA | Sayibu Yakubu |
| 15 | FW | FIN | Elias Hyytinen |
| 17 | FW | FIN | Onni Hänninen |
| 19 | FW | FIN | Aapo Hyppönen |
| 21 | DF | FIN | Lucas Kyllönen |
| 23 | DF | NGA | Nathaniel Tahmbi |
| 25 | GK | FIN | Juho Kaunismäki |
| 26 | FW | FIN | Eemeli Honkola |
| 28 | MF | FIN | Leon Vesterbacka |
| 29 | MF | FIN | Akseli Tervaniemi |
| 33 | DF | FIN | Adrian Hernandez |
| 35 | DF | FIN | Musa Hietakangas |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 38 | FW | FIN | Elari Hautamäki |
| 60 | GK | FIN | Asseri Heinämäki |
| 72 | MF | FIN | Jore Nikkilä |
| — | FW | FIN | Artur Atarah |
| — | FW | FIN | Abdu Muchipay |

### Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |

## Management and boardroom
### Management

As of 21 December 2024
| Name | Role |
| Stevie Grieve | Head coach |
| Toni Lehtinen | Assistant coach |
| Martim Perestrelo | Assistant coach |
| Luís Fernando | Goalkeeping coach |
| Juha-Jaakko Ulvila | Fitness coach |
| Tiitus Lehtinen | Physiotherapist |
| Pekka Lehtinen | Team Manager |
| Ranno Kukk | Doctor |
| Richie Dorman | Technical Director |
| Adriel Gabilan | Assistant Technical Director |
| Tom Irving | Recruitment Analyst |
| Ash Civil | SJK Akatemia Head coach |
| Niko Hasa | SJK Akatemia/2 Head coach |

### Boardroom

As of 28 July 2024
| Name | Role |
| Raimo Sarajärvi | Chairman |
| Richie Dorman | Technical director |
| Elina Paavola | Finance Manager |
| Joonas Kuivalainen | Sales Manager |
| Joonas Kuivalainen | Sales Negotiator |
| Tommi Kilpiö | Marketing |

## Records and notable stats
### Club Records

* Biggest home win: SJK 8–1 TUS (30 May 2008)
* Biggest away win: RoPo 0-8 SJK (15 April 2024)
* Biggest home loss: SJK 0–6 HJK (10 August 2017)
* Biggest away loss: HJK 6–0 SJK (31 May 2017)
* Most consecutive matches without lost: 44 (18 August 2010 – 30 May 2012)
* Most consecutive wins: 9 (11 July 2011 – 27 August 2011)
* Most consecutive losses: 5 (8 April 2022 – 7 May 2022)

### Individual Records

* Most appearances: Mihkel Aksalu (221)
* Most goals: Toni Lehtinen (39)
* Most league appearances: Mihkel Aksalu (158)
* Most league goals: Ariel Ngueukam (26)
* Most cup appearances: Mehmet Hetemaj (33)
* Most cup goals: Mehmet Hetemaj (7)
* Most European competition appearances: Mehmet Hetemaj (10)
* Most European competition goals: Jake Jervis (3)
* Most capped Finnish player: Alexei Eremenko - 61 caps
* Most capped foreign player: Marc Vales – 96 caps

### Most appearances

    As of 5 November 2024
| # | Name | Matches | Goals |
| 1 | Mihkel Aksalu | 221 | 0 |
| 2 | Mehmet Hetemaj | 207 | 22 |
| 3 | Johannes Laaksonen | 200 | 18 |
| 4 | Richie Dorman | 168 | 7 |
| 5 | Ville Tikkanen | 159 | 4 |
| 6 | Ariel Ngueukam | 133 | 36 |
| 7 | Matej Hradecky | 131 | 9 |
| 8 | Timo Tahvanainen | 128 | 4 |
| 9 | Pyry Hannola | 122 | 8 |
| 10 | Toni Lehtinen | 118 | 39 |

### Club captains

| Name | Period |
| Juha-Pekka Salminen | 2008 |
| Petri Niemi | 2009 |
| Ville Ylinen | 2010 |
| Chris Cleaver | 2011–2013 |
| Pavle Milosavljević | 2014–2015 |
| Mihkel Aksalu | 2016–2018 |
| Mehmet Hetemaj | 2019–2022 |
| Matej Hradecky | 2023 |
| Ville Tikkanen | 2024 |

### Supporters player of the year

| Name | Period |
| Jani Asuintupa | 2008 |
| Ville Pajula | 2009 |
| Ville Pajula | 2010 |
| Aki Sipilä | 2011 |
| Patrik Lomski | 2012 |
| Pavle Milosavljević | 2013 |
| Cedric Gogoua | 2014 |
| Mihkel Aksalu | 2015 |
| Roope Riski | 2016 |
| Mehmet Hetemaj | 2017 |
| Johannes Laaksonen | 2018 |
| Denys Oliynyk | 2019 |
| Emmanuel Ledesma | 2020 |
| Ville Tikkanen | 2021 |
| Jake Jervis | 2022 |
| Ville Tikkanen | 2023 |
| Rasmus Karjalainen | 2024 |

### SJK All Stars

In April 2020, SJK fans participated in a fan vote selecting their 11 favourite SJK players from the 2014-2019-seasons.
| Name | Pos | Years | Games | Goals | League games | League goals |
| Mihkel Aksalu | GK | 2013–2019 | 221 | 0 | 158 | 0 |
| Richie Dorman | RB | 2012–2018 | 168 | 7 | 95 | 4 |
| Pavle Milosavljević | CB | 2013–2015 | 77 | 1 | 38 | 1 |
| Cedric Gogoua | CB | 2014–2015 | 59 | 3 | 52 | 3 |
| Timo Tahvanainen | LB | 2013–2017 | 128 | 4 | 79 | 2 |
| Johannes Laaksonen | CM | 2013–2018 | 200 | 18 | 141 | 14 |
| Mehmet Hetemaj | CM | 2015– | 200 | 22 | 142 | 14 |
| Denys Oliynyk | CM | 2018–2022 | 116 | 29 | 94 | 23 |
| Ariel Ngueukam | RW | 2015–2016 2020–2021 | 133 | 36 | 108 | 28 |
| Roope Riski | CF | 2015–2016 | 58 | 34 | 46 | 25 |
| Billy Ions | LW | 2016–2020 | 74 | 19 | 64 | 17 |

## Managers

| Name | Period |
| Tommy Dunne | 2008 |
| Jari Kujala | 2008 |
| Esa Haanpää | 2009 |
| Tomi Kärkkäinen | 2010 |
| Christoffer Kloo | 1 Jan 2011 – 13 Aug 2012 |
| Simo Valakari | 1 Sep 2012 – 17 Feb 2017 |
| Sixten Boström | 20 Feb 2017 – 2 Jun 2017 |
| José Manuel Roca Cases | 3 Jun 2017 – 9 Sep 2017 |
| Brian Page & Toni Lehtinen (interim) | 9 Sep 2017 – 28 Oct 2017 |
| Tommi Kautonen | 28 Oct 2017 – 22 May 2018 |
| Aleksei Borisovich Yeryomenko | 22 May 2018 – 16 Aug 2019 |
| Brian Page (interim) | 16 Aug 2019 – 23 Oct 2019 |
| Jani Honkavaara | 23 Oct 2019 – 8 Nov 2021 |
| Joaquín Gómez | 8 Nov 2021 – 31 Dec 2023 |
| Toni Lehtinen (interim) | 1 Jan 2024 - 28 May 2024 |
| Stevie Grieve | 28 May 2024 - |