Etelä-Espoon Pallo, or EsPa as the name is commonly abbreviated, is a Finnish amateur football club from the city of

Espoo Espoo (, ; ) is a city in Finland. It is located to the west of the capital, Helsinki, in southern Uusimaa. The population is approximately . It is the most populous Municipalities of Finland, municipality in Finland. Espoo is part of the Helsi ...

. The club was founded in 1988 and currently competes in the

Kolmonen Kolmonen or III divisioona is the fifth level in the Finnish football league system, league system of Finnish football and comprises 108 Finland, Finnish football (soccer), football teams. The III divisioona was introduced in 1973 and in the mi ...

, the fourth tier of the Finnish football league system. EsPa's second adult team compete in the

Vitonen Vitonen or V divisioona is the seventh level in the Finnish football league system and comprises 228 teams. The V divisioona was introduced in 1973 and in the mid-1990s became known as the Vitonen (''Number Five'' in English and ''Femman'' in ...

. EsPa play their home matches at Matinkylä. EsPa has two adult teams and twelve junior teams and in total has around 750 registered players. The club was founded to replace Matinkylän Mahti's football section. Etelä-Espoon Pallo operates in

Matinkylä Matinkylä (; , ; both literally translated the "village of Matt/ Matti") is one of the major districts of Espoo, a city on the southern coast of Finland. Matinkylä sits between the Länsiväylä highway and the coast of the Gulf of Finland, bet ...

and Olari parts of Espoo. The club organises the annual EsPa Iso Omena (Big Apple) Tournament.

History

In 2009 EsPa finished in 4th position in Section 2 of the

and the next season finished in second place in Section 1 (Lohko 1) of the

administered by the Uusimaa SPL, the fourth highest tier in the Finnish football system. The 2011 season proved to be the best in EsPa's history. The first team secured promoted to the

Kakkonen Kakkonen or II divisioona is the fourth level in the league system of Finnish football and comprises 36 Finnish football teams. Until the end of 2023, ''Kakkonen'' was the third-highest level in Finland, but after the creation of new second-t ...

after finishing in second place of the

. After finishing second, EsPa were included in the promotion play-offs as the best second placed team of all seven sections of Finland. EsPa were paired with

Pallokerho Keski-Uusimaa Pallokerho Keski-Uusimaa (abbreviated PK Keski-Uusimaa or PKKU) is a football club serving the sub-region of Keski-Uusimaa in Finland and is centred on the towns of Järvenpää, Kerava and Tuusula. The club was formed in 2005 and the men's firs ...

. The first leg took place in Matinkylä with EsPa winning 3–1. The second leg proved to be a dramatic affair with EsPa controversially being reduced to ten men after five minutes. The match eventually ended 2–1 in PKKU's favour, however EsPa progressed, winning 4–3 on aggregate. In the same season, EsPa's second team, in their first season, were crowned champions of the 6th Division section 2 and played in the 5th Division during 2012. In 2012, EsPa started its first-ever season in

(Finnish 3rd Tier) with general opinion being that they were unlikely to survive in what was thought to be the toughest

section, Eteläinen (Southern) without signing a significant number of new players. However, after the first ten games Yellow-Greens had 16 points. In these matches EsPa were able to regularly field their best team, but then in mid season the club's best forward pairing, Masar Ömer and Joonas Vilkki, were injured. Ömer was out rest of the season, though Vilkki was able to return for last couple of games. Season 2012 culminated in the last two home games. First a 2–0 win from local competitor FC Espoo, in a game where EsPa's goalkeeper Törnqvist produced a large number of saves, including a penalty kick. This made the crucial three-point difference in EsPa's benefit between these two teams fighting head to head against relegation. If these teams would end in same points, the goal difference would determine relegating team. The last game of the season against section winner ÅIFK would set the series level for next season. With win or draw EsPa was going to continue on Kakkonen. If they lost the game, FC Espoo's last game against

GrIFK Grankulla IFK, or GrIFK as the name is commonly abbreviated, is a Finnish sports club from the city of Kauniainen. The club was formed in 1925 and the main activities covered are football, ice-hockey, handball, floorball and alpine. Each sp ...

would determine which team, EsPa or FC Espoo, would remain in the division. In spite of the pressure EsPa won 2–0, with Törnqvist again saving a penalty kick. With this win EsPa ensured that they keep on playing in Kakkonen also in season 2013.

Season to season

References and sources

Official Website
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Finnish Wikipedia The Finnish Wikipedia () is the edition of Wikipedia in the Finnish language. With articles, it is currently the -largest Wikipedia and the largest Wikipedia in a Uralic language. Wikipedia is the only encyclopedia in Finnish which is still upda ...

Suomen Cup
{{DEFAULTSORT:Etela-Espoon Pallo (Espa) Football clubs in Finland Sport in Espoo 1988 establishments in Finland Association football clubs established in 1988