Football Club International Turku, commonly referred to as Inter Turku () and colloquially known as Inter, is a Finnish professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club based in

Turku Turku ( ; ; , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Aura River (Finland), River Aura. The population of Turku is approximately , while t ...

that competes in the

Veikkausliiga Veikkausliiga () is a professional association football league in Finland and the highest level of the Finnish football league system. The league comprises the top 12 clubs of the country. Its main sponsor is the Finnish national betting agenc ...

, the top flight of Finnish Football. Founded in 1990 by Stefan Håkans, the club has a rivalry with

Turun Palloseura Turun Palloseura, commonly known as TPS, is a professional association football, football club based in Turku, Finland. Since 2024, the men's team competes in Ykkösliiga, the second highest tier. Nicknamed "''Tepsi''", the club was founded i ...

. Inter have won one Finnish football championship title, two

Finnish Cup The Finnish Cup (; ) is Finland's main national cup competition in football. This yearly competition is open for all member clubs of the FA of Finland and has been played since 1955. The winner qualifies for the UEFA Europa Conference League ...

s, and three

Finnish League Cup The Finnish League Cup (in Finnish: ''Liigacup''), is a knock-out football competition contested annually during the pre-season in winter by teams from Veikkausliiga. The competition is notably the only football competition in Europe which is most ...

s. They play their home league matches at

Veritas Stadion Kupittaa Football Stadium (; ), officially Veritas Stadion for sponsorship reasons since 2003, is a football stadium in Turku Turku ( ; ; , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwes ...

, with a capacity of 9,372 seats for most matches.

History

FC Inter was founded in 1990 by Stefan Håkans, the

managing director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

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 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 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 ''Ykkönen'' (Finnish language, Finnish for 'Number One'; , previously I divisioona) is the third highest level of the Finnish football league system (after the Veikkausliiga and Ykkösliiga), managed by the Football Association of Finland. Until ...

). In 1995, Inter finished first in the ''Ykkönen'' and was promoted, as well as reaching the semi-final stage in the Finnish

Cup A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...

. 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 A sports rivalry is intense competition between athletic teams or athletes, affecting participants, management, and supporters all to varying degrees. One of the first known sports rivalries occurred in the Roman Empire between the Blues and th ...

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 FC Wohlen is a Swiss football club based in the town Wohlen in Canton Aargau. They play in the Swiss 1. Liga, the fourth tier of football in the country. The club was founded in May 1904 and holds the honour of being the oldest football club i ...

, 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 Fotbollsföreningen Jaro (''Jakobstads Rostfria''), commonly known simply as Jaro, is a Finnish professional football club based in the bilingual town of Jakobstad. The club currently plays in Veikkausliiga, the top tier in Finland. History Ja ...

in their final game. In the 2011 Veikkausliiga season, the club's first-choice striker Timo Furuholm scored 22 goals and won the Veikkausliiga Golden Boot, and helped Inter to finish as the season's runner-up.

European cup history

Season to season

Current squad

Out on loan

Management

''As of 7 November 2024''

Honours

**Winners:

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

**Runners-up:

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

**Winners:

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, 2017–18 **Runners-up:

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

**Winners:

, 2024, 2025 **Runners-up: 2022

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 Kari Virtanen (born 15 September 1958) is a Finnish association football, football manager (association football), manager and former player. He is currently coach of Veikkausliiga club FC Inter Turku, Inter Turku. Club career As a player Virtan ...

(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
nbsp;– The club's official site.
Ultraboyz
nbsp;– A supporters' club in Finnish. {{Finnish Champions in Football International Turku Sport in Turku Association football clubs established in 1990 1990 establishments in Finland