FC Viikkarit (previously FC Viikingit/2) are a Finnish

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

team based in

Vuosaari Vuosaari () is a Subdivisions of Helsinki#Neighbourhoods, neighbourhood in the city of Helsinki, Finland. It is located by the sea in East Helsinki and with its area of is geographically the largest district in the city. It also has two Helsi ...

East Helsinki East Helsinki (, ) is an area in Helsinki, Finland, usually thought to comprise the city's eastern and south-eastern major districts (, ), including the districts of Vartiokylä, Myllypuro, Mellunkylä, Vuosaari, Herttoniemi, Laajasalo a ...

. They play in 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 ...

'', the third tier of

football in Finland Football in Finland is not, or at least has traditionally not been, the most popular spectator sport, which is in contrast to most European countries; it falls behind ice hockey, which enjoys a huge amount of popularity in the country. Football ...

, and are the

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

of second-tier club

FC Viikingit FC Viikingit is a Finnish football club based in Vuosaari, East Helsinki, and currently playing in the ''Vitonen'', the sixth tier of Finnish football. They play their home matches at Vuosaaren urheilukenttä, also called Heteniitty. The club' ...

. The reserve team was established in 2007 and won promotion to the Kakkonen after the 2013 season. The team is managed by Alexei Zhukov, who had a long career as a player for the first team of the East Helsinki club.

History

FC Viikingit/2 was founded as the reserve team of FC Viikingit for the 2007 season, when the first team was promoted to 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 team started out in the 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 ...

'') and did moderately well, finishing between 5th and 9th in its first seasons up to 2011. For the 2012 season, the club began to invest more in the success of the reserve team. Cooperation between the first team, the reserve team and youth teams was increased, and former first-team players Alexei Zhukov and Vitali Suetov were hired to coach the reserves. As a result, the team did well in the 2012 Kolmonen, but the close-run season ended with FC Viikingit/2 in fourth place, just two points behind group winners FC POHU, who were promoted to the second division. In 2013, the reserve team led by Zhukov consisted mostly of FC Viikingit Under-19s with a few older players. The young side enjoyed success both in the Kolmonen and in the

2013 Finnish Cup The 2013 Finnish Cup () is the 59th season of the main annual association football cup competition in Finland. It is organised as a single-elimination knock–out tournament. Participation in the competition is voluntary. A total of 152 teams regi ...

. In the cup, they progressed to the fifth round, knocking out two-second-division clubs ( JäPS and PK Keski-Uusimaa), before finally losing out to

FC Jazz Football Club Jazz, commonly known as just Jazz, is a Finnish Association football, football club based in Pori, which plays in the Finnish third tier, Ykkönen. The club was founded in 1934 as Porin Pallo-Toverit. PPT changed its name to FC Jazz ...

, who went on to achieve promotion to the ''

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 ...

'' at the end of the season. In the league, FC Viikingit/2 held on to first place for most of the season. They secured their first-place finish, and therefore promotion, on the penultimate match day by beating

local rivals Herttoniemen Toverit. For the 2014 season, the team changed its name to ''FC Viikkarit''. They will play in the Eastern group of the 2014 Kakkonen, with the aim of succeeding in the competition and developing the club's players in cooperation with the first team and youth teams. Reserve team manager Alexei Zhukov signed a new contract in December 2013, and will therefore remain in charge for the upcoming season. The home ground for 2014 has not yet been announced. In 2013, the team played their home matches at Kartanon kenttä in

Nordsjön kartano Nordsjön kartano ( Finnish), Nordsjö gård ( Swedish) is an eastern neighborhood of Helsinki, Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the ...

. However, the ground does not, at least in its current state, fulfil second-division requirements due to e.g. lack of sufficient seating, and therefore cannot host Kakkonen matches without major changes.

Season records

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Viikkarit Football clubs in Helsinki Football clubs in Finland Association football clubs established in 2007 2007 establishments in Finland