Fotbollsföreningen Jaro (''Jakobstads Rostfria''), commonly known simply as Jaro, 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 the

bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...

town of

Jakobstad Jakobstad (; , ) is a town in Finland, located on the west coast of the country. Jakobstad is situated in Ostrobothnia (administrative region), Ostrobothnia, along the Gulf of Bothnia. The population of Jakobstad is approximately , while the Jako ...

. The club currently plays in

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 tier in Finland.

History

Jaro was founded on December 18, 1965 by football enthusiasts working at Oy Jakobstads Rostfria Ab, which became the club’s first sponsor. Jaro rose through the Finnish football divisions, earning promotion to Finland’s top tier for the first time in 1988 by beating MyPa in a playoff game for direct promotion (3–2 on penalties). The club was relegated after one season but returned in 1991 and remained in Veikkausliiga until 1998. Jaro finished 5th in 1995 and played in the Intertoto Cup in

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

. Jaro also reached the

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 ...

final in

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

but lost to FC Jokerit. The 2000s saw ups and downs, including financial difficulties in 2008 that were resolved through restructuring. Jaro remained in the Veikkausliiga from 2002 until 2015, when they were relegated to

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 recent years, the club has continued to fight for promotion. In 2024, Jaro successfully returned to Veikkausliiga. In all, Jaro has played 23 seasons in the top-tier.

Stadium

Jaro plays their home games at Jakobstads Centralplan, a stadium originally opened in 1971 and renovated in 2003. The venue has a capacity of approximately 5,000 spectators. The stadium’s attendance record of 5,611 was set during a

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

Veikkausliiga local derby between FF Jaro and VPS. This match drew nearly 1,300 more spectators than the previous record. The new Pietarsaari Football Stadium (named ''Project Liv Arena'' for sponsorship reasons) is scheduled to open in summer 2025.

Current squad

Management and boardroom

Management

''As of 20 January 2024''

Boardroom

''As of 3 February 2025''

Season to season

*23 seasons in ''

'' *27 seasons in ''

Ykkösliiga ''Ykkösliiga'' (English language, English: ''"League One"''; ) is the second highest level of the Finnish football league system (after the Veikkausliiga), managed by the Football Association of Finland. The teams in Ykkösliiga also play a pre-s ...

'' *9 seasons in ''

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 ...

International achievements

1996 UEFA Intertoto Cup

FF Jaro – Guingamp 0-0
Dinamo Bucharest – FF Jaro 0–2
FF Jaro – Kolkheti Poti 2–0

Zemun Zemun ( sr-cyrl, Земун, ; ) is a Subdivisions of Belgrade, municipality in the city of Belgrade, Serbia. Zemun was a separate town that was absorbed into Belgrade in 1934. It lies on the right bank of the Danube river, upstream from downtown ...

– FF Jaro 3–2

Former managers

* Börje Nygård (1966–67) * Rainer Aho (1968–70) * Matti Aarni (1971–74) * Bjarne Sjöholm (1975–77) * Esko Vikman (1978) * Ulf Larsson (1979) * Bjarne Sjöholm (1980) * Jan–Eric Holmberg (1981) * Kalle Jaskari (1982–84) * Matti Huotari (1985) * Kalle Jaskari (1986) * Richard Wilson (1987–89) * Kari Mars (1989) * Hannu Touru (1990–93) * Antti Muurinen (1994–96) * Veijo Wahlsten (1997) * Keijo Paananen (1997) * Janne Westerlund (1998) * Keijo Paananen (1999–01) * Sixten Boström (2002–04) * Hannu Touru (2004–05), (2006) * Mika Laurikainen (2007–09) * Alexei Eremenko Sr. (Aug 19, 2009–Jun 10, 2016) * Kristian Heames (Jul 28, 2016–Jul 10, 2017) * Calle Löf (Jul 11, 2017-Oct, 2017) * Tomi Kärkkäinen (Jan 1, 2018-Aug 13, 2018) * Niklas Käcko (Aug 14, 2018-Dec 31, 2020) *

Jimmy Wargh Jimmy Jan-Anders Wargh (born 9 April 1976) is a Finnish football executive, Manager (association football), football manager and a former player who played as a midfielder. He is currently the CEO and the club director of Veikkausliiga club IFK M ...

(Jan 1, 2021–Oct, 2022) * Stephen Ward (2023) * Niklas Vidjeskog (Jan 1, 2024 – present)

References

External links

*
Official fansite
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jaro Fotbollsförening Jaro Jaro Jakobstad 1965 establishments in Finland Sport in Ostrobothnia Swedish-speaking population of Finland