JS Hercules is an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is t ...

club established in

Oulu Oulu ( , ; sv, Uleåborg ) is a city, municipality and a seaside resort of about 210,000 inhabitants in the region of North Ostrobothnia, Finland. It is the most populous city in northern Finland and the fifth most populous in the country after ...

, Finland, in 1998. The team started at the lowest level of the Finnish league system and was playing in the Third Division until promoted to Finnish Second Division, Kakkonen, for the first time for season 2016.

History

When Hercules played the first matches in 1998, some of the players had never played in a football club previously. Some had a little background in their local youth teams and nothing else. The team's core was a group of students mostly from the Faculty of Technology at the

University of Oulu The University of Oulu ( fi, Oulun yliopisto) is one of the largest universities in Finland, located in the city of Oulu. It was founded on July 8, 1958. The university has around 13,000 students and 2,900 staff. 21 International Master's P ...

. This first generation is almost gone, but a couple are still playing for the reserve team, Herkku-Papat, or manage the team business in the background. Younger ranks are now taking care of the first team efforts on the field.

Current season

On season 2018 Hercules had three teams in different leagues. The first team plays in Kakkonen, group C. The reserve team, JS Hercules/2, plays in the Third Division in northern Finland; the third team, Herkku-Papat, in the Fifth Division in the Oulu area.

Current squad 2018

Outside the pitch

JS Hercules has combined football and business in creating a yearly seminar, FootCoop, which brings together teams and businesses from Northern Fennoscandia with exceptional speakers. The 2012 seminar featured

Brian Deane Brian Christopher Deane (born 7 February 1968) is an English football coach and former player. His most recent managerial position was as the manager of the Norwegian side Sarpsborg 08. During his playing career, he played as forward from 1 ...

, Tom Saintfiet,

Martti Kuusela Martti Kuusela (born 9 October 1945 in Rovaniemi) is a Finnish football manager and former midfielder. Kuusela enjoyed a moderately successful career as a player in Finland. As a coach, he won the Finnish championship in 1981 and 1990 with H ...

, Tom Markham,

Jarmo Kekäläinen Jarmo Kekäläinen (born July 3, 1966) is a Finnish professional ice hockey executive and former player who briefly played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Boston Bruins and Ottawa Senators. Kekäläinen serves as the general manager ...

Aki Riihilahti Aki Pasinpoika Riihilahti (born 9 September 1976, in Helsinki) is a retired Finnish footballer. He is known as a hard working, defensive midfielder. He is now working as the CEO of HJK Helsinki. He was voted by leading European clubs to be ...

and Miguel Huhta, and others. At the same time they organized "Sister City Football Tournament" which included teams from

's sister cities and other neighboring places like

Alta IF Alta Idrettsforening is a sports club from Alta, Norway. The club is most known for its association football department, which played in the 1. divisjon until 2014. Alta currently plays in 2. divisjon, the third tier of the Norwegian football le ...

AC Oulu AC Oulu (ACO) is a Finnish football club based in Oulu. Formed in 2002, the club have played two seasons in Finland's highest football league Veikkausliiga and seven seasons in the second highest league Ykkönen. The club are currently playing i ...

RoPS Rops may refer to: People * Daniel-Rops (1901–1965), French writer and historian * Félicien Rops (1833–1898), Belgian artist Places * Rops (peak), a mountain in Kosovo Sports * Rovaniemen Palloseura (RoPS), a Finnish football club ...

and Bodens BK.{{cite web, url=http://www.topspot.fi/?p=2082 , title=FootCoop 2012 was a success! , accessdate=12 March 2012, publisher=Topspot

References

Football clubs in Finland Association football clubs established in 1998 1998 establishments in Finland Sport in Oulu JS Hercules