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 The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was discon ...

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 FC Jokerit was a Finnish professional football club based in Helsinki, Finland. History It was founded in 1999. The club was known for its wild supporters, 116% Boys, and for its owner, Hjallis Harkimo who was also the owner of Jokerit, an ice ...

. 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 Jakobstads Centralplan () is a multi-use stadium in Jakobstad, Finland. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home stadium of FF Jaro Fotbollsföreningen Jaro (''Jakobstads Rostfria''), commonly known simply as Jaro, is ...

, 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 The 1996 UEFA Intertoto Cup finals were won by Silkeborg, Guingamp, and Karlsruhe. All three teams advanced to the UEFA Cup. No English team took part in support of Tottenham Hotspur and Wimbledon initially getting banned by UEFA from European co ...

FF Jaro –

Guingamp Guingamp (; ) is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Brittany in northwestern France. With a population of 7,115 as of 2020, Guingamp is one of the smallest towns in Europe to have a top-tier professional football team: En Avant Guin ...

0-0

Dinamo Bucharest A dynamo is a magnetic device originally used as an electric generator. Dynamo or Dinamo may also refer to: Places * Dinamo (Moscow Metro), a station of the Moscow Metro, Moscow, Russia * Dinamo (Yekaterinburg Metro), a station of the Yekaterinb ...

– FF Jaro 0–2
FF Jaro –

Kolkheti Poti FC Kolkheti 1913, commonly referred to as Kolkheti Poti, is a Georgian football club based in Poti. The team competes in the Erovnuli Liga, the top division of Georgian football. Being registered in 1913, Kolkheti is considered one of the olde ...

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 Börje is an old Swedish male name. It is a cognate of Birger;Elof Hellquist, ''Svensk etymologisk ordbok''. Lund 1922. Börje is the form that has developed naturally according to the sound change laws of Swedish, whilst Birger is a literary fo ...

(1966–67) * Rainer Aho (1968–70) * Matti Aarni (1971–74) *

Bjarne Sjöholm Bjarne is a Nordic countries, Nordic male name, a variant of Bjorn, and can refer to the following people: *Bjarne Andersson, a cross-country skier *Bjarne Berg-Sæther, a Norwegian politician *Bjarne Berntsen, a Norwegian football coach and for ...

(1975–77) * Esko Vikman (1978) *

Ulf Larsson Ulf Sigfrid "Uffe" Larsson (1 July 1956 – 28 September 2009) was a Swedish actor, revue artist, comedian and stage director. Ulf Larsson was born in Bromma, Stockholm, in 1956. In the early 1980s, he appeared in numerous television shows and ...

(1979) *

(1980) * Jan–Eric Holmberg (1981) * Kalle Jaskari (1982–84) * Matti Huotari (1985) * Kalle Jaskari (1986) * Richard Wilson (1987–89) * Kari Mars (1989) *

Hannu Touru Hannu Touru (born 1952) is a Finnish football manager. In 1991, Touru was elected as the manager of the year by the Finnish Football Association. He still remains the highest achieving manager in the history of FF Jaro Fotbollsföreningen J ...

(1990–93) *

Antti Muurinen Antti Muurinen (born 4 March 1954) is a Finnish football coach. Muurinen has been the head coach of the Finland national team. He led Finland in qualifying campaigns for the 2002 World Cup, Euro 2004 and the 2006 World Cup, failing to reach th ...

(1994–96) *

Veijo Wahlsten Veijo is a given name. Notable people with the name include: *Veijo Baltzar (born 1942), Romani author and visual artist *Veijo-Lassi Holopainen (1921–2006), Finnish field hockey player *Veijo Kaakinen (1907–1976), Finnish sports shooter *Veij ...

(1997) * Keijo Paananen (1997) *

Janne Westerlund Janne Westerlund (born 1973) is a Finnish musician, songwriter and visual artist known from such Finnish groups as Circle (with the band since 2001), Pharaoh Overlord, and . His main instrument is guitar but on his solo gigs he plays banjo as w ...

(1998) * Keijo Paananen (1999–01) *

Sixten Boström Sixten Boström (born 15 September 1963) is a Finnish football coach and former midfielder, who is currently serving as the sporting director for Veikkausliiga club Kuopion Palloseura (KuPS). Playing career Boström was born in Helsinki to a S ...

(2002–04) *

(2004–05), (2006) *

Mika Laurikainen Mika Laurikainen (born 28 April 1963) is a Finnish association football, football Manager (association football), manager who works as an academy director in Paide Linnameeskond. Career On 16 December 2022, while serving as the club's sporting ...

(2007–09) * Alexei Eremenko Sr. (Aug 19, 2009–Jun 10, 2016) * Kristian Heames (Jul 28, 2016–Jul 10, 2017) *

Calle Löf Calle may refer to: Places *Calle-Calle River, southern Chile Film and television *''Calle 7'', a Chilean TV Show *''Calle 54'' (2000), a documentary film Music *Calle 13 (band), a Puerto Rican hip hop band *"Calle Ocho" (2009), a hip hop song ...

(Jul 11, 2017-Oct, 2017) * Tomi Kärkkäinen (Jan 1, 2018-Aug 13, 2018) *

Niklas Käcko Niklas is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Stare Miasto, within Konin County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, in west-central Poland. It lies approximately south of Stare Miasto, south of Konin, and east of the regional capital ...

(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 Niklas Vidjeskog (born 24 February 1969) is a Finnish football manager and a former player, who played as a midfielder. He is currently the manager of FF Jaro in Veikkausliiga. He has completed the UEFA A coaching license. Playing career As a pl ...

(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