Kronohagens Idrottsförening (abbreviated KIF or Kiffen) () is a

sports club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

from

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. The club was founded on 27 September 1908, and has been mainly known for the achievements of its

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 ...

and

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

teams. In the past the club also played at the top level in

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

and has won the ''Kalevan malja'' (Kaleva Cup) in

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...

. Other sports that the club participates include

shooting Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missile ...

bandy Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two team sport, teams wearing Ice skates#Bandy skates, ice skates on a large ice surface (either indoors or outdoors) while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal. The playin ...

bowling Bowling is a Throwing sports#Target sports, target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a bowling ball, ball toward Bowling pin, pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). Most references to ''bowling'' are ...

, and

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

. The men's football team is historically one of the most successful teams in Finland, and won the national football championship on three occasions during the 1910s, but currently plays 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 ...

(Second Division), the third tier of Finnish football. The football section of Kronohagens Idrottsforening is now known as FC Kiffen 08.

Football

History

Kiffen football is known as the ''Mustat Hurmurit'' (Black charmers). The name comes from the late 1920s when the black coloured jersey was first introduced bu Kiffen bandy team. Kiffen had two representatives, Ragnar Wickström and Lars Schybergson, in the Finnish football team at the Stockholm Olympics in 1912. The club then won the Finnish football championship (

Mestaruussarja Mestaruussarja (Championship series) was the top division of Finnish football from 1930 to 1989. It was replaced by Veikkausliiga in 1990. In 1930 league format was used for the first time to decide the Finnish champion. Before that (1908-1929) ...

) in 1913, 1915 and 1916 in the years prior to Finnish independence in 1917. Kiffen's last championship win came much later in 1955. The decline in Kiffen football set in a decade later when the club were relegated from the ''Mestaruussarja'' and then a further relegation from the ''Suomensarja'' (Finland League), the second tier, followed in 1965 to the ''Maakuntasarja'', the third tier. Fortunes fluctuated in the late 1960s and early 1970s before the club made its last appearances in the ''Mestaruussarja'' in 1977 and 1978. Among the players representing Kiffen at that time were Erkki Alaja,

Juha Dahllund Juha Dahllund (born 20 March 1954) is a Finnish former footballer. He competed in the men's tournament at the 1980 Summer Olympics. Most of his career he played for Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi (), commonly known as H ...

Kai Haaskivi Kai Haaskivi (born 28 December 1955) is a retired Finnish soccer player. He starred in the North American Soccer League, playing outdoor as well as indoor soccer. He also played for the Finland national football team. He now coaches in the Unit ...

, Atik Ismail and Reima Kokko. The following year in 1978 Kiffen had dropped to the ''Ykkönen'' (First Division) and in the subsequent years the club have not reached second-tier football. Over the last 30 years the club has fluctuated between the ''Kakkonen'' (Second Division) and ''

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 ...

'' (Third Division). In 1982 and 1983 Kiffen's ladies team reached the Finnish Women's league championship qualifiers and from 1984 until 1989 played in the Premier Division after which the team withdrew with their divisional place being inherited by

MP Mikkeli Mikkelin Palloilijat (or MP) is a Finnish professional football club, based in Mikkeli, that competes in the Ykkönen, the third tier in Finnish football league system. The club was founded in 1929 and also included volleyball, bandy and ice hoc ...

Honours and achievements

* Finnish Champions (Mestaruussarja Winners): 1913, 1915, 1916 and

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

* Finnish Cup (Suomen Cup): Runners–up in 1958 (2–4 to

KTP Kotka KTP or KTp may refer to: * Kappa Theta Pi * Karl Parker (1895–1992), British art historian * Kartu Tanda Penduduk, the Indonesian identity card * Kentucky Truck Plant, Ford Motor Company manufacturing plant also known as Kentucky Truck Assembly * ...

Divisional movements since 1930

Top Level (25 seasons): 1930–32, 1940/41–46/47, 1948–57, 1960–64, 1977–78
Second Level (16 seasons): 1936–39, 1947/48, 195859, 1965, 1969–74, 1976, 1979
Third Level (21 seasons): 1975, 1980–85, 1990, 1994–2004, 2009–2012, 2015–

Season to season

*25 seasons in ''

'' *19 seasons in '' 2nd Tier'' *32 seasons in '' 3rd Tier'' *15 seasons in '' 4th Tier''

Club structure

Kiffen runs 3 men's teams and 6 veteran's teams. FC Kiffen are competing in Group A of the ''

''. This is the third tier of the Finnish football system. In 2020 the team finished in fifth position in their

group. FC Kiffen/3 are participating in the Section 1 of the '' Nelonen'' (Fourth Division). FC Kiffen/3 are participating in the Section 3 of the ''

Vitonen Vitonen or V divisioona is the seventh level in the Finnish football league system and comprises 228 teams. The V divisioona was introduced in 1973 and in the mid-1990s became known as the Vitonen (''Number Five'' in English and ''Femman'' in ...

'' (Fifth Division).

Current squad

Management

''Updated 9 January 2021''

Bandy

The club played

in its early years and was the runner-up for the

Finnish championship Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

five times between 1917 and 1932.

Ice hockey

Kiffen played under the name KIF in the Finnish ''

SM-sarja SM-Sarja was the top level of ice hockey in Finland from 1928 to 1975. SM-sarja is a common abbreviation for ''Suomen mestaruussarja'', "Finnish Championship Series". There was variable number of teams playing for the Finnish championship dur ...

'' for several occasions. KIF won the ''SM-sarja'' 3 times (

1939 This year also marks the start of the World War II, Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Events related to World War II have a "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Coming into effect in Nazi Ger ...

1941 The Correlates of War project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 3.49 million. However, the Uppsala Conflict Data Program estimates that the subsequent year, 1942, wa ...

and

1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 � ...

). KIF played its final ''SM-sarja'' season in

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...

and has not been playing top level ice hockey since.

Handball

Kiffen has one of the most successful Handball teams in Finland. Kiffen played in the Finnish Handball League from 1969 to 2003. Kiffen's best years were during the 1970s when they were 10 times in the medals.

References and sources

Official club websiteOfficial football website
*

Finnish Wikipedia The Finnish Wikipedia () is the edition of Wikipedia in the Finnish language. With articles, it is currently the -largest Wikipedia and the largest Wikipedia in a Uralic language. Wikipedia is the only encyclopedia in Finnish which is still upda ...

Suomen Cup
(archived 12 June 2010)

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kiffen 08 Bandy clubs in Finland Football clubs in Helsinki Football clubs in Finland Association football clubs established in 1908 Bandy clubs established in 1908 1908 establishments in Finland