Turun Palloseura, commonly known as TPS, is a 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

Turku Turku ( ; ; , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Aura River (Finland), River Aura. The population of Turku is approximately , while t ...

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, ...

. Since 2024, the men's team competes 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 ...

, the second highest tier. Nicknamed "''Tepsi''", the club was founded in 1922. TPS have won 8 League titles and 3

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 ...

s. They play their home league matches at

Veritas Stadion Kupittaa Football Stadium (; ), officially Veritas Stadion for sponsorship reasons since 2003, is a football stadium in Turku Turku ( ; ; , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwes ...

, with a capacity of 9,372 seats for most matches.

History

In the early stages of the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

of the season 1987–88, TPS beat

Internazionale Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Since 1 ...

at the San Siro stadium in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

, thanks to a goal by

Mika Aaltonen Mika Aaltonen (born 16 November 1965) is a Finnish futurologist and former footballer. His position was an attacking central midfielder. He also played for the Finnish national team. Aaltonen is a Ph.D. in economics, associate professor (Fores ...

, who was later signed by Inter. They lost the return leg with 0–2, but this is widely regarded as the highest point by the club in international football. After season 2000, TPS lost its place in Finland's Premier League and played for two seasons in the Ykkönen (eng first) in the Finnish first division. In 2001, Petri Jakonen was named a new sporting director of TPS. They aimed to get back up to the Premier League with determination and it took them two seasons to complete the mission. Since season 2003 TPS has again played in the Finland's Premier League,

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 ...

. TPS managed to get in the final of the

in 2005, but lost to

Haka Haka (, ; singular ''haka'', in both Māori language, Māori and New Zealand English) are a variety of ceremonial dances in Māori culture. A performance art, hakas are often performed by a group, with vigorous movements and stamping of the f ...

4–1 at

Finnair Stadium Finnair Plc (, ) is the flag carrier A flag carrier is a transport company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given sovereign state, enjoys preferential rights or privileges accorded by that govern ...

. Before season 2007, TPS hired famous Finnish striker

Mixu Paatelainen Mika-Matti Petteri "Mixu" Paatelainen (born 3 February 1967) is a Finnish former professional football player and manager who is currently serving as the sporting director of Scottish club The Spartans. He scored 18 goals in 70 appearances for ...

as their manager. In his guidance TPS won bronze, ending their ten-year medalless run. After the end of season Paatelainen left for

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

club

Hibernian FC Hibernian Football Club (), commonly known as Hibs, is a professional football club in Edinburgh, Scotland. The team competes in the , the top division of Scottish football. The club was founded in 1875 by members of Edinburgh's Irish commun ...

in early January 2008. Quickly TPS hired heralded Finnish manager

Martti Kuusela Martti Kuusela (born 9 October 1945) 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 HJK Helsinki. H ...

. However Kuusela didn't get the best out of his squad and was fired mid September 2008. Overall TPS ended sixth in Veikkausliiga. So again, TPS had to get a new manager, their third in as many seasons. This time they picked

Pasi Rautiainen Pasi Pentti Rautiainen (born 18 July 1961) is a Finnish football manager and former player. He made 29 appearances for Finland national football team, scoring one goal. Rautiainen was named in the Finnish Football Hall of Fame in 2021. Playing ...

. The CEO also changed next year as Jakonen moved on to Finnish FA and a former sporting director

Marco Casagrande Marco Mario Paolo Casagrande (born 7 May 1971) is a Finnish architect, environmental artist, architectural theorist, former mercenary, writer and professor of architecture. He graduated from Helsinki University of Technology department of arch ...

was named the new CEO. In recent years, TPS has had the highest average attendance in Veikkausliiga but it has suffered from a poor rental agreement with

. This has led TPS for planning to build their own stadium in Nummi. They also considered the possibility of using the

Paavo Nurmi Stadion Paavo Nurmi Stadium (, ) is a multi-use stadium in Turku, Finland. It is currently used mostly for football matches and athletics meets. It holds 13,000 people and is named after the Turku-born runner Paavo Nurmi. Twenty athletics world records ha ...

as their home ground, but these plans faced scheduling problems with Athletics competitions and were scrapped. Both Turku based teams however played few games at the Paavo Nurmi Stadion during 2014 season when the Veritas Stadion was under maintenance. After relegation TPS changed their home venue to the Urheilupuiston yläkenttä, which is close to the Paavo Nurmi Stadion in the Turku Sports Park, but is not eligible to be used in the

. Future plans for home ground development have not been made public. TPS returned to the Veikkausliiga for the 2018 season, winning 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 ...

title on 21 October 2017 with a 1–1 draw against Honka. However, after the 2018 season, TPS was again relegated to

, after finishing second-to-last in the league and losing the two-leg play-off against Kokkolan Pallo-Veikot (KPV), the Ykkönen runner-up. Since the 2018 season, TPS plays all home games at

. During 2020–2022, the club's former manager

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 ...

worked as a sporting director. He named himself the first team's head coach for the

2023 Ykkönen The 2023 Ykkönen was the 52nd season of Ykkönen, the second highest football league in Finland. The season began on 14 April 2023 and ended on 7 October 2023. It was the final season of the Ykkönen serving as the second-tier football league in ...

season. The club's former homegrown player

Lukas Hradecky Lukas Hradecky (; born 24 November 1989) is a Finnish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for and captains both Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen and the Finland national team. Born in Bratislava, present-day Slovakia, Hradecky was ...

had been a minority shareholder of the club. In mid-August 2024, it was announced that Hradecky had increased his share and is currently one of the club's majority owners. In late August, the club's former player

Kasper Hämäläinen Kasper Woldemar Hämäläinen (born 8 August 1986) is a Finnish Association football, football executive and former professional Football player, player who played as an attacking midfielder. He is currently the sporting director of Ykkösliiga ...

was named the new sporting director. Due to economic troubles, head coach Miika Nuutinen left the club in January 2025 after serving one season in the position. Subsequently a Spanish coach

Ivan Piñol Ivan Piñol Zoroa (born 12 February 1982) is a Spanish Coach (association football), football coach who is serving as the head coach Finnish club Turun Palloseura, TPS in Ykkösliiga. Career Piñol started coaching in the youth academy of FC Ba ...

was named the new manager for the

2025 Ykkösliiga The 2025 Ykkösliiga is the second season of the Ykkösliiga, the second highest league in the Finnish football league system. The season began on 21 April 2025. Teams Team changes The league was contested with 10 clubs. * KTP won the 2024 ...

season.

Honours

Season to season

*76 seasons in ''

'' *17 seasons in ''

'' *3 seasons in ''Cup-format championship''

Transfers

Previously, Turun Palloseura have produced numerous local players for

and for transfers abroad.

Record transfers

Current squad

Management and boardroom

Management

Boardroom

''As of 29 August 2024''

Managers

* Juuso Lampila (1939–47) *

Imre Markos Imre Markos (9 June 1908 – 27 September 1960) was a Hungarian football player and coach. Career Playing career Markos, who played as a forward, spent his professional career in both Hungary and France, playing for Bocskai FC and Stade Renna ...

(1948–50) * Raino Suominen (1951–54) * Leo Aaltonen (1955–59) *

Knut Gustafsson Knut Gustafsson is a retired Swedish bandy player. Gustafsson was part of the Djurgården Djurgården ( or ) or, more officially, , is an island in central Stockholm, Sweden. Djurgården is home to historical buildings and monuments, museums ...

(1960–61) * Olli Virho (1962) * Kalevi Lehtovirta (1962) * Leo Aaltonen (1963) * Tage Friedfeld (1964) * Leo Aaltonen (1964) *

Rainer Forss Rainer Forss (20 October 1930 – 2 August 2005) was a Finnish professional association football, football player, Manager (association football), manager and Coach (association football), coach. A forward (association football), forward player, ...

(1965–70) * Paavo Nenonen (1971) * Lars Nyström (1972) * Manuel Gerpe (1973) * Paavo Nenonen (1973–74) * Olavi Laaksonen (1975–77) * Tommy Lindholm (1978) * Tapio Harittu (1978–80) * Raimo Toivanen (1980–83) * Hans Martin (1981–84) * Timo Sinkkonen (1984) *

(1985) * Timo Sinkkonen (1985) * Tommy Lindholm (1986–88) * Heikki Suhonen (1989–90) *

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 ...

(1989–90) * Heikki Suhonen (1991) * Tommy Lindholm (1991) * Raimo Toivanen (1992–93) * Pauno Kymäläinen (1993) * Tomi Jalo (1993) *

Juha Malinen Juha Malinen (born 16 July 1958) is a Finnish association football, football coach with a total of 20 seasons at the highest level. Malinen most recently managed Veikkausliiga club Kotkan Työväen Palloilijat, KTP. Managerial career Malinen wa ...

(1993–97) * Siegfried Melzig (1998) * Seppo Miettinen (1998–00) *

(2001 – December 2003) *

Kari Ukkonen Kari Ukkonen (born 19 February 1961) is a Finnish former football manager and former football player. As a player, Ukkonen was fielded as defender as well as midfielder. He was inducted to the Finnish Football Hall of Fame in 2022. Club caree ...

(January 2004 – December 2006) *

(October 2006 – January 2008) *

(January 2008 – September 2008) * John Allen (September 2008 – December 2008) *

(January 2009 – January 2010) *

Marko Rajamäki Marko Rajamäki (born 3 October 1968) is a Swedish-born Finnish former footballer. He managed Turun Palloseura (TPS) between 2010 and 2014. Previously he managed the club's under-18 team (since 2002) and was also the assistant manager of the sen ...

(January 2010 – February 2014) *

(February 2014 – November 2018) * Tommi Pikkarainen (November 2018 – July 2020) * Jonatan Johansson (July 2020 – September 2022) *

(October 2022) *

(January 2023 – December 2023) * Miika Nuutinen (January 2024 – December 2024) *

(January 2025 – present)

TPS in Europe

Women's football

The club also has a women's team which competes in the

Kansallinen Liiga The Kansallinen Liiga ('National League') is the premier division of women's football in Finland. It was previously called the Jalkapallon naisten SM-sarja ('Women's Football Finnish Championship Series') during 1974 to 2006 and the Naisten L ...

, the top division of women's football in Finland. TPS women took part in the national championship for the first time in 1972, and won the title in 1978. After withdrawing from the top league in 1992, they returned in 2008.

Footnotes

References

External links

*
TPS Supporters
{{Finnish Champions in Football Football clubs in Finland Association football clubs established in 1922 Sport in Turku 1922 establishments in Finland