Rovaniemen Palloseura (RoPS), also known as Rovaniemi, is a football club, founded in 1950 and based in Rovaniemi, Finland. In 2015 RoPS plays in the Finnish Premier Division (Veikkausliiga). The club plays home games at Keskuskenttä in downtown Rovaniemi.
History
RoPS won the Finnish Cup in 1986 and 2013, and placed third in the Finnish Premier Division in 1988 and 1989 before finishing as runner-up in 2015. Its most notable international achievement was reaching the quarter-finals of the European Cup-Winners' Cup in 1987–88.
Match fixing allegations and scandal
Throughout the 2000s, RoPS became infamous for suspected involvement in match fixing.
In spring 2011 the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation started a large investigation into match fixing. On February 25 Singaporean businessman Wilson Raj Perumal, a convicted match fixer, was arrested after entering Finland with a fake passport. The National Bureau of Investigation suspected that over 30 games between 2008 and 2011, mostly from the Finnish premier league, had been fixed or manipulated.[1]
On July 19, 2011, the Rovaniemi Court of Appeal convicted Perumal and nine RoPS players of match fixing. Altogether 24 games had been manipulated, and the intended score had been achieved in 11 of them. Perumal was sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to return 150,000 euros deemed to be match-fixing profits. The bribes ranged from 500 euros offered to one player to a total of 80,000 euros offered to eight players. The highest total of bribes for one individual was slightly over 40,000 euros. The players received suspended sentences. The sentenced players were six Zambian and two Georgian players: Godfrey Chibanga, Chileshe Chibwe, Francis Kombe, Stephen Kunda, Christopher Musonda, Chanda Mwaba, Nchimunya Mweetwa, Pavle Khorguashvili, and Valter Khorguashvili. [2]
Domestic history
| Season |
Level |
Division |
Section |
Administration |
Position |
Movements |
| 1991 |
Tier 1 |
Veikkausliiga (Premier League) |
|
Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) |
7th |
|
| 1992 |
Tier 1 |
Veikkausliiga (Premier League) |
|
Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) |
7th |
|
| 1993 |
Tier 1 |
Veikkausliiga (Premier League) |
|
Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) |
8th |
Upper Group – 7th |
| 1994 |
Tier 1 |
Veikkausliiga (Premier League) |
|
Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) |
5th |
|
| 1995 |
Tier 1 |
Veikkausliiga (Premier League) |
|
Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) |
9th |
|
| 1996 |
Tier 1 |
Veikkausliiga (Premier League) |
|
Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) |
9th |
Lower Group – 8th |
| 1997 |
Tier 1 |
Veikkausliiga (Premier League) |
|
Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) |
9th |
Third Round – 6th |
| 1998 |
Tier 1 |
Veikkausliiga (Premier League) |
|
Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) |
7th |
Third Round – 8th |
| 1999 |
Tier 1 |
Veikkausliiga (Premier League) |
|
Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) |
8th |
Upper Group – 8th |
| 2000 |
Tier 1 |
Veikkausliiga (Premier League) |
|
Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) |
9th |
|
| 2001 |
Tier 1 |
Veikkausliiga (Premier League) |
|
Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) |
12th |
Relegated |
| 2002 |
Tier 2 |
Ykkönen (First Division) |
North Group |
Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) |
4th |
Lower Group North – 5th |
| 2003 |
Tier 2 |
Ykkönen (First Division) |
|
Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) |
2nd |
Promotion Play-offs – Promoted |
| 2004 |
Tier 1 |
Veikkausliiga (Premier League) |
|
Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) |
12th |
|
| 2005 |
Tier 1 |
Veikkausliiga (Premier League) |
|
Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) |
13th |
Relegation Play-offs – Relegated |
| 2006 |
Tier 2 |
Ykkönen (First Division) |
|
Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) |
7th |
|
| 2007 |
Tier 2 |
Ykkönen (First Division) |
|
Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) |
2nd |
Promotion Play-offs – Promoted |
| 2008 |
Tier 1 |
Veikkausliiga (Premier League) |
|
Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) |
10th |
|
| 2009 |
Tier 1 |
Veikkausliiga (Premier League) |
|
Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) |
14th |
Relegated |
| 2010 |
Tier 2 |
Ykkönen (First Division) |
|
Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) |
1st |
Promoted |
| 2011 |
Tier 1 |
Veikkausliiga (Premier League) |
|
Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) |
12th |
Relegated |
| 2012 |
Tier 2 |
Ykkönen (First Division) |
|
Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) |
1st |
Promoted |
| 2013 |
Tier 1 |
Veikkausliiga (Premier League) |
|
Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) |
11th |
|
| 2014 |
Tier 1 |
Veikkausliiga (Premier League) |
|
Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) |
10th |
|
| 2015 |
Tier 1 |
Veikkausliiga (Premier League) |
|
Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) |
2nd |
|
|
European history
- Notes
- 1R: First round
- 2R: Second round
- 1Q: First qualifying round
- QF: Quarter-finals
Honours
-
- 1986, 2013
-
- 2010, 2012
Current squad
- As of 3 May 2016
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Available youth players
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. |
|
Position |
Player |
| 14 |
 |
FW |
Jarkko Luiro |
|
|
| No. |
|
Position |
Player |
| 15 |
|
MF |
Juho Hyvärinen |
|
Managers
|
|
 György Hamori (Jan 1, 2003 – June 23, 2004)- Mika Lumijärvi (June 23, 2004 – June 30, 2005)
- Matti Vikman (interim) (June 30, 2005 – Dec 31, 2005)
- Jukka Ikäläinen (2006)
 Tom Saintfiet (Jan 1, 2008 – April 7, 2008) Valeri Bondarenko (April 14, 2008 – May 27, 2009)- Mika Lumijärvi (May 27, 2009 – Oct 6, 2009)
 Zeddy Saileti (Oct 6, 2009 – Dec 31, 2009) John Allen (Jan 1, 2010 – Aug 9, 2011)- Matti Hiukka (Aug 9, 2011 – Dec 31, 2011)
- Kari Virtanen (Jan 1, 2012–Oct 13)
- Juha Malinen (Nov, 2013–)
|
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
|
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| Mestaruussarja |
|
| Veikkausliiga |
|
|
|
Glentoran
Vllaznia Shkodër
Marseille
GKS Katowice
1. FC Magdeburg
Asteras Tripoli
