FC Honka

Football club infobox
clubname = FC Honka Espoo

| fullname = Football Club Honka Espoo
nickname = The Honkies
founded = 1957
ground = Tapiolan Urheilupuisto, Espoo
capacity = 6000
chairman = Jouko Harjunpää, Jouko Pakarinen
manager = Mika Lehkosuo
league = Veikkausliiga
season = 2007
position = Veikkausliiga, 4th
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pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=
leftarm2=FFFFFF|body2=FFFFFF|rightarm2=FFFFFF|shorts2=FFFFFF|socks2=FFFFFF

FC Honka is a Finnish football club, based in Tapiola, Espoo. It was promoted into the Finnish premier division ("Veikkausliiga"), for the first time in its history, at the end of the 2005 season. The club's manager is Mika Lehkosuo, and it plays its home matches at "Tapiolan urheilupuisto". Originally founded in 1953 as Tapion Honka it changed its name to FC Honka in 1975.FC Honka is largely renowned in Finland for its extensive youth scheme with over 1000 youth players playing in various age groups.

Until the year 2005 FC Honka was thought of as a "nearly, but not quite" team, always underachieving in the Finnish First Division ("Ykkönen"). In the late 1990s the objective was promotion but year after year they failed. In the beginning of the 21st century FC Honka almost went bankrupt but was saved at the last moment.In early 2005 the club was taken over by Jouko Pakarinen and Jouko Harjunpää, who had a plan to turn FC Honka from underachievers to a UEFA Champions League candidate.

In the first year of their take-over of FC Honka, the management succeeded in assembling a squad which won the First Division (Ykkönen) with ease and also made the semi-finals of the Finnish Cup where they eventually lost 1-0 to FC Haka.

FC Honka in European competitions

FC Honka took 1 - 2 away victory over Norwegian side Viking Stavanger in the 2nd qualifying round of the UEFA Cup on August 28, 2008 and advanced to the first round of the actual competition. The first leg between the two Nordic clubs ended in a scoreless draw. This was the club's first major victory in a European football competition.

Current Squad

Notable former players

External links

*fi icon [http://www.fchonka.fi Official Website]
*fi icon [http://www.freewebs.com/hongankannattajat/index.htm Honka Supporters]