Mikkelin Palloilijat

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Mikkelin Palloilijat
Full nameMikkelin Palloilijat
NicknameSiniset (The Blues)
Founded1929; 97 years ago (1929)
GroundMikkelin Urheilupuisto, Mikkeli, Finland
Capacity7,000
ChairmanOlli Heinikainen
ManagerIssa Thiaw
LeagueYkkönen
2024Ykkösliiga, 10th of 10 (relegated)

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 hockey sections.

History

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In 1998, MP merged with Mikkelin Kissat to form FC Mikkeli. Due to financial difficulties, this union was dissolved in 2001 and the two clubs returned to manage individually. It played in the Finnish First Division (Ykkönen) from 2004 to 2006 but was relegated to Kakkonen at the end of the season. The club gained promotion to Ykkönen by winning the Group A of Kakkonen 2009 but was immediately relegated back to Kakkonen in 2010. The club's manager is Juha Pasoja, and it plays its home matches at Mikkelin Urheilupuisto. In 2015, they got promoted to the Ykkönen again.

Ice hockey departments of MP and local rivals MiPK merged in 1970, creating new club Jukurit. Jukurit has since then been quite successful in Finnish amateur levels of ice hockey. However, the only medal in the Finnish championship is still won by MP, a bronze in A-juniors in the year 1961.

Bandy department of MP was disbanded in 1977. After that the colours of Mikkeli on bandy fields have been represented by Mikkelin Kampparit. Kampparit was formed in 1972.

MP was a pioneer of women's football in Finland, forming one of the first ladies team. The spot in Kansallinen Liiga was moved from MP to Porrassalmen Urheilijat-62 in 1992.

Season to season

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Current squad

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As of 3 August 2024[1]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
5 DF  FIN Olli Kilpelainen
7 MF  FIN Niila Forsell
8 MF  FIN Rasmus Lehtonen
10 FW  FIN Ajack Deng
12 DF  FIN Ville Laiho
14 MF  FIN Jesse Jäppinen
15 DF  FIN Joel Laitinen
17 MF  FIN Valtteri Nikulainen
18 MF  FIN Ossi Torniainen
No. Pos. Nation Player
20 MF  FIN Oliver Häyhänen
22 DF  FIN Kasper Viramäki
23 FW  FIN Eero Ylönen
24 DF  FIN Jesse Kilpeläinen
27 MF  FIN Veeti Määttä
30 GK  FIN Timi Heikkinen
45 FW  FIN Veikko Karttunen
— FW  GHA Torfiq Ali-Abubakar
— GK  FIN Samu Volotinen
— MF  FIN Akon Kuek (on loan from VPS)

Management and boardroom

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Management

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As of 21 February 2020[2]
Name Role
Senegal Issa Thiaw Head coach
Finland Jorma Naakka Coach
Brazil Ozeias Graciano Coach
Finland Janne Loukiainen Coach
Finland Mika Korpela Team manager
Finland Aki Lampinen Kit manager
Finland Hannu Paajanen Doctor
Finland Ilari Kuitunen Doctor
Finland Timo Kyttä Physiotherapist
Finland Janne Lindberg Coaching coordinator
Finland Ilkka Mäkelä Club president

Notable former players

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References

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  1. ^ "MP squad" (in Finnish). Football Association of Finland. Retrieved 1 April 2023.
  2. ^ "Joukkue" (in Finnish). Mikkelin Palloilijat. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
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