FC Lahti is a Finnish professional football club based in the city of Lahti. It currently plays in the Finnish highest tier Veikkausliiga, after being promoted from Ykkösliiga after the 2025 season. The home ground of Lahti is Toolpoint Arena. Lahti is famous of being the local team of the most successful Finnish player, Jari Litmanen, who played for the club in two stints in 2004 and 2009–10. In his youth years and the start of his career, he played in Reipas Lahti.
History
Lahti was founded in 1996 when two rival clubs from Lahti – Kuusysi and Reipas Lahti (founded in Viipuri and moved to Lahti after Viipuri was ceded to USSR in 1947) – decided to merge. Also, the reserve club Pallo-Lahti was formed, but it was closed down after a couple of seasons due to economic difficulties. Both Reipas and Kuusysi controlled the junior section of the club. From 1996, there was only one original staff member left at start of the 2026 season, Pekka Penttinen.
Lahti played its first season in 1997, in the southern group of Ykkönen, the second tier of Finnish football. It finished second in the first half of the split league format Ykkönen, but was placed third in the final half, behind Haka and PK-35, both of which were promoted to Veikkausliiga. The next season, in 1998, saw success and Lahti finally gained promotion to the highest tier. They were relegated at the end of the 2010 season, but bounced back after just one season in Ykkönen.
In the premier division, Lahti has not yet achieved the success of Kuusysi and Reipas. In 2007, Lahti won the Finnish League Cup. In 2008 Lahti was third in the Veikkausliiga final table and was placed in the UEFA Europa League qualification rounds for season 2009. Lahti repeated the success in 2014 by finishing third for the second time in their history. The club qualified to the Europa League qualifiers for the third time in 2018 when the club finished fourth in the table the season before.
Honours Finnish League Cup Winners: 2007, 2013, 2016 Runners-up: 2004, 2005 Finnish Cup Runners-up: 2002
Crest and colours
Kit manufacturers and shirt sponsors +PeriodKit manufacturerShirt sponsorRef2004Umbro2005–07??2008Umbro2009–17??2018–21Umbro2022Adidas
FC Lahti in Europe Updated 20 July 2018 Season Competition Round Club Home Away Aggregate 2009–10 UEFA Europa League 1Q Dinamo Tirana 4–1 0–2 4–3 2Q Gorica 2–0 0–1 2–1 3Q Club Brugge 1–1 2–3 3–4 2015–16 UEFA Europa League 1Q Elfsborg 2–2 0–5 2–7 2018–19 UEFA Europa League 1Q FH0–30–00–3
Notes 1Q: First qualifying round 2Q: Second qualifying round 3Q: Third qualifying round
Season to season SeasonLevelDivisionSectionAdministrationPositionMovements1997Tier 2 Ykkönen (First Division)South Group Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 2nd Promotion Group – 3rd1998Tier 2 Ykkönen (First Division)South Group Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 1st Promotion Group – 1st – Promoted1999Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 10th Relegation Group – Play-offs2000Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 8th2001Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 9th2002Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 7th Upper Group – 8th2003Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 5th2004Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 7th2005Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 6th2006Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 8th2007Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 8th2008Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 3rd2009Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 11th2010Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 14thRelegated2011Tier 2 Ykkönen (First Division) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 1stPromoted2012Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 5th2013Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 5th2014Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 3rd2015Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 5th2016Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 8th2017Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 4th2018Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 8th2019Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 8th2020Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 6th2021Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 7th2022Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 11th Relegation play-offs2023Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 10th 2024Tier 1 Veikkausliiga (Premier League) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 11th Relegation play-offs – Relegated2025Tier 2 Ykkösliiga (First Division) Finnish FA (Suomen Palloliitto) 25 seasons in Veikkausliiga 3 seasons in Ykkönen
Players Current squad
Out on loan
Management Updated 27 November 2023. NameRole Gonçalo Pereira Head coach João Pires Assistant Coach Kari Arkivuo Assistant Coach Mika Heino Fitness Coach Joni Kallioinen Talent Coach Mikko Poutiainen Physiotherapist Erno Jokinen Physiotherapist Jarkko Koskinen Kit Manager Janne Kaartti Masseur Jussi Juurikka Team Manager Marko Kolsi Sporting director
FC Lahti Akatemia
Lahti's reserve team played its last season in Kakkonen in 2017. After they were relegated to Kolmonen for the 2018 season, the team's activity was taken over by its administrational parent club Kuusysi.
Managers
Esa Pekonen (1 January 1998 – 31 December 1999) Jari Pyykölä (27 August 1999 – 31 December 2001) Harri Kampman (1 January 2002 – 31 December 2005) Antti Muurinen (1 January 2006 – 10 October 2007) Luciano (10 October 2007 – 31 December 2007) Ilkka Mäkelä (1 January 2008 – 31 December 2010) Tommi Kautonen (1 January 2011 – 4 June 2013) Juha Malinen (5 June 2013 – 31 December 2013) Toni Korkeakunnas (1 January 2014 – 30 September 2018) Sami Ristilä (1 October 2018 – 31 December 2019) Ilir Zeneli (1 January 2020 – 23 June 2022) Mikko Mannila (26 June 2022 – 31 August 2023) Toni Lindberg (31 August 2023 – 20 June 2024) Ricardo Duarte (21 June 2024 – 20 December 2024) Gonçalo Pereira (20 December 2024 – present)
References
External links