IF Gnistan

IF Gnistan (Kipinä in Finnish; The Spark in English), commonly known as Gnistan, is a Finnish football club from the city of Helsinki, founded in 1924. The club is currently playing in the Veikkausliiga, the first tier of the Finnish league system. IF Gnistan play their home matches at Mustapekka Areena. Club's home district is Oulunkylä, which locates in northern part of the capital city.

The club is originally Swedish-speaking, but nowadays it is supported by Finnish-speaking majority also. The club was founded by a few Svenska Reallyceum and Åggelby Svenska Samskola students from Oulunkylä in 1924. IF Gnistan were multi-sport club and had several competitive departments including ski, athletics, swim and pesäpallo (Finnish baseball). Football department were founded in 1935, when the club joined Finnish Football Association Helsinki district. Later in the 1950s Gnistan had strong teams in orienteering, women's gymnastics, table tennis and cross country running alongside the classical sports.

During the late 1950s, the club decided to dissolve all the other departments except for the football teams. When ski and athletics were eliminated, Gnistan turned to a football club, and named Jacob Söderman as their new chairman. They became a significant team in lower leagues of the capital region but never promoted to the top tier. After season 1994, they achieved their place to Ykkönen for the first time. They stayed in the second tier four years and then relegated back to Kakkonen in 1998. They have been in Ykkönen level three occasions.

L'IF Gnistan est un club de football finlandais basé dans le quartier d'Oulunkylä à Helsinki. Le club a été fondé en 1928 et joue actuellement dans la Kakkonen, la troisième division du football finlandais. Gnistan est connu pour sa forte tradition de jeunesse et a produit de nombreux joueurs qui ont joué pour l'équipe nationale finlandaise. Le club possède également une équipe féminine qui joue dans la Naisten Liiga, la première division du football féminin finlandais.

Les couleurs traditionnelles de Gnistan sont le rouge et le noir. Le club joue ses matchs à domicile au Tali Football Field, qui a une capacité de 2 000 places. Gnistan a une rivalité de longue date avec le club local de l'HJK Helsinki.

L'IF Gnistan a remporté la Coupe de Finlande à deux reprises, en 1960 et 1962. Le club a également remporté la deuxième division finlandaise à trois reprises, en 1949, 1953 et 2002.