AC Oulu

AC Oulu is a Finnish professional football club based in Oulu, currently playing in Finland's premier division, Veikkausliiga. Formed in 2002, the club have played five seasons in Finland's highest football league Veikkausliiga and 16 seasons in the second highest league Ykkönen. They currently play their home games at Raatti Stadium, and the club colours are navy blue, and white.

Early years; 2002–2010 and the first promotions
AC Oulu was founded in 2002 as a joint initiative of the OLS, OPS, OTP and Tervarit clubs with the aim of bringing top level football back to Oulu. FC Oulu played in the Veikkausliiga in the early '90s as the most recent team from Oulu to play top-tier Finnish football.

After four seasons in the Ykkönen, AC Oulu reached the Finlands premier division Veikkausliiga in 2007. However, they were relegated back to the Ykkönen at the end of their first season in the top division. After two seasons in the second tier AC Oulu won promotion again to the Veikkausliiga at the end of the 2009 season after finishing top of the Ykkönen.

Having finished 11th in 2010 season the club were initially going to continue in the Veikkausliiga for the 2011 season. However, they were denied a league licence for financial reasons and therefore dropped down to the Ykkönen.

"Eternal Ykkönen"; 2011–2020
Since the relegation for financial reasons in 2010, AC Oulu played in Ykkönen for ten years, where it was considered as a candidate to promote for a long time. During 2009–2014, the former Finland national team winger Mika Nurmela played for the club, and simultaneously worked as a sporting director in AC Oulu. During 2016–2018, the former national team defender Markus Heikkinen played for the club as a player-coach. Since 2017, he has also been working as a sporting director for the club. In 2018, Tomi Kaismo and his investment company OTC-Sijoitus Oy, became the biggest shareholder of the club. The club managed to create stability to their economy during those years, and finally won Ykkönen in the 2020 season with head coach Jyrki Ahola, gaining a promotion back to Veikkausliiga for the 2021 season, previous time being in 2010.

Veikkausliiga; 2021–present
In the 2021 Veikkausliiga season, after the run of poor results, the head coach Jyrki Ahola was sacked in September and replaced by Portuguese Ricardo Duarte. AC Oulu finished 11th in the league, and successfully defended its place in the relegation play-offs against RoPS.

In the 2022 season, the club finished in the 7th place, after having narrowly missed the top-6 championship group in the league. AC Oulu established its place in the league, after having mostly played in the second-tier Ykkönen since its foundation in 2002.

In the early 2023, AC Oulu reached to the final of the pre-season Finnish League Cup tournament, after winning Inter Turku on penalties in the semi-final. They eventually fell short to HJK in the final, losing the game 2–1. Before the league season started, the club sold its own local protégé Miika Koskela to Norwegian club Tromsø IL, and in the summer transfer window Otso Liimatta was sold to Portuguese Primeira Liga club FC Famalicão.

In August 2023, the head coach Duarte announced that he will leave the club after the season, and his option will not be exercised. Only a couple of weeks later, the club announced that Duarte was sacked with an immediate effect, following the loss in the 2023 Finnish Cup semi-final against Ilves, and the miserable results in the league. However, in the end of the season, the club renewed its position in 7th place in the league, having narrowly missed the top-6 again.

2024–present
For the 2024 season, the club acquired Tuomas Silvennoinen the new head coach. Due to his lack of the required UEFA Pro coaching license, he was officially named the associate head coach in the coaching staff with Rauno Ojanen and Mikko Viitsalo. The budget for the new season was increased also. In April, it was announced that Hanna Väänänen would step aside from the club's CEO position and later Jani Kotikangas took the charge as the new CEO. The team started the season poorly, and eventually the whole coaching staff was fired on 13 June 2024, after 11 league matches, with a record of one win, five draws and five losses. The reserve team coaches Mikko Isokangas and Rafinha were named the caretaker coaches of the first team, leading the team to advance in the Finnish Cup with a win against KäPa, and drawing with VPS in the league. On 20 June 2024, a former Volos head coach Kostas Bratsos was named the manager of AC Oulu.

Stadium

 * Castrén Stadium, Oulu: 2002 – 2010
 * Raatti Stadium, Oulu: 2011 – present Raatti Stadium 20110617.jpg

Honours

 * Finnish League Cup
 * Runners-up: 2023
 * Ykkönen (second-tier)
 * Champions: 2009, 2020
 * Runners-up: 2006

Divisional History

 * 5 seasons in first-tier Veikkausliiga
 * 16 seasons in second-tier Ykkönen AC Oulu–OPS 19.7.2017.jpg

Youth and reserve teams

 * AC Oulu/OLS, the reserve team in Kakkonen, promoted to Ykkönen for 2024 season
 * AC Oulu/OLS U17
 * OsPa, in Kolmonen

In the summer 2020, AC Oulu and one of its founding member clubs Oulun Luistinseura (OLS) signed a new co-operation deal, by which AC Oulu acquired the U-17 team and OLS first team under its command.

In the end of the 2023 season, the club's U17 team won the silver medal in the league of their age group. In addition, the club's reserve team OLS gained a promotion from Kakkonen to new Ykkönen.

On 13 November 2023, the club announced that they had signed a co-operation deal with one of their associate clubs Oulunsalon Pallo (OsPa), and acquired the control and the management of the OsPa first team in Kolmonen, as AC Oulu's second reserve team for youth players.

After the 2023 season, Olli-Pekka Piisilä, the head coach of the AC Oulu/OLS U17 team, was awarded The Best Coach of the Boys' Team by the Football Association of Finland.

Management
As of 18 November 2023

Boardroom
As of 23 November 2023

Managers

 * 🇫🇮Ari Härkönen (2003–2004)
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇫🇮 Steven Polack (2005)
 * 🇫🇮Harri Kampman (2006–2007)
 * 🇫🇮Juha Malinen (2008–2012)
 * 🇫🇮Rauno Ojanen (2013–2017)
 * 🇫🇮Mika Lähderinne (2018–2019)
 * 🇫🇮Rauno Ojanen (2019)
 * 🇫🇮Jyrki Ahola (1 January 2020 – 25 September 2021)
 * 🇫🇮Teemu Tavikainen (interim, 26 September 2021 – 5 October 2021)
 * 🇵🇹Ricardo Duarte (6 October 2021 – 24 August 2023)
 * 🇫🇮Rauno Ojanen and 🇫🇮Jussi-Pekka Savolainen (interim, 2023)
 * 🇫🇮Tuomas Silvennoinen (1 January 2024 – 13 June 2024)
 * 🇫🇮Mikko Isokangas and 🇧🇷/🇫🇮Rafinha (caretaker)
 * 🇬🇷Kostas Bratsos (20 June 2024 – present)

Captains

 * 🇫🇮Aki Karppanen (2003)
 * 🇫🇮Jani Sipilä (2004)
 * 🇫🇮Mike Peltola (2005–2006)
 * 🇫🇮Janne Hietanen (2007)
 * 🇫🇮Antti Pehkonen 2008–2010
 * 🇿🇲Dominic Yobe (2010)
 * 🇫🇮Jani Kauppila (2011–2012)
 * 🇫🇮Lassi Nurmos (2013)
 * 🇫🇮Pekka Räsänen (2014)
 * 🇫🇮Tuure Siira (2015)
 * 🇫🇮Lassi Nurmos (2016)
 * 🇹🇩🇫🇮David Ramadingaye (2017)
 * 🇫🇮Lassi Nurmos (2018—2021)
 * 🇧🇷🇫🇮Rafinha (2022)
 * 🇫🇮Rasmus Karjalainen (2023)
 * 🇫🇮Niklas Jokelainen (2024 – present)

Notable former players
• 🇧🇷/🇫🇮 Rafinha

• 🇨🇲 Titi Essomba

• 🇨🇦 Randy Edwini-Bonsu

• 🇨🇦 Frank Jonke

• 🇫🇮 Markus Heikkinen

• 🇫🇮 Janne Hietanen

• 🇫🇮 Rasmus Karjalainen

• 🇫🇮 Toni Kolehmainen

• 🇫🇮 Miika Koskela

• 🇫🇮 Otso Liimatta

• 🇫🇮 Juho Mäkelä

• 🇫🇮 Mika Nurmela

• 🇫🇮 Matias Ojala

• 🇫🇮 Tuure Siira

• 🇫🇮/🇦🇱 Dritan Stafsula

• 🇱🇮 Dennis Salanovic

• 🇳🇬 Lucky Opara

• 🇺🇸 Jeremy Vuolo