Porin Ässät (men's football)

Porin Ässät (Finnish for Pori Aces) was a football club from Pori, Finland. It was established in 1967 as two local sports clubs Karhut and RU-38 merged. The football section was dissolved in 1981 and today Ässät is known as an ice hockey club.

Ässät played two seasons in the Finnish premier division Mestaruussarja (1968, 1969) and two seasons in the second tier Suomensarja (1970, 1971). In 1970 Ässät won the U-19 Finnish Championship title.

History


Ässät was established in 1967 when two clubs from Pori, Porin Karhut and RU-38, merged. The ice hockey team of Ässät got Karhut's place in the SM-sarja, while the Ässät's football team inherited RU-38's place in the Mestaruussarja. The Karhut football team continued its activities for one more season as Ässät's secondary team in Suomensarja, the second-tier league of Finland at the time. Ässät played its first two seasons in the Mestaruussarja, the Premier League of Finland. Ässät got relegated to II Divisioona at the end of the 1969 season and never got promoted to the top-tier again. After two seasons of playing in the 2nd division, Ässät was relegated to the 3rd division.

Ässät won the A-junior Finnish Championship in 1970.

In 1972, Ässät was promoted back to the 2nd division, but realignment placed the division in the third-tier. Ässät came in 2nd in the 2nd division in 1973, but lost in the promotion qualifiers to Turun Toverit (TuTo). Ässät got relegated to the 3rd division in 1978, but only played there for one season before getting promoted back. Ässät played two more seasons in the 2nd division before being relegated and disestablished in 1981 and had all its players moved to the newly formed Porin Palloilijat.

Season to season

 * 2 seasons in Mestaruussarja
 * 10 season in II Divisioona
 * 2 season in III Divisioona

Alumni

 * Esa Furuholm
 * Tapio Furuholm
 * Juha Granath
 * Keijo Koistinen
 * Tapio Koskinen
 * Pertti Lundell
 * Jarmo Manninen
 * Kaj Matalamäki
 * Timo Mäkelä
 * Risto Puustinen
 * Pekka Rautakallio
 * Seppo Sairanen
 * Raimo Tuli
 * Matti Unho

II Divisioona
Western Group winner (1): 1973 (promotion playoff),

 Western Group runner-up (1): 1974,

III Divisioona
Group 3 winner (1): 1972 (promoted),

 Group 3 runner-up (1): 1979 (promoted),

A-junior
 Finnish Championship (1): 1970