Joensuun Palloseura (abbreviated JoPS) is a football club from Joensuu, Finland. JoPS is Joensuu's oldest football club having been formed in 1929. The club has competed in the second tier of Finnish football over 6 seasons, the last time being in 1968.[1] JoPS currently plays in the Vitonen section that covers Eastern Finland.
History
JoPS has covered the sports of bandy, pesäpallo, football, and tennis. The football club officially began operations in 1930, the same year as the Karelian District Football Association was founded.[2] In the 1940s, JoPS was the leading bandy club of North Karelia. The team rose to the Premier Division in 1940 and remained in the highest division until 1949 without winning any medals. In the early 1950s, JoPS lost the number one club status for bandy in the city of Joensuu, and started to invest more in football.
JoPS dominated the North Karelian football until the 1970s. The club competed in the second tier of Finnish football in 1938, 1952, 1958–59, 1964 and 1968.[1] It also won the district championships in a number of years in succession in Joensuu in the period 1949–1956. In the early 1970s, JoPS participated in the re-structured league system which introduced the new Third Division. The team were promoted at the end of the 1972 season to the Second Division Division, but 1973 was the only year that they played at this level the team gaining only 4 points.[2] JoPS amalgamated with Karpalo in October 1973, but became operational again in 1976 and played in the 1980s in the Third Division.
After ten years of silence, the club name JoPS appeared again in the new millennium when the club resumed its football activities. JoPS has run a team in the Kolmonen since 2002.
Notable former players
Raimo Kauppinen – former Finnish footballer who began career at Joensuu in 1958–1959 before moving on to HJK (1960–1968 and 1971) and Kiffen 1969–1970. He played in one A-team international game.
Seppo Pelkonen – former Finnish footballer who played 16 A-team international matches and 4 B-team international matches. He played for KuPS who won the Finnish championship in 1956.
JoPS First Team are competing in the Kolmonen administered by the Itä-Suomi SPL and Keski-Suomi SPL. This is the fourth highest tier in the Finnish football system.
JoPS/2 are participating in Section A (Lohko A) of the Nelonen administered by the Itä-Suomi SPL.
