FC Viikingit

Early history (1965–1997)

The club was first founded as Vuosaaren Viikingit ('Vuosaari Vikings') in 1965. The new club started at the very bottom of the Finnish football pyramid, spending their first years in the fifth and sixth divisions. For the 1973 season, they were promoted to the IV division and played there for the next ten seasons. In 1983, the team were promoted to the III division, but this visit was cut short, as they were relegated again the following season. They were promoted again for the 1993 season, and this time managed to stay up. They even made a year-long visit to the Kakkonen in 1996, but were relegated after finishing last in their group. In 1997, the footballing section of the club was split into its own organisation with the name FC Viikingit.

Climb to the Veikkausliiga (1997–2007)

With the new organisation in place, the football club started to enjoy some success in the third division, and were promoted back to the Kakkonen for the 2001 season. The newly promoted team did well in the second division, finishing at first place in their group and winning direct promotion to the Ykkönen for the 2002 season. In their first season in the first division, FC Viikingit finished second to last and had to compete in a play-off against WJK from Varkaus. The Reds won the play-off and remained in the first division. For the 2003 season, Markku Kanerva was appointed the club's manager. He led the club to a successful season, finishing third in a 14-team league, only one point from a promotion play-off spot. In 2004, the club were managed by Steven Polack and finished fourth.

Jari Europaeus was appointed manager of the Reds in 2005. In the following season, he led the club to first place in the Ykkönen, winning promotion to the Veikkausliiga, the highest level of Finnish football. In the first ever premier division match played at Heteniitty, Viikingit beat FC Honka with a 3–2 scoreline and an attendance of over 3,000. The aim for the 2007 Veikkausliiga season was to stay up in the top flight, and with the performances the team gave in the first half of the season, this looked likely. The attendance record, which is still in force, was created in the local derby against HJK Helsinki, which drew 4,255 viewers to Vuosaaren urheilukenttä. In the second half of the season, the team's performances began to drop. However, they managed to finish 13th and avoid direct relegation, but still had to compete in a relegation play-off against RoPS. The first leg in Rovaniemi finished 1–0 in favour of the home side, and therefore the Reds needed a win in the second leg, which was played at Töölön pallokenttä due to heavy snowfall at Heteniitty. However, the match finished 1–1, and Viikingit were relegated to the first division.

Return to the Ykkönen (2008–)

After relegation from the top flight in the 2007 season, Viikingit have often reached the top three in the Ykkönen, but have fallen short of promotion every time. In 2008, the new manager Toni Korkeakunnas led the team to second place, but KuPS took the promotion play-off with an aggregate scoreline of 2–1. History repeated itself in 2010, when the Reds played JJK Jyväskylä in the play-off, but the Jyväskylä side were marginally better (3–2 on aggregate). From the 2011 season, Viikingit have been managed by long-time Reds player Ilkka Jäntti, finishing fifth and third respectively in the 2011 and 2012 seasons. The club's attendance record in the Ykkönen, 1,670 viewers, was created on 21 July 2011 against local rivals HIFK.

In 2013, the club were in danger of relegation to the Kakkonen, but played well in the closing stage of the season, finishing seventh in the end. This was the club's worst finish since 2002. The season's bright spot was the fact that the reserve team, FC Viikkarit, won their group in the Kolmonen and were promoted to the second division for the 2014 season.

Season records 2001–2013