SportsDatabase Atlas

Where the global sports dataset comes to life.

Browse verified leagues, teams, players, events, and curated collections sourced from the SportsDatabase community. Every record links back to moderation trails you can trust.

Soccer79% complete

Gender:Male

Est:1924

Players:2

Gnistan

Also known as: IF Gnistan, Idrottsföreningen Gnistan

📍 Helsinki, Finland, Finland•Finnish Ykkönen

ID: team_141149

Show 3 missing fields

Contribute data

Data completion11/14 fields

About

IF Gnistan (The Spark in English) is a Finnish football club from the city of Helsinki, founded in 1924. The club is currently playing in the Ykkönen, the second 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.

City:Helsinki, Finland

Country:Finland

Stadium:Mustapekka Areena

Capacity:1,100

Stadium

Mustapekka Areena

Capacity:1,100

Location:Helsinki, Finland

Mustapekka Arena (previously called the sponsor Fair Pay Arena ) is in Helsinki , Oulunkylä sports park located in the stadium . Football clubs Gnistan and KäPa play their home games there. The original sports field was completed in 1934. During August-September 2006, the Oulunkylä football field was renovated with a heated artificial turf field . At the same time, the field of the Oulunkylä Sports Park was named Fair Pay Arena, according to the slogan of the project sponsor, credit management and collection expert company Intrum Justitia Oy. In 2010, a covered auditorium with sauna, changing room, café and conference facilities was built in connection with the field. The auditorium can accommodate 1,100 people. Thanks to the heating, the field is in use all year round. The management of the stadium was transferred to IF Gnistan in April 2017.