Närpes Kraft Fotbollsförening

IF Kraft or Kraft Närpes is a sports club that was founded in 1930. The club has specialised in a number of sports, including cycling, skiing, athletics, football, and ice hockey. Ice hockey was introduced at Kraft in 1970, and the team currently plays in Division II, Finland's fourth highest league. The cycling section of the club started in 1982.

Kraft is probably best known for its football club with the men's first team having played 7 seasons in the Ykkönen (First Division), the second tier of Finnish football in 1997 and 1999–2004. They also have had four spells covering 26 seasons in the third tier, the Kakkonen (Second Division), in 1976–84, 1986–96, 1998 and 2005–09.[1] The football section broke away from the main club in 1997.

Relegation at the end of the 2009 season to the Kolmonen (Third Division) has sadly brought fourth tier football back to Mosedal. It was 25 years ago in 1985 since Kraft last played at this level.

The highest ever attendance for a Kraft match was in 1974 in when 2,406 people attended the home game with Lappfjärds Bollklubb.[2] The largest attendance for a Kraft match at Mosedal was in 1997 in when 1,468 people attended the home game with FC Haka in the Ykkönen (First Division).[3]

The club is now able to make use of the new Närpiö Idrottshall, "Ball Hall", which was completed in autumn 2008. The hall's size is 97.5 metres by 67 metres and has a height of 16 metres. The venue is able to accommodate an artificial turf pitch 90 metres by 60 metres.[4]

Närpes Kraft Fotbollsförening run a large number of teams including 2 men's teams, 1 ladies team, 7 boys teams and 4 girls teams.[5]

Kraft Men's Team are competing in the Kolmonen (Third Division) section administered by the Vaasa SPL. This is the fourth highest tier in the Finnish football system. In 2009 Kraft finished in 13th place in Group B of the Kakkonen (Second Division) and were relegated.

Kraft /2 are participating in the Nelonen (Fourth Division) administered by the Vaasa SPL.

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  FIN Karl-Filip Eriksson 2 DF  FIN Willy Öhman 3 DF  FIN Simon Backman 4 DF  FIN Petter Rausk 5 DF  FIN Jacob Åbonde 6 DF  FIN Tony Lund 7 FW  UKR Andriy Yakovlyev 8 MF  CRO Vanja Pobor 9 FW  FIN Jonas Granfors 10 MF  BIH Edis Elkaz 11 FW  COL Daniel Garcia Montoya 12 GK  FIN Jakob Lund

No. Pos. Nation Player 13 FW  FIN Kim Böling 14 MF  FIN Lavinius Marca 15 FW  BIH Sifet Bečić 17 FW  SWE Mikael Johansson 18 MF  FIN Dennis Norrback 19 MF  FIN Filip Lapveteläinen 20 FW  BIH Benaris Karamović 21 MF  FIN Oskar Ivars 22 MF  FIN Jacob Lapveteläinen 31 GK  FIN Lukas Backman - MF  ENG Danny O'Brien

[6]

• Official Football Website
• Finnish Wikipedia