FC Germania Helsinki – Nelonen here we come!
During the 2022 Vitonen season, the first team successfully gained promotion to Nelonen. After three years of playing in Finland’s sixth tier, each time narrowly missing out, the boys were finally crowned champions.
Following a number of unfortunate developments from last season, the first team were in need of a number of new players to be able to compete and challenge for the Vitonen championship. A large majority of winter training was spent recruiting and trying out new players. With limited time to gather a full squad together and with the first big test upon them, FC Germania played in the Suomen Cup on March 13th against Kolmonen side, PuiU. The game, although tightly contested, resulted in a 0:2 loss and a first round exit for the boys. The result, whilst not a win, provided a great experience for a still forming squad and with that allowed the team more time to focus, find players and properly prepare for the league.
The team started their pre-season preparations well, with two high-scoring victories against Chicken Wings and FC FC. The team felt confident going into the 2022 season. By the end of Matchday three, FC Germania had three straight wins and were first in the table. Following a first loss of the season against FC PoHu on Matchday 4, the boys picked up a total of seven points out of twelve over the course of the next four matches. With one game to go before the summer break, the team headed into a top of the table clash against league leaders, HePu. The match was fiercely contested between both sides and despite a good performance from FC Germania, the match ended all square at 1:1, giving HePu the smallest advantage heading into the summer break.
Refreshed and with their eyes firmly set on that top spot began the second half of the season with a comfortable 2:0 win over HJK Yellow. With all eyes set on the next game against league leaders, HePu, FC Germania had the opportunity to go top of the league for the first time since May. The team didn’t need to be asked twice and put in a dominating performance and beat HePu 2:1, moving top of the league and two points ahead. This win started a truly dominating streak for the boys with three consecutive victories against top 5 opposition opening up a nine-point gap at the top of the table. With four matches remaining and only three points needed to secure the championship, promotion to Nelonen seemed to only be a matter of formality…
However, anyone that loves football knows that things can change in the blink of an eye. FC Germania suffered two agonising defeats to relegation battlers Colo Colo and Vesa Töölö which left their league lead hanging on by a thread. With injuries and suspensions piling up, the boys faced an FC Ellas side who were off the back of three straight wins and who had beat FC Germania 1:0 in the first half of the season. With a lot riding on this huge game, the team would have to dig deep and put in a big performance if they were to defeat FC Ellas. Inside three minutes, the boys were 2:0 up thanks to two quick-fire goals from Ion and Giorgi K. Another strike from Ion meant that FC Germania went in 3:0 at half-time. Following a controlled second half performance, the boys ran out 3:1 winners and with that, were crowned champions.
A huge moment for the club and the first time FC Germania had been promoted to Nelonen.
With a meaningless game remaining against relegation strugglers FC Kiffen, the boys ended the season with a disappointing loss after the opposition scored two late goals to save their Vitonen status. Although ending on a minor note, the first team were consistent when it mattered. Pulling off big results against league rivals which all but secured their promotion. The club can start preparing for season 2023 where Nelonen awaits.
FCGH/Akademie – many players but little points
While the first teams goal could be summarized as winning as many games as possible with the best squad available, the academy team has several tasks to balance. For once, as for any “second” team it should provide the possibility for players with potential to develop towards playing in the first team. On the other hand, some certain core of players as emerged that feel like the academy team is the right place for them to play with little ambition to reach for a place in the first team. While the goal of any football team should be to win as many games as possible, for the academy team this should not lead into a too competitive environment and enable players with different skill-levels to enjoy and have fun on the pitch.
Just juding by the numbers, last spot in the table with only two wins and nine points might be hardly called a successful year. However, looking at it differently, we can look back at a year full of learnings and development what can be seen as a success itself for a team with the purpose described above. More than 40 players got some playing time for FCGH/Akademie during the 16 games played this season. The constant iterations of players and lineups resulted maybe in lost points but at the same time it helped the first team with its ambitious goals and thus contributed to the promotion in an important way. What needs to be especially highlighted was the great mentality that the team demonstrated throughout the whole season and even after frustrating results and unncessary defeats.
FCGH 2015 – As the winner of the group into the playoffs
We can look back to another great summer season.
Our main event, i.e. trainings on Fridays, was attended in average by 20+ players. And, it was a lot of fun every time.
Our hobby league participation has been an emotional roller coaster with the happy end of winning the championship in our group. We established ourselves right in the beginning in the upper part of the table. In the middle of the season, we had a 6-pointer against the league leader FC Peppan, which we unfortunately lost 0:1 by a goal right at the end of the game. Many thought that the championship was gone now. However, we kept on winning our following games, and on the last match day the championship window opened for us. FC Peppan lost its final game two hours before our final game. With a win, we would become champions. And, that´s what we did with a 4:1 win in a match, that could have also gone the other way.
So, with that championship, we qualified directly for the last 16 of the 4 top teams of each of the 7 groups in our hobby league. However, those playoffs have so far not yet been our sweet spot, and it was the same again this year. While we managed to reach the last 8 through a protest after the first game because of a major violation of the rules by our opponent, we had to accept a tight 2:3 loss in the quarter finals.
As a conclusion, what we take from the past summer season is the fun in trainings and the amazing team spirit in our competitive games. And, we are enjoying to be reigning champions for at least one year until the end of next summer season.
FCGH Kids – Successful continuation of activities with tournaments and upcoming winter league
The year has brought some changes.
Unfortunately, we had to say goodbye to Markus from the initial team, who moved back to Germany with his family.
Andreas and his family left for Silicon Valley for two years during the summer holidays.
However, the team has made every effort to ensure that things continue well for the kids and that the work of the past year is continued.
The 20 children of the Kids Team are now coached by Felix, Markku, Pasi, Wolfgang, Michael and Manuel.
In this way, the finesse and playing strength of the 7s team is passed on to our young kickers.
In summer and autumn, the children played their first tournaments and had a lot of fun.
Therefore, we will participate in the winter league over the winter to gain playing practice and motivation in addition to training.
This will be a good change from indoor training in one of our classic sports halls.
We will do our best to keep the kids enjoying playing football and hope that we can convince a few more kids to join our team.
