Full name | Sudet |
---|---|
Founded | 1912 |
Ground |
Keskusurheilukenttä, Kouvola, Finland |
Capacity | 12,000 |
Chairman | Tuomas Liukko |
Head Coach | Janne Lindberg |
Coach |
Jukka Lindström Jari Lindberg (GK) |
League | Kakkonen |
2009 | 3rd – Kolmonen (South-East Finland) |
Sudet ("Wolves" in English) is a sports club from Kouvola, Finland, playing bandy and association football. The club was formed in 1912 and was based firstly in Viipuri (Vyborg), then in Helsinki, before finally moving to Kouvola.
Sudet formerly played in the Bandyliiga, the top bandy league in Finland, and has become Finnish champions many times. As of 2014, the club is the reigning national champion in women's bandy. Sudet currently plays football in the Kolmonen (Fourth Division) and their home ground is at the Keskusurheilukenttä, Kouvola. The Club Chairman is Vesa Vainio.
Sudet were originally established in Viipuri (Vyborg) on 13 December 1912 under the name Wiipurin Bandy & Jalkapalloseura (WB & JS). The name was changed in 1924 to Wiipurin Sudet. In 1940 the Winter War resulted in the club moving to Helsinki as the city of Viipuri fell into Soviet hands. From 1950 the name was changed to its current form, Sudet. In 1962 the club made its final move to Kouvola.
In the early decades of the twentieth century WB & JS were very successful at bandy winning their first Finnish Championship in 1914. The club won no fewer than six consecutive Finnish Championships and has won 14 in total as of 2014. In 2014, the women's bandy team of Sudet claimed the women's national championship for the first time.
Sudet also made great progress at football and reached the Semi-Finals of the Finnish Championship in 1924, 1925, 1928 and 1929. They were promoted to the new Mestaruussarja at the end of the 1930 season.
In total the club played 15 seasons in the Finnish Football Championship (Mestaruussarja) in 1931–38, 1940/41-46/47, 1948 and 1951. On 28 July 1940 Sudet won the Finnish Championship by beating TPS Turku 2–0 in the Final. The Mestaruussarja could not be played as a league in 1940 so a cup competition was held instead.