FC Inter Turku

Football Club International Turku, commonly referred to as Inter Turku (Swedish:Inter Åbo) and colloquially known as Inter, is a Finnish professional football club based in Turku that competes in the Veikkausliiga, the top flight of Finnish football. Founded in 1990 by Stefan Håkans, Inter has a rivalry with Turun Palloseura. The club has won one Finnish championship title, three Finnish Cup titles, and four Finnish League Cup titles. They play home matches at Veritas Stadion, with a capacity of 9,372.

History

FC Inter was founded in 1990 by Stefan Håkans, the managing director of the towage and salvage company Alfons Håkans, allegedly after his 11-year-old son could not fit into any of the other youth teams in Turku. Both the name and the black and blue vertically striped jersey are inspired by Inter Milan, the club involved in a memorable near miss of future city rivals TPS, who beat Inter 1–0 at San Siro in the 1987–88 UEFA Cup but then lost the return leg 2–0 in Turku, exiting the competition after nearly achieving a historic breakthrough. The club's name was officially registered in September 1991. The club started out as a youth team, but in 1992 a senior squad was founded and it entered the Finnish league system at the fourth level (third division Kolmonen). The following year, the club assumed the place of the financially troubled local club Turun Toverit in the Second Division. Manager Timo Sinkkonen invested in new players, and eventually the club finished first and was promoted to the First Division (Ykkönen).

In 1995, Inter finished first in the Ykkönen and was promoted, as well as reaching the semi-final stage in the Finnish Cup. The squad was strengthened with new players, and in 1996, as both of Turku's better teams were now playing in the Veikkausliiga, the club's attendance records were broken with 8,200 spectators in the local derby between Turun Palloseura (TPS) and Inter.

In 1997, the club were relegated after finishing last in the Veikkausliiga, but achieved promotion again the following season. New foreign players were bought to strengthen the squad, such as Richard Teberio and Fernando Della Sala. Since then the club has consistently finished between 7th and 4th in the league, and maintained a steady inflow of foreign players as well as young starlets from its own youth academy.

During the 2006 season Inter sacked their manager Kari Virtanen and hired new coach, Dutchman Rene van Eck. After the season van Eck returned to Switzerland to coach FC Wohlen, and another Dutchman Job Dragtsma took over.

In 2008 Inter led the league since early season and clinched their first Finnish championship title after winning against FF Jaro in their final game.

In the 2011 Veikkausliiga season, the club's first-choice striker Timo Furuholm scored 22 goals and won the Veikkausliiga Golden Boot, and helped Inter to finish as the season's runner-up.

In August 2026, Inter sold the centre-back Ilari Kangasniemi to English club Leicester City for the league's record-high transfer fee of €2.5 million.

European cup history

Season to season

Record transfers

Current squad

As of 24 August 2026

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

Out on loan

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

Management

As of 29.04.2026

Honours

• Veikkausliiga Winners (1): 2008 Runners-up (3): 2019, 2020, 2025
• Finnish Cup Winners (3): 2009, 2017–18, 2026 Runners-up (5): 2014, 2015, 2020, 2022, 2024
• Finnish League Cup Winners (4): 2008, 2024, 2025, 2026 Runners-up (2): 2007, 2022

Player records

• Most goals scored: Tero Forss (74 goals)
• Most matches played: Petri Lehtonen (227 matches)

Past managers

• Finland Anders Romberg (1992)
• Finland Timo Sinkkonen (1993 – 1994)
• Finland Hannu Paatelo (1995 – 1997)
• Finland Tomi Jalo (1997 – 1998)
• England Steven Polack (1998)
• Finland Timo Askolin (1999 – 2000)
• Finland Pertti Lundell (January 1, 2001 – December 31, 2002)
• Finland Kari Virtanen (January 1, 2003 – September 16, 2006)
• Netherlands René van Eck (September 16, 2006 – November 16, 2006)
• Netherlands Job Dragtsma (January 1, 2007 – May 26, 2016)
• Finland Jami Wallenius (May 26, 2016 – August 3, 2016)
• Finland Shefki Kuqi (August 3, 2016 – August 3, 2017)
• Italy Fabrizio Piccareta (August 3, 2017 – June 10, 2018)
• Spain José Riveiro (January 1, 2019 – December 31, 2021)
• Spain Miguel Grau (January 1, 2022 – September 19, 2022)
• Spain Ramiro Muñoz (September 20, 2022 – December 31, 2022)
• Finland Jarkko Wiss (January 1, 2023 – November 6, 2023)
• Finland Vesa Vasara (January 1, 2024 – present)

External links

• – The club's official site.