Football | Timo Everi wanted to save HIFK's football, but a wall of investors came up against him

of HIFK the limited company that ran the representative football team went bankrupt at the turn of the year.

Negotiations with a potential new owner did not lead to the desired outcome, and in January HIFK announced that HIFK Fotboll Ab would file for bankruptcy.

The company negotiated for a long time with a foreign investor before the negotiations broke down.

HIFK's legend in men's football continues next season with the second team's league place in Kolmose. It is the fifth highest league level in Finland.

Before foreign investors or bankruptcy, a different plan was presented to save the HIFK men's representative team that played in the First Division.

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“I think there was some resistance among the big owners. Hockey is important to them.”

Last in the fall, HIFK Hockey Ab was presented with the possibility of taking over the football side. In practice, HIFK Hockey would have started as the main owner of Fotboll and the operator of the representative team.

The then chairman was behind the proposal Timo Everi.

“Everi was the convener. We had discussions, but they didn't lead to anything”, the chairman of HIFK rf René Osterman confirm.

Everi himself says that the possibility was “investigated”.

“Since I'm no longer working at IFK, I'd like to leave commenting on things to those who are there at the moment. But yes, we are investigating such an option. I definitely thought it was worth investigating,” says Everi.

“One of the key reasons for the idea was, as I believe Ilves has at the moment, that this is a community-important issue. There are unifying things that cross species boundaries. There are many people who are supporters of the ice hockey IFK and then there are those for whom IFK is their own club across sport boundaries.”

Everi does not want to comment on the reasons why the proposal failed. He left his position as chairman last fall. He was replaced Jaakko Eskola.

Read more: New information about Helsinki Garden's ownership base

Of course there was opposition among the investors of the hockey background company. Doubts about the meaning of the investment were strong, as HIFK's football side had been in significant financial difficulties for years.

“I think there was some resistance among the big owners. Hockey is important to them. They have once bought shares there and put money there. They didn't want a new track that would be quite risky. But Hockey's funding would have brought balance, credibili
ty and a lot of expertise to football,” Österman spins.

In Österman's opinion, it is not appropriate to scold the investors of HIFK Hockey Ab for refusing to invest, even if he had hoped for a different final solution.

“Hockey has quite a lot on the table anyway. I don't just mean normal business, but the whole pot. For example, they took over “Nordis” Catering. I speculated, but I believe they had a lot of their own things they wanted to take forward.”

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“On the football side, HIFK had a community, but no conditions, and the economy was weak”

Österman's according to HIFK's idea of ​​bringing ice hockey and football closer together was the same as in the case of Ilves mentioned by Everi.

Growing the community and merging overlapping businesses to cut costs are some of the potential benefits.

There are also differences.

Ilves Hockey Oy bought part of Ilves Edustus Oy, which runs the Veikkausliiga team. The financial interest was found in the circumstances, as the new Tammela football stadium will open in Tampere next season.

Ilves was chosen as the stadium operator. It is a very profitable activity at best.

“This is my own opinion, but Ilves hockey did not place so much because of football, but because of the finest stadium in Finland. HIFK is not getting its own stadium, but the club plays in a rented stadium. We had an eternal problem, that running football with only ticket and sponsorship income is almost impossible in Finland,” says Österman.

René Österman remembers the high years, when HIFK unexpectedly rose to the Veikkausliiga. Photo from 2014. Picture: Laura Oja / HS

In practice HIFK had lived in football from hand to mouth long before returning to the Veikkausliiga for the 2015 season. Österman also served as the president of the football side in the first years of the league and saw the good and bad sides of league life from a close distance.

” Jukka Valtanen once wisely said that a club must have four things in order: organization, finances, conditions and community. On the football side, HIFK had a community, but no conditions, and the economy was weak”

Österman says that he will follow very closely how HIFK's new arrival from Kolmose gets started. He emphasizes that there is no rush for any quick return, but in the long term, of course, the club wants to return to the highest league levels.

“Above all, the junior side needs to be made stronger, and that is now also a matter for the rf who runs the representative team. We need to decide who and what we want to be for and how we want to do our activities.”