Football | HJK’s women become champions with a recipe for success – “I’m always happy to tell you what HJK has done”

HJK’s the women’s league team won the National League championship for the first time since 2019. In the match that decided the championship battle between HJK and KuPS, a National League audience record of 2,535 spectators was set on Saturday.

HJK secured their title five rounds before the end of the league, so it came in a rather overwhelming manner. At this stage, HJK has the most wins, the fewest losses, the most goals and the fewest goals conceded.

in the 72nd minute Iris Holmström scored his debut goal in the National League, which gave HJK a 2–1 lead. That goal sealed the victory over Kuopio Palloseura, which won three consecutive championships, and at the same time also the Club championship.

The match ended with HJK winning 2–1.

HJK’s of the women’s peak stage master Joonas Sarelius according to the long-term work begins to produce results on a wide front in several different series.

HJK’s B-girls won the Finnish championship for the third year in a row. HJK’s second women’s team HJK Akatemia secured the First Division championship, but the rules prohibit another HJK team from advancing to the National League. The league team won the Finnish Cup.

In the background of the league team, a limited company was founded this year, which increased the financial resources of the women’s representative team. Thanks to the increased resources, HJK could have acquired team-ready star players, but made another choice.

“We have signed good young players on long contracts, and of course a successful team also needs more experienced players. We guarantee them that we will be able to pay a certain amount of salary and make their everyday life easier, so that they can practically invest everything in football in addition to school,” says Joonas Sarelius.

According to Sarelius, HJK has signed a three-year contract with many of its players. It has been reflected in player sales.

This year, HJK sold its own nursery Jasmin Mansarayn Inter to Italy. After last season, HJK sold Lotta Lindström for the London City Lionesses, and last fall Joanna Tynnilä sold to SK Brann in Norway.

“This is part of our strategy with the league team. With the club’s young players, we have operated in the same way as in men’s futsal. They have been given longer contracts, and some of them play in Ykkönen’s team. In Finland, the problem has been that players sign one-year contracts and leave after the season for free.”

A few years ago, there was practically no transfer market in women’s football. The situation has changed quickly. So far, Finnish clubs have received a maximum of tens of thousands of euros per transfer from the sales of female players.

The Finnish football club can benefit from the fact that women’s football as a business is in a strong growth direction. For example, in the English Super League in the 2022-2023 season, clubs generated a total of £48 million, which was 50 percent more than the previous season.

“It is known in which direction women’s football is going, and we must be able to respond to that in Finland. This is no longer a game or a hobby.”

at HJK gaming is now an activity aimed at the professionalism of the players.

“When our financial resources have grown, we have invested in player contracts and invested in coaching.”

Head coach of the women’s national team Arttu Heinonen is full-time, as well Biran Gangwho is an assistant coach in the representative team and also the coach of the B girls. Physical trainer Liisa-Maija Rautio is full-time. In addition, the goalkeeper coach, talent coach and physiotherapist are full-time.

“It also means that we demand even more from the players. We practice in the mornings, so the players can study in the afternoons. We don’t have any players working day jobs. A few players work in HJK’s afternoon club.”

Players are ready to sign long contracts with clubs if they can trust that the club will have good coaching, a good framework and financial conditions for operations in the following year as well.

Championship For example, 18-year-old Iiris Holmström, who scored a worthy goal on Saturday, moved to HJK Academy for this season, and in August, HJK’s league team made a contract with him that covers the years 2025 and 2026.

“When we have operated in a very stable manner in recent years, it gives the players confidence. They know that we send players abroad.”

In ten years, HJK has built a solid organization behind the women’s representative team. For the sake of comparison, Sarelius tells the situation ten years ago. At that time, the women’s team trained in Tali and played there, and the player budget was several thousand euros.

Now the conditions of the women’s team are completely different in the Bolt arena, not to mention the financial resources. The total budget of the HJK women’s representative team for this season was 600,000 euros and the player budget was 150,000 euros. From that, you can calculate that HJK is able to pay its players an average of 500 euros per month. There are two full-time people working on the commercial side, the CEO and the communications manager.

“When it comes to HJK, everyone assumes and expects that HJK will always win. And so it should be. But we weren’t ready for that yet. We have always known that if we continue to do things this way, we will dominate women’s and girls’ football in Finland.”

“Now let’s go back to that strategy. That is, do we put all our bets on a single championship or do we create a strong, stable operating model that will constantly move us forward? The latter has been our choice.”

At this stage, the majority of HJK’s women’s financial resources come from the investors of the background company. Sarelius thinks that the league team’s background company will make a loss this year. It’s an investment in the future.

“We are trying to increase the value of player sales. A few years ago, foreign clubs could pick up players from Finland for free. We have tried to change the culture.”

European football association Uefa will start a new women’s cup next season alongside the Champions League. Prize money for club team competitions is increasing. HJK’s goal is to receive prize money from these competitions as well.

“Our goal is to play in the league stage of the Champions League. In order to get there, we also need the luck of the draw with the opponents. The more often we get to qualify for the competition, the more likely it is that we will also get lucky in the lottery.”

Sarelius says that the plan is to increase financial resources also by developing basic business operations. The value of cooperative partnerships must be developed and the income from home matches can be increased. The audience average of HJK’s women’s league team this season was around 800 spectators before Saturday’s game, which is a good number.

“We trust that a good product will make people even more interested.”

Sarelius’ job is not to advise other clubs on how they should operate. But it is necessary to ask his view on whether there would be opportunities in other clubs to act in the same way as HJK.

“I’ll start with why investors came to HJK’s background company. That’s because our basic operations are in such good shape.”

“I’m always happy to answer the phone and tell you what HJK has done in recent years. I would love to tell you more about things. If we want to stay involved in the development of women’s football in Finland, we have to be better on a wider front.”