So who are Ilves Tampere, Shamrock Rovers' Europa League opponents?

Who are Ilves Tampere? 

Ilves Tampere are the reigning Finnish Cup holders having won the cup last year beating IFK Mariehamn in the final during a season when they finished third in the league. This was the third time they had won the cup – their previous wins were in 1979 and 1990. 

They have won just one Veikkausliga title – becoming Finnish champions in 1983.

Ilves Head Coach is Jarkko Wiss who earned 45 caps with Finland and had spells playing with HJK, Stockport County and Hibernian. He has been manager with the club since 2016. 

They currently sit sixth in the 12 team Veikkausliiga. They have won four of the 11 games played to date in a season that had a delayed COVID-19 related start at the beginning of July. They have only won one league match away from home this season.

They had a 3-1 victory at the weekend at home to FC Lahti.

What European pedigree do Ilves Tampere have?

This will be just Ilves’ 13th match in Europe – this compares with Rovers who have played 82 European matches.

Their most recent European tie was in the 2018/19 Europa League qualifiers when they lost 3-1 on aggregate to Slavia Sofia (a 1-0 loss at home and 2-1 defeat in Bulgaria).

Prior to that, the club’s last appearance in Europe was the 1991/92 European Cup Winners Cup when they progressed past Glenavon on away goals before being eliminated by Roma 6-3 on aggregate.



Who to watch out for? 

Finnish international defender Janne Saksela has scored at Tallaght Stadium. He got the opener for RoPS Rovaniemi when they defeated Rovers 2-0 in the 2016 Europa League qualifier first leg in Pat Fenlon’s last game as manager of the Hoops. 

Stephen Bradley took charge for the second leg in Finland which ended in a 1-1 draw. Saksela has also spent a couple of seasons playing in the Netherlands with Sparta Rotterdam. 

Their captain is 37-year-old goalkeeper Mika Hilander who has two international appearances with Finland. 

The bulk of Ilves squad are from Finland but they have four overseas players - Brazilian midfielder Jair, Ghaniain defender Baba Mensah, Senegal midfielder Emile Paul Tendeng and Ivorian striker Tiemoko Fofana.

    About Macdara Ferris

    Macdara Ferris is a contributor since 2007 to Hoops Scene (Shamrock Rovers' match day programme) and is the co-author of two books on Shamrock Rovers - 'Tallaght Time: Shamrock Rovers 2009 to 2012' (with Karl … View Full Profile