Ilves

Ilves Tampere is a Finnish football club, based in Tampere. They currently play in the Veikkausliiga, the highest level of professional football in Finland. They were formed in 1975 as a merger between Ilves-Kissat Tampere and TaPa Tampere, and joined the Premier Division in 1979. Ilves won the Finnish League championship in 1983 and the Finnish Cup on three occasions in 1979, 1990, and 2019. In the late 1990s, Ilves suffered financial trouble and its professional team was reformed into Tampere United before the 1999 season. The initial plan was to join Ilves with TPV, but TPV decided to continue as its own team. As a result, Tampere United inherited Ilves' place in the second highest division, and Ilves dissolved their men’s team. Thus the club did not have a men's team from 1999 to 2007. At a Kakkonen match between Ilves and local rivals TPV in 2011. Their home ground is Tammelan Stadion.