Ilkka Kortesluoma still considers the championship a realistic goal for HIFK.
Helsinki IFK’s season ended on Thursday evening in Kuopio.
The final ranking remains 12th place, the club’s worst ever ranking at the SM level.
– I hope it will be the last time, CEO Ilkka Kortesluoma blows to IL.
– Yes, at IFK the goals are always higher than what we ended up with. It doesn’t help, there is hard work ahead, but I am confident that we will be able to turn this around and things will be fine in the long run.
Petr Kodytek, Jori Lehterä, Vincent Marleau and Oliver Larsen led HIFK to yet another disappointment. Tiia Mahkonen/AOP
Kortesluoma, who was hired last spring, is also quite positive when evaluating the work of the team and the coaching staff in the injury-ravaged 2025–26 season.
– If that is going to be dismantled outside of that playoff series, then I am really proud of the team, how they fought during a difficult season. However, at one point we were last in the League, and we had a long way to go to get to the playoffs. They played good, long stretches.
– In my opinion, the boots were thrown against the reigning champion. I am proud of the players and also the coaching staff. It wasn’t an easy season for anyone, but of course I’m disappointed with this result. No matter how difficult the season was, the goal in the playoffs is always to go all the way. Now it fell short.
Debunking the fiasco begins on Nordenskiöldinkatu on Monday, when Kortesluoma sits down Olli Jokinen and with this assistants.
– I want everyone’s opinion on what went well and what went badly this season. In a bigger picture, also of the entire organization. Where we are currently on the journey to where we want to get to, the CEO opens the starting points for future discussions.
Efforts ahead
According to Ilkka Kortesluoma, HIFK is losing hundreds of thousands of euros. Henri Kärkkäinen
An early summer vacation boosts the club’s coffers.
– In the case of one playoff round, when the teams get to keep their own profits, we are talking about hundreds of thousands of euros. After all, it has a significant negative impact on the result of this fiscal year. Of course, success always feeds the next season, Kortesluoma reminds us of the multiplier effects.
– It has a big impact.
HIFK has made a loss in the previous two financial periods.
Kortesluoma does not predict the outcome of the fall, but admits that the situation is challenging.
– The player budget has already been locked up before this – not that one [playoff-putoaminen] come to influence it. But it does require a lot of effort from us to make the economic equation work.
A look at the countryside
Olli Jokinen and the rest of the coaching staff will continue in their duties, assures CEO Kortesluoma. Niklas Pehkonen / AOP
HIFK is a chronic underperformer.
The Helsinki club has won only two playoff series in the 2020s, the last time this happened in the 2022–23 season.
The lukewarm memories of the championship party are from 15 years ago.
In practice, every season there is a club with smaller resources – Pelicans, SaiPa, KooKoo and HPK as the most recent examples – that achieves a better sporting result than Helsinki’s millionaire team.
Kortesluoma says that at HIFK, the gap will be bridged by sharpening the junior side.
– Joint measures must be quite clear in competitive sports, from the U16 and U18 level to the league level. What are the most important things that will be done at each step of the path so that we are united as we move towards the League? There is certainly room for improvement, and we have already started to do this work, he says and points out the person who will officially start his work as sports development director on May Day Timo Elon salary and job description.
Elo arrives in Helsinki from Luko in Rauma.
In Helsinki, we now look in the direction of the provinces with a humble mind. Kortesluoma praises the player development done in Kuopio, which is KalPa’s clear strength.
– That is a good example for us. That’s where we might be behind.
Believes in championship
Kortesluoma mentions “long-term work” several times, which is “done together”.
– It rewards more and brings more results than doing individual seasonal boosts, in which a lot is invested, he compares.
Does IFK have time for long-term work with starting points in mind?
– It does not mean that the team is not invested in, even if the junior work is invested in. In my opinion, they go hand in hand. This season, the youngsters got a lot of opportunities and developed. Next season there will certainly be even more, but yes, stars will continue to be seen at HIFK, Kortesluoma says.
– But if you think about long-term club work, that includes a strong junior path.
According to Kortesluoma, the championship is a realistic goal for HIFK in the 2026–27 season.
– First of all, I look to the fact that we have a coaching group together as we head towards the next season. However, I think that us playing for the rest of the season gives the players who stay here a good foundation to build on.
– Anyway, we have a good team building model. We will have a striking team capable of fighting for the top positions.
