The Veikkausliiga club KTP hints that it has built a strong bridge for new player acquisitions from Venice.
KTP won Ykkönen last season and got a direct promotion to the Veikkausliiga. Jaakko Stenroos / AOP
The football club KTP from Kotka announces that it will start cooperation with the Italian Serie B team Venezia FC. The agreement affects both men’s and women’s teams.
The familiar names of the Finnish national team will play in Venice Joel Pohjanpalo, Niki Mäenpää and Jesse Joronen.
The men’s team, which plays at the second highest league level in Italy, is known as the Huuhkajie players’ club, but it also had another link to Finland. According to the release, a significant factor in the cooperation agreement was someone working in Venezia’s management Alexander Mentawho had previously worked in Finland for two years.
Finnish national team player Jesse Joronen moved to Venezia last summer. PDO
The clubs have agreed on multi-year cooperation. That includes, among other things, the possibility of changing players and possible training camps and training matches.
– Through cooperation, we have the opportunity to get players into our ranks. The purpose is that the players would come to play for the whole season, and not just for a few matches, KTP’s director of sports Ikävalko says in the press release.
– The cooperation also enables the KTP players to have the opportunity to show their skills in the ranks of Venezia FC through our contacts.
KTP’s people visited Venice at the end of December. During the trip, Ikävalko and the chairman Jukka Mustonen got to know, among other things, Venezia’s home stadium, Pier Luigi Penzo, which attracts more than 11,000 spectators.
The difference in the size of the clubs can be seen in the capacity of the home field, as the Arto Tolsa arena of the Kotka players can hold around 4,000 people.
– Just the fact that the club sells its jerseys for several millions every year gives an indication of the club’s size, Mustonen mentions.
Venezia FC played in the Italian premier league last season and remained jumbo. A quick return to the top tier is not in the offing, as the Venetians have played a disastrous opening half of the season. The team is currently ranked 17th in the league of 20 teams.
Venezia FC’s home sanctuary, Pier Luigi Penzo, can hold more than ten thousand spectators. PDO