IFK Mariehamn

History

While IFK Mariehamn was formed in 1919, the sports club did not have a football department until the mid-1930s. Initially, the team participated primarily in local tournaments on Åland, only sporadically playing other Finnish or Swedish teams. The team has participated in the Finnish football leagues since 1945.

Until the 1970s, IFK Mariehamn played primarily in the Finnish football divisions 3 and 4. The club reached a peak in 1975 and 1976, when the club first advanced to division 2 and then reached division 1 (Ykkönen) the following year. After two seasons in division 1, IFK Mariehamn was relegated to division 2, where it would remain up until the 2000s, except for a few seasons in division 3 during the early 1990s.

In 2003, IFK Mariehamn returned to division 1. After only one season in division 1, the club advanced, for the first time in its history to the premier division of Finnish football, the Veikkausliiga, for the 2005 season following qualifying the October 2004 games against FC Jazz. In its first season in the Veikkausliiga, IFK Mariehamn finished 12th out of 14 teams. In 2006, the club finished in 5th place and the year after 6th after an impressive run of unbeaten matches during the autumn of 2007.

In addition to playing in the Veikkausliiga, IFK Mariehamn participates in local Åland tournaments, having won the Åland cup 40 times and the Åland football championships 42 times. In recent years, the club has been the most dominant football team on Åland, having in 2008 won its 11th and 15th straight titles in these two events, respectively.

In 2009, IFK Mariehamn started its first season as a fully professional football club. In 2015, the team won the Finnish Cup for the first time.

On 23 October 2016, IFK Mariehamn defeated FC Ilves 2–1 to secure the first ever Veikkausliiga Championship for the island club. In the 2017–18 season, IFK played its first-ever two-match UEFA Champions League qualification, where it was knocked out by Poland's champion Legia Warsaw.

The title in 2016 was seen as something "impossible" and well beyond what the club ever could have dreamt of, as their economic resources were well below the bigger clubs on the mainland, and the fact that Åland has 30,000 inhabitants as well as the fact that the squad uses the ferries to travel to away games.

Stadium

IFK Mariehamn plays its home matches at the Wiklöf Holding Arena.

Domestic history

1945–1971: Kolmonen and Nelonen (two seasons)

1972: Kakkonen

1973–1975: Kolmonen

1976: Kakkonen

1977–1978: Ykkönen

1979–1990: Kakkonen

1991–1992: Kolmonen

1993–2003: Kakkonen

2004: Ykkönen

2005–present: Veikkausliiga (Premier League)

European history

Notes

1QR: First qualifying round

2QR: Second qualifying round

Current squad

As of 24 July 2026

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

On loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

IFK Mariehamn II

|IFK Mariehamn II plays in Kolmonen for the 2026 season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Former players

All following players who have represented IFK Mariehamn have been capped at least once by their respective national team's first squad.

Management and boardroom

Management

As of 20 January 2021

Pekka Lyyski (2003–2015)

Kari Virtanen (2016)

Peter Lundberg (2016–2019)

Lukas Syberyjski (2020–2021)

Daniel Norrmén (2021–2023)

Jimmy Wargh (2023, interim)

Bruno Romão (2024)

Gary Williams (2024–2026)

Jimmy Wargh (2026, interim)

Roberth Björknesjö (2026–)

Boardroom

As of 11 April 2017

Honours

Veikkausliiga

Champions: 2016

Finnish Cup

Winners: 2015

Runners-up: 2019