The first pacers of the Oulu team in this season’s Veikkausliiga with their balls on away fields. Oma Kotikenttä in Raati is still in bad winter condition.
AC Oulu’s football season in the Veikkausliiga starts on Saturday, when the Oulu players meet SJK at the beginning of the series in Seinäjoki.
AC Oulu has to start the match season with a series of away matches, because the club’s home field in Raati is still not in playing condition after the winter.
After the Seinäjoki league match, the next match is in Turku against FC Inter. The third away match will be played in Vantaa, where the people of Oulu will face Tammisaari EIF. Vantaa’s Myyrmäki field is the Tammisaari team’s reserve field.
The travel days of the people of Oulu in April will also be increased by the Finnish Cup match, where they will face Lapua Virki on their own home field.
Oulu’s head coach Rauno Ojanen says that at least the team bonds well together during joint match trips, even if they don’t get to play in front of the home crowd at the very beginning.
AC Oulu’s lineup for the upcoming season has been built up to the last minute. Now, according to Ojanen, the team is starting to come together. He characterizes the young team as energetic and powerful.
During the winter, AC Oulu hasn’t really been able to bask in practice matches, but in the last match against Ilves in Tampere, they already found a common spirit.
“Especially in the second half, we managed to play the kind of game we were aiming for and it has given the team good self-confidence,” says Ojanen.
The first League match according to the Veikkausliiga match schedule will be played in Oulu on April 27, where VPS from Vaasa will face off.