CEO Aki Riihilahti is proud of his club’s successful efforts. HJK plays its Europa League home match at the Töölö football stadium.
Helsinki Football Club will face AS Roma, Ludogorets and Real Betis in the Europa League group stage. The Europa League groups were drawn on Friday in Istanbul, Turkey.
The CEO of HJK followed the raffles on site Aki Riihilahti. Duties took Riihilahti to Istanbul a few days earlier, as he is the vice-chairman of the UEFA Club Competition Committee, which organizes the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League.
Riihilahti is very proud of its team, because already a year ago the decision was made in the club to bet on two competitions more than before. However, he emphasizes that the domestic main league and the Finnish championship are HJK’s primary goals this season as well.
– This is exceptional in our club’s history, because we really invested in sporting success in the domestic league and in the European games and took risks in a controlled manner, Riihilahti describes.
The Europa League is not played at the Olympic Stadium
HJK increased its player budget for this season to just over two million. In 2021, the club’s player budget was 1.7 million euros.
– In accordance with the strategy, we have increased our player budget annually by 15–20 percent in order to get a certain quality and quantity in the team.
HJK made several changes during the summer transfer window, which Riihilahti considers successful. The club acquired in its ranks, among other things Aapo Halme, Paulus Arajuuren and with a loan agreement by Lucas Lingman. The competitive situation within the team has also increased due to the improvement of the level of young players, of whom Riihilahti cites as examples Santeri Väänänen and Matti Peltolan.
HJK paid 3.6 million euros for entering the group stage of the Europa League. The prize for winning a single group match is 630,000 euros and for a draw 210,000 euros. According to Riihilahti, success creates a certain financial stability, but emphasizes that HJK’s goals are athletic.
– Of course, the fact that financially we have been a very sustainable development market-based company, in which case we have to constantly check that we have a reasonable risk level. Of course, there are huge expenses here and we have budgeted a certain amount of Euro success every year.
HJK plays its Europa League home match on its home field at the Töölö football stadium. Riihilahti completely rejects playing at the Olympic Stadium, and is not even going to negotiate about playing. HJK intends to maintain moderate pricing for its match tickets, as a full home stadium has been an asset for the team already in the qualifying phase.
– We had decided in advance, regardless of who would come, that we would keep the tickets roughly at the same level as before. We set out to maximize the number of audiences rather than the number of box office receipts, says Riihilahti.
“HJK is going to compete and challenge to the fullest”
Since 2017, Riihilahti has been the vice-chairman of ECA, the association of European club teams, whose board also includes the owner of AS Roma Dan Friedkin. Already in the morning, Riihilahti and Friedkin had anticipated a possible joint block sky. AS Roma’s organization is very familiar to Riihilahti. The head coach Jose Mourinho according to Riihilahti, did not squeal with joy when HJK was drawn into the team’s group.
– He was not very happy when they have to play on artificial turf in Finland. The Bodø/Glimt games were so bad last year. Artificial grass is clearly not his favorite surface.
– There will certainly be feelings and strong opinions, Riihilahti predicts.
The CEO of HJK is also familiar with the organization of the Spanish club Real Betis. Goalkeeper coach of the team Toni Doblas played in goal for HJK in the group stage of the 2014 Europa League. Riihilahti also sees Bulgarian Ludogorets as a stable success. HJK’s campaign in the Europa League group stage starts in two weeks on September 8.
– Very good, great clubs with really strong and stable experience in these games. Of course, there are early favorites clearly ahead of us, but yes, HJK is going to compete and challenge fully in this.