Football Season Guide

KuPS missed out on the title by a single point in 2022. Halfway through the regular season KuPS looked great, they opened the campaign with 9 wins in the first 11 rounds, but from August onwards their form started to fade away. In the end 4 crucial away defeats, all against teams that finished below them in the standings, proved too much of a blow and a great opportunity to become champions was missed. The disappointment in the aftermath of the campaign saw coach Valakari leaving. Pasi Tuutti, who has been KuPS assistant manager for the past 4 years, is now trusted to lead the team as the new head coach. He’s not expected to change much the style of play or the approach. Tuutti has to rebuild the squad though after 5 important players left – key centre-back Thomas, his main partners in defence Ricardo and Carrillo, star playmaker Ikauniekas and the 2022 top goalscorer Väyrynen. Not certain that the replacements signed can fill the many voids left. In any case, the new signings seem to be of lesser experience so KuPS are expected by many pundits to lack the composure shown for long periods during the 2022 campaign. Last season had the best defence in the league, just 21 goals conceded in 27 matches, but with 3 of the regulars in defence now gone many question how good the back line will be. It will all depend on how fast the new trio of defenders signed from other European teams (Cisse, Bakker and Dominic) will adjust to their new environment. Recently signed Dieye is expected to become the main goal-hope in attack. However, there are question marks if either of Heinonen or Lampinen have enough quality to fll the void left by Ikaunieks. In fact, in many League Cup games before the start of the campaign Veteli was asked to play in a more advanced role. It seems he will have this new more attacking responsibilities this season.