Olympic stadium in Helsinki KuPS - Astana |
This month football team of my home city Kuopio played four matches in Helsinki and I had a chance to attend all of them. Two of the matches were qualification matches to UEFA Conference League against Astana and Union Berlin. Home matches of KuPS were played in Helsinki Olympic Stadium because the home stadium of KuPS in Kuopio does not meet the UEFA requirements. Two other matches were away matches of Veikkausliiga against teams of Helsinki (HJK and IFK).
The match against Union Berlin attracted the biggest attendance over 5 000 people which was the record attendance of KuPS this season so far even though the match was played 4 hours away from the home city of KuPS. Union Berlin had around 500 supporters in Helsinki and their chants created a good atmosphere together with the supporters of KuPS.