Priorities
Back in 2016, there were two football clubs in Kajaani. The first one was the aforementioned AC Kajaani. As earlier stated, I had experience doing my first practical training with the first team of AC Kajaani. When I returned to Kajaani in 2016 (this time from Kotka), I was looking for a second internship position that was necessary for my university to graduate. So, I contacted AC Kajaani to get a part-time internship job for the club, while I was writing my thesis. As an initial offer, I proposed organizing a football cup for students of the local university, like myself, and other citizens of Kajaani. As the club's priority was the first team's performance, AC Kajaani's interest in my project was the minimum. So, I switched my focus to another club: Kajaanin Haka (for shortening KajHa). KajHa was a very different project. The club's focus was not on the first team but on coaching young players. Moreover, the club was often supported by the town grants to perform different sports activities in local schools. Thus, my project of organizing a football tournament was going along the way with what KajHa was doing already. That's how I started my second official internship.
Football Management
Together with KajHa, we started with organizing the Haka Cup for hobby adult players from Kajaani. The tournament was sponsored by the Kajaani municipal government. The success of the tournament brought up the idea of prolonging the event with the league format. That is how we organized the Haka League. The Haka League was introduced in the summer of 2016. Both the tournament and the league turned out to be a success. We got several times published in the local newspaper. All of these publications had a significant impact on the club's image in the town. The local cafeteria Cafe Mokka became the title sponsor for the tournament in the following season. In addition to bringing new sponsors, the number of engaged coaches started to grow. As a result, we were able to create the club's vertical that connected junior teams with all adult teams of the club, starting from 7vs7 hobby teams up to the first team under one umbrella. During the time I was working with KajHa, we have organized a bunch of different projects, the most remarkable being: Harrasteliiga, NG Futsal Cup, Haka Cup, Haka Mokka Cup, Haka Liiga, Jalkapallopuulaakiliiga, Kajaani Cup
Bachelor Thesis
I graduated from KAMK University of Applied Science in December 2016, 3.5 years after I started my studies. Prior to graduation, I managed to submit my Bachelor Thesis and received the 2nd highest grade for my work (4 out 5, which also means "Good"). It could have been "Excellent" but my English language skills were not that good at that time. My full thesis is available online from:
I should say special thanks to three people who gave me huge support in conducting my research: my thesis supervisor Perttu Huusko, my tutor Kari Partanen, and Riku Tapio (the CEO of FC KTP at that time). All three helped me with my thesis at different stages. Thanks to the hand-written recommendations from Perttu and Kari, I was later accepted for the master's program in sports management. To be precise, soon after my graduation from the university in Kajaani, I applied for the Master's degree studies at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Luckily enough, I also received a 16.000 euro grant for my studies!
