Kipinä Basket

The promotion came off the back of a 3–1 win over AC Oulu Basket in the 1. Divisioona A final, sealed 77–58 in the deciding game — the first time Kipinä Basket has reached Korisliiga. Jalen McCoy carried much of that campaign, named Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year in the division for a squad that spent the season pushing for exactly this outcome.

The basketball section grew out of Koiviston Kipinä r.y., the Äänekoski multi-sport club founded in 1945; the sport itself was already established there by the 1980s. Home games are played in white and blue at the Äänekoski Areena Pankkari, in front of a crowd capped at 1,300.

Sami Mäntymaa has captained the side for years, having come through the youth ranks at Äänekosken Huima — the same club Kipinä now meets in the local derby.

Getting into Korisliiga and staying there are different problems, and the recruitment since promotion reads as an answer to the second one. The club brought in centre Hannes Pöllä, who has worn the Finland jersey, and Daniel Rantapaju, a former Korisliiga champion — both signings aimed at a level of physicality and experience the promotion squad, built largely around academy graduates like Eetu Viiru, had not needed to face before. Kipinä Basket have never won the Korisliiga title or the Suomen Cup.