Vaasan Palloseura

Vaasan Palloseura was founded on 26 September 1924 at a meeting in the Fischer café, and it was the club that carried the city into the national championship first, entering the SM-sarja in 1930.

The 1940s were the peak: league titles in 1945 and 1948, the only two in the club's history. VPS held its place among Finland's elite for decades afterwards, until relegation finally caught up with it in 1977. The 1990s brought a different kind of story — after Veikkausliiga split off as a professional top flight in 1990, VPS spent time in the second tier before Boguslav Hadas took the side back up in 1994. Under Hannu Tuuru later in that decade the club reached two runners-up finishes and European football, then added the League Cup in both 1999 and 2000, the only major honour besides the two championships. Consistency has been harder to find since: a further relegation in 2019, promotion back to Veikkausliiga in 2021, and a Cup final appearance in 1972 that remains the closest VPS has come to that trophy.

The academy has kept producing its own headlines — Veli Lampi came through the youth system, left, and returned twice before finishing his career at the club, and in 2025 17-year-old Alex Mintti made his first-team debut. Jussi Jääskeläinen spent two seasons in goal before his move to Bolton Wanderers.

Matches against Seinäjoen Jalkapallokerho are billed as the Pohjanmaan derby, a fixture built on shared Ostrobothnian ground rather than the same city; the derby with Vasa IFK carries no such name of its own. VPS plays in black and white stripes, which explains the nickname The Stripe, at the Hietalahti Stadium, opened in 1935 and rebuilt between 2015 and 2016 with three new stands adding 4,600 covered seats for around €16.5 million. It now holds 6,009, all seated, and has carried sponsor names since — Elisa Stadion until 2022, Lemonsoft Stadion since.