Ilves-Kissat

Ilves-Kissat Tampere (Finnish: Tampereen-Viipurin Ilves-Kissat ‘Lynx Cats of Tampere-Viipuri’), is a Finnish sports club in Tampere, which was founded in 1932 in Viipuri with the name Viipurin Ilves. It is now officially known as Tampereen-Viipurin Ilves-Kissat. It plays its home matches on various stadia, e.g. Ratina Stadium, Tammela Stadion, Kaukajärvi and Lamminpää.

The name of the club was changed to Viipurin Ilves (‘Lynx of Viipuri’) in 1934, and as a result of the Winter War, the club was relocated in Tampere in 1940. However, there already was a club called Ilves in Tampere, so club reverted to the name Ilves-Kissat in December 1944.

In football, Ilves-Kissat was promoted to the Mestaruussarja (‘Championship Series’), top flight of Finnish football, in 1948, and in 1950 they won the championship. It was the first Finnish championship in football for any club from Tampere. In 1970 Ilves-Kissat played its first European competitive match against Sturm Graz from Austria. Ilves-Kissat won the match played in Ratina with a scoreline of 4–2, but in Austria they lost 0–3, and thus lost 4–5 on aggregate. The match was part of the 1970–71 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.