FC Kuusysi (; Finnish for FC sixty-nine) is a football club in Lahti, Finland. Its men's team is currently playing in the fourth tier of Finnish football (Kolmonen), and its women's team is playing in Kakkonen. The homeground of FC Kuusysi is Lahden kisapuisto. Synopsis The club was founded in 1934 with the name Lahden Pallo-Miehet ('Lahti Ball Men'). It used this name until 1963, when the name was changed into Upon Pallo, having by then a connection with UPO, a white goods company from Lahti. Six years later (1969) the name was again changed, into Lahti-69, which soon was moulded into Kuusysi ('sixty-nine'). When this later was adopted as the official name of the club, it was natural that another nickname soon came to be used, this time Kyykkä. The club has won five men's Finnish championships, four times when the top flight was still called Mestaruussarja, and once during Veikkausliiga. It has also twice won the Finnish Cup. Their best result in European competitions is the quarterfinals of the 1985–86 European Cup. After the 1996 season, the men's team merged with that of Reipas Lahti, giving rise to the current club FC Lahti. History Founding of the club The first club to begin to play football in Lahti was Lahden Ahkera (founded 1907), which started its team in 1908. However, they had little activity during the first years, and the team really picked up only after the independence of Finland in 1917. In 1922, Ahkera played its first official match, in which it lost to the Kouvolan Urheilijat Ball Men, the score being 1–3. In 1931 Ahkera decided to begin a separate section for football, after which football activity in the vicinity began to pick up, when Ahkera played against the other clubs of the town. Three years later the pressure for founding a specialised club for football began to increase, and thus in the spring of 1934 there was a meeting in a café called Häme in Lahti, in which a proper football club was founded. After a meeting that lasted two hours, a new club was founded, with the name Lahden Pallo-Miehet ('Lahti Ball Men'). The newly founded club decided to put special emphasis on football propaganda directed at boys. Lahden Pallo-Miehet played its first official match in July 1934 against Heinolan Isku. It ended in a goalless draw, in front of some 500–600 spectators. In