SM league: Imatran Ketterä was not granted a league license

The license committee rejected Ketterä’s application at a meeting held on Tuesday, May 19.

Among the reasons for the rejection were the fact that the club’s match events cannot be organized in the manner required by the license conditions of the SM League and under the conditions required by the league. The club also reportedly has a significant amount of overdue debts and non-payment entries registered in the credit registers.

– Ketterä’s organization did a commendable job in preparing the application, but according to the committee’s decision, the club’s license eligibility for the 2026–27 season was affected by several different areas, chairman of the license committee Jaakko Luumi says in the announcement.

Agile planned to play 26 of their regular season home matches in Imatra and eight in Lappeenranta. According to the release, Ketterä’s hall conditions and the venue for home matches were central to the application.

The criteria for the SM-liiga license require that the team’s home hall must have at least 2,500 seats and a total capacity of at least 4,000 spectators. Ketterä presented a plan to increase the capacity to 4,000 spectators by the 2028–29 season, but the plan was tied to sporting success.

The Licensing Committee emphasizes in the press release that the decision should not be interpreted as a precedent, because starting from the 2027–28 season, the League will enter a direct promotion and relegation model and a new two-level license system.

Ketterä has the opportunity to appeal the decision to the Sports Legal Protection Board within 30 days.