Ekenäs IF achieved something unprecedented for it on Sunday.
The seventeenth time and time again told EIF. After a 90-year hiatus, EIF, which plays in the main league of Finnish football, drew 1–1 with AC Oulu.
The point was the first in its major league history. All the previous 16 matches in the main series had ended in defeat.
The people of Tammisaari were locked in victory for a long time. EIF received a penalty kick in the 18th minute. Lucas Kaufmann fired the hosts into the lead.
AC Oulu, who performed sluggishly, struggled their way to level in the second period. Yankee reinforcement Jeremy Rennicks scored his second goal of the season in the 75th minute to save ACO a point.
EIFin the first home match in the main league in 90 years did not cause a real national celebration. The club had to play the match at Myyrmäki football stadium in Vantaa, about 100 kilometers away from their own home field.
Only 595 spectators bothered to come to Vantaa. The atmosphere was far from the national celebration with which Gnistan from Helsinki entered the Veikkausliiga for the first time ever. It got its conditions just right before the start of the season.
In Tammisaari, an even bigger renovation had to be done. The center field is not yet in playing condition.
EIF’s home stadium is being modernized to meet Veikkausliiga’s requirements. The club hopes to play the first proper home match in May.
One of the lower stands was so crowded that another person could sit next to it.
Partly the lack of audience is also explained by the problems related to the arrangements. Ticket sales for the match could only be started at the end of the week, and even then the club suffered from system problems.
However, the first league point was enough to lighten the mood of a rough day. EIF rose from the jumbo place in the league to second last and left Ilves, one of the favorites in the series, behind.