The club announced earlier today that we will face FC Tribe on the first round of Piiricup. From a supporter point of view this is a nice one. It will be an away match, presumably in Sastamala, where Tribe typically play their home matches. At a bit over 50 km this will be our longest away trip of the season.

There are also some interesting connections with FC Tribe. First of all, the start striker Yousef Chemlal transferred to us from them, and knows the team like his own pockets. Of course with his injury status still unknown we do not know if he will be available in that match. In addition, one of the organizers/players of FC Tribe is a Tampere United supporter, but has made it clear that FC Tribe is his priority, which is something I personally respect. This adds another interesting dimension to the match.

FC Tribe have a goal set for promotion from Kutonen to Vitonen, just like TamU-K. They play in a different subdivision, so we will not meet them in regular season play in Kutonen. From this point of view, the draw is not a particularly easy one, but on the plus side we avoided facing a team from a higher division.

The match has to be played by June 10th. The exact time and place for the match will be announced when the clubs have agreed on it.

The winner goes on to play the second round match against Vesilahden Visa (VesVi), another Kutonen team. The match would be played home, and with just 14 teams participating in the competition this year, that match will already be a quarter final, and the final in Ratina Stadium on August 18 would be looming just two wins away. Altogether there are 3 teams from Vitonen and 11 from Kutonen in the competition, so reaching the final and winning the competition is a realistic goal.