Jaro

Ground: Jakobstads Centralplan

Visits: 1

Date: 6th July 2025

Match: Jaro - IFK Mariehamn 1-1 (Veikkausliiga)

Attendance: 2 144

On Sunday I could sleep late and at 11.09 I then boarded a train heading for Rovaniemi. There is no train station in Jakobstad itself but if you leave at Jakobstad-Pedersöre, an hour from Seinäjoki, there is a trainbus bringing you to central Jakobstad. Jakobstad is the Swedish name for the town, in Finnish the town is called Pietersaari. Swedish is the majority language in Jakobstad and it felt a bit strange to be abroad and still being addressed in Swedish. After 10 years in the 2nd tier Jaro were promoted back to Veikkausliiga at the end of last season. The match this evening is their penultimate home game at Jakobstads Centralplan. Friday 25th July the new football ground, LIV Arena, in Jakobstad will be inaugurated with the derby against VPS. LIV Arena is less than 100 m from the current ground btw. After checking-in at my hotel I had lunch before doing a sightseeing trip around Jakobstad and it felt like a nice, small town. At the end of my walk I went to Jakobstads Centralplan and I actually managed to find a way into LIV Arena. There was some kind of guided tour (for sponsors?) and I simply joined the pack. Capacity of LIV Arena will be 3,600 but to be honest the ground felt a bit boring, just the same standard ground concept everywhere nowadays.

Kick-off was at 16.00 and as was the case yesterday I was joined by my Danish groundhopper Michael. Once inside it was easy to understand why Jaro wants to move to a new ground. The main stand felt old and had several pillars restricting the view. The small stand on the other side has no roof but thankfully for those sitting there the rain stayed away during the match. Jaro, which stands for Jakobstads Rostfria, hosted IFK Mariehamn and for both teams points are needed to separate from the bottom two. Jaro took the lead in the 35th minute and at half-time it was 1-0. In the 2nd half the visitors from Åland were the better team and when they equalised that was fully deserved. It ended 1-1 at Jakobstads Centralplan and hopefully both teams will earn enough points to avoid relegation. After the match it was not easy to find an open restaurant but we eventually ended up in a Nepalese restaurant where I had lamb stew. Tomorrow I will go by bus to Vasa and that will be my final destination on this trip.

Jakobstads Stadshus