JS Hercules is an association football club based in Oulu, Finland. Founded in 1998, the team started at the lowest level of the Finnish league system and was playing in the Third Division until promoted to Finnish Second Division, Kakkonen, for the first time for season 2016.
History When Hercules played their first matches in 1998, some of the players had never previously played in a football club. Some had a little background in their local youth teams and nothing else. The team's core was a group of students mostly from the Faculty of Technology at the University of Oulu. This first generation is almost gone, but a couple are still playing for the reserve team, Herkku-Papat, or manage the team business in the background. Younger ranks are now taking care of the first team efforts on the field.
Season to season
SeasonLevelDivisionSectionAdministrationPosition1998Tier 5Nelonen (Fourth Division)Group 1Northern District (SPL Pohjois-Suomi)5th1999Tier 5Nelonen (Fourth Division)Premilinary Group Northern District (SPL Pohjois-Suomi)2ndPromotion Group 3rd2000Tier 5Nelonen (Fourth Division)Premilinary Group Northern District (SPL Pohjois-Suomi)Promotion Group 2nd - Promoted2001Tier 4Kolmonen (Third Division)Oulu/KainuuNorthern District (SPL Pohjois-Suomi)7th2002Tier 4Kolmonen (Third Division)OuluNorthern District (SPL Pohjois-Suomi)7th2003Tier 4Kolmonen (Third Division)Group ANorthern District (SPL Pohjois-Suomi)8thRelegated2004Tier 5Nelonen (Fourth Division)OuluNorthern District (SPL Pohjois-Suomi)2nd2005Tier 5Nelonen (Fourth Division)OuluNorthern District (SPL Pohjois-Suomi)6th2006Tier 5Nelonen (Fourth Division)Group ANorthern District (SPL Pohjois-Suomi)9th2007Tier 5Nelonen (Fourth Division)OuluNorthern District (SPL Pohjois-Suomi)7th2008Tier 5Nelonen (Fourth Division)OuluNorthern District (SPL Pohjois-Suomi)10th2009Tier 5Nelonen (Fourth Division)OuluNorthern District (SPL Pohjois-Suomi)9th2010Tier 5Nelonen (Fourth Division)OuluNorthern District (SPL Pohjois-Suomi)2ndPromoted2011Tier 4Kolmonen (Third Division)Northern FinlandNorthern District (SPL Pohjois-Suomi)6th2012Tier 4Kolmonen (Third Division)Northern FinlandNorthern District (SPL Pohjois-Suomi)7th2013Tier 4Kolmonen (Third Division)Northern FinlandNorthern District (SPL Pohjois-Suomi)7th2014Tier 4Kolmonen (Third Division)Northern FinlandNorthern District (SPL Pohjois-Suomi)7th2015Tier 4Kolmonen (Third Division)Northern FinlandNorthern District (SPL Pohjois-Suomi)2ndPromoted2016Tier 3Kakkonen (Second Division)Group CFinnish FA (Suomen Pallolitto) 8th2017Tier 3Kakkonen (Second Division)Group CFinnish FA (Suomen Pallolitto) 5th2018Tier 3Kakkonen (Second Division)Group CFinnish FA (Suomen Pallolitto) 4th2019Tier 3Kakkonen (Second Division)Group CFinnish FA (Suomen Pallolitto) 9th2020Tier 3Kakkonen (Second Division)Group CFinnish FA (Suomen Pallolitto) 2nd2021Tier 3Kakkonen (Second Division)Group CFinnish FA (Suomen Pallolitto) 3rd2022Tier 3Kakkonen (Second Division)Group CFinnish FA (Suomen Pallolitto) 3rd2023Tier 3Kakkonen (Second Division)Group CFinnish FA (Suomen Pallolitto) 11th2024Tier 4Kakkonen (Second Division)Group CFinnish FA (Suomen Pallolitto)7th 2025Tier 4Kakkonen (Second Division)Group CFinnish FA (Suomen Pallolitto)7th 2026Tier 4Kakkonen (Second Division)Group CFinnish FA (Suomen Pallolitto)
8 seasons in Third tier 11 seasons in Fourth tier 10 seasons in Fifth tier
Current season The club currently plays in Group C of the fourth tier Kakkonen. The reserve team, Hercules-j, plays in the fifth tier Kolmonen.
Current squad As of 21 April 2026
Outside the pitch JS Hercules has combined football and business in creating a yearly seminar, FootCoop, which brings together teams and businesses from Northern Fennoscandia with exceptional speakers. The 2012 seminar featured Brian Deane, Tom Saintfiet, Martti Kuusela, Tom Markham, Jarmo Kekäläinen, Aki Riihilahti and Miguel Huhta, and others. At the same time they organized "Sister City Football Tournament" which included teams from Oulu's sister cities and other neighboring places like Alta IF, AC Oulu, RoPS and Bodens BK. In 2017, the club entered into a partnership with Indian I-League club Chennai City.
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