FC Inter was founded in 1990 by Stefan Håkans, the
managing director of the
towage and
salvage company Alfons Håkans, allegedly after his 11-year-old son could not fit into any of the other youth teams in Turku. The club started out as a youth team, but in 1992 a senior squad was founded and it entered the Finnish league system at the fourth level (third division
Kolmonen). The following year, the club assumed the place of the financially troubled local club
Turun Toverit in the Second Division. Manager Timo Sinkkonen invested in new players, and eventually the club finished first and was promoted to the First Division (
Ykkönen). In 1995, Inter finished first in the
Ykkönen and was promoted, as well as reaching the semi-final stage in the Finnish
Cup. The squad was strengthened with new players, and in 1996, as both of Turku's better teams were now playing in the
Veikkausliiga, the club's attendance records were broken with 8,200 spectators in the
local derby between
Turun Palloseura (TPS) and Inter. In 1997, the club were relegated after finishing last in the
Veikkausliiga, but achieved promotion again the following season. New foreign players were bought to strengthen the squad, such as Richard Teberio and Fernando della Sala. Since then the club has consistently finished between 7th and 4th in the league, and maintained a steady inflow of foreign players as well as young starlets from its own youth academy. During the 2006 season Inter sacked their manager Kari Virtanen and hired new coach, Dutchman
Rene van Eck. After the season van Eck returned to Switzerland to coach
FC Wohlen, and another Dutchman
Job Dragtsma took over. In 2008 Inter led the league since early season and clinched their first Finnish championship title after winning against
FF Jaro in their final game. In the
2011 Veikkausliiga season, the club's first-choice striker
Timo Furuholm scored 22 goals and won the Veikkausliiga Golden Boot, and helped Inter to finish as the season's runner-up. ==European cup history==