Finland national football team

Finland

Nickname(s)	Huuhkajat ("Eurasian Eagle-owls")
Association	Football Association of Finland (Suomen Palloliitto, Finlands Bollförbund)
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Head coach	Stuart Baxter
Captain	Sami Hyypiä
Most caps	Jari Litmanen (135)
Top scorer	Jari Litmanen (31)
Home stadium	Helsinki Olympic Stadium
FIFA code	FIN
FIFA ranking	52
Highest FIFA ranking	33 (March 2007)
Lowest FIFA ranking	79 (December 1996)
Elo ranking	50
Highest Elo ranking	30 (March 2002)
Lowest Elo ranking	125 (1962-3)
Home colours Away colours
First international
Finland 2 - 5 Sweden (Helsinki, Finland; 22 October 1911)
Biggest win
Finland 10 - 2 Estonia (Helsinki, Finland; 11 August 1922)
Biggest defeat
Germany 13 - 0 Finland (Leipzig, Germany; 1 September 1940)

The Finland national football team represents Finland in international football competitions and is controlled by the Football Association of Finland.

The Finnish national team has never qualified for a finals tournament of the World Cup or the European Championships, but has made four Olympic tournament appearances. It was considered one of the weakest teams in Europe in past decades; especially at a time when many of today's smallest nations didn't yet compete in international football. Finland is one of the few European countries where football is not the most popular spectator sport, and the game was played on an amateur basis in the country until the late 20th century. Only in the last decade – after the Bosman ruling and the removal of foreign quotas in the EU region – have Finnish players had significant opportunities to play in the continent's top leagues. Today, nearly all regular members of the national team play outside of Finland.

History

The Football Association of Finland was founded as early as 1907 and became a member of FIFA in 1908, despite the fact that at that time Finland was still an autonomous grand duchy of the Russian Empire and didn't gain independence until 1917. Finland played its first international match on October 22, 1911, losing to neighboring Sweden 2–5 in Helsinki.

A fourth place finish at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm still arguably ranks as the country's best ever achievement in international football. Finland beat Italy and Russia in the first two rounds before losing to Great Britain in the semi-finals. In the bronze medal match they were beaten 0–9 by the Netherlands. According to the story, the Finns were under the impression that the match would be a day later, so they had gone out celebrating the night before the match, and as a consequence were easily beaten. Finland's star player Eino Soinio, aged only 17 at the time, was chosen to the all-star team of the tournament by Swedish paper Idrottsbladet.

Finland also took part in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, but was beaten by Peru in the first round. The country sought qualification for the World Cup for the first time in the 1938 event, but failed to score a single point. The fortunes of the team didn't improve much in the 1950s or 1960s: they were never near qualification, and didn't achieve their first win until 1965. Finland also took part in European Championship qualifying since the 1968 event, but had to wait for its first win until 1978. The 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki saw the hosts crash to Austria in the first round. Finland did, however, win the unofficial Nordic championship in 1952, 1964 and 1966.

The results of the team improved somewhat in the late 1970s and the 1980s. Finland missed out on qualification for Euro 1980 by just a point and for the 1986 World Cup by two points. Finland was invited to take part in the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow after many Western countries announced they would boycott the games, but failed to progress from its group.

By the mid-1990s Finland started to have more players in high profile European leagues, led by the Ajax superstar Jari Litmanen. In 1996 Danish Euro 1992 winning coach Richard Møller Nielsen was hired to take Finland to the 1998 World Cup. The team enjoyed mixed fortunes in the campaign, high points of which were a draw and a win away to Norway and Switzerland respectively. Going into the last match, Finland would have needed a win at home to Hungary to earn a place in the play-offs. They led the game 1-0 going into injury time, but scored an own goal, and once again the dreams of qualification were over. Møller Nielsen also tried to lead Finland to Euro 2000. In this campaign the Finns recorded a sensational win away to Turkey, but couldn't compete with Germany and Turkey in the long run.

Antti Muurinen succeeded Møller Nielsen as coach in 2000. He had arguably the most talented group of Finnish players ever at his disposal, including players such as Antti Niemi, Sami Hyypiä, Teemu Tainio and Mikael Forssell in addition to the legendary Litmanen. The team also performed quite well under him in qualification for the 2002 World Cup despite a difficult draw, earning two draws against Germany and a home draw with England as well as beating Greece 5–1 in Helsinki. In the end, however, England and Germany proved too strong, and the Finns finished third in the group, but were the only team in that group not to lose at home. Hopes were high going into qualification for Euro 2004 after the promising last campaign and friendly wins over the likes of Norway, Belgium and Portugal. However, Finland started the campaign by losing to Wales and Yugoslavia (later Serbia and Montenegro, now two separate nations). These losses were followed by two defeats by Italy, and a 3-0 home win over Serbia and Montenegro was little consolation, as the Finns finished fourth in the group. In qualification for the 2006 World Cup Finland failed to score a single point in six matches against the top three teams in their group, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Romania. Muurinen was sacked in June 2005, and he was replaced by caretaker Jyrki Heliskoski, but results didn't improve.

In August 2005 it was announced that Roy Hodgson would become the new Finland coach in 2006, and he started in the job in January of that year. Hodgson stepped down as manager after they failed to qualify for Euro 2008.^[1] His replacement was another Englishman, Stuart Baxter, who signed a contract until the end of the 2012 European Championship qualification campaign.^[2]

Finland was competing in Group A in qualification for UEFA Euro 2008, together with Portugal, Poland, Serbia, Belgium, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. The team started the campaign very well, beating Poland 3-1 away and earning a 1-1 draw with Portugal at home. The Finns then gained four points from their difficult away ties against Armenia and Kazakhstan, drawing 0-0 with the former and beating the latter 2-0. On 15 November 2006, Finland beat Armenia 1-0 at home, thus remaining undefeated in the qualifying. In Finland's first match of 2007, they were in poor form when they lost against Azerbaijan 1-0, one of the worst matches in Finnish footballing history. On early June they lost to Serbia 2-0 at home, which many fans felt to be the end of a real battle for qualification. But the next match was against Belgium and team Finland gained the trust of their fans back by winning 2-0 at home. This was followed by a series of wins including a 2-1 win against Azerbaijan, with the team needing to win against Portugal away from home needing to qualify. However, the match ended 0-0 meaning the team missed out on qualification. At the end of the group table the defeat to Azerbaijan made little difference, as it would have meant Finland losing out on away goals between them and Portugal when the teams met if they did win against Azerbaijan twice. However, the performance in qualifying seen the Finns gain their best-ever FIFA world ranking to date at the position of 33rd.

2010 World cup qualification has fared little better, with the team under new head coach Stuart Baxter not winning matches as consistently like they did under Roy Hodgson. However the team were within touching distance of a win over Euro 2008 finalists Germany, but had to settle for a 3-3 draw. The team again finished third in their group with five wins, three draws and two defeats. They were the only team in qualifying not to lose to Germany, but came close to a win in the second meeting only to concede an equaliser in stoppage time. Despite never qualifying for a major tournament so far in their history, the team have been regulars in the top 50 of the monthly FIFA world rankings.

Stadiums

Most of Finland's important home matches are played at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium in the capital Helsinki. It has been Finland's principal home stadium ever since its construction was completed in 1938. Before that Pallokenttä in Helsinki was mainly used.

Today, some qualifying matches against lower profile opponents and some friendlies are hosted at the Ratina Stadion in Tampere. Helsinki's Finnair Stadium, which has artificial turf, is also used for some friendlies and qualifiers.

Nickname

Bubi at a football game

The team's Finnish nickname is "Huuhkajat" (Eagle owls). The name comes from Bubi, an eagle owl living in the tower of the Helsinki Olympic Stadium. He made his first appearance in a football game in 2007 in a game between Finland and Belgium, helping Finland win 2-0. Bubi was named Helsinki's "Resident of the Year" in 2007 and to the surprise of the spectators, visited his own award ceremony on the stadium. ^[3] The name of the owl derives from the scientific name of the species (Bubo bubo) and the nickname of a Finnish sports commentator, Bror-Erik "Bubi" Wallenius.

World Cup record

Year	Round	Position	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA
1930	Did not enter	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1934	Did not enter	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1938	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1950	Withdrew during qualifying	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1954	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1958	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1962	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1966	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1970	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1974	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1978	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1982	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1986	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1990	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1994	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1998	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2002	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2006	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2010	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	0/19	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

European Championship record

• 1960 to 1964 - Did not enter
• 1968 to 2008 - Did not qualify

UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying

Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Netherlands 4 4 0 0 12 2 +10 12  Hungary 4 3 0 1 12 4 +8 9  Sweden 3 2 0 1 9 4 +5 6  Moldova 4 2 0 2 5 3 +2 6  Finland 4 1 0 3 10 6 +4 3  San Marino 5 0 0 5 0 29 −29 0

Current squad

Selections for the matches against Moldova and Netherlands on 3rd and 7th September 2010.^[4] Caps and goals as of 3 September 2010

0#0 Pos. Player Date of Birth (Age) Caps Goals Club 1 GK Otto Fredrikson 30 November 1981 (1981-11-30) (age 29) 8 0 Spartak Nalchik GK Jukka Lehtovaara 15 March 1988 (1988-03-15) (age 22) 1 0 TPS GK Anssi Jaakkola 13 March 1987 (1987-03-13) (age 23) 0 0 Slavia Prague 13 DF Veli Lampi 18 June 1984 (1984-06-18) (age 26) 20 0 Willem II DF Markus Heikkinen 13 October 1978 (1978-10-13) (age 32) 54 0 Rapid Wien 3 DF Niklas Moisander 29 September 1985 (1985-09-29) (age 25) 13 1 AZ DF Petri Pasanen 24 September 1980 (1980-09-24) (age 30) 59 1 Werder Bremen 4 DF Sami Hyypiä 7 October 1973 (1973-10-07) (age 37) 104 5 Bayer Leverkusen DF Jonas Portin 30 September 1986 (1986-09-30) (age 24) 0 0 Calcio Padova 14 MF Tim Sparv 20 February 1987 (1987-02-20) (age 23) 10 0 Groningen 6 MF Mika Väyrynen 28 December 1981 (1981-12-28) (age 29) 45 4 Heerenveen MF Roni Porokara 12 December 1983 (1983-12-12) (age 27) 15 3 Örebro 7 MF Roman Eremenko 19 March 1987 (1987-03-19) (age 23) 29 1 Dynamo Kyiv 8 MF Kasper Hämäläinen 8 August 1986 (1986-08-08) (age 24) 9 0 Djurgården MF Alexei Eremenko 27 March 1983 (1983-03-27) (age 27) 45 13 Kilmarnock MF Teemu Tainio** 27 November 1979 (1979-11-27) (age 31) 52 6 Ajax MF Joonas Kolkka** 28 September 1974 (1974-09-28) (age 36) 98 11 NAC 10 FW Jari Litmanen 20 February 1971 (1971-02-20) (age 39) 135 31 Lahti 16 FW Jonatan Johansson 16 August 1975 (1975-08-16) (age 35) 104 22 TPS 9 FW Mikael Forssell 15 March 1981 (1981-03-15) (age 29) 69 19 Hannover 96 FW Daniel Sjölund 22 April 1983 (1983-04-22) (age 27) 23 2 Djurgården 18 FW Shefki Kuqi 10 November 1976 (1976-11-10) (age 34) 60 7 Swansea City

** Only against Netherlands.

Recent call ups

0#0 Pos. Player Date of Birth (Age) Caps Goals Club 12 GK Lukas Hradecky 24 November 1989 (1989-11-24) (age 21) 1 0 Esbjerg 12 GK Niki Mäenpää 23 January 1985 (1985-01-23) (age 26) 4 0 Willem II GK Janne Korhonen 28 November 1979 (1979-11-28) (age 31) 0 0 JJK GK Peter Enckelman 10 March 1977 (1977-03-10) (age 33) 12 0 St. Johnstone DF Ari Nyman 7 February 1984 (1984-02-07) (age 27) 22 0 Inter Turku 19 DF Joni Aho 12 April 1986 (1986-04-12) (age 24) 1 0 Inter Turku 14 DF Hannu Patronen 23 May 1984 (1984-05-23) (age 26) 5 0 Helsingborg 20 DF Paulus Arajuuri 15 June 1988 (1988-06-15) (age 22) 1 0 Kalmar DF Joona Toivio 10 March 1988 (1988-03-10) (age 22) 0 0 Djurgården DF Jani Lyyski 16 March 1983 (1983-03-16) (age 27) 3 0 Djurgården 5 DF Markus Halsti 19 March 1984 (1984-03-19) (age 26) 3 0 Malmö 3 DF Jukka Raitala 15 September 1988 (1988-09-15) (age 22) 2 0 Paderborn DF Ville Jalasto 19 April 1986 (1986-04-19) (age 24) 1 0 Aalesund DF Tuomo Turunen 30 August 1987 (1987-08-30) (age 23) 2 0 Trelleborg DF Kalle Parviainen 3 October 1982 (1982-10-03) (age 28) 1 0 Haka 17 MF Sebastian Sorsa 25 January 1984 (1984-01-25) (age 27) 1 0 HJK 18 MF Mika Ojala 21 June 1988 (1988-06-21) (age 22) 1 0 Inter Turku MF Perparim Hetemaj 12 December 1986 (1986-12-12) (age 24) 2 0 Brescia 15 MF Juska Savolainen 1 September 1983 (1983-09-01) (age 27) 2 0 Haugesund MF Mehmet Hetemaj 8 December 1987 (1987-12-08) (age 23) 2 0 AlbinoLeffe MF Mika Ääritalo 25 July 1985 (1985-07-25) (age 25) 1 0 TPS MF Joel Perovuo 11 August 1985 (1985-08-11) (age 25) 2 0 Djurgården FW Paulus Roiha 3 August 1980 (1980-08-03) (age 30) 19 4 Åtvidaberg FW Berat Sadik 14 September 1986 (1986-09-14) (age 24) 4 0 FC Lahti FW Niklas Tarvajärvi 13 March 1983 (1983-03-13) (age 27) 4 0 Karlsruhe FW Hermanni Vuorinen 27 January 1985 (1985-01-27) (age 26) 1 0 Sporting Charleroi 11 FW Timo Furuholm 11 August 1987 (1987-08-11) (age 23) 1 0 Inter Turku FW Juho Mäkelä 23 June 1983 (1983-06-23) (age 27) 8 0 HJK FW Teemu Pukki 29 March 1990 (1990-03-29) (age 20) 3 0 HJK

Coaching staff

• Head coach: Stuart Baxter
• Coach: Jari-Pekka Keurulainen
• Goalkeeping coach: Olli Huttunen / Antti Niemi
• Scout: Keith Armstrong
• Technical analyst: Kari Ukkonen
• U-21 coach: Markku Kanerva
• Team director: Lennart Wangel
• Team doctor: Heikki Kinnunen
• Masseur: Hannu Kanerva
• Physiotherapist: Paavo Leiramo
• Kit manager: Kai Kyntölä
• Media officer: Timo Walden

Player records

Most capped players

Top goalscorers

• Correct as of 12 August 2010
• Players who are still active and available for selection are in bold

Managers

Coach	Nat	Tenure	Matches	Wins	Draws	Losses	Win %
None		1911–1921	17	6	2	9	35.3
Öhman, JarlJarl Öhman		1922	4	1	0	3	25.0
None		1923–1935	77	22	12	43	28.6
Fabra, FerdinandFerdinand Fabra		1936–1937	8	1	1	6	12.5
None		1937–1938	9	3	0	6	33.3
Obitz, GáborGábor Obitz		1939	6	1	0	5	16.7
None		1939–1943	7	0	1	6	0.0
Mårtensson, AxelAxel Mårtensson		1945	2	0	0	2	0.0
Tammisalo, NiiloNiilo Tammisalo		1946	3	0	0	3	0.0
Lehtonen, AatosAatos Lehtonen		1947–1955	51	7	9	35	13.7
Weinreich, KurtKurt Weinreich		1955–1958	23	3	1	19	13.0
Lehtonen, AatosAatos Lehtonen		1959–1961	19	3	0	16	15.8
Laaksonen, OlaviOlavi Laaksonen		1962–1974	91	16	21	54	17.6
Kosma, MarttiMartti Kosma		1975	2	0	1	1	0.0
Rytkönen, AulisAulis Rytkönen		1975–1978	30	8	4	18	26.7
Malm, EskoEsko Malm		1979–1981	27	4	6	17	14.8
Kuusela, MarttiMartti Kuusela		1982–1987	53	9	11	33	17.0
Vakkila, JukkaJukka Vakkila		1988–1992	48	7	21	20	14.6
Lindholm, TommyTommy Lindholm		1993–1994	25	5	7	13	20.0
Ikäläinen, JukkaJukka Ikäläinen		1994–1996	21	7	4	10	33.3
Møller Nielsen, RichardRichard Møller Nielsen		1996–1999	34	9	12	13	26.5
Muurinen, AnttiAntti Muurinen		2000–2005	72	34	12	26	47.2
Heliskoski, JyrkiJyrki Heliskoski		2005	6	2	2	2	33.3
Hodgson, RoyRoy Hodgson		2006–2007	22	6	11	5	27.3
Baxter, StuartStuart Baxter		2008–	29	8	6	15	27.5

• Correct as of 3 September 2010

See also

• Finland national under-19 football team
• Finland national under-21 football team
• Finland women's national football team
• Football in Finland
• Åland Islands national football team
• Sápmi national football team

References

1. ↑ Hodgson to return for Inter role BBC Sport, 1 December 2007
2. ↑ Suomen Palloliitto - Etusivu (Finnish)
3. ↑ Palkittu Bubi käväisi yllättäen palkitsemistilaisuudessa HS.fi - Kaupunki
4. ↑ [1] (Finnish)

External links

• (Finnish) Official website
• RSSSF archive of results 1911-
• RSSSF archive of most capped players and highest goalscorers
• RSSSF archive of coaches
• The Finnish National Team Supporters' Association

International association football FIFA · World Cup · Confederations Cup · U-20 World Cup · U-17 World Cup · Olympics · Asian Games · All-Africa Games · Pan American Games · Minor tournaments · World Rankings · Player of the Year · FIFA Ballon d'Or  · Teams · Debuts · Competitions · Federations · Codes Asia AFC – Asian Cup Africa CAF – Africa Cup of Nations North, Central America and Caribbean CONCACAF – Gold Cup South America CONMEBOL – Copa América Oceania OFC – Nations Cup Europe UEFA – European Championship Non-FIFA N.F.-Board – Viva World Cup– Europeada