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Finland national football team

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 has traditionally been played on an amateur basis in the country. 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 neighbours 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, highpoints 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. 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. The Englishman becomes the second high profile foreign coach in recent history of the country, as he tries to lead the team to its first ever major championship qualification. Hodgson stepped down as manager after they failed to qualify for Euro 2008.

Euro 2008 Qualification

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 15th of 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 being 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.

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

The team's nickname commonly used in Finland is "Huuhkajat" (Eurasian eagle-owls). This originates from an eagle-owl named Bubi living near 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 spectators, visited his own award ceremony on the stadium. The name of the Eurasian eagle-owl has its roots in the scientific name of the species (Bubo bubo) and legendary Finnish sports commentator Bror-Erik "Bubi" Wallenius.

World Cup record

1930 to 1934 - Did not enter
1938 - Did not qualify
1950 - Withdrew during qualifying
1954 to 2006 - Did not qualify

European Championship record

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

Results and Fixtures

2010 FIFA World Cup qualification

Current squad

Selections for the match against Azerbaijan on October 11 and Russia on October 15, 2008. Caps and goals as of September 10, 2008.

|----- ! colspan="9" bgcolor="#B0D3FB" align="left" |

Head coach: Stuart Baxter

Recent Call Up

Called up within the last year and are still available for selection.

|----- ! colspan="9" bgcolor="#B0D3FB" align="left" |

^a Called up v. Germany on September 10, 2008, but had to withdraw due to injury/illness
^b Last called up v. Israel on August 20, 2008
^c Last called up v. Belarus on June 2, 2008
^d Last called up v. Turkey on May 29, 2008
^e Last called up v. Bulgaria on March 26, 2008
^f Last called up v. Greece on February 6, 2008
^g Last called up v. Portugal on November 21, 2007
^h Last called up v. Azerbaijan on November 17, 2007
ⁱ Last called up v. Spain on October 17, 2007

Coaching staff

Head coach: Stuart Baxter
Coach: Jari-Pekka Keurulainen
Goalkeeping coach: Olli Huttunen
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

Famous past players

Player records

Most capped players

#	Name	Career	Caps	Goals
1	Jari Litmanen	1989-	115	30
2	Ari Hjelm	1983-96	100	20
3	Sami Hyypiä	1992-	92	5
4	Jonatan Johansson	1996-	91	17
5	Joonas Kolkka	1994-	88	11
6	Erkka Petäjä	1983-94	83	0
7	Arto Tolsa	1964-81	76	10
8	Toni Kuivasto	1997-	73	1
9	Mika Nurmela	1992-2007	71	4
10	Mika-Matti Paatelainen	1986-2000	70	18

Top goalscorers

#	Name	Career	Goals	Caps
1	Jari Litmanen	1989-	30	115
2	Ari Hjelm	1983-96	20	100
3	Mika-Matti Paatelainen	1986-2000	18	70
4	Verner Eklöf	1919-27	17	32
=	Mikael Forssell	1999-	17	57
=	Jonatan Johansson	1996-	17	91
7	Aulis Koponen	1924-35	16	39
=	Gunnar Åström	1923-37	16	44
9	William Kanerva	1922-38	13	51
=	Jorma Vaihela	1947-54	13	33

Correct as of September 10, 2008
Players who are still active and available for selection are in bold.

Coaches

Coach	Tenure	Matches	Wins	Draws	Losses	Win %
No coach	1911–1921	17	6	2	9	35.3
	1922	4	1	0	3	25.0
No coach	1923–1935	77	22	12	43	28.6
	1936–1937	8	1	1	6	12.5
No coach	1937–1938	9	3	0	6	33.3
	1939	6	1	0	5	16.7
No coach	1939–1943	7	0	1	6	0.0
	1945	2	0	0	2	0.0
	1946	3	0	0	3	0.0
	1947–1955	51	7	9	35	13.7
	1955–1958	23	3	1	19	13.0
	1959–1961	19	3	0	16	15.8
	1962–1974	91	16	21	54	17.6
	1975	2	0	1	1	0.0
	1975–1978	30	8	4	18	26.7
	1979–1981	27	4	6	17	14.8
	1982–1987	53	9	11	33	17.0
	1988–1992	48	7	21	20	14.6
	1993–1994	25	5	7	13	20.0
	1994–1996	21	7	4	10	33.3
	1996–1999	34	9	12	13	26.5
	2000–2005	72	34	12	26	47.2
	2005	6	2	2	2	33.3
	2006–2007	22	6	11	5	27.3
	2008–	6	1	2	3	16.7