Finland national football team

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Finland
Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname Sinivalkoiset (Blue and White)
Association Football Association of Finland
(Suomen Palloliitto)
Confederation UEFA (Europe)
Head coach England Roy Hodgson, 2006-
Captain Jari Litmanen
Most caps Jari Litmanen (106)
Top scorer Jari Litmanen (28)
FIFA code FIN
FIFA ranking 52
Highest FIFA ranking 36 (March 2005)
Lowest FIFA ranking 79 (December 1996)
Elo ranking 47
Highest Elo ranking 30 (March 2002)
Team colours Team colours Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
 
Home kit
Team colours Team colours Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
 
Away kit
First international
Finland Finland 2 - 5 Sweden Sweden
(Helsinki, Finland; October 22, 1911)
Largest win
Finland Finland 10 - 2 Estonia Estonia
(Helsinki, Finland; August 11, 1922)
Worst defeat
Nazi Germany Germany 13 - 0 Finland Finland
(Leipzig, Germany; September 1, 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 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.

Finland currently ranks somewhere around the lower middle class in the UEFA region. It regularly beats the lowest-ranked teams, and can occasionally perform well against the stronger teams. It has not, however, yet found enough consistency against the top nations to truly push for qualification.

Finland are currently competing in Group A in qualification for 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 remaing undefeated in the qualifying.

Contents

[edit] 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 seeked 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 Serbia). 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.

Antti, used to talk "Mursu" means Walrus, the Finland Fans always wanted to clip his gigs with the garden scissors.

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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] World Cup record

[edit] European Championship record

[edit] Current squad

No. Pos. Player DoB/Age Caps Goals Club
1 GK Mikko Kavén February 19, 1975 15 0 Finland Tampere United
2 DF Petri Pasanen September 24, 1980 35 1 Germany Werder Bremen
4 DF Sami Hyypiä October 7, 1973 80 5 England Liverpool
5 DF Hannu Tihinen July 1, 1976 53 4 Switzerland FC Zürich
6 MF Mika Väyrynen December 28, 1981 25 2 Netherlands PSV Eindhoven
6 MF Aki Riihilahti September 9, 1976 66 11 Germany 1. FC Kaiserslautern
7 MF Mika Nurmela December 26, 1971 65 3 Finland Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi
8 MF Teemu Tainio November 27, 1979 35 5 England Tottenham Hotspur
9 FW Mikael Forssell March 15, 1981 44 16 England Birmingham City
10 MF Jari Litmanen (c) February 20, 1971 106 28 Sweden Malmö FF
11 MF Joonas Kolkka September 28, 1974 73 11 Netherlands Feyenoord
12 GK Peter Enckelman March 10, 1977 7 0 England Blackburn Rovers
13 DF Juha Pasoja November 16, 1976 12 0 Norway Ham-Kam Fotboll
14 DF Toni Kuivasto December 31, 1975 66 1 Sweden Djurgårdens IF
15 MF Jari Ilola November 24, 1978 27 1 Sweden IF Elfsborg
17 MF Peter Kopteff April 10, 1979 39 1 Netherlands FC Utrecht
18 FW Shefki Kuqi November 10, 1976 46 5 England Crystal Palace
19 DF Toni Kallio August 9, 1978 26 1 Norway Molde FK
20 MF Alexei Eremenko jr March 24, 1983 25 10 Russia FC Saturn
21 FW Jonatan Johansson August 16, 1975 74 13 Sweden Malmö FF
22 GK Jussi Jääskeläinen April 19, 1975 32 0 England Bolton Wanderers
23 MF Markus Heikkinen October 13, 1978 25 0 England Luton Town
24 FW Daniel Sjölund April 22, 1983 9 1 Sweden Djurgårdens IF
25 MF Pekka Lagerblom October 19, 1982 12 0 Germany 1. FC Köln
26 MF Jarkko Wiss April 17, 1972 43 3 Finland Tampere United
28 DF Ari Nyman February 7, 1984 12 0 Finland FC Inter Turku

[edit] Coaching staff

  • Head coach: Roy Hodgson
  • Coach: Jyrki Heliskoski
  • Coach: Jari-Pekka Keurulainen
  • Goalkeeping coach: Olli Huttunen
  • 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

[edit] Famous past players

  • Veikko Asikainen
  • Verner Eklöf
  • Pentti Eronen
  • Ari Hjelm
  • Olli Huttunen
  • Jukka Ikäläinen
  • Atik Ismail
  • Markku Kanerva
  • Hjalmar Kelin
  • Olavi Laaksonen
  • Aatos Lehtonen
   

[edit] Player records

[edit] Most capped players

# Name Career Caps Goals
1 Jari Litmanen 1989- 106 28
2 Ari Hjelm 1983-96 100 20
3 Erkka Petäjä 1983-94 83 0
4 Sami Hyypiä 1992- 80 5
5 Arto Tolsa 1964-81 76 10
6 Jonatan Johansson 1996- 74 13
7 Joonas Kolkka 1994- 73 11
8 Mika-Matti Paatelainen 1986-2000 70 18
9 Esko Ranta 1971-80 69 0
10 Juhani Peltonen 1955-70 68 11

[edit] Top goalscorers

# Name Career Goals Caps
1 Jari Litmanen 1989- 28 106
2 Ari Hjelm 1983-96 20 100
3 Mika-Matti Paatelainen 1986-2000 18 70
4 Verner Eklöf 1919-27 17 32
5 Mikael Forssell 1999- 16 44
= Aulis Koponen 1924-35 16 39
= Gunnar Åström 1923-37 16 44
8 Jonatan Johansson 1994- 13 74
= William Kanerva 1922-38 13 51
= Jorma Vaihela 1947-54 13 33
  • Correct as of October 12, 2006
  • Players who are still active and available for selection are in bold.

[edit] Coaches

Coach Career Matches Wins Draws Losses
No coach 1911-21 17 6 2 9
Jarl Öhman 1922 4 1 0 3
No coach 1923-35 77 22 12 43
Ferdinand Fabra Germany 1936-37 8 1 1 6
No coach 1937-38 9 3 0 6
Gábor Obitz Hungary 1939 6 1 0 5
No coach 1939-43 7 0 1 6
Axel Mårtensson Sweden 1945 2 0 0 2
Niilo Tammisalo 1946 3 0 0 3
Aatos Lehtonen 1947-55 51 7 9 35
Kurt Weinreich Germany 1955-58 23 3 1 19
Aatos Lehtonen 1959-61 19 3 0 16
Olavi Laaksonen 1962-74 91 16 21 54
Martti Kosma 1975 2 0 1 1
Aulis Rytkönen 1975-78 30 8 4 18
Esko Malm 1979-81 27 4 6 17
Martti Kuusela 1982-87 53 9 11 33
Jukka Vakkila 1988-92 48 7 21 20
Tommy Lindholm 1993-94 25 5 7 13
Jukka Ikäläinen 1994-96 21 7 4 10
Richard Møller Nielsen Denmark 1996-99 34 9 12 13
Antti Muurinen 2000-05 72 34 12 26
Jyrki Heliskoski 2005 6 2 2 2
Roy Hodgson England 2006- 11 2 6 3

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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