Finland national football team

Finland
Nickname(s) Huuhkajat
(The Eagle-Owls)[1]
Association Football Association of Finland
(Suomen Palloliitto)
(Finlands Bollförbund)
Confederation UEFA (Europe)
Head coach Mixu Paatelainen
Captain Niklas Moisander
Most caps Jari Litmanen (137)
Top scorer Jari Litmanen (32)
Home stadium Helsinki Olympic Stadium
FIFA code FIN
FIFA ranking 78 Steady (9 April 2015)
Highest FIFA ranking 33 (March 2007)
Lowest FIFA ranking 96 (September 2012)
Elo ranking 62 (31 March 2015)
Highest Elo ranking 30[2] (March 2002)
Lowest Elo ranking 125[2] (1962-3)
First colours
Second colours
First international
Russian Empire Finland 2–5 Sweden 
(Helsinki, Grand Duchy of Finland, Russian Empire; 22 October 1911)
Biggest win
 Finland 10–2 Estonia 
(Helsinki, Finland; 11 August 1922)
 Finland 8–0 San Marino 
(Helsinki, Finland; 17 November 2010)
Biggest defeat
 Germany 13–0 Finland 
(Leipzig, Germany; 1 September 1940)
Summer Olympics
Appearances 4 (First in 1912)
Best result Fourth place, 1912
National team against Denmark in 1933.

The Finland national football team (Finnish: Suomen jalkapallomaajoukkue, Swedish: Finland fotbollslandslag) represents Finland in international football competitions and is controlled by the Football Association of Finland.

Although the Finnish national team has never qualified for a finals tournament of the World Cup or the European Championships, the Nordic nation made remarkable progression in the 2000s reaching a peak of 30th on the Elo Rankings, under coach of Roy Hodgson they achieved notable results against much more established European teams. The team has also never dropped out of the top 100 of the FIFA World Rankings since the rankings were established in 1993.

Early 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 did not gain independence until 1917. Finland played its first international match on October 22, 1911, losing to neighboring Sweden 2–5 in Helsinki.

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 Finnish hosts lose to Austria in the first round. Finland did, however, win the unofficial Nordic championship in 1964 and 1966.[3]

Later 20th century

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 (which seen the Finns jump from 40th–30th in the Elo ranking[2]). 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.[4] His replacement was a Scotsman, Stuart Baxter, who signed a contract until the end of the 2012 European Championship qualification campaign.[5]

Recent history

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 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 eventual 3rd place finishers Germany, but came close to a win in the second meeting only to concede an equaliser in stoppage time.

Qualification for the European 2012 European Championship has so far been underwhelming, with three straight defeats against Moldova (2–0), the Netherlands and Hungary (both 2–1), before closing 2010 with an 8–0 success against minnows San Marino which saw Mikael Forssell the first player of the group to score a hat trick. Before their first win of the campaign, the team slipped to 87th in the FIFA World Rankings, despite still staying in the top 100 and therefore keeping up their consistency in the top half of the monthly table, this was however their lowest-ever position in their history since the rankings were established in 1993. The team then moved up to 76th place after a disappointing 1-0 win over San Marino, that team's best result in their group having lost every game with no goals scored. This was then followed up by a 5-0 mauling by their neighbours Sweden, giving them their fourth defeat in the group. To date Finland have scored 11 goals and conceded 11, a large decline after the success of 2007-2009.

For the Qualification for the 2014 World Cup, Finland has seen significant improvement despite up and down results. Being ranked the weakest team in the group, they started the qualification with little success with a 1-0 loss to France, and a disappointing 1-1 home draw with Georgia in Helsinki. They then achieved a historic 1-1 draw against number 1 ranked Spain who are reigning European and World Cup champions in Gijon, with Teemu Pukki scoring the equalizing goal in the 79th minute. They followed that up with a 1-0 win over Belarus. These two results propelled Finland right back into the conversation for a potential playoff spot. However they were held to a 1-1 draw at Belarus 4 days later. Next up Finland hosted Spain in Helsinki, hoping to achieve another upset result that would have increased their chances for a playoff spot greatly, unfortunately they lost 2-0 with goals coming from Jordi Alba and Alvaro Negredo with Teemu Tainio giving Finland's only real threat to score but his shot was well saved by Iker Casillas. Despite the loss, Finland still had a slight chance to finish second, but they need to win against Georgia in Tbilisi, and France to lose against Belarus in Minsk. Finland achieved their task of defeating Georgia 1-0 thanks to a Roman Eremenko penalty kick. However France ended up coming back to defeat Belarus 4-2, despite trailing 2-0 at halftime. Because of the French victory, Finland were eliminated from a playoff spot. They finished the campaign third in their group after losing 3-0 against France in the final game in Paris.

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 Sonera Stadium, which has artificial turf, is also used for some friendlies and qualifiers.

Competitive record

All–time record against all nations

This list is Finland national team complete records, both friendlies and competitive matches. As of 18 November 2014

Against Played Won Drawn Lost GF GA GD % Won
 Albania 7 4 1 2 8 6 +2 57%
 Algeria 1 0 0 1 0 2 -2 0%
 Andorra 2 1 1 0 3 0 +3 50%
 Armenia 4 3 1 0 6 1 +5 75%
 Austria 10 1 1 8 10 23 −13 10%
 Azerbaijan 8 7 0 1 15 5 +10 88%
 Bahrain 5 4 1 0 9 1 +8 80%
 Barbados 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0%
 Belarus 4 1 3 0 5 4 +1 25%
 Belgium 10 4 3 3 18 19 −1 40%
 Bermuda 1 1 0 0 2 0 +2 100%
 Bolivia 2 0 1 1 2 5 -3 0%
 Bosnia and Herzegovina 1 0 0 1 0 1 -1 0%
 Brazil 3 0 0 3 3 9 −6 0%
 Bulgaria 8 0 1 7 3 19 −16 0%
 Canada 1 1 0 0 3 2 0 100%
 Chile 1 0 0 1 0 2 −2 0%
 China PR 4 4 0 0 7 6 +1 100%
 Colombia 1 0 0 1 1 3 −2 0%
 Costa Rica 1 0 0 1 1 2 −1 0%
 Cyprus 4 2 1 1 7 4 +3 50%
 Czech Republic 11 3 3 5 14 22 −8 27%
 Denmark 59 11 10 38 60 151 −91 19%
 East Germany 7 2 1 4 8 21 −13 29%
 Ecuador 1 0 0 1 1 3 −2 0%
 Egypt 2 0 0 2 2 4 −2 0%
 England 13 0 2 11 7 44 −37 0%
 Estonia 30 14 10 6 71 38 +33 45%
 Faroe Islands 4 4 0 0 13 1 +12 100%
 France 8 0 0 8 3 18 −15 0%
 Georgia 2 1 1 0 2 1 +1 50%
 Germany 22 1 6 15 19 80 −59 5%
 Greece 13 3 3 7 17 25 −9 23%
 Honduras 1 1 0 0 2 1 +1 100%
 Hungary 16 3 3 10 15 47 −31 20%
 Iceland 10 6 2 2 17 10 +7 60%
 India 2 1 1 0 2 0 +2 50%
 Iraq 2 2 0 0 3 0 +3 100%
 Ireland 5 0 2 3 2 11 −9 0%
 Israel 5 2 1 2 6 6 0 40%
 Italy 12 1 1 10 7 30 −21 8%
 Japan 2 0 0 2 1 7 -6 0%
 Kazakhstan 3 2 1 0 4 1 +6 67%
 Kuwait 7 3 2 2 6 5 +1 43%
 Latvia 17 10 3 4 32 18 +14 59%
 Liechtenstein 2 1 1 0 3 2 +1 50%
 Lithuania 5 3 0 2 15 5 +10 60%
 Luxembourg 5 4 0 1 12 4 +8 80%
 Macedonia 4 3 0 1 11 2 +9 75%
 Malaysia 1 1 0 0 2 1 +1 100%
 Malta 7 4 2 1 9 5 +4 57%
 Mexico 4 0 1 3 2 7 -5 0%
 Moldova 4 2 1 1 7 5 +2 50%
 Morocco 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0%
 Netherlands 14 1 2 11 14 43 −29 7%
 North Korea 1 1 0 0 3 0 +3 100%
 Northern Ireland 7 3 1 3 11 9 +2 43%
 Norway 61 9 14 38 77 172 −95 15%
 Oman 6 3 3 0 7 2 +5 50%
 Peru 1 0 0 1 3 7 −4 0%
 Poland 30 3 8 19 28 71 −43 10%
 Portugal 10 1 4 5 6 14 −8 10%
 Qatar 4 1 3 0 4 3 +1 25%
 Romania 10 0 3 7 4 26 −22 0%
 Russia 20 1 5 14 13 66 −53 5%
 San Marino 4 4 0 0 15 0 +15 100%
 Saudi Arabia 4 2 1 1 7 4 +3 50%
 Scotland 8 0 2 6 5 18 −13 0%
 Serbia 9 2 2 5 10 30 −20 40%
 Slovakia 3 0 1 2 1 4 −3 0%
 Slovenia 2 1 1 0 3 1 +2 50%
 South Korea 3 0 0 3 0 5 -5 0%
 Spain 8 1 2 5 5 16 −11 13%
 Sweden 87 10 11 66 95 292 −197 11%
  Switzerland 5 2 0 3 5 7 −2 40%
 Thailand 5 5 0 0 12 6 +6 100%
 Trinidad and Tobago 5 3 1 1 8 7 +1 60%
 Tunisia 3 2 1 0 6 2 +4 67%
 Turkey 13 6 3 4 20 20 0 46%
 United Arab Emirates 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0%
 United States 2 0 0 2 1 3 -2 0%
 Uruguay 2 0 0 2 1 8 -7 0%
 Wales 12 4 4 4 12 17 -5 33%

World Cup record

FIFA World Cup record FIFA World Cup Qualification record
Year Round Position Pld W D L GF GA Pld W D L GF GA
Uruguay 1930 Did Not Enter
Italy 1934
France 1938 Did Not Qualify 3 0 0 3 0 7
Brazil 1950 Withdrew during qualifying
Switzerland 1954 Did Not Qualify 4 0 2 2 7 13
Sweden 1958 4 0 0 4 2 19
Chile 1962 4 0 0 4 3 12
England 1966 6 1 0 5 5 20
Mexico 1970 6 1 0 5 6 28
West Germany 1974 6 1 1 4 3 21
Argentina 1978 6 2 0 4 11 16
Spain 1982 8 1 0 7 4 27
Mexico 1986 8 3 2 3 7 12
Italy 1990 6 1 1 4 4 16
United States 1994 10 2 1 7 9 18
France 1998 8 3 2 3 11 12
South KoreaJapan 2002 8 3 3 2 12 7
Germany 2006 12 5 1 6 21 19
South Africa 2010 10 5 3 2 14 14
Brazil 2014 8 2 3 3 5 9
Russia 2018 To be determined
Qatar 2022
Total 0/20 117 30 19 68 124 270

European Championship record

UEFA European Championship record UEFA Euro Championship Qualification record
Year Round Position Pld W D L GF GA Pld W D L GF GA
France 1960 Did Not Enter
Spain 1964
Italy 1968 Did Not Qualify 6 0 2 4 5 12
Belgium 1972 6 0 1 5 1 16
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 1976 6 0 1 5 3 13
Italy 1980 6 2 2 2 10 15
France 1984 6 0 1 5 3 14
West Germany 1988 6 1 1 4 4 10
Sweden 1992 8 1 4 3 5 8
England 1996 10 5 0 5 18 18
Belgium Netherlands 2000 8 3 1 4 13 13
Portugal 2004 8 3 1 4 9 10
Austria Switzerland 2008 14 6 6 2 13 7
Poland Ukraine 2012 10 3 1 6 16 16
France 2016 To be determined
Total 0/14 94 24 21 49 100 152

Summer Olympics

Olympics record
Year Round Position GP W D* L GS GA
Sweden 1912Semi-finals4th4202516
Nazi Germany 1936Round of 1614th100137
Finland 1952Round of 169th100134
Soviet Union 1980Group stage9th311132
Total4/230 Titles93151429

2014 FIFA World Cup qualification

The fixtures were decided at a meeting held in Paris, France on 23 September 2011.[6]

Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Spain 8 6 2 0 14 3 +1120
 France 8 5 2 1 15 6 +917
 Finland 8 2 3 3 5 9 −49
 Georgia 8 1 2 5 3 10 −75
 Belarus 8 1 1 6 7 16 −94
  Belarus Finland France Georgia (country) Spain
Belarus  — 1–1 2–4 2–0 0–4
Finland  1–0 — 0–1 1–1 0–2
France  3–1 3–0 — 3–1 0–1
Georgia  1–0 0–1 0–0 — 0–1
Spain  2–1 1–1 1–1 2–0 —

7 September 2012
21:30 UTC+3
Finland  0 – 1  France
Report Diaby  20'
Olympiastadion, Helsinki
Attendance: 35,111
Referee: Craig Thomson (Scotland)

12 October 2012
18:30 UTC+3
Finland  1 – 1  Georgia
Hämäläinen  63'
Eremenko jr Yellow cardYellow cardRed card 59' 		Report Kashia  56'
Olympiastadion, Helsinki
Attendance: 12,607
Referee: Yevhen Aranovskiy (Ukraine)

22 March 2013
20:45 UTC+1
Spain  1 – 1  Finland
Ramos  49' Report Pukki  79'
El Molinón, Gijón
Attendance: 27,637
Referee: Ovidiu Haţegan (Romania)

7 June 2013
Finland  1 – 0  Belarus
Hämäläinen  57' Report
Olympiastadion, Helsinki
Attendance: 24,916
Referee: Eli Hacmon (Israel)

11 June 2013
Belarus  1 – 1  Finland
Verkhovtsov  85' Report Pukki  24'

6 September 2013
21:30 UTC+3
Finland  0 – 2  Spain
Report Alba  19'
Negredo  86'
Olympiastadion, Helsinki
Attendance: 37,492
Referee: Ivan Bebek (Croatia)

10 September 2013
Georgia  0 – 1  Finland
Report Eremenko  74' (pen.)
Dinamo Arena, Tbilisi
Attendance: 25,321
Referee: Leontios Trattou (Cyprus)

15 October 2013
21:00 UTC+2
France  3 – 0  Finland
Ribéry  8'
Toivio  76' (o.g.)
Benzema  87' 		Report
Stade de France
Attendance: 70,156
Referee: Michael Koukoulakis (Greece)

UEFA Euro 2016

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification Romania Northern Ireland Hungary Finland Faroe Islands Greece
1  Romania 5 4 1 0 7 1 +6 13 Advance to final tournament — 2–0 1–1 8 Oct 1–0 7 Sep
2  Northern Ireland 5 4 0 1 8 4 +4 12 13 Jun — 7 Sep 2–1 2–0 8 Oct
3  Hungary 5 2 2 1 4 3 +1 8 Final tournament or play-offs 4 Sep 1–2 — 1–0 8 Oct 0–0
4  Finland 5 1 1 3 5 7 −2 4 0–2 11 Oct 13 Jun — 7 Sep 1–1
5  Faroe Islands 5 1 0 4 2 7 −5 3 11 Oct 4 Sep 0–1 1–3 — 13 Jun
6  Greece 5 0 2 3 1 5 −4 2 0–1 0–2 11 Oct 4 Sep 0–1 —
Updated to match(es) played on 29 March 2015. Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers

7 September 2014
20:45
(19:45 UTC+1)
Faroe Islands  1–3  Finland
Holst  41' Report Riski  53', 78'
R. Eremenko  82'
Tórsvøllur, Tórshavn
Attendance: 3,330
Referee: Simon Lee Evans (Wales)

11 October 2014
20:45
(21:45 UTC+3)
Finland  1–1  Greece
Hurme  55' Report Karelis  24'

14 October 2014
20:45
(21:45 UTC+3)
Finland  0–2  Romania
Ring Yellow cardYellow cardRed card 56' Report Stancu  54'  84'
Olympiastadion, Helsinki
Attendance: 19,408
Referee: Paolo Tagliavento (Italy)

14 November 2014
20:45
(20:45 UTC+1)
Hungary  1–0  Finland
Gera  82' Report
Groupama Arena, Budapest
Attendance: 19,500
Referee: Clément Turpin (France)

29 March 2015
18:00
(17:00 UTC+1)
Northern Ireland  2–1  Finland
Kyle Lafferty  33'  38' Report Berat Sadik  90+1'
Windsor Park, Belfast
Attendance: 10,264
Referee: Szymon Marciniak (Poland)

13 June 2015
18:00
(19:00 UTC+3)
Finland  v  Hungary
Report

4 September 2015
20:45
(21:45 UTC+3)
Greece  v  Finland
Report

7 September 2015
20:45
(21:45 UTC+3)
Finland  v  Faroe Islands
Report

8 October 2015
20:45
(21:45 UTC+3)
Romania  v  Finland
Report

Friendlies

24 January 2014
16:30
Oman  0 – 0  Finland

5 March 2014
Hungary  1 – 2  Finland
Rudolf  12' Pohjanpalo  74'
Eremenko  84' (pen.)
ETO Park, Győr
Attendance: 14,000
Referee: Alexander Harkam (Austria)

21 May 2014
Finland  2 – 2  Czech Republic
Pukki  18', 20' Vydra  19'
Hušbauer  36'
Olympiastadion, Helsinki
Attendance: 6,547
Referee: Oliver Drachta (Austria)

29 May 2014
Finland  0 – 1  Lithuania
Novikovas  42'
Ventspils Olimpiskais Stadions, Ventspils
(2014 Baltic Cup)
Attendance: 631
Referee: Vadims Direktorenko (Latvia)

31 May 2014
Finland  2 – 0  Estonia
Hetemaj  49'
Moren  87'
Ventspils Olimpiskais Stadions, Ventspils
(2014 Baltic Cup)
Attendance: 830
Referee: Aleksandrs Anufrijevs (Latvia)

18 November 2014
Slovakia  2 – 1  Finland
Holosko  1'
Hamsik  7' 		Hubocan  45' (o.g.)
Štadión pod Dubňom, Žilina
Attendance: 3,950
Referee: Markus Hameter (Austria)

19 January 2015
Sweden  0 – 1  Finland
Ro. Riski  63'
Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Attendance: 100
Referee: Omar Mohamed Al Ali United Arab Emirates

22 January 2015
Finland  0 – 0  Yemen

Results in 2014

Round12345678910
GroundAAHHHAHHAA
Result D W D L W W D L L L

Last updated: 18 November 2014.
Source: palloliitto.fi (Finnish)
Ground: A = Away; H = Home. Result: D = Draw; L = Loss; W = Win; P = Postponed.

Goalscorers 2014

Rank Player Club Goals
1 Teemu Pukki Denmark Brøndby 2
Roman Eremenko Russia CSKA Moscow 2
Riku Riski Norway Rosenborg 2
2 Përparim Hetemaj Italy Chievo Verona 1
Valtteri Moren Finland HJK 1
Joel Pohjanpalo Germany Fortuna Düsseldorf 1

Current squad

The following players were selected for the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying match against Northern Ireland on 29 March 2015.[7][8] Players who have withdrawn from this squad are excluded.
Caps and goals as of 29 March 2015 after the game against Northern Ireland.

# Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
GK Niki Mäenpää 23 January 1985 24 0 Netherlands VVV-Venlo
GK Lukas Hradecky 24 November 1989 21 0 Denmark Brøndby
GK Henrik Moisander 29 September 1985 1 0 Finland Lahti
DF Niklas Moisander (captain) 29 September 1985 47 2 Netherlands Ajax
DF Joona Toivio 10 March 1988 31 2 Norway Molde
DF Jukka Raitala 15 September 1988 24 0 Denmark Vestsjaelland
DF Jere Uronen 13 July 1994 12 0 Sweden Helsingborg
DF Paulus Arajuuri 15 June 1988 7 0 Poland Lech Poznań
DF Sebastian Sorsa 25 January 1984 6 0 Finland HJK
DF Valtteri Moren 15 June 1991 3 1 Finland HJK
DF Thomas Lam 18 December 1993 0 0 Netherlands Zwolle
MF Roman Eremenko 19 March 1987 66 5 Russia CSKA Moscow
MF Tim Sparv 20 February 1987 46 1 Denmark Midtjylland
MF Kasper Hämäläinen 8 August 1986 44 7 Poland Lech Poznań
MF Alexander Ring 9 April 1991 30 1 Germany 1. FC Kaiserslautern
MF Riku Riski 16 August 1989 23 4 Norway Rosenborg
MF Rasmus Schüller 18 June 1991 11 0 Finland HJK
MF Joni Kauko 12 July 1990 5 0 Germany FSV Frankfurt
MF Sakari Mattila 14 July 1989 5 0 Norway Aalesund
MF Robin Lod 17 April 1993 2 0 Finland HJK
FW Teemu Pukki 29 March 1990 39 8 Denmark Brøndby
FW Joel Pohjanpalo 13 September 1994 12 1 Germany Fortuna Düsseldorf
FW Berat Sadik 14 September 1986 9 1 Switzerland Thun

Recent callups

The following players have been called up for the team in the last twelve months. Only players available for call-up, not retired players.

Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club Latest call-up
GK Saku-Pekka Sahlgren 8 April 1992 0 0 Finland HJK v.  Yemen, 22 January 2015
GK Jesse Joronen 21 March 1993 1 0 England Fulham v.  Romania, 14 October 2014
DF Kari Arkivuo 23 June 1983 37 1 Sweden Häcken v.  Northern Ireland, 29 March 2015
DF Veli Lampi 18 July 1984 33 0 Finland HJK v.  Yemen, 22 January 2015
DF Ville Jalasto 19 April 1986 4 0 Norway Stabæk v.  Yemen, 22 January 2015
DF Hannu Patronen 23 May 1984 4 0 Norway Sogndal v.  Yemen, 22 January 2015
DF Tero Mäntylä 18 April 1991 2 0 Norway Aalesund v.  Yemen, 22 January 2015
DF Tapio Heikkilä 9 April 1990 1 0 Finland HJK v.  Yemen, 22 January 2015
DF Juhani Ojala 19 June 1989 14 0 Russia Terek Grozny v.  Slovakia, 18 November 2014
DF Jarkko Hurme 4 June 1986 11 1 Norway Odd v.  Slovakia, 18 November 2014
DF Mikko Sumusalo 12 March 1990 3 1 Germany RB Leipzig v.  Czech Republic, 21 May 2014
MF Përparim Hetemaj 12 December 1986 34 4 Italy Chievo v.  Northern Ireland, 29 March 2015
MF Mika Väyrynen 28 December 1981 63 5 United States LA Galaxy v.  Yemen, 22 January 2015
MF Toni Kolehmainen 20 July 1988 10 3 Norway Hønefoss v.  Yemen, 22 January 2015
MF Erfan Zeneli 28 December 1986 6 0 Finland HJK v.  Yemen, 22 January 2015
MF Petteri Forsell 16 October 1990 4 1 Finland IFK Mariehamn v.  Yemen, 22 January 2015
MF Johannes Laaksonen 13 December 1990 1 0 Finland SJK v.  Yemen, 22 January 2015
MF Markus Halsti 19 March 1984 21 0 United States D.C. United v.  Slovakia, 18 November 2014
MF Nikolai Alho 12 March 1993 1 0 Finland HJK v.  Czech Republic, 21 May 2014
FW Tim Väyrynen 29 March 1993 3 0 Germany Borussia Dortmund II v.  Yemen, 22 January 2015
FW Roope Riski 16 August 1991 2 1 Norway Haugesund v.  Yemen, 22 January 2015
FW Eero Markkanen 3 July 1991 4 0 Spain Real Madrid Castilla v.  Slovakia, 18 November 2014
FW Timo Furuholm 11 October 1987 10 2 Germany Halle v.  Czech Republic, 21 May 2014

Coaching staff

Position Name
Head coach Finland Mixu Paatelainen
Assistant coach Finland Markku Kanerva
Assistant coach Finland Mika Lehkosuo
Goalkeeping coach Finland Antti Niemi
Fitness coach Finland Mika Lehtimäki
Scout England Keith Armstrong
Technical analyst Finland Kari Ukkonen
U-21 coach Finland Mika Laurikainen
Team director Finland Lennart Wangel
Team doctor Finland Heikki Kinnunen
Masseur Finland Hannu Kanerva
Physiotherapist Finland Paavo Leiramo
Physiotherapist Finland Jari-Pekka Keurulainen
Kit manager Finland Jari Parikka
Media officer Finland Timo Walden

Player records

Most capped players

Rank Name Career Caps Goals
1Jari Litmanen1989–201013732
2Sami Hyypiä1992–20101055
Jonatan Johansson1996–201010522
4Ari Hjelm1983–199610020
5Joonas Kolkka1994–20109811
6Mikael Forssell1999–8729
7Erkka Petäjä1983–1994840
8Arto Tolsa1964–19817710
9Hannu Tihinen1997–2010765
Petri Pasanen2000–761

Top goalscorers

Rank Name Career Goals Caps
1Jari Litmanen1989–201032137
2Mikael Forssell1999–2987
3Jonatan Johansson1996–201022105
4Ari Hjelm1983–199620100
5Mika-Matti Paatelainen1986–20001870
6Verner Eklöf1919–19271732
7Aulis Koponen1924–19351639
Gunnar Åström1923–19371644
9Alexei Eremenko2003–1457
10Jorma Vaihela1947–19541333
William Kanerva1922–19381351
Kai Pahlman1954–19681356

Managers

Last updated: 7 September 2014.

Tenure Nat Coach Record
G W D L Win %
1911–21None 17 6 2 9 35.29
1922 Finland Jarl Öhman 4 1 0 3 25.00
1923–35None 77 22 12 43 28.57
1936–37 Germany Ferdinand Fabra 8 1 1 6 12.50
1937–38None 9 3 0 6 33.33
1939 Hungary Gábor Obitz 6 1 0 5 16.67
1939–43None 7 0 1 6 0.00
1945 Sweden Axel Mårtensson 2 0 0 2 0.00
1946 Finland Niilo Tammisalo 3 0 0 3 0.00
1947–55 Finland Aatos Lehtonen 51 7 9 35 13.73
1955–58 Germany Kurt Weinreich 23 3 1 19 13.04
1959–61 Finland Aatos Lehtonen 19 3 0 16 15.79
1962–74 Finland Olavi Laaksonen 91 16 21 54 17.58
1975 Finland Martti Kosma 2 0 1 1 0.00
1975–78 Finland Aulis Rytkönen 30 8 4 18 26.67
1979–81 Finland Esko Malm 27 4 6 17 14.81
1982–87 Finland Martti Kuusela 53 9 11 33 16.98
1988–92 Finland Jukka Vakkila 48 7 21 20 14.58
1993–94 Finland Tommy Lindholm 25 5 7 13 20.00
1994–96 Finland Jukka Ikäläinen 21 7 4 10 33.33
1996–99 Denmark Richard Møller Nielsen 34 9 12 13 26.47
2000–05 Finland Antti Muurinen 72 34 12 26 47.22
2005 Finland Jyrki Heliskoski (caretaker) 6 2 2 2 33.33
2006–07 England Roy Hodgson 22 6 11 5 27.27
2008–10 England Stuart Baxter 31 8 6 17 25.81
2010 Finland Olli Huttunen (caretaker) 1 1 0 0 100.00
2011 Finland Markku Kanerva (caretaker) 2 0 1 1 0.00
2011–Present Finland Mixu Paatelainen 36 16 9 11 44.44
Total 727 179 154 394 24.62

Kit supplier

Finland's kit are currently supplied by American brand Nike, Inc. They replaced German company Adidas who supplied Finland's kits between 1979 to 2014.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Palkittu Bubi käväisi yllättäen palkitsemistilaisuudessa HS.fi – Kaupunki
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "World Football Elo Ratings: Finland". World Football Elo Ratings. Retrieved 2011-09-22.
  3. ↑ rsssf Nordic championship 1964–66.
  4. ↑ Hodgson to return for Inter role BBC Sport, 1 December 2007
  5. ↑ Suomen Palloliitto – Etusivu (Finnish)
  6. ↑ "Составлен календарь матчей отборочного http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Finland_national_football_team&action=editраунда ЧМ-2014" [List of qualifiers for 2014 World Cup] (in Russian). Belarus Football Federation. 23 September 2011. Retrieved 2 November 2011.
  7. ↑ Huuhkajat Pohjois-Irlantiin
  8. ↑ Raitala ja Lod Huuhkajiin

External links

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