Finland national football team

Infobox National football team
Name = Finland
Badge = Football Association of Finland logo.svg
Badge_size = 150px
Nickname = "Huuhkajat" ("Eurasian Eagle-owls")|

Association = Football Association of Finland
("Suomen Palloliitto, Finlands Bollförbund")
Confederation = UEFA (Europe)
Coach = flagicon|England Stuart Baxter
Captain = Jari Litmanen
Most caps = Jari Litmanen (116)
Top scorer = Jari Litmanen (30)
Home Stadium = Helsinki Olympic Stadium
FIFA Trigramme = FIN
FIFA Rank = 43
FIFA max = 33
FIFA max date = March 2007
FIFA min = 79
FIFA min date = December 1996
Elo Rank = 47
Elo max = 30
Elo max date = March 2002
Elo min = 125
Elo min date = 1962-3

pattern_la1=_shoulder stripes white shirt
pattern_b1=_shoulder stripes white shirt
pattern_ra1=_shoulder stripes white shirt
leftarm1=1029B1|body1=1029B1|rightarm1=1029B1|shorts1=1029B1|socks1=FFFFFF
pattern_la2=_shoulder stripes white stripes|pattern_b2=_shoulder stripes white stripes|pattern_ra2=_shoulder stripes white stripes|pattern_sh2=
leftarm2=1029B1|body2=1029B1|rightarm2=1029B1|shorts2=FFFFFF|socks2=1029B1

First game = Flagicon|Finland Finland 2 - 5 Sweden Flagicon|Sweden (Helsinki, Finland; October 22, 1911)
Largest win = Flagicon|Finland Finland 10 - 2 Estonia Flagicon|Estonia (Helsinki, Finland; August 11, 1922)
Largest loss = Flagicon|Germany|Nazi Germany 13 - 0 Finland Flagicon|Finland (Leipzig, Germany; September 1, 1940)
World cup apps =
World cup first =
World cup best =
Regional name = European Championship
Regional cup apps =
Regional cup first =
Regional cup best =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. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/internationals/7120879.stm BBC SPORT | Football | Internationals | Hodgson to return for Inter role ] ]

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.

tadiums

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. [ [http://www.hs.fi/kaupunki/artikkeli/Palkittu+Bubi+k%C3%A4v%C3%A4isi+yll%C3%A4tt%C3%A4en+palkitsemistilaisuudessa/1135232674034 Palkittu Bubi käväisi yllättäen palkitsemistilaisuudessa - HS.fi - Kaupunki ] ] 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 =

2010 FIFA World Cup qualification - UEFA Group 4
expanded = yes
fixtures = yes
tiebreakers =

Current squad

Selections for the match against Azerbaijan on October 11 and Russia on October 15, 2008. [ [http://www.palloliitto.fi/viestinta/?num=130350 Suomen Palloliitto - Artikkeliarkisto ] ] Caps and goals as of September 10, 2008. [http://www.palloliitto.fi/maajoukkueet/miesten_a-maajoukkue/pelaajat/]
-----! colspan="9" bgcolor="#B0D3FB" align="left"
-----! colspan="9" bgcolor="#B0D3FB" align="left"
-----! colspan="9" bgcolor="#B0D3FB" align="left"
nat fs g player|no=|pos=FW|name=Berat Sadik^c|age=birth date and age|1986|9|14|caps=2|goals=0|club=Arminia Bielefeld|clubnat=Germany"nat fs g player|no=|pos=FW|name=Paulus Roiha|age=birth date and age|1980|3|8|caps=16|goals=4|club=Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi|clubnat=Finland"
* 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"
-----! colspan="9" bgcolor="#B0D3FB" align="left"
-----! 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

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

Coaches

*"Correct as of September 10 2008"

ee also

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

References

External links

* [http://www.palloliitto.fi/maajoukkueet/miesten_a-maajoukkue/ Official website]
* [http://www.rsssf.com/tablesf/fin-intres.html RSSSF archive of results 1911-]
* [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/fin-recintlp.html RSSSF archive of most capped players and highest goalscorers]
* [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/fin-coach-triv.html RSSSF archive of coaches]
* [http://www.suomifanit.com/en/index.html The Finnish National Team Supporters' Association]