football in Finland

{{Infobox sport overview

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| title = Football in Finland

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| caption = Home stadium of club HJK Helsinki

| union = Football Association of Finland ({{langx|fi|Suomen Palloliitto}})

| country = Finland

| sport = association football

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| nationalteam = Men's national team
Women's national team

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| club_list = League:
Tier 1: Veikkausliiga, Kansallinen Liiga
Tier 2: Ykkösliiga, Naisten Ykkönen
Tier 3: Ykkönen, Naisten Kakkonen
Tier 4: Kakkonen, Naisten Kolmonen
Tier 5: Kolmonen, Naisten Nelonen
Tier 6: Nelonen, Naisten Vitonen
Tier 7: Vitonen
Tier 8: Kutonen
Tier 9: Seiska
Cups:
Finnish Cup
Finnish Women's Cup

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Football in Finland is not, or at least has traditionally not been, the most popular spectator sport, which is in contrast to most European countries; it falls behind ice hockey, which enjoys a huge amount of popularity in the country.{{cite web |url=http://www.slu.fi/@Bin/120897/Lajejapaikanpaallaseuraavienmaarialajeittain.pdf |title=Lajeja paikan päällä vähintään kerran vuodessa seuraavien määrä lajeittain 19-65-vuotiaiden keskuudessa |year=2006 |work=Kansallinen liikuntatutkimus 2005-2006 |publisher=Ministry of Education |access-date=13 February 2010 }}{{Dead link|date=December 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Football tops ice hockey in the number of registered players (115,000 vs. 60,000{{cite web |url=http://www.palloliitto.fi/palloliitto/ |title=Suomen Palloliitto |publisher=Football Association of Finland |access-date=13 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110423172955/http://www.palloliitto.fi/palloliitto/ |archive-date=23 April 2011 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |url=http://www.finhockey.fi/info/ |title=Info |publisher=Finnish Ice Hockey Association |access-date=13 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100227100931/http://www.finhockey.fi/info/ |archive-date=27 February 2010 |url-status=dead }}) and as a popular hobby (160,000 vs. 90,000 among adults and 230,000 vs. 105,000 among youths{{cite web |url=http://www.slu.fi/@Bin/120061/Lajienharrastajamaarat19-65aikuiset.pdf |title=Urheilulajien harrastajamäärät 19-65-vuotiaiden keskuudessa |year=2006 |work=Kansallinen liikuntatutkimus 2005-2006 |publisher=Ministry of Education |access-date=13 February 2010 }}{{Dead link|date=December 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}{{cite web |url=http://www.slu.fi/@Bin/119951/Urheilulajien+harrastajam%C3%A4%C3%A4r%C3%A4t+3-18+-vuotiaiden+keskuudessa.pdf |title=Urheilulajien harrastajamäärät 8-13-vuotiaiden keskuudessa |year=2006 |work=Kansallinen liikuntatutkimus 2005-2006 |publisher=Ministry of Education |access-date=13 February 2010 }}{{Dead link|date=December 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}). It is the most popular hobby among 3-18 year olds, whereas ice hockey is 9th.

Football's standing is constantly increasing, especially among girls and women, where the yearly growth rate has lately been over 10 percent.{{cite web |url=http://www.palloliitto.fi/viestinta/?num=95273 |title=Jalkapallo kasvussa Suomessa ja maailmalla |date=2007-06-19 |work=refers to FIFA Big Count 2006 |publisher=Football Association of Finland |access-date=13 February 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720191525/http://www.palloliitto.fi/viestinta/?num=95273 |archive-date=20 July 2011 |url-status=dead }} In season 2006–07 19.9 percent of registered players were female. The Football Association of Finland ({{Langx|fi|Suomen Palloliitto}}) has approximately one thousand member clubs. According to a Gallup poll, nearly 400,000 people include football among their hobbies.

History

File:Moscow v Finland, 1912, Zamoskvoretsky Club, Moscow.png

Football developed in Finland in the early twentieth century when Finland was still a Grand Duchy in personal union with the Russian Empire. Following the Bolshevik seizure of power in the October Revolution in November 1917, Finland declared its full independence and it was shortly recognised by the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in January 1918.

Football was first brought to Finland in the 1890s by English sailors, and it was first played in Turku. The first national competition in the sport was set up in 1906, and won by a school team from Turku. The Football Association of Finland was founded in 1907 and it joined FIFA the following year. Due to the sport's historically low status in Finland, the country has never really excelled in football. Only since the 1980s, due to the revival of Finnish football, has the country produced such international stars as Jari Litmanen, Antti Niemi, Sami Hyypiä, Mikael Forssell, Mixu Paatelainen, Teemu Tainio and Jussi Jääskeläinen.

Domestic club competitions

File:Stadin derby 2017.jpg HIFK–HJK 23. May 2017.]]

The highest division in Finnish men's football is the Veikkausliiga, comprising 12 professional football teams. Below that is a league system maintained by the Finnish Football Association, with Ykkönen, or First Division, as the second highest division, with 10 teams. Beneath Ykkönen, each division is divided into 'groups' based on the location of the clubs. For instance, the Second Division, or Kakkonen, has 40 teams divided into four regional groups, each of 10 teams.

The Finnish Cup is Finland's national cup competition, open to all member clubs of the Finnish Football Association. In the 2009 season, 356 clubs signed up to take part in the competition.{{cite web|url=http://www.palloliitto.fi/mp/db/file_library/x/IMG/138653/file/MiestenSuomenCup280209.xls |title=Participants |year=2009 |work=Finnish Cup 2009 |publisher=Football Association of Finland |access-date=13 February 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090408011614/http://www.palloliitto.fi/mp/db/file_library/x/IMG/138653/file/MiestenSuomenCup280209.xls |archive-date=April 8, 2009 }}

All Finnish domestic football competitions take place in the spring, summer and autumn, due to weather conditions. Similar systems are used in the other Nordic countries as well, except for Denmark which had that system in the past.

National team

File:Wiklof Holding Arena Mariehamn.jpg home stadium (Wiklof Holding Arena)]]

The Finland national team played its first international match in 1911 against Sweden. Finland was still then a Grand Duchy part of the Russian Empire, and became independent in 1917. Finland have played in a few Olympic Games, finishing fourth in 1912, but have so far never qualified for the FIFA World Cup. Finland qualified to UEFA European Championship for the first time in 2020.

The Football Association of Finland also organizes national under-19 and under-21 teams.

The Finland women's national football team made their competitive debut in the 1984 European Competition for Women's Football qualification.{{Cite web |url=http://www.uefa.com/teamsandplayers/teams/teama/team=500042/profile/history/index.html |title=Archived copy |access-date=2014-06-04 |archive-date=2014-06-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140607132530/http://www.uefa.com/teamsandplayers/teams/teama/team=500042/profile/history/index.html |url-status=dead }} To date, their most successful competition has been UEFA Women's Euro 2005, where they reached the semi-finals stage.

Åland Islands

Since 1943 the Åland Football Association (ÅFA) has organized football in Åland. The ÅFA is a district association of the Football Association of Finland. However, the Åland Islands fields independent men's and women's national teams, principally competing in the Island Games.

Football stadiums in Finland

Stadiums with a capacity of 10,000 or higher are included.

{{row counter|

class{{=}}"wikitable sortable" !# !Photo !Stadium!!Capacity !!City!!Home Team !Founding year !Cite
_row_count \|150x150px	Helsinki Olympic Stadium	36,200	Helsinki	Finland \|1938 \|{{Cite web \|title=Stadium Facts {{!}} Olympiastadion \|url=https://www.stadion.fi/en/info/stadium-info/stadium-facts \|access-date=2023-10-02 \|website=www.stadion.fi \|language=en}}
_row_count \|150x150px	Tampere Stadium (Ratina Stadion) \|16,800	Tampere	Finland, Ilves \|1966 \|{{Cite web \|title=Tampere Stadium {{!}} www.tampere.fi \|url=https://www.tampere.fi/en/sports-and-exercise/sports-and-exercise-facilities/tampere-stadium \|access-date=2023-10-02 \|website=www.tampere.fi \|language=en}}
_row_count \|150x150px	Lahden Stadion	14,465	Lahti	FC Lahti \|1981 \|{{Cite web \|title=Lahden stadion – StadiumDB.com \|url=http://stadiumdb.com/stadiums/fin/lahden_stadion \|access-date=2023-10-22 \|website=stadiumdb.com}}
_row_count \|150x150px	Paavo Nurmi Stadium	13,000	Turku	\|1893 \|{{Cite web \|date=2019-02-17 \|title=Paavo Nurmen stadion – Nokiamissio.com \|url=https://nokiamissio.com/paavo-nurmen-stadion/ \|access-date=2023-10-22 \|language=fi}}
_row_count \|150x150px	Porin Stadion	12,300	Pori	FC Jazz \|1966 \|{{Cite web \|title=Stadion \|url=https://www.pori.fi/vapaa-aika/liikunta/liikuntapaikat/kentat-ja-lahiliikuntapaikat/stadion/ \|access-date=2023-10-22 \|website=Porin kaupunki \|language=fi}}
_row_count \|150px	Bolt Arena	10,770	Helsinki	HJK, HIFK, Finland \|2000 \|{{Cite web \|title=Coming to a match? Information for match event! - HJK Helsinki - Bolt Arena \|url=https://www.hjk.fi/en/info/bolt-arena-instructions-and-stadium-map/ \|access-date=2023-10-22 \|website=HJK Helsinki \|language=en-US}}

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References

External links

[http://www.palloliitto.fi Football Association of Finland]
[http://footballinfinland.wordpress.com Finnish football blog]
[http://www.escapetosuomi.com Escape To Suomi]
[http://www.league321.com/finland-football.html League321.com] - Finnish football league tables, records & statistics database. {{in lang|en}}
[https://www.flashscore.com/football/finland/ flashscore] - Football Finnish league - Finland Live Scores, Results.{{in lang|en}}