Helsinki Wolverines is a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

club based in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

and was founded in 1995. The clubs Top Men's Team plays in the

Vaahteraliiga The Vaahteraliiga (Maple League) founded in 1980 is the highest level of American football in Finland played under American Football Association of Finland. The winner of the Vaahteraliiga is the Finnish champion. The Vaahteraliiga season is play ...

of the American Football Association of Finland which is the highest ranking level of

in all of Finland. The league in Finland was established in 1980.

History

Helsinki Wolverines was founded on 10 October 1995. The team played its first official game in 1996 season of 2nd Division, a third tier american football league in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, against the Lahti Jets. The first Wolverines team was mainly made up of former Helsinki Whips players and the first head coach was Jimmy Lawson. In five seasons Wolverines rose from 2nd Division to

, the top american football league in Finland. The Wolverines have strong rivalry with other teams from

: the

Roosters The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...

and the 69ers. The Wolverines chose their colors, maize and blue, as an homage to the Michigan Wolverines of the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

. Helsinki Wolverines took their only

(Maple League) title so far in 2011, when they beat Seinäjoki Crocodiles on

Sonera Stadium The Bolt Arena (named Telia 5G -areena until January 2020, named Sonera Stadium until April 2017, and Finnair Stadium until August 2010; also known as ''Töölön jalkapallostadion'', " Töölö football stadium") is a football stadium in Helsinki, ...

in a close match by a score of 30–27. Stephen Stokes from Wolverines was chosen as the Most Valuable Player of the final.

Club structure

Wolverines' Men's first team plays in

(Maple League), the premier league of

american football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

in Finland. Men's second team, Wolverines II, plays in 2nd Division, a third tier league. Men's third team plays in 4th Division, a fifth tier league. Wolverines also have 5 boys' youth teams: U20, U17, U15, U13 and U11. Women's first team was founded again in 2014 after years of inactivity. The team participates in Women's Finnish Championship Series (Maple League) and has recently won 4 consecutive titles in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. The club also has two cheerleading teams.

Season by season

* denotes promotion
Updated as of season 2020.

References

External links

Official website

Helsinki Wolverines on FacebookHelsinki Wolverines on TwitterVaahteraliiga
American football teams in Finland Sports clubs in Helsinki 1995 establishments in Finland American football teams established in 1995 {{Finland-sport-stub