Pori Bears is a Finnish

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 with ...

club based in

Pori ) , website www.pori.fi Pori (; sv, Björneborg ) is a city and municipality on the west coast of Finland. The city is located some from the Gulf of Bothnia, on the estuary of the Kokemäki River, west of Tampere, north of Turku and north-w ...

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 ...

. The team was established in 1982. The Bears will join the Finnish 2nd Division for the 2024 season.

History

Bears have competed in the top-tier league of Finland,

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 playe ...

, three times (1982, 1987–88, 2003–2004) Mike Leach served as the Bears head coach in the 1989 season in the 1st Division of Finland. Leach went on to become a very successful head football coach at the college level in the

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Honours

1st Division (2nd highest level in Finland)

Spagettimalja bowl champion (2): 1986, 2002

References

American football teams in Finland Sport in Pori Sports clubs and teams in Satakunta {{Finland-sport-stub