) , country = Finland , sport = association football , noncountry = , teamlabel1 = , nationalteam = Men's national team
Women's national team , teamlabel2 = , repteam = , nickname = , first = , registered = , clubs = , national_list = , club_list = League:
Tier 1:

Veikkausliiga Veikkausliiga (; sv, Tipsligan) is the premier division of Finnish football, the highest tier of the Finnish football league structure, comprising the top 12 clubs of the country. Its main sponsor is the Finnish national betting agency Veikkau ...

Kansallinen Liiga The Kansallinen Liiga ('National League') is the premier division of Women's association football, women's football in Finland. It was previously called the Jalkapallon naisten Suomen mestaruus, SM-sarja ('Women's Football Finnish Championship Se ...

Tier 2:

Ykkönen ''Ykkönen'' (Finnish for 'Number One'; sv, Ettan) is the second highest level of the Finnish football league system (after the Veikkausliiga), although it is the highest league managed by the Football Association of Finland. The teams also play ...

Naisten Ykkönen Naisten Ykkönen ( sv, Damettan, Women's First/One) is the second highest division of women's association football, women's football in Finland. It is overseen by the Suomen Palloliitto (Football Association of Finland). Teams in Naisten Ykkönen ...

Tier 3:

Kakkonen Kakkonen or II divisioona is the third level in the league system of Finnish football and comprises 36 Finnish football teams. The II divisioona was introduced in 1973 and in the mid-1990s became known as the Kakkonen (Finnish for 'Number Two' ...

, Naisten Kakkonen
Tier 4:

Kolmonen Kolmonen or III divisioona is the fourth level in the league system of Finnish football and comprises 104 Finnish football teams. The III divisioona was introduced in 1973 and in the mid-1990s became known as the Kolmonen (''Number Three'' in En ...

, Naisten Kolmonen
Tier 5:

Nelonen Nelonen () is a Finnish commercial television channel. It started out as Helsinki's local television channel PTV in 1990 on the HTV cable network (now part of DNA Welho), and changed its name first to PTV4. On June 1, 1997, the channel expand ...

, Naisten Nelonen
Tier 6:

Vitonen Vitonen or V divisioona is the sixth level in the Finnish football league system and comprises 228 teams. The V divisioona was introduced in 1973 and in the mid-1990s became known as the Vitonen (''Number Five'' in English and ''Femman'' in Swed ...

, Naisten Vitonen
Tier 7:

Kutonen Kutonen or VI divisioona is the seventh level in the Finnish football league system and comprises 265 teams. The VI divisioona was introduced in 1973 and in the mid-1990s became known as the Kutonen (''Number Six'' in English and ''Sexan'' in ...

Tier 8:

Seiska ''Seiska'', also known as ''7 päivää'' (Finnish for 7 days), is a Finnish gossip magazine published in Helsinki, Finland. History and profile ''7 päivää'' was first published in 1992. The magazine is owned by the Aller Media and is publish ...

Cups:

Finnish Cup The Finnish Cup ( fi, Suomen cup; sv, Finlands cup) is Finland's main national cup competition in football. This yearly competition is open for all member clubs of the FA of Finland and has been played since 1955. The winner qualifies for the ...

Finnish Women's Cup The Finnish Women's Cup ( fi, Naisten Suomen Cup, sv, Finlands cup för damer) is the national women's football cup competition in Finland and was first played in 1981. List of finals The list of finals: Helsingin Sanomat archives 1981 See ...

, intl_list = , match = , league = Football in Finland is not, or at least has traditionally not been, the most popular spectator sport, which is in contrast to most

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an countries; it falls behind

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

, which enjoys a huge amount of popularity in the country.

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

tops ice hockey in the number of registered players (115,000 vs. 60,000) and as a popular hobby (160,000 vs. 90,000 in adults and 230,000 vs. 105, 000 in youth). 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. In season 2006–07 19.9 percent of registered players were female. The

Football Association of Finland The Football Association of Finland ( fi, Suomen Palloliitto, abbr. SPL; sv, Finlands Bollförbund) is the governing body of football in Finland. It was founded in Helsinki on 19 May 1907. The SPL organises the men's and women's national footb ...

() has approximately one thousand member clubs. According to a

Gallup poll Gallup, Inc. is an American analytics and advisory company based in Washington, D.C. Founded by George Gallup in 1935, the company became known for its public opinion polls conducted worldwide. Starting in the 1980s, Gallup transitioned its bu ...

, nearly 400,000 people include football in their hobbies.

History

Moscow v Finland, 1912, Zamoskvoretsky Club, Moscow

Football developed in Finland in the early twentieth century when Finland was still part of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

. Following the

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

seizure of power in the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...

in November 1917, the

Independence of Finland Finland declared its independence on 6 December 1917. The formal Declaration of Independence was only part of the long process leading to the independence of Finland. History Proclamation of Empress Elizabeth (1742) The subject of an independ ...

was recognised by the

Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

in January 1918. Football was first brought to Finland in the 1890s by

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. The profession of the s ...

s, and it was first played in

Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...

. The first national competition in the sport was set up in 1906, and won by a school team from Turku. The

was founded in 1907 and it joined

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

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 Jari Olavi Litmanen (; born 20 February 1971) is a Finnish former footballer. He was the first-choice captain of the Finland national team between 1996 and 2008 in an international career that ran from 1989 to 2010. Litmanen is widely consider ...

, Antti Niemi,

Sami Hyypiä Sami Tuomas Hyypiä (; born 7 October 1973) is a Finnish football manager and former defender. Hyypiä began his playing career with Ykkönen side Kumu and soon moved to Veikkausliiga outfit MyPa. He spent four years at the club, helping the ...

Mikael Forssell Mikael Kaj Forssell (born 15 March 1981) is a Finnish former football striker. Forssell began his professional career in 1997 for HJK, having progressed through the team's youth teams, but he only remained at the club for a single season, mak ...

Mixu Paatelainen Mika-Matti Petteri Paatelainen (born 3 February 1967) is a Finnish former professional football player and the head coach of Veikkausliiga club HIFK. He scored 18 goals in 70 appearances for the Finnish national team, which makes him Finland's ...

Teemu Tainio Teemu Mikael Tainio (born 27 November 1979) is a Finnish football coach and former player. He is the current head coach of FC Haka. Tainio began his career with his local club, TP-47, before moving to FC Haka in 1996. A year later, he moved to ...

and

Jussi Jääskeläinen Jussi Albert Jääskeläinen (; born 19 April 1975) is a Finnish football coach and retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper. During his career, Jääskeläinen most notably represented Bolton Wanderers from 1997 until 2012, making 530 app ...

Domestic club competitions

The highest division in Finnish men's football is the ''

'', comprising 12

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...

football teams. Below that is a league system maintained by the Finnish Football Association, with ''

'', 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 ''

'', has 40 teams divided into four regional groups, each of 10 teams. The

is Finland's national

cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, ...

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. 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 The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; literal translation, lit. 'the North') are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe and the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It includes the sovereign states of Denmar ...

as well, except for Denmark which had that system in the past.

National team

The Finland national team played its first international match in 1911 against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. Finland was still then a

Grand Duchy A grand duchy is a sovereign state, country or territory whose official head of state or ruler is a monarch bearing the title of grand duke or grand duchess. Relatively rare until the abolition of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the term was oft ...

part of the

, and became independent in 1917. Finland have played in a few Olympic Games, finishing fourth in

1912 Events January * January 1 – The Republic of China (1912–49), Republic of China is established. * January 5 – The Prague Conference (6th All-Russian Conference of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party) opens. * January 6 ...

, but have so far never qualified for the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

. Finland qualified to

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition is contes ...

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 The Finland women's national football team, also known as nickname The Boreal Owls ( fi, Helmarit), represents Finland in international women's football. The team, controlled by the Football Association of Finland (SPL/FBF), reached the semi ...

made their competitive debut in the

1984 European Competition for Women's Football qualification The qualification for the 1984 European Competition for Women's Football was held between August 18, 1982, and October 28, 1983. Teams were placed into four groups of four teams each according to geographical location — Group 1 was Northern Eur ...

. To date, their most successful competition has been

UEFA Women's Euro 2005 The 2005 UEFA Women's Championship, also referred to as UEFA Women's Euro 2005, was a football tournament for women held from 5 June to 19 June 2005 in Lancashire, England and Cheshire, England. The UEFA Women's Championship is a regular tournament ...

, where they reached the semi-finals stage.

Åland Islands

Since 1943 the

Åland Football Association The Åland Football Association ( sv, Ålands Fotbollförbund) is the governing body of Association football, football in Åland. ÅFF is not a member of UEFA or FIFA, but is a member of the Football Association of Finland and has the status of a ...

(ÅFA) has organized football in

Åland Åland ( fi, Ahvenanmaa: ; ; ) is an Federacy, autonomous and Demilitarized zone, demilitarised region of Finland since 1920 by a decision of the League of Nations. It is the smallest region of Finland by area and population, with a size of 1 ...

. The ÅFA is a district association of the Football Association of Finland. However, the Åland Islands fields independent men's and

women's A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

national teams, principally competing in the

Island Games The Island Games (currently known as the NatWest International Island Games for sponsorship reasons) are biennial international multi-sports events organised by the International Island Games Association (IIGA). Competitor teams each represent d ...

References

External links

Football Association of Finland

Finnish football blog

Escape To Suomi

- Finnish football league tables, records & statistics database.
flashscore
- Football Finnish league - Finland Live Scores, Results. {{DEFAULTSORT:Football In Finland