Finland's Bandy Association (Finnish: ''Suomen Jääpalloliitto'', Swedish: ''Finlands Bandyförbund'') is the governing body for the sport of

bandy Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two team sport, teams wearing Ice skates#Bandy skates, ice skates on a large ice surface (either indoors or outdoors) while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal. The playin ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. Bandy was one of the sports for which the Ball Association of Finland, founded in 1907, was created. The present Finnish Bandy Association was founded on 18 March 1972, to take over bandy from the Ball Association of Finland, which from then on concentrated on association football only.

History

Bandy came to Finland from

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

in the 1890s. The first club was Viborgs Skridskoklubb in

Vyborg Vyborg (; , ; , ; , ) is a town and the administrative center of Vyborgsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Karelian Isthmus near the head of Vyborg Bay, northwest of St. Petersburg, east of the Finnish capital H ...

, which was Finnish back then. At the

Nordic Games The Nordic Games were the first international multi-sport event that focused primarily on winter sports, and were held at varying intervals between 1901 and 1926. It was organized by Sweden's Swedish Central Association for the Promotion of ...

held in Sweden in 1901 (a predecessor of the

Winter Olympic Games The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held in ...

), bandy was included in the programme and in 1907, similar winter games were held in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

and bandy was again included. Finland was represented by the club

Polyteknikkojen Urheiluseura Aalto University Sports Club, AaltoUS, ( Finnish ''Aalto-yliopiston urheiluseura''), formerly known as ''Polyteknikkojen urheiluseura'' (‘Polytechnics Sports Club’) or PUS, is a Finnish sports club founded in Helsinki in 1903. The club was ...

(PUS) at the 1907 games, but the winner of the competition was a combined team from Sweden, which defeated PUS as well as the team from St. Petersburg. The first Finnish Championships were played in 1908; in the finals, PUS beat Helsingin IFK 8-3. Bandy was the first team sport, for which a Finnish championship was created. Finland became independent in 1918 and

's first international as an independent country was against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

in 1919, which Finland won 4-1. The first game between two ladies' teams known to have been played in Finland was in March 1916, Åbo Simklubb vs Helsingfors Damhockeyklubb, 3-1. Finland was one of the founding members of the

Federation of International Bandy The Federation of International Bandy (FIB; , , ) is the international governing body for the sport of bandy, including the variant called rink bandy. The federation is headquartered in Karlstad Municipality, Sweden. History Bandy as known tod ...

in 1955 and in 1957 the very first

Bandy World Championship The Bandy World Championship is a competition for the men's teams of bandy-playing nations. The tournament is administrated by the Federation of International Bandy. It is distinct from the Bandy World Cup, a club competition, and from the ...

was held at the

Helsinki Olympic Stadium The Helsinki Olympic Stadium (; ), located in the Töölö district about from the centre of the Finnish capital Helsinki, is the largest stadium in the country. The stadium is best known for being the centre of activities in the 1952 Summer ...

. In 2008 the Finnish bandy league,

Bandyliiga The Bandyliiga (; 'Bandy League') is the top level of men's bandy in Finland. The league was founded in 1908 as the Jääpallon Suomen mestaruus, SM-sarja ('Bandy Finnish Championship Series') and the present name has been used since the 1991– ...

, celebrated its 100th anniversary.

Presidents

* Erik Berner, 1972–1978 * Pentti Seppälä, 1978–1983 * Mauno Forsman, 1983–1987 * Carl Gerhard Fogelberg, 1987–1992 * Michael Sandbacka, 1992–1996 * Risto Suves, 1996–1998 * Juha Hilmola, 1998–2008 * Topiantti Äikäs, 2008–

Domestic play

Finnish Championship

The Finnish bandy championship has been played annually since 1908. The winning team of the

play-off is named champion. There is also a Finnish Championship for women's teams.

Finnish Cup

The Bandy Association also arranges the

Finnish Cup The Finnish 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 UEFA Europa Conference League ...

. The first Finnish Cup was played in 1960.

National teams

* Men's team *

Women's team A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional uteruses ...

References

External links

Finnish Bandy Federation
National members of the Federation of International Bandy Bandy in Finland

Bandy Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two team sport, teams wearing Ice skates#Bandy skates, ice skates on a large ice surface (either indoors or outdoors) while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal. The playin ...

{{Finland-sport-stub