Finland Men's National Floorball Team is the national

floorball Floorball (also known by other names) is a sport played with five players and a goalkeeper in each team. It is played indoors with sticks and a hollow plastic ball with holes. Matches are played in three periods. The sport of bandy also playe ...

team of

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, ...

. The national team was founded in 1985 and they played their first official game 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 1985. Finland has won five

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

(2008, 2010, 2016, 2018, 2024) and one

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

(1995). Finland has appeared in every World and European Championships tournament organised by the

IFF In logic and related fields such as mathematics and philosophy, "if and only if" (often shortened as "iff") is paraphrased by the biconditional, a logical connective between statements. The biconditional is true in two cases, where either both ...

and is the only team with Sweden to have won such a tournament. In the IFF ranking, Finland is second (behind Sweden and ahead of the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

), following first and third place finishes in the championships in

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

and

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

History

Early years

The Finland national floorball team was founded in 1985 and they played their first game against

in Sollentuna on 28 September 1985. Finland lost 1–13 and it is still the worst defeat the national team has suffered so far. Pekka Kainulainen scored the first goal of the match and the first official national team goal leading Finland to early 1–0 lead.

1991–2000

The 1994 and 1995 European Championships
The national team participated to the 1994 and 1995 European Championships, which were the first organised international floorball tournaments between national teams. In 1994 tournament Finland lost to Sweden in the final (4–1) on home ground 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 ...

after upsetting the Swedes earlier in the group stage. The 1995 European Championships tournament was held in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

and the national team succeeded in making their way in to the final, where they were to meet Sweden again. This time Finland fared better and after a stalemate in regular time and overtime, Finland won the championships in a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

. Successful penalty shots by Jari Pekkola and Jari-Pekka Lehtonen, and goaltending by Jan Gråsten guaranteed the victory. 1996 World Championships
The first ever World Championship tournament was held in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

. Finland placed second after being clearly outplayed by Sweden and losing 5–0 in the final. The final match was played in

Stockholm Globe Arena Avicii Arena, originally known as the Stockholm Globe Arena and previously as the Ericsson Globe, but commonly referred to in Swedish simply as Globen (; ), is an indoor arena located in Stockholm Globe City, Johanneshov district of Stockhol ...

in front of 15,106 spectators. 1998 World Championships
The tournament in

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was a disappointment for team Finland. Finland lost to

(4–5) in the semi-finals in a

and the national team placed third after beating

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4–1 in the bronze medal game.

Mika Kohonen Mika Kohonen (born May 10, 1977) is a retired Finnish floorball player and currently a floorball coach. He is five-time recipient of Innebandymagazinet Award for the best player in the world. Since 2022, he is the head coach of Storvreta IBK, a t ...

was Finland's leading forward with 6 goals and 2 assists in 5 games. 2000 World Championships
Finland was expected to challenge Sweden for real this time around and two teams met yet again in the final match. The final match was played in

Jordal Amfi Jordal Amfi was an indoor ice hockey rink in Oslo, Norway, the first bearing that name. The venue opened in 1951 to host the 1952 Winter Olympics. Jordal was also the site of the 1958 and the 1999 IIHF World Championship. It would in the follow ...

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

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and it was the closest World Championships final yet, with Sweden taking the title with a 5–3 victory.

2001–2010

2002 World Championships
The 2002 World Championships tournament was hosted in

and the national team was eager to bring home the title in front of their home crowd. Finland battled its way to the final to meet Sweden. The final match was played in

Hartwall Arena Helsinki Halli, or Helsinki Arena (formerly Hartwall Arena), is a large multi-functional indoor arena located in Helsinki, Finland. It was opened in April 1997. The arena is convertible for various events. The total seated capacity during ice ...

with 13,665 spectators, who witnessed Sweden grabbing yet another World Championships title in thriller of a match with 3 goals score in the last minute. The final score was 6–4 to Sweden. 2004 World Championships
This time Finland and Sweden met in the semi-finals. Sweden gained the upper hand, were victorious and continued on to the final. Finland was to settle for the bronze medal game where they met

, an upcoming floorball nation, who had upset Finland earlier in the group stage with a 4–3 victory. The game was again close fought with team Finland emerging on top in a high scoring 8–7 win decided in a penalty shootout. Henri Toivoniemi (GK), Jari Lehtonen (D) and

(F) were selected to the tournament's All-Stars line-up. 2006 World Championships
The tournament was played in

. Finland and Sweden met in the final in Stockholm Globe Arena. The match ended 7–6 to Sweden with Magnus Svensson scoring the deciding sudden death goal in

overtime Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society) ...

. 2008 World Championships
Finland finally won its first World Championships title after beating Sweden 7–6 in overtime, in a final match played in

. The game-deciding goal was scored by

Tero Tiitu Tero Tiitu (born April 23, 1982) is a Finnish floorball player currently playing for EräViikingit of the F-liiga. Tiitu is the holder of the F-liiga's one season goal scoring record of 63 goals. Swedish floorball magazine Innebandymagazinet ch ...

. After losing to Sweden four times in earlier World Championships finals, Finland finally laid its hands on the coveted trophy as the team captain

Mikael Järvi Mikael is a masculine given name, a variant of the Hebrew name Michael (מִיכָאֵל), which means "Who is like God". It is used predominantly throughout Scandinavia and Finland. Mikaela is the feminine form of the name. In France, the name is w ...

lifted the prize for the very first time in Finnish floorball history. 2010 World Championships
For the first time Finland came into the tournament as reigning world champions. The home games were held in

. As expected Finland met its nemesis Sweden in the final. Finland were the dominant team and took the title for the second time in front of a roaring home crowd. The final game ended 6–2 to Finland. Mika Kohonen scored a hat-trick in the game.

2011 – present

Finland is the World Champion in Floorball

2012 World Championships
The tournament was held in

and the two floorball juggernauts clashed again in the final game. Sweden totally devastated the Finnish side with quickly gaining a 9–0 lead. The game soon evened out, but with such an advantage given early on, Sweden coasted to victory with the final score being 11–5. 2014 World Championships
The 2014 World Championships were played in

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

in December 2014. Finland ended with silver. 2016 World Championships
World Championship tournament was held first time in

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

. Finland and Sweden met in the final in

Arena Riga Xiaomi Arena, formerly known as Arena Riga () is an indoor arena in Riga, Latvia. It is primarily used for ice hockey, basketball and concerts. Arena Riga holds a maximum of 14,500 and was opened on 15 February 2006. It was built to be used as ...

. The match ended 4–3 to Finland and it took the title for the third time in penalty shootout. 2018 World Championships
The 2018 World Championships were played for the third time in

. Finland met his neighbor Sweden in the finals. Finland won and took the title for the fourth time in the same place where they won the first title in 10 years ago. 2024 World Championships
Finland won their fifth World Championship, defeating hosts Sweden 5–4 in overtime having comeback from 4–0 behind.

Players and staff

Roster for 2014 World championships

Team staff for 2014 World Championships * Head coach: Petri Kettunen * Assistant coach: Mika Ahonen * Assistant coach: Akseli Ahtiainen * Assistant coach: Juha Jäntti * Masseur: Ari Haapalainen * Physio: Aleksi Öhman * Team manager: Jari Oksanen * Media: Juhani Henriksson Updated 2 Dec 2014.

Past rosters

2010 World Champions *Goalkeepers: **Jani Naumanen and Henri Toivoniemi. *Defenders: **Markus Bollström, Juha Kivilehto, Mika Savolainen, Timo Toivonen, Jouni Vehkaoja and Tatu Väänänen. *Forwards: **Harri Forsten, Rickie Hyvärinen, Oscar Hänninen, Henri Johansson, Esa Jussila, Mikael Järvi,

, Mikko Kohonen, Jani Kukkola, Mika Moilanen,

and Lassi Vänttinen. *Staff: **Petteri Nykky (Head Coach), Juha Jäntti (Coach), Petri Kettunen (Coach), Harri Lehtonen, Kimmo Nurminen, Marko Pirhonen and Hannu Tuunainen. 2008 World Champions *Goalkeepers: **Jani Naumanen and Henri Toivoniemi. *Defenders: **Mika Kavekari, Tarmo Kirjonen, Saku Lehti, Vesa Punkari, Mika Savolainen and Jouni Vehkaoja. *Forwards: **Harri Forsten, Rickie Hyvärinen, Esa Jussila, Mikael Järvi, Juho Järvinen,

, Mikko Kohonen, Kari Koskelainen, Jani Kukkola, Santtu Manner,

and Lassi Vänttinen. *Staff: ** Petteri Nykky (Head Coach), Juha Jäntti (Coach), Samu Kuitunen (Coach), Hexi Arteva, Petri Kanter, Antti Luhta and Antti Ylinen.

World championships

Honours

World Games The World Games are an international multi-sport event comprising sports and sporting disciplines that are not contested in the Olympic Games. They are usually held every four years, one year after a Summer Olympic Games, over the course of 11 d ...

*Second-placed: 1 **

*Third-placed: 1 **

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

World championships

* Champions: 5 **

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

* Runner-up: 7 **

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

* Third-placed: 3 **

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

European championships

*Champions: 1 **

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

*Runner-up: 1 **

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

Records

All-time World Championships record

Updated 18 Dec 2024.

Individual records

* Most games played: 152 **

* Most goals scored: 110 **

* Most assists: 156 **

* Most points: 233 **

* Most penalty minutes: 53 ** Vesa Punkari Updated 2 Dec 2014.

References

External links

Official website

Official Twitter

Team Card on International Floorball Federation website
{{National floorball teams

National team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

Floorball Floorball (also known by other names) is a sport played with five players and a goalkeeper in each team. It is played indoors with sticks and a hollow plastic ball with holes. Matches are played in three periods. The sport of bandy also playe ...