Football Association of Finland

Thursday 1 May 2008

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Finland are becoming a football force (©Getty Images)

British sailors, merchants and businessmen brought football to Finland in the 1890s, while Finnish teacher-training colleges also played a major part in introducing the new sport, especially the one in Sortavala.

Up and running
After the first written rules had been translated from Swedish – underlining the close contacts between the neighbours – the first football clubs were established at the turn of the century. Then, in 1905, an unofficial championship took place for the first time.

International contacts
From the start, international contacts were sought. In 1906, a first cross-border match was played in the Finnish capital between Unitas Helsinki and Sport St. Petersburg, with the latter winning 3-0. For the Grand Duchy of Finland, it was natural that contacts with Tsarist Russia should be as frequent as those with Sweden, from which Finland had been separated in 1809.

FIFA membership
The representatives of six clubs established the Football Association of Finland (FAF) in Helsinki in 1907, and the association was accepted as a member of FIFA the following year. At the time, there were 15 clubs in the country.

Road to independence
Sport played an important role on the road to Finnish independence. Due to the rural nature of the country, individual sports dominated – track and field in summer, skiing and skating in winter. When Finland's footballers beat Italy and Russia in the Stockholm Olympic Games in 1912, their successes were overshadowed by the feats of the country's track and field gold medallists. Even afterwards, football had to develop while competing with other more popular sports.

Civil war
The first full international was played in Helsinki in 1911, a 5-2 defeat by Sweden, but gradually teams from continental Europe came to visit. However, the civil war of 1918 severely impeded the game's expansion. All clubs fighting on the losing side were expelled from the sports movement until the 1950s, when all football clubs were united under the FAF. As a consequence, the number of licensed players increased, and football became the largest sport in the country. Eventually, the FAF was also granted the status of a central sports organisation subsidised by the government.

Turning point
Because of the inexperienced organisation and tough climatic conditions, football had to struggle to achieve results comparable to those of the more traditional sports. The large-scale construction of full-size football halls, starting in the late 1970s, can be considered a turning point. The number of talented players moving abroad, such as Aulis Rytkönen, Jussi Peltonen, Arto Tolsa, Jari Litmanen, Sami Hyypiä and Mikael Forssell, increased and made the national team more competitive.

Women's success
As the men improved, so did the women, and in the last few years the female game has boomed in Finland. Having hosted the 2004 UEFA European Women's Under-19 Championship (following the male 2003 FIFA U-17 World Cup), Finland qualified for UEFA WOMEN'S EURO 2005™ and in the nation's first appearance in a senior continental tournament, reached the semi-finals. The following year, Finland successfully bid to stage the 2009 edition and were only just pipped to the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup by Denmark.