Youngsters display Finnish flourish

All eyes may have been on Finland for the UEFA WOMEN'S EURO 2009™ finals draw but it has also been an important time for the country's grassroots football scene with the annual skills competition for youngsters taking place in Oulu on 15-16 November.

Big history
A fixture on the calendar since 1954, the event tests players from the ages of ten to 17 on their footballing skills with challenges based on running, dribbling, passing, heading and shooting. The roll of honour is an illustrious one too, with current Finnish internationals Mikael Forssell and Joonas Kolkka, Under-21 captain Tim Sparv, and female star Laura Österberg among the previous winners.

Kolkka memories
NAC Breda winger Kolkka, who has also played for PSV Eindhoven and Panathinaikos FC, tasted success five times during his formative years and is still proud of his achievements today. "As I have got older I have begun to appreciate the competition even more. It always took place after the season had already ended so I had a lot of time to practice on my own," he said. "I was with the ball everyday and this helped me a lot towards creating the basics to my game which helped my career," added the 89-times capped midfielder.

New star
Over 5,000 youngsters started out in the 2008 edition, with the final 250 qualifiers from a series of regional district competitions left to battle it out for glory at the Arina Arena. One potential new star to emerge was eleven-year-old Ilmari Niskanen from Kiuruveden Palloilijat, who set new records in both the running event and the dribbling and shooting category.

Record breaker
Meanwhile, Finnish U19 international Jessi Hietanen became the first player to win her age group in every year she has entered. Claiming her eighth title, in the competition for 17-year-old girls, she will be too old to enter in 2009. After her latest victory she said: "The skills competitions have been very useful. My skills have developed a lot while I've been practicing for the competitions. I have especially noticed in national team matches that I have more time with the ball, because I'm able to control it better."

Bright future
The future currently looks bright for Finnish football with the men having recently qualified for their maiden UEFA European U21 Championship finals, the first time a male team from the Nordic nation has progressed to the latter stages of a UEFA competition since the U17 side of 2002. Meanwhile, the senior women's team will host UEFA WOMEN'S EURO 2009™ looking to improve on their last-four showing of 2005.