This article is about the men ‘s team. For the women ‘s team, see Finland women ‘s national football team
The Finland national football team ( finnish : Suomen jalkapallomaajoukkue, swedish : Finlands fotbollslandslag ) represents Finland in men ‘s international football competitions and is controlled by the Football Association of Finland, the governing soundbox for football in Finland. The team has been a extremity of FIFA since 1904 and a UEFA member since 1957.
Reading: Finland national football team
Unlike most european nations, ice ice hockey is very popular in Finland, which diverts athletic talent aside from football, contributing to its historic miss of success in any major tournament qualifiers. Finland had never qualified for a major tournament until securing a position at UEFA Euro 2020 ( postponed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic ). After many decades of relative obscurity, the state made progress in the 2000s, achieving noteworthy results against established european teams and reaching a vertex of 33rd in the FIFA World Rankings in 2007. After a few years of poor results, they dipped to an all-time low of 110th in the FIFA rankings in 2017, but then began to rise up again and, as of June 2020, they sit at 58th .
history [edit ]
Finland team paying a Moscow XI in Moscow 1912
early history [edit ]
The Football Association of Finland was founded in 1907 and became a penis of FIFA in 1908. At the time, Finland was an autonomous exalted duchy of the Russian Empire. Finland played its inaugural international on 22 October 1911, as Sweden beat the Finns at the Eläintarha Stadium in Helsinki. Finland participated the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, beating Italy and the Russian Empire, but losing the tan decoration match against the Netherlands .
menstruation of dispersion [edit ]
National team against Denmark in 1933. After the 1918 Civil War, the finnish sports motion was divided into the rightist finnish Gymnastics and Sports Federation ( SVUL ) and the collectivist finnish Workers ‘ Sports Federation ( TUL ), Finnish Football Association was a member of the SVUL. [ 5 ] Both sides had their own championship series, and between 1919 and 1939 the Finland national team was selected of the Football Association players merely. The finnish Workers ‘ Sports Federation football team in go, participated the competitions of the international labor motion. [ 6 ] however, since the belated 1920s several top footballers defected from TUL and joined the Football Association to be eligible for the national team. During the 1930s, these ″defectors″ formed the spine of the national team. For example, the Finland squad at the 1936 Summer Olympics was composed of eight former TUL players. [ 6 ] In 1937, Finland participated the FIFA World Cup qualification for the first time, losing all three matches against Sweden, Germany and Estonia. Since 1939, TUL players were selected to the national team and last in 1956, the TUL and Football Association series were merged. [ 6 ]
Post-war years [edit ]
The 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki saw the finnish hosts lose to Austria in the first round of golf. Finland did, however, win the unofficial Nordic championship in 1964 and 1966. [ 7 ] Finland besides took depart in european Championship qualifying since the 1968 event, but had to wait for its first acquire until 1978 .
late twentieth hundred [edit ]
finnish team after the victory over Yugoslavia in 1950. The results of the team improved reasonably in the late 1970s and the 1980s. Finland missed out on qualification for Euro 1980 by precisely a point and for the 1986 World Cup by two points. Finland was invited to take part in the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow after many western countries announced they would boycott the games, but failed to progress from its group. By the mid-1990s Finland started to have more players in high-profile european leagues, led by the Ajax ace Jari Litmanen. In 1996 Danish Euro 1992 winning bus Richard Møller Nielsen was hired to take Finland to the 1998 World Cup. The team enjoyed interracial fortunes in the crusade, high points of which were a draw and a succeed away to Norway and Switzerland respectively. Going into the last equal, Finland would have needed a succeed at home to Hungary to earn a place in the play-offs. They led the game 1–0 going into injury time, but scored an own finish, and once again the dream of qualification were all over. Møller Nielsen besides tried to lead Finland to Euro 2000. In this campaign the Finns recorded a arresting win off to Turkey, but could n’t compete with Germany and Turkey in the long run .
Antti Muurinen succeeded Møller Nielsen as coach in 2000. He had arguably the most talented group of finnish players ever at his administration, including players such as Antti Niemi, Sami Hyypiä, Teemu Tainio and Mikael Forssell in accession to the legendary Litmanen. The team besides performed quite well under him in reservation for the 2002 World Cup despite a difficult draw, earning two draws against Germany and a home draw with England a well as beating Greece 5–1 in Helsinki. In the conclusion, however, England and Germany proved besides strong, and the Finns finished third in the group, but were the only team in that group not to lose at home. Hopes were high going into qualification for Euro 2004 after the promise last campaign and friendly wins over the likes of Norway, Belgium and Portugal ( which seen the Finns jump from 40th–30th in the Elo rate [ 4 ] ). however, Finland started the political campaign by losing to Wales and Yugoslavia ( belated Serbia and Montenegro, now two disjoined nations ). These losses were followed by two defeats by Italy, and a 3–0 home succeed over Serbia and Montenegro was little consolation, as the Finns finished fourthly in the group. In qualification for the 2006 World Cup Finland failed to score a individual target in six matches against the top three teams in their group, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Romania. Muurinen was sacked in June 2005, and he was replaced by caretaker Jyrki Heliskoski, but results did n’t improve. In August 2005, it was announced that Roy Hodgson would become the new Finland coach in 2006, and he started in the occupation in January of that year. Hodgson stepped down angstrom director after they failed to qualify for Euro 2008. [ 8 ] His substitute was a Scotsman, Stuart Baxter, who signed a narrow until the end of the 2012 european Championship reservation campaign. [ 9 ]
holocene history [edit ]
In the Euro 2008 qualifying Finland needed to win their end modify plot away at Portugal to qualify for their first major football tournament. however, the match ended 0–0 meaning the team missed out on reservation to the tournament, with Finland ending the group stage with 24 points and Portugal with 27 points. however, the operation in qualifying led to the Finns gaining their best-ever FIFA worldly concern ranking to date at the position of 33rd. The 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign under new headway coach Stuart Baxter saw Finland again eat up third in their group with five wins, three draws and two defeats. They were the merely team in qualifying not to lose to eventual 3rd-place finishers Germany ; in both the home and away matches Finland had led Germany only to concede late equalisers. Finland finished a disappoint one-fourth in Euro 2012 qualify, with only three wins, two of them against minnows San Marino. In the 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign, Finland ‘s best consequence was a 1–1 disembowel at reigning populace champions Spain. They finished third in the five-team Group I, behind Spain and France. Finland finished fourth in Euro 2016 qualifying but achieved another noteworthy leave. Joel Pohjanpalo ‘s goal gave the Finns a 1–0 win at former european champions Greece, who had reached the second round of the 2014 World Cup and were the lead seeds of their modification group. The 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign saw Finland finish a disappoint fifth in their group with only two wins, although one of them was over Iceland, who finished acme of the qualifying group. On 15 November 2019, Finland managed to qualify to the first major tournament, UEFA Euro 2020, in their history after defeating Liechtenstein 3–0. [ 10 ] The successful qualify campaign in Group J, was aided by a distinctive performance of Teemu Pukki, who scored ten-spot goals in the qualifications. [ 11 ] On 12 June 2021 in the Euro 2020 Finland had their first gear victory on their debut in a major tournament finals, Joel Pohjanpalo scored the merely goal, a header in a 1–0 winnings over Denmark to grant his nation their beginning finish and win in a major competition. [ 12 ] unfortunately, having lost the following two games from both Russia and Belgium, Finland was eliminated from the group stage aboard mate debutants union Macedonia as a leave of their poor performance after being edged out by fourthly placed team Ukraine due to goal dispute .
home stadiums [edit ]
Most of Finland ‘s important home matches are played at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium in the das kapital Helsinki. It has been Finland ‘s star home stadium ever since its construction was completed in 1938. Before that Pallokenttä in Helsinki was chiefly used. today, some qualifying matches against lower profile opponents and some friendlies are hosted at the Tampere Stadium in Tampere and Veritas Stadion in Turku. Helsinki ‘s Bolt Arena, which has artificial turf, is besides used for some friendlies and qualifiers. During the reconstruction of Helsinki Olympic Stadium in 2016–20, Tampere Stadium served as the main stadium for qualifying games .
Kits and peak [edit ]
Finland ‘s kit are presently supplied by american brand Nike, Inc. They replaced german company Adidas who supplied Finland ‘s kits between 1979 and 2014 .
Kit supplier
Period
Adidas
1979–2014
Nike
2014–
Results and fixtures [edit ]
Win Draw Loss
2021 [edit ]
2022 [edit ]
Coaching staff [edit ]
[ 13 ] [ 14 ] [ 15 ]
Coaching history [edit ]
- As of 13 October 2015.
Players [edit ]
current police squad [edit ]
The following players have been called up for the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification matches against Bosnia and Herzegovina on 13 November and France on 16 November 2021. [ 16 ] [ 17 ] [ 18 ] [ 19 ]
Caps and goals as of 16 November 2021, after the match against 
France.
late call-ups [edit ]
The following players have been called up for the team in the final twelve months. only players available for call-up, not retire players .
actor records [edit ]
- As of 16 November 2021[20]
- Players in bold are still active with Finland.
Most appearances [edit ]
Jari Litmanen is Finland ‘s most capped player with 137 appearances .
top goalscorers [edit ]
Teemu Pukki is Finland ‘s top scorer with 33 goals .
competitive record [edit ]
FIFA World Cup [edit ]
FIFA World Cup record
Qualification record
Year
Result
Position
1930
Did not enter
Did not enter
1934
1938
Did not qualify
3
0
0
3
0
7
1950
Withdrew during qualifying
2
0
1
1
1
4
1954
Did not qualify
4
0
2
2
7
13
1958
4
0
0
4
2
19
1962
4
0
0
4
3
12
1966
6
1
0
5
5
20
1970
6
1
0
5
6
28
1974
6
1
1
4
3
21
1978
6
2
0
4
11
16
1982
8
1
0
7
4
27
1986
8
3
2
3
7
12
1990
6
1
1
4
4
16
1994
10
2
1
7
9
18
1998
8
3
2
3
11
12
2002
8
3
3
2
12
7
2006
12
5
1
6
21
19
2010
10
5
3
2
14
14
2014
8
2
3
3
5
9
2018
10
2
3
5
9
13
2022
8
3
2
3
10
10
2026
To be determined
To be determined
Total
0/21
137
35
25
77
144
297
UEFA european championship [edit ]
UEFA European Championship record
Qualifying record
Year
Result
Position
Squad
1960
Did not enter
Did not enter
1964
1968
Did not qualify
6
0
2
4
5
12
1972
6
0
1
5
1
16
1976
6
0
1
5
3
13
1980
6
2
2
2
10
15
1984
6
0
1
5
3
14
1988
6
1
1
4
4
10
1992
8
1
4
3
5
8
1996
10
5
0
5
18
18
2000
8
3
1
4
13
13
2004
8
3
1
4
9
10
2008
14
6
6
2
13
7
2012
10
3
1
6
16
16
2016
10
3
3
4
9
10
2020
Group stage
17th
3
1
0
2
1
3
Squad
10
6
0
4
16
10
2024
To be determined
To be determined
Total
Group stage
1/16
3
1
0
2
1
3
—
114
33
24
57
125
172
UEFA Nations League [edit ]
UEFA Nations League record
Season
Division
Group
2018–19
C
2
1st
6
4
0
2
5
3
28th
2020–21
B
4
2nd
6
4
0
2
7
5
21st
2022–23
B
To be determined
Total
12
8
0
4
12
8
21st
Olympic Games [edit ]
Nordic Football Championship record
Year
Result
Position
1929–32
Fourth place
4th
12
2
2
8
23
52
1933–36
12
3
1
8
18
36
1937–47
12
1
1
10
12
51
1948–51
12
1
3
8
11
28
1952–55
12
1
1
10
13
53
1956–59
12
0
1
11
8
44
1960–63
12
2
2
8
14
37
1964–67
Third place
3rd
12
5
2
5
14
17
1968–71
Fourth place
4th
12
0
4
8
10
31
1972–77
12
1
4
7
10
26
1978–80
6
1
4
7
10
26
1981–85
6
1
1
4
7
11
2000–01
Champions
1st
5
4
0
1
7
3
Total
1 Title
13/14
137
21
24
92
150
401
baltic Cup [edit ]
Baltic Cup record
Year
Result
2012
Runners-up
2
1
1
0
3
2
2014
Third place
2
1
0
1
2
1
Total
4
2
1
1
5
3
neck and neck record [edit ]
This list is Finland home team complete records, both friendlies and competitive matches. [ 21 ]
- As of 13 November 2021[22]
Opponent
GP
W
D
L
GF
GA
GD
Win %
All Nations
772
204
157
411
910
1,605
−695
0 26.42
Honours [edit ]
minor tournaments [edit ]
- Finnish team of the year
- 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 2020, 2021
See besides [edit ]
References [edit ]
Read more: Bologna F.C. 1909