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Finland national football team

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Finland
Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s)Huuhkajat
(The Eagle-Owls)[1]
AssociationFootball Association of Finland
(Suomen Palloliitto)
(Finlands Bollförbund)
ConfederationUEFA (Europe)
Head coachHans Backe
CaptainNiklas Moisander
Most capsJari Litmanen (137)
Top scorerJari Litmanen (32)
Home stadiumHelsinki Olympic Stadium
FIFA codeFIN
First colours
Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current46 Increase 1 (3 March 2015)
Highest33 (March 2007)
Lowest96 (September 2012)
First international
Russian Empire Finland 2–5 Sweden 
(Helsinki, Grand Duchy of Finland, Russian Empire; 22 October 1911)
Biggest win
 Finland 10–2 Estonia 
(Helsinki, Finland; 11 August 1922)
 Finland 8–0 San Marino 
(Helsinki, Finland; 17 November 2010)
Biggest defeat
 Germany 13–0 Finland 
(Leipzig, Germany; 1 September 1940)
Summer Olympics
Appearances4 (first in 1912)
Best resultFourth place, 1912
National team against Denmark in 1933.

The Finland national football team (Template:Lang-fi, Template:Lang-sv) represents Finland in international football competitions and is controlled by the Football Association of Finland.

Although the Finnish national team has never qualified for a finals tournament of the World Cup or the European Championships, the Nordic nation made remarkable progression in the 2000s, reaching a peak of 30th on the Elo Rankings, under coach of Roy Hodgson they achieved notable results against much more established European teams. The team has also never dropped out of the top 100 of the FIFA World Rankings since the rankings were established in 1993.

Early history

The Football Association of Finland was founded as early as 1907 and became a member of FIFA in 1908, despite the fact that at that time Finland was still an autonomous grand duchy of the Russian Empire and did not gain independence until 1917. Finland played its first international match on October 22, 1911, losing to neighboring Sweden 2–5 in Helsinki.

Finland also took part in European Championship qualifying since the 1968 event, but had to wait for its first win until 1978. The 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki saw the Finnish hosts lose to Austria in the first round. Finland did, however, win the unofficial Nordic championship in 1964 and 1966.[3]

Later 20th century

The results of the team improved somewhat in the late 1970s and the 1980s. Finland missed out on qualification for Euro 1980 by just 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 superstar Jari Litmanen. In 1996 Danish Euro 1992 winning coach Richard Møller Nielsen was hired to take Finland to the 1998 World Cup. The team enjoyed mixed fortunes in the campaign, high points of which were a draw and a win away to Norway and Switzerland respectively. Going into the last match, Finland would have needed a win 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 goal, and once again the dreams of qualification were over. Møller Nielsen also tried to lead Finland to Euro 2000. In this campaign the Finns recorded a sensational win away to Turkey, but couldn'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 disposal, including players such as Antti Niemi, Sami Hyypiä, Teemu Tainio and Mikael Forssell in addition to the legendary Litmanen. The team also performed quite well under him in qualification for the 2002 World Cup despite a difficult draw, earning two draws against Germany and a home draw with England as well as beating Greece 5–1 in Helsinki. In the end, however, England and Germany proved too 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 promising last campaign and friendly wins over the likes of Norway, Belgium and Portugal (which seen the Finns jump from 40th–30th in the Elo ranking[2]). However, Finland started the campaign by losing to Wales and Yugoslavia (later Serbia and Montenegro, now two separate nations). These losses were followed by two defeats by Italy, and a 3–0 home win over Serbia and Montenegro was little consolation, as the Finns finished fourth in the group. In qualification for the 2006 World Cup Finland failed to score a single point 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 didn't improve.

In August 2005, it was announced that Roy Hodgson would become the new Finland coach in 2006, and he started in the job in January of that year. Hodgson stepped down as manager after they failed to qualify for Euro 2008.[4] His replacement was a Scotsman, Stuart Baxter, who signed a contract until the end of the 2012 European Championship qualification campaign.[5]

Recent history

Finland was competing in Group A in qualification for UEFA Euro 2008, together with Portugal, Poland, Serbia, Belgium, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. The team started the campaign very well, beating Poland 3–1 away and earning a 1–1 draw with Portugal at home. The Finns then gained four points from their difficult away ties against Armenia and Kazakhstan, drawing 0–0 with the former and beating the latter 2–0. On 15 November 2006, Finland beat Armenia 1–0 at home, thus remaining undefeated in the qualifying. In Finland's first match of 2007, they were in poor form when they lost against Azerbaijan 1–0, one of the worst matches in Finnish footballing history. On early June they lost to Serbia 2–0 at home, which many fans[who?] felt to be the end of a real battle for qualification. But the next match was against Belgium and team Finland gained the trust of their fans back by winning 2–0 at home. This was followed by a series of wins including a 2–1 win against Azerbaijan, with the team needing to win against Portugal away from home needing to qualify. However, the match ended 0–0 meaning the team missed out on qualification. At the end of the group table the defeat to Azerbaijan made little difference, as it would have meant Finland losing out on away goals between them and Portugal when the teams met if they did win against Azerbaijan twice. However, the performance in qualifying seen the Finns gain their best-ever FIFA world ranking to date at the position of 33rd

2010 World cup qualification fared little better, with the team under new head coach Stuart Baxter not winning matches as consistently like they did under Roy Hodgson. However the team were within touching distance of a win over Euro 2008 finalists Germany, but had to settle for a 3–3 draw. The team again finished third in their group with five wins, three draws and two defeats. They were the only team in qualifying not to lose to eventual 3rd-place finishers Germany, but came close to a win in the second meeting only to concede an equaliser in stoppage time.

Qualification for the European 2012 European Championship has so far been underwhelming, with three straight defeats against Moldova (2–0), the Netherlands and Hungary (both 2–1), before closing 2010 with an 8–0 success against minnows San Marino which saw Mikael Forssell the first player of the group to score a hat trick. Before their first win of the campaign, the team slipped to 87th in the FIFA World Rankings, despite still staying in the top 100 and therefore keeping up their consistency in the top half of the monthly table, this was however their lowest-ever position in their history since the rankings were established in 1993. The team then moved up to 76th place after a disappointing 1–0 win over San Marino, that team's best result in their group having lost every game with no goals scored. This was then followed up by a 5–0 mauling by their neighbours Sweden, giving them their fourth defeat in the group. To date Finland have scored 11 goals and conceded 11, a large decline after the success of 2007–2009.

For the Qualification for the 2014 World Cup, Finland has seen significant improvement despite up and down results. Being ranked the weakest team in the group, they started the qualification with little success with a 1–0 loss to France, and a disappointing 1–1 home draw with Georgia in Helsinki. They then achieved a historic 1–1 draw against number 1 ranked Spain who are reigning European and World Cup champions in Gijon, with Teemu Pukki scoring the equalizing goal in the 79th minute. They followed that up with a 1–0 win over Belarus. These two results propelled Finland right back into the conversation for a potential playoff spot. However they were held to a 1–1 draw at Belarus 4 days later. Next up Finland hosted Spain in Helsinki, hoping to achieve another upset result that would have increased their chances for a playoff spot greatly, unfortunately they lost 2–0 with goals coming from Jordi Alba and Álvaro Negredo with Teemu Tainio giving Finland's only real threat to score but his shot was well saved by Iker Casillas. Despite the loss, Finland still had a slight chance to finish second, but they need to win against Georgia in Tbilisi, and France to lose against Belarus in Minsk. Finland achieved their task of defeating Georgia 1–0 thanks to a Roman Eremenko penalty kick. However France ended up coming back to defeat Belarus 4–2, despite trailing 2–0 at halftime. Because of the French victory, Finland were eliminated from a playoff spot. They finished the campaign third in their group after losing 3–0 against France in the final game in Paris.

Stadia

Most of Finland's important home matches are played at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium in the capital Helsinki. It has been Finland's principal home stadium ever since its construction was completed in 1938. Before that Pallokenttä in Helsinki was mainly used.

Today, some qualifying matches against lower profile opponents and some friendlies are hosted at the Ratina Stadion in Tampere. Helsinki's Sonera Stadium, which has artificial turf, is also used for some friendlies and qualifiers. During reconstruction of Helsinki Olympic Stadium in 2016–19 Ratina Stadion serves as the main stadium for qualifying games.

Competitive record

All–time record against all nations

This list is Finland national team complete records, both friendlies and competitive matches. As of 13 October 2015

Against Played Won Drawn Lost GF GA GD % Won
 Albania 7 4 1 2 8 6 +2 57%
 Algeria 1 0 0 1 0 2 −2 0%
 Andorra 2 1 1 0 3 0 +3 50%
 Armenia 4 3 1 0 6 1 +5 75%
 Austria 10 1 1 8 10 23 −13 10%
 Azerbaijan 8 7 0 1 15 5 +10 88%
 Bahrain 5 4 1 0 9 1 +8 80%
 Barbados 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0%
 Belarus 4 1 3 0 5 4 +1 25%
 Belgium 10 4 3 3 18 19 −1 40%
 Bermuda 1 1 0 0 2 0 +2 100%
 Bolivia 2 0 1 1 2 5 −3 0%
 Bosnia and Herzegovina 1 0 0 1 0 1 −1 0%
 Brazil 3 0 0 3 3 9 −6 0%
 Bulgaria 8 0 1 7 3 19 −16 0%
 Canada 1 1 0 0 3 2 0 100%
 Chile 1 0 0 1 0 2 −2 0%
 China 4 4 0 0 7 6 +1 100%
 Colombia 1 0 0 1 1 3 −2 0%
 Costa Rica 1 0 0 1 1 2 −1 0%
 Cyprus 4 2 1 1 7 4 +3 50%
 Czech Republic 11 3 3 5 14 22 −8 27%
 Denmark 59 11 10 38 60 151 −91 19%
 East Germany 7 2 1 4 8 21 −13 29%
 Ecuador 1 0 0 1 1 3 −2 0%
 Egypt 2 0 0 2 2 4 −2 0%
 England 13 0 2 11 7 44 −37 0%
 Estonia 31 14 10 7 71 40 +31 44%
 Faroe Islands 5 5 0 0 15 1 +13 100%
 France 8 0 0 8 3 18 −15 0%
 Georgia 2 1 1 0 2 1 +1 50%
 Germany 22 1 6 15 19 80 −59 5%
 Greece 14 4 3 7 18 25 −7 29%
 Honduras 1 1 0 0 2 1 +1 100%
 Hungary 17 3 3 11 15 48 −32 18%
 Iceland 10 6 2 2 17 10 +7 60%
 India 2 1 1 0 2 0 +2 50%
 Iraq 2 2 0 0 3 0 +3 100%
 Ireland 5 0 2 3 2 11 −9 0%
 Israel 5 2 1 2 6 6 0 40%
 Italy 12 1 1 10 7 30 −21 8%
 Japan 2 0 0 2 1 7 −6 0%
 Kazakhstan 3 2 1 0 4 1 +6 67%
 Kuwait 7 3 2 2 6 5 +1 43%
 Latvia 17 10 3 4 32 18 +14 59%
 Liechtenstein 2 1 1 0 3 2 +1 50%
 Lithuania 5 3 0 2 15 5 +10 60%
 Luxembourg 5 4 0 1 12 4 +8 80%
 Macedonia 4 3 0 1 11 2 +9 75%
 Malaysia 1 1 0 0 2 1 +1 100%
 Malta 7 4 2 1 9 5 +4 57%
 Mexico 4 0 1 3 2 7 −5 0%
 Moldova 4 2 1 1 7 5 +2 50%
 Morocco 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0%
 Netherlands 14 1 2 11 14 43 −29 7%
 North Korea 1 1 0 0 3 0 +3 100%
 Northern Ireland 9 3 2 4 13 12 +1 37%
 Norway 61 9 14 38 77 172 −95 15%
 Oman 6 3 3 0 7 2 +5 50%
 Peru 1 0 0 1 3 7 −4 0%
 Poland 30 3 8 19 28 71 −43 10%
 Portugal 10 1 4 5 6 14 −8 10%
 Qatar 4 1 3 0 4 3 +1 25%
 Romania 11 0 4 7 5 27 −22 0%
 Russia 20 1 5 14 13 66 −53 5%
 San Marino 4 4 0 0 15 0 +15 100%
 Saudi Arabia 4 2 1 1 7 4 +3 50%
 Scotland 8 0 2 6 5 18 −13 0%
 Serbia 9 2 2 5 10 30 −20 40%
 Slovakia 3 0 1 2 1 4 −3 0%
 Slovenia 2 1 1 0 3 1 +2 50%
 South Korea 3 0 0 3 0 5 −5 0%
 Spain 8 1 2 5 5 16 −11 13%
 Sweden 88 11 11 66 96 292 −196 12%
  Switzerland 5 2 0 3 5 7 −2 40%
 Thailand 5 5 0 0 12 6 +6 100%
 Trinidad and Tobago 5 3 1 1 8 7 +1 60%
 Tunisia 3 2 1 0 6 2 +4 67%
 Turkey 13 6 3 4 20 20 0 46%
 United Arab Emirates 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0%
 United States 2 0 0 2 1 3 −2 0%
 Uruguay 2 0 0 2 1 8 −7 0%
 Wales 12 4 4 4 12 17 −5 33%
 Yemen 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0%

World Cup record

FIFA World Cup record FIFA World Cup Qualification record
Year Round Position Pld W D L GF GA Pld W D L GF GA
Uruguay 1930 Did Not Enter
Italy 1934
France 1938 Did Not Qualify 3 0 0 3 0 7
Brazil 1950 Withdrew during qualifying
Switzerland 1954 Did Not Qualify 4 0 2 2 7 13
Sweden 1958 4 0 0 4 2 19
Chile 1962 4 0 0 4 3 12
England 1966 6 1 0 5 5 20
Mexico 1970 6 1 0 5 6 28
West Germany 1974 6 1 1 4 3 21
Argentina 1978 6 2 0 4 11 16
Spain 1982 8 1 0 7 4 27
Mexico 1986 8 3 2 3 7 12
Italy 1990 6 1 1 4 4 16
United States 1994 10 2 1 7 9 18
France 1998 8 3 2 3 11 12
South KoreaJapan 2002 8 3 3 2 12 7
Germany 2006 12 5 1 6 21 19
South Africa 2010 10 5 3 2 14 14
Brazil 2014 8 2 3 3 5 9
Russia 2018 To be determined
Qatar 2022
Total 0/20 117 30 19 68 124 270

European Championship record

UEFA European Championship record UEFA Euro Championship Qualification record
Year Round Position Pld W D L GF GA Pld W D L GF GA
France 1960 Did Not Enter
Spain 1964
Italy 1968 Did Not Qualify 6 0 2 4 5 12
Belgium 1972 6 0 1 5 1 16
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 1976 6 0 1 5 3 13
Italy 1980 6 2 2 2 10 15
France 1984 6 0 1 5 3 14
West Germany 1988 6 1 1 4 4 10
Sweden 1992 8 1 4 3 5 8
England 1996 10 5 0 5 18 18
Belgium Netherlands 2000 8 3 1 4 13 13
Portugal 2004 8 3 1 4 9 10
Austria Switzerland 2008 14 6 6 2 13 7
Poland Ukraine 2012 10 3 1 6 16 16
France 2016 10 3 3 4 9 10
European Union 2020 To be determined
Total 0/15 104 27 24 53 109 162

Summer Olympics

Olympics record
Year Round Position GP W D* L GS GA
Sweden 1912 Fourth Place 4th 4 2 0 2 5 16
Nazi Germany 1936 Round of 16 14th 1 0 0 1 3 7
Finland 1952 Round of 16 9th 1 0 0 1 3 4
Soviet Union 1980 Group stage 9th 3 1 1 1 3 2
Total 4/23 0 Titles 9 3 1 5 14 29

UEFA Euro 2016

Main article: UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying Group F


Faroe Islands 1–3 Finland
Holst 41' Report Riski 53', 78'
R. Eremenko 82'
Attendance: 3,330
Finland 1–1 Greece
Hurme 55' Report Karelis 24'
Attendance: 26,548
Finland 0–2 Romania
Ring Red card 56' Report Stancu 54' 84'
Attendance: 19,408
Hungary 1–0 Finland
Gera 84' Report
Attendance: 19,500
Northern Ireland 2–1 Finland
Lafferty 33', 38' Report Sadik 90+1'
Attendance: 10,264
Finland 0–1 Hungary
Report Stieber 82'
Referee: Matej Jug (Slovenia)
Greece 0–1 Finland
Report Pohjanpalo 75'
Finland 1–0 Faroe Islands
Pohjanpalo 23' Report
Attendance: 9,477[6]
Romania 1–1 Finland
Hoban 90+1' Report Pohjanpalo 66'
Attendance: 47,987[7]
Finland 1–1 Northern Ireland
Arajuuri 87' Report Cathcart 31'
Attendance: 14,550[8]

Friendlies

Finland 2–2 Czech Republic
Pukki 18', 20' Vydra 19'
Hušbauer 36'
Attendance: 6,547
Finland 0–1 Lithuania
Novikovas 42'
Attendance: 631
Finland 2–0 Estonia
Hetemaj 49'
Moren 87'
Attendance: 830
Slovakia 2–1 Finland
Hološko 1'
Hamšík 7'		 Hubočan 45' (o.g.)
Attendance: 3,950
Sweden 0–1 Finland
Ro. Riski 63'
Attendance: 100
Finland 0–0 Yemen
Finland 0–2 Estonia
Purje 28', 57'

Results in 2015

Template:Fb rbr header Template:Fb rbr ground Template:Fb rbr result Template:Fb rbr footer

Goalscorers 2015

Rank Player Club Goals
1 Joel Pohjanpalo Germany Fortuna Düsseldorf 3
2 Roope Riski Norway Haugesund 1
Berat Sadik Switzerland Thun 1

Current squad

The following 23 players have been called up for the friendly matches against Sweden on 10 January 2016 and against Iceland on 13 January 2016.[9]

Caps and goals as of 13 January 2016 after the game against Iceland.

No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1GK Henrik Moisander (1985-09-29) 29 September 1985 (age 39) 2 0 Finland Inter Turku
1GK Mika Hilander (1983-08-17) 17 August 1983 (age 41) 1 0 Finland Ilves
1GK Markus Uusitalo (1997-05-15) 15 May 1997 (age 27) 0 0 Finland HJK
2DF Kari Arkivuo (1983-06-23) 23 June 1983 (age 41) 42 1 Sweden Häcken
2DF Jukka Raitala (1988-09-15) 15 September 1988 (age 36) 28 0 Norway Sogndal
2DF Jarkko Hurme (1986-06-04) 4 June 1986 (age 38) 12 1 Finland SJK
2DF Ville Jalasto (1986-04-19) 19 April 1986 (age 38) 7 0 Finland HJK
2DF Hannu Patronen (1984-05-23) 23 May 1984 (age 40) 6 0 Norway Sogndal
2DF Tapio Heikkilä (1990-04-09) 9 April 1990 (age 34) 3 0 Norway Start
2DF Daniel O'Shaughnessy (1994-09-10) 10 September 1994 (age 30) 2 0 Denmark FC Midtjylland
2DF Timo Tahvanainen (1986-06-26) 26 June 1986 (age 38) 2 0 Finland SJK
3MF Rasmus Schüller (1991-06-18) 18 June 1991 (age 33) 15 0 Sweden Häcken
3MF Petteri Forsell (1990-10-16) 16 October 1990 (age 34) 6 1 Poland Miedź Legnica
3MF Mehmet Hetemaj (1987-12-08) 8 December 1987 (age 36) 5 0 Finland SJK
3MF Johannes Laaksonen (1990-12-13) 13 December 1990 (age 33) 3 0 Finland SJK
3MF Juha Pirinen (1991-10-22) 22 October 1991 (age 33) 2 0 Finland RoPS
3MF Janne Saksela (1993-03-14) 14 March 1993 (age 31) 2 0 Finland RoPS[10]
3MF Simon Skrabb (1995-01-19) 19 January 1995 (age 29) 1 0 Sweden Gefle
3MF Matej Hradecky (1995-04-17) 17 April 1995 (age 29) 1 0 Finland TPS[11]
4FW Teemu Pukki (1990-03-29) 29 March 1990 (age 34) 46 8 Denmark Brøndby
4FW Roope Riski (1991-08-16) 16 August 1991 (age 33) 4 1 Norway Haugesund
4FW Akseli Pelvas (1989-02-08) 8 February 1989 (age 35) 3 0 Sweden Falkenberg
4FW Aleksandr Kokko (1987-06-04) 4 June 1987 (age 37) 1 0 Finland RoPS

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up for the team in the last twelve months. Only players available for call-up, not retired players.

Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club Latest call-up
GK Lukas Hradecky (1989-11-24) 24 November 1989 (age 35) 26 0 Germany Eintracht Frankfurt v.  Northern Ireland, 11 October 2015
GK Niki Mäenpää (1985-01-23) 23 January 1985 (age 39) 25 0 England Brighton & Hove Albion v.  Northern Ireland, 11 October 2015
GK Jesse Joronen (1993-03-21) 21 March 1993 (age 31) 1 0 England Stevenage v.  Northern Ireland, 11 October 2015
DF Niklas Moisander (Captain) (1985-09-29) 29 September 1985 (age 39) 51 2 Italy Sampdoria v.  Northern Ireland, 11 October 2015
DF Joona Toivio (1988-03-10) 10 March 1988 (age 36) 34 2 Norway Molde v.  Northern Ireland, 11 October 2015
DF Jere Uronen (1994-07-13) 13 July 1994 (age 30) 16 0 Belgium Genk v.  Northern Ireland, 11 October 2015
DF Juhani Ojala (1989-06-19) 19 June 1989 (age 35) 15 0 Russia FC Terek Grozny v.  Northern Ireland, 11 October 2015
DF Paulus Arajuuri (1988-06-15) 15 June 1988 (age 36) 11 1 Poland Lech Poznań v.  Northern Ireland, 11 October 2015
DF Thomas Lam (1993-12-18) 18 December 1993 (age 30) 2 0 Netherlands Zwolle v.  Northern Ireland, 11 October 2015
DF Valtteri Moren (1991-06-15) 15 June 1991 (age 33) 3 1 Belgium Waasland-Beveren v.  Faroe Islands, 7 September 2015
DF Sebastian Sorsa (1984-01-25) 25 January 1984 (age 40) 6 0 Finland HJK v.  Hungary, 13 June 2015
DF Mikko Sumusalo (1990-03-12) 12 March 1990 (age 34) 4 1 Germany RB Leipzig v.  Hungary, 13 June 2015 PRE
DF Boris Rotenberg (1986-05-19) 19 May 1986 (age 38) 1 0 Russia Rostov v.  Hungary, 13 June 2015 PRE
MF Riku Riski (1989-08-16) 16 August 1989 (age 35) 26 4 Scotland Dundee United v.  Iceland, 13 January 2016 PRE
MF Glen Kamara (1995-10-28) 28 October 1995 (age 29) 0 0 England Arsenal v.  Iceland, 13 January 2016 PRE
MF Tim Sparv (1987-02-20) 20 February 1987 (age 37) 50 1 Denmark Midtjylland v.  Northern Ireland, 11 October 2015
MF Kasper Hämäläinen (1986-08-08) 8 August 1986 (age 38) 49 7 Poland Legia Warsaw v.  Northern Ireland, 11 October 2015
MF Përparim Hetemaj (1986-12-12) 12 December 1986 (age 37) 39 4 Italy Chievo v.  Northern Ireland, 11 October 2015
MF Alexander Ring (1991-04-09) 9 April 1991 (age 33) 34 1 Germany 1. FC Kaiserslautern v.  Northern Ireland, 11 October 2015
MF Markus Halsti (1984-03-19) 19 March 1984 (age 40) 26 0 United States D.C. United v.  Northern Ireland, 11 October 2015
MF Sakari Mattila (1989-07-14) 14 July 1989 (age 35) 9 0 England Fulham v.  Northern Ireland, 11 October 2015
MF Robin Lod (1993-04-17) 17 April 1993 (age 31) 4 0 Greece Panathinaikos v.  Northern Ireland, 11 October 2015
MF Roman Eremenko (1987-03-19) 19 March 1987 (age 37) 68 5 Russia CSKA Moscow v.  Northern Ireland, 11 October 2015 INJ
MF Joni Kauko (1990-07-12) 12 July 1990 (age 34) 6 0 Germany Energie Cottbus v.  Faroe Islands, 7 September 2015
FW Joel Pohjanpalo (1994-09-13) 13 September 1994 (age 30) 18 4 Germany Fortuna Düsseldorf v.  Northern Ireland, 11 October 2015
FW Berat Sadik (1986-09-14) 14 September 1986 (age 38) 11 1 Russia Krylia Sovetov Samara v.  Northern Ireland, 11 October 2015
FW Tim Väyrynen (1993-03-29) 29 March 1993 (age 31) 5 0 Germany Dynamo Dresden v.  Northern Ireland, 11 October 2015 INJ
FW Vahid Hambo (1995-02-03) 3 February 1995 (age 29) 0 0 England Brighton & Hove Albion v.  Hungary, 13 June 2015 PRE
FW Eero Markkanen (1991-07-03) 3 July 1991 (age 33) 5 0 Sweden AIK v.  Estonia, 9 June 2015
  • INJ = Withdrew due to an injury.
  • PRE = Preliminary squad.

Coaching staff

[12]

Position Name
Head coach Sweden Hans Backe
Assistant coach Finland Markku Kanerva
Assistant coach Finland Jukka Ikäläinen
Goalkeeping coach Finland Antti Niemi
Scout Sweden Thomas Lyth
Video analyst Sweden John Wall

Player records

Most capped players

Rank Name Career Caps Goals
1 Jari Litmanen 1989–2010 137 32
2 Sami Hyypiä 1992–2010 105 5
Jonatan Johansson 1996–2010 105 22
4 Ari Hjelm 1983–1996 100 20
5 Joonas Kolkka 1994–2010 98 11
6 Mikael Forssell 1999– 87 29
7 Erkka Petäjä 1983–1994 84 0
8 Arto Tolsa 1964–1981 77 10
9 Hannu Tihinen 1997–2010 76 5
Petri Pasanen 2000–2013 76 1
10 Toni Kuivasto 1997–2009 75 1

Top goalscorers

Rank Name Career Goals Caps
1 Jari Litmanen 1989–2010 32 137
2 Mikael Forssell 1999– 29 87
3 Jonatan Johansson 1996–2010 22 105
4 Ari Hjelm 1983–1996 20 100
5 Mika-Matti Paatelainen 1986–2000 18 70
6 Verner Eklöf 1919–1927 17 32
7 Aulis Koponen 1924–1935 16 39
Gunnar Åström 1923–1937 16 44
9 Alexei Eremenko 2003– 14 57
10 Jorma Vaihela 1947–1954 13 33
William Kanerva 1922–1938 13 51
Kai Pahlman 1954–1968 13 56
  • Correct as of January 24, 2014
  • Players who are still active and available for selection are in bold

Managers

Last updated: 13 Oct 2015.

Tenure Nat Coach Record
G W D L Win %
1911–21 None 17 6 2 9 035.29
1922 Finland Jarl Öhman 4 1 0 3 025.00
1923–35 None 77 22 12 43 028.57
1936–37 Germany Ferdinand Fabra 8 1 1 6 012.50
1937–38 None 9 3 0 6 033.33
1939 Hungary Gábor Obitz 6 1 0 5 016.67
1939–43 None 7 0 1 6 000.00
1945 Sweden Axel Mårtensson 2 0 0 2 000.00
1946 Finland Niilo Tammisalo 3 0 0 3 000.00
1947–55 Finland Aatos Lehtonen 51 7 9 35 013.73
1955–58 Germany Kurt Weinreich 23 3 1 19 013.04
1959–61 Finland Aatos Lehtonen 19 3 0 16 015.79
1962–74 Finland Olavi Laaksonen 91 16 21 54 017.58
1975 Finland Martti Kosma 2 0 1 1 000.00
1975–78 Finland Aulis Rytkönen 30 8 4 18 026.67
1979–81 Finland Esko Malm 27 4 6 17 014.81
1982–87 Finland Martti Kuusela 53 9 11 33 016.98
1988–92 Finland Jukka Vakkila 48 7 21 20 014.58
1993–94 Finland Tommy Lindholm 25 5 7 13 020.00
1994–96 Finland Jukka Ikäläinen 21 7 4 10 033.33
1996–99 Denmark Richard Møller Nielsen 34 9 12 13 026.47
2000–05 Finland Antti Muurinen 72 34 12 26 047.22
2005 Finland Jyrki Heliskoski (caretaker) 6 2 2 2 033.33
2006–07 England Roy Hodgson 22 6 11 5 027.27
2008–10 England Stuart Baxter 31 8 6 17 025.81
2010 Finland Olli Huttunen (caretaker) 1 1 0 0 100.00
2011 Finland Markku Kanerva (caretaker) 2 0 1 1 000.00
2011–2015 Finland Mixu Paatelainen 43 17 11 15 039.53
2015 Finland Markku Kanerva (caretaker) 5 3 2 0 060.00
2016– Sweden Hans Backe
Total 738 182 158 398 024.66

Kit supplier

Finland's kit are currently supplied by American brand Nike, Inc. They replaced German company Adidas who supplied Finland's kits between 1979 to 2014.

See also

References

  1. ^ Palkittu Bubi käväisi yllättäen palkitsemistilaisuudessa HS.fi – Kaupunki
  2. ^ a b c "World Football Elo Ratings: Finland". World Football Elo Ratings. Retrieved 2011-09-22.
  3. ^ rsssf Nordic championship 1964–66.
  4. ^ Hodgson to return for Inter role BBC Sport, 1 December 2007
  5. ^ Suomen Palloliitto – Etusivu Template:Fi icon
  6. ^ "Finald-Faroe Islands". Retrieved 17 September 2015.
  7. ^ Au fost 47.987 de fani!
  8. ^ http://www.stadion.fi/
  9. ^ https://www.instagram.com/huuhkajat/
  10. ^ https://twitter.com/Huuhkajat/status/684769759024513025
  11. ^ http://www.palloliitto.fi/uutiset/maajoukkueet/matej-hradecky-huuhkajien-mukaan
  12. ^ http://www.palloliitto.fi/uutiset/maajoukkueet/hans-backe-valitsi-huuhkajien-valmennusryhman
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