Finland national football team

The Football Association of Finland was founded in 1907 and became a member of FIFA in 1908. At the time, Finland was an autonomous grand duchy of the Russian Empire. Finland played its first 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 bronze medal match against the Netherlands.

National team against Denmark in 1933.

After the 1918 Civil War, the Finnish sports movement was divided into the right-wing Finnish Gymnastics and Sports Federation (SVUL) and the leftist Finnish Workers' Sports Federation (TUL), Finnish Football Association was a member of the SVUL.[4] Both sides had their own championship series, and between 1919 and 1939 the Finland national team was selected of the Football Association players only. The Finnish Workers' Sports Federation football team in turn, participated the competitions of the international labour movement.[5]

However, since the late 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.[5] 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 finally in 1956, the TUL and Football Association series were merged.[5]

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.[6]

Finland also took part in European Championship qualifying since the 1968 event, but had to wait for its first win until 1978.

Finnish team after the victory over Yugoslavia in 1950.

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.

Jari Litmanen is widely regarded as Finland's greatest footballer of all time.

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[7]). 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.[8] His replacement was a Scotsman, Stuart Baxter, who signed a contract until the end of the 2012 European Championship qualification campaign.[9]

Markku Kanerva managed to lead his Finnish national team to first time qualification to a UEFA European Tournament.

In the Euro 2008 qualifying Finland needed to win their last qualifying game away at Portugal to qualify for their first major football tournament. However, the match ended 0–0 meaning the team missed out on qualification to the tournament, with Finland ending the group stage with 24 points and Portugal with 27 points. However, the performance in qualifying led to the Finns gaining their best-ever FIFA world ranking to date at the position of 33rd.

The 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign under new head coach Stuart Baxter saw Finland again finish 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; in both the home and away matches Finland had led Germany only to concede late equalisers. Finland finished a disappointing fourth in Euro 2012 qualifying, with only three wins, two of them against minnows San Marino.

In the 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign, Finland's best result was a 1–1 draw at reigning world 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 result. 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 top seeds of their qualifying group.

The 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign saw Finland finish a disappointing fifth in their group with only two wins, although one of them was over Iceland, who finished top 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 qualifying campaign in Group J, was aided by a distinctive performance of Teemu Pukki, who scored ten goals in the qualifications.[11]

On 12 June 2021 in the Euro 2020 Finland had their first victory on their debut in a major tournament finals, Joel Pohjanpalo scored the only goal, a header in a 1–0 win over Denmark to grant his country their first goal and win in a major competition.[12] Unfortunately, having lost the next two games from both Russia and Belgium, Finland was eliminated from the group stage alongside fellow debutants North Macedonia as a result of their poor performance after being edged out by fourth placed team Ukraine due to goal difference.

As of 13 October 2015.

Tenure	Nat	Coach	Record
G	W	D	L	Win %
1911–21		None	17	6	2	9	035.29
1922		Jarl Öhman	4	1	0	3	025.00
1923–35		None	77	22	12	43	028.57
1936–37		Ferdinand Fabra	8	1	1	6	012.50
1937–38		None	9	3	0	6	033.33
1939		Gábor Obitz	6	1	0	5	016.67
1939–43		None	7	0	1	6	000.00
1945		Axel Mårtensson	2	0	0	2	000.00
1946		Niilo Tammisalo	3	0	0	3	000.00
1947–55		Aatos Lehtonen	51	7	9	35	013.73
1955–58		Kurt Weinreich	23	3	1	19	013.04
1959–61		Aatos Lehtonen	19	3	0	16	015.79
1962–74		Olavi Laaksonen	91	16	21	54	017.58
1975		Martti Kosma	2	0	1	1	000.00
1975–78		Aulis Rytkönen	30	8	4	18	026.67
1979–81		Esko Malm	27	4	6	17	014.81
1982–87		Martti Kuusela	53	9	11	33	016.98
1988–92		Jukka Vakkila	48	7	21	20	014.58
1993–94		Tommy Lindholm	25	5	7	13	020.00
1994–96		Jukka Ikäläinen	21	7	4	10	033.33
1996–99		Richard Møller Nielsen	34	9	12	13	026.47
2000–05		Antti Muurinen	72	34	12	26	047.22
2005		Jyrki Heliskoski (caretaker)	6	2	2	2	033.33
2006–07		Roy Hodgson	22	6	11	5	027.27
2008–10		Stuart Baxter	31	8	6	17	025.81
2010–2011		Olli Huttunen (caretaker)	1	1	0	0	100.00
2011		Markku Kanerva (caretaker)	2	0	1	1	000.00
2011–2015		Mixu Paatelainen	45	17	11	17	037.78
2015		Markku Kanerva (caretaker)	4	2	2	0	050.00
2016		Hans Backe	11	0	2	9	000.00
2016–		Markku Kanerva	26	13	5	8	050.00
Total			748	181	159	408	024.20

The following players were called up for friendly matches against Iceland on 26 March and Slovakia on 29 March 2022.[16][17][18][19][20]

Caps and goals as of 29 March 2022, after the match against Slovakia.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
	1GK	Lukáš Hrádecký (captain)	(1989-11-24) 24 November 1989	75	0	Bayer Leverkusen
	1GK	Jesse Joronen	(1993-03-21) 21 March 1993	15	0	Brescia
	1GK	Carljohan Eriksson	(1995-04-25) 25 April 1995	1	0	Dundee United
	2DF	Jere Uronen	(1994-07-13) 13 July 1994	58	1	Brest
	2DF	Sauli Väisänen	(1994-06-05) 5 June 1994	21	0	Cosenza
	2DF	Daniel O'Shaughnessy (vice-captain)	(1994-09-14) 14 September 1994	19	1	Karlsruher SC
	2DF	Nikolai Alho	(1993-03-12) 12 March 1993	18	0	Volos
	2DF	Leo Väisänen	(1997-07-23) 23 July 1997	17	0	Elfsborg
	2DF	Robert Ivanov	(1994-09-19) 19 September 1994	9	0	Warta Poznań
	2DF	Miro Tenho	(1995-04-02) 2 April 1995	1	0	HJK
	2DF	Miska Ylitolva	(2004-05-23) 23 May 2004	2	0	HJK
	3MF	Rasmus Schüller (vice-captain)	(1991-06-18) 18 June 1991	60	0	Djurgården
	3MF	Robin Lod	(1993-04-17) 17 April 1993	55	5	Minnesota United
	3MF	Glen Kamara	(1995-10-28) 28 October 1995	42	1	Rangers
	3MF	Ilmari Niskanen	(1997-10-12) 12 October 1997	8	1	Dundee United
	3MF	Urho Nissilä	(1996-04-04) 4 April 1996	9	0	Suwon FC
	3MF	Lucas Lingman	(1998-01-25) 25 January 1998	1	0	Helsingborg
	3MF	Mikael Soisalo	(1998-04-24) 24 April 1998	1	0	Riga
	4FW	Teemu Pukki (vice-captain)	(1990-03-29) 29 March 1990	102	34	Norwich City
	4FW	Joel Pohjanpalo	(1994-09-13) 13 September 1994	53	11	Çaykur Rizespor
	4FW	Marcus Forss	(1999-06-18) 18 June 1999	12	2	Hull City
	4FW	Benjamin Källman	(1998-06-17) 17 June 1998	4	1	Inter Turku
	4FW	Santeri Hostikka	(1997-09-30) 30 September 1997	2	0	HJK

The following players have been called up for the team in the last twelve months.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Anssi Jaakkola	(1987-03-13) 13 March 1987	3	0	Bristol Rovers	UEFA Euro 2020
DF	Richard Jensen	(1996-03-17) 17 March 1996	0	0	Roda JC	v.  Slovakia, 29 March 2022 INJ
DF	Joona Toivio RET	(1988-03-10) 10 March 1988	78	3	HJK	v.  France, 16 November 2021
DF	Jukka Raitala	(1988-09-15) 15 September 1988	64	0	HJK	v.  France, 16 November 2021
DF	Paulus Arajuuri RET	(1988-06-15) 15 June 1988	58	3	Anorthosis	v.  France, 16 November 2021
DF	Albin Granlund	(1989-09-01) 1 September 1989	20	0	Stal Mielec	v.  France, 16 November 2021
DF	Juha Pirinen	(1991-10-22) 22 October 1991	20	0	Trenčín	v.  France, 16 November 2021
DF	Niko Hämäläinen	(1997-03-05) 5 March 1997	12	0	Botafogo	v.  France, 16 November 2021
DF	Juhani Ojala	(1989-06-19) 19 June 1989	32	1	Motherwell	v.  France, 16 November 2021 INJ
DF	Thomas Lam	(1993-12-18) 18 December 1993	27	0	CSKA Sofia	v.  France, 16 November 2021 INJ
DF	Aapo Halme	(1998-05-22) 22 May 1998	0	0	Barnsley	v.  Estonia, 4 June 2021 PRE
MF	Robert Taylor	(1994-10-21) 21 October 1994	24	1	Inter Miami	v.  Slovakia, 29 March 2022 WD
MF	Onni Valakari	(1999-08-18) 18 August 1999	9	1	Pafos	v.  Slovakia, 29 March 2022 WD
MF	Fredrik Jensen	(1997-09-09) 9 September 1997	25	7	FC Augsburg	v.  France, 16 November 2021
MF	Kaan Kairinen	(1998-12-22) 22 December 1998	5	0	Lillestrøm	v.  Kazakhstan, 12 October 2021 INJ
MF	Tim Sparv RET	(1987-02-20) 20 February 1987	84	1	Retired	v.  France, 7 September 2021
MF	Pyry Soiri	(1994-09-22) 22 September 1994	34	5	HJK	v.  France, 7 September 2021
MF	Jasin-Amin Assehnoun	(1998-12-26) 26 December 1998	2	0	Emmen	v.  France, 7 September 2021
MF	Joni Kauko	(1990-07-12) 12 July 1990	28	0	ATK Mohun Bagan	UEFA Euro 2020
FW	Lassi Lappalainen	(1998-08-24) 24 August 1998	9	0	CF Montréal	v.  Slovakia, 29 March 2022 INJ
FW	Roope Riski	(1991-08-16) 16 August 1991	8	1	HJK	v.  Kazakhstan, 12 October 2021
INJ = Withdrew due to an injury WD = Withdrew due to a non-injury issue PRE = Preliminary squad / standby RET = Retired from international duty

• Baltic Cup
  • Runners-up: 2012
  • Third-place: 2014
• Nordic Football Championship
  • Winners: 2000–01
  • Third-place: 1964–67
• King's Cup
  • Runners-up: 2000, 2013
  • Fourth place: 1996
• Lahti Cup
  • Winners: 1981

• Finnish team of the year
  • 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 2020, 2021