Finland national football team

The Football Association of Finland was founded in 1907 and became a member of FIFA the next year. 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.

The Finnish 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

Finland against the Netherlands from 1975

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 Ajax superstar Jari Litmanen.[7] In 1996, 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 their qualification campaign was 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 to 30th in the Elo ranking[8]). 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 Englishman Roy Hodgson would become the new Finland coach in 2006, and he started the job in January of that year. Hodgson stepped down as manager after they failed to qualify for Euro 2008.[9] His replacement was a Scotsman, Stuart Baxter, who signed a contract until the end of the 2012 European Championship qualification campaign.[10]

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 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.[11] The successful qualifying campaign in Group J, was aided by a distinctive performance of Teemu Pukki, who scored ten goals in the qualifications.[12]

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.[13] 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 7 September 2023.

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	62	29	9	24	046.77
Total			783	196	163	424	025.03

The following players were called up for the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying matches against Slovenia and Kazakhstan on 14 and 17 October 2023, respectively.[18]

Caps and goals as of 17 October 2023, after the match against  Kazakhstan.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Lukas Hradecky (captain)	(1989-11-24) 24 November 1989	89	0	Bayer Leverkusen
12	1GK	Viljami Sinisalo	(2001-10-11) 11 October 2001	1	0	Exeter City
23	1GK	Hugo Keto	(1998-02-09) 9 February 1998	0	0	Sandefjord
2	2DF	Leo Väisänen	(1997-07-24) 24 July 1997	26	0	Austin FC
3	2DF	Richard Jensen	(1996-03-17) 17 March 1996	11	0	Aberdeen
4	2DF	Robert Ivanov	(1994-09-19) 19 September 1994	26	0	Eintracht Braunschweig
5	2DF	Arttu Hoskonen	(1997-04-16) 16 April 1997	8	0	Cracovia
13	2DF	Pyry Soiri	(1994-09-22) 22 September 1994	42	5	HJK
15	2DF	Miro Tenho	(1995-04-02) 2 April 1995	2	0	HJK
16	2DF	Matti Peltola	(2002-07-03) 3 July 2002	4	0	HJK
17	2DF	Nikolai Alho	(1993-03-12) 12 March 1993	33	0	Volos
18	2DF	Jere Uronen	(1994-07-13) 13 July 1994	66	1	Charlotte FC
21	2DF	Noah Pallas	(2001-02-09) 9 February 2001	2	0	AC Oulu
	2DF	Tuomas Ollila	(2000-04-25) 25 April 2000	2	0	HJK
	2DF	Diogo Tomas	(1997-07-31) 31 July 1997	4	0	Odd
6	3MF	Glen Kamara	(1995-10-28) 28 October 1995	56	2	Leeds United
7	3MF	Robert Taylor	(1994-10-21) 21 October 1994	32	2	Inter Miami
8	3MF	Lucas Lingman	(1998-01-25) 25 January 1998	9	0	HJK
11	3MF	Daniel Håkans	(2000-10-26) 26 October 2000	4	3	Vålerenga
14	3MF	Kaan Kairinen	(1998-12-22) 22 December 1998	13	0	Sparta Prague
22	3MF	Niilo Mäenpää	(1998-01-14) 14 January 1998	3	0	Warta Poznań
	3MF	Rasmus Schüller (vice-captain)	(1991-06-18) 18 June 1991	72	0	Djurgården
9	4FW	Benjamin Källman	(1998-06-17) 17 June 1998	16	6	Cracovia
10	4FW	Teemu Pukki (vice-captain)	(1990-03-29) 29 March 1990	116	38	Minnesota United FC
19	4FW	Marcus Forss	(1999-06-18) 18 June 1999	21	2	Middlesbrough
20	4FW	Joel Pohjanpalo	(1994-09-13) 13 September 1994	67	14	Venezia

The following players have been called up for the team within the last twelve months and are still available for selection.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Jesse Joronen	(1993-03-21) 21 March 1993	17	0	Venezia	v.  Denmark, 10 September 2023
GK	Lucas Bergström	(2002-09-05) September 5, 2002	1	0	Chelsea	v.  Estonia, 12 January 2023
GK	Elmo Henriksson	(2003-03-10) March 10, 2003	0	0	IFK Mariehamn	v.  Estonia, 12 January 2023
GK	Carljohan Eriksson	(1995-04-25) 25 April 1995	1	0	Nordsjælland	v.  Norway, 20 November 2022
DF	Felipe Aspegren	(1994-02-12) 12 February 1994	1	0	Ilves	v.  Estonia, 12 January 2023
DF	Ville Koski	(2002-01-27) 27 January 2002	1	0	Honka	v.  Estonia, 12 January 2023
DF	Robin Tihi	(2002-03-16) 16 March 2002	1	0	Al Ahli	v.  Estonia, 12 January 2023
DF	Tomas Galvez	(2005-01-28) 28 January 2005	1	0	Manchester City	v.  Sweden, 9 January 2023
DF	Sauli Väisänen	(1994-06-05) 5 June 1994	24	0	OB	v.  Norway, 20 November 2022
DF	Daniel O'Shaughnessy	(1994-09-14) 14 September 1994	22	1	Karlsruher SC	v.  Norway, 20 November 2022
DF	Kevin Kouassivi-Benissan	(1999-01-25) 25 January 1999	0	0	HJK	v.  Denmark, 10 September 2023
MF	Anssi Suhonen	(2001-01-14) 14 January 2001	6	0	Hamburger SV	v.  San Marino, 19 June 2023
MF	Robin Lod	(1993-04-17) 17 April 1993	62	5	Minnesota United	v.  Northern Ireland, 26 March 2023
MF	Fredrik Jensen	(1997-09-09) 9 September 1997	26	7	FC Augsburg	v.  Northern Ireland, 26 March 2023
MF	Oliver Antman	(2001-08-15) 15 August 2001	8	5	Nordsjælland	v.  Denmark, 10 September 2023
MF	Ilmari Niskanen	(1997-10-12) 12 October 1997	16	1	Exeter City	v.  Denmark, 10 September 2023
MF	Santeri Väänänen	(2002-01-01) 1 January 2002	2	0	Rosenborg	v.  Estonia, 12 January 2023
MF	Jaakko Oksanen	(2000-11-07) 7 November 2000	1	0	KuPS	v.  Estonia, 12 January 2023
MF	Mikael Soisalo	(1998-04-24) 24 April 1998	4	0	Puskás Akadémia	v.  Norway, 20 November 2022
MF	Onni Valakari	(1999-08-18) 18 August 1999	11	1	Pafos	v.  Montenegro, 26 September 2022
FW	Santeri Hostikka	(1997-09-30) 30 September 1997	6	0	HJK	v.  Estonia, 12 January 2023
FW	Saku Ylätupa	(1999-08-04) 4 August 1999	3	0	Kalmar	v.  Estonia, 12 January 2023
FW	Anthony Olusanya	(2000-02-01) 1 February 2000	2	0	HJK	v.  Estonia, 12 January 2023
FW	Kai Meriluoto	(2003-01-02) 2 January 2003	2	0	Stal Mielec	v.  Estonia, 12 January 2023
FW	Agon Sadiku	(2003-03-10) 10 March 2003	2	0	Start	v.  Estonia, 12 January 2023
Notes 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