Football in Finland


Football in Finland is not, or at least has traditionally not been, the most popular spectator sport, which is in contrast to most European countries; it falls behind ice hockey, which enjoys a huge amount of popularity in the country. Football tops ice hockey in the number of registered players and as a popular hobby. It is the most popular hobby among 3-18 year olds, whereas ice hockey is 9th. Around 2 million people in Finland, or 45% of the population, are considered football fans.
Football's standing is constantly increasing, especially among girls and women, where the yearly growth rate has lately been over 10 percent. In season 2006–07 19.9 percent of registered players were female. The Football Association of Finland has approximately one thousand member clubs. According to a Gallup poll, nearly 400,000 people include football among their hobbies.

History

Due to a number of names and variants of football played in the late 19th century, it is unclear when exactly football arrived in Finland. In 1906, a Finnish club, Unitas, traveled to Saint Petersburg for a friendly match. To regulate the game, the Football Association of Finland was founded in 1907 and it joined FIFA the following year.
A national men's league started in 1908 and is played out since. The men's national team played its first match in 1911 and soon played at the Olympics 1912, finishing fourth.
A national women's league started as late as 1971. The women's national team played its first match in 1973 and entered the first edition of the Nordic Football Championship a year later, finishing third and thus last.

Domestic club competitions

The highest division in Finnish men's football is the Veikkausliiga, comprising 12 professional football teams. Below that is a league system maintained by the Finnish Football Association, with Ykkönen, or First Division, as the second highest division, with 10 teams. Beneath Ykkönen, each division is divided into 'groups' based on the location of the clubs. For instance, the Second Division, or Kakkonen, has 40 teams divided into four regional groups, each of 10 teams.
The highest division in Finnish women's football is the Kansallinen Liiga, comprising 10 semi-professional and amateur teams. Below that, five amateur divisions exist, with Kansallinen Ykkönen being the second national division.
The Finnish Cup and Finnish Women's Cup are Finland's national cup competitions, open to all member clubs of the Finnish Football Association. In the 2009 season, 356 clubs signed up to take part in the men's competition alone.
All Finnish domestic football competitions take place in the spring, summer and autumn, due to weather conditions. Similar systems are used in the other Nordic countries as well, except for Denmark which had that system in the past.

National teams

The Finland national team played its first international match in 1911 against Sweden. Finland was still then a Grand Duchy part of the Russian Empire, and became independent in 1917. Finland have played in a few Olympic Games, finishing fourth in 1912, but have so far never qualified for the FIFA World Cup. Finland qualified to UEFA European Championship for the first time in 2020.
The Football Association of Finland also organizes national under-19 and under-21 teams.
The Finland women's national football team made their competitive debut in the 1974 Women's Nordic Football Championship and entered their first UEFA competition a decade later, playing in the 1984 European Competition for Women's Football qualification. To date, their most successful competition has been UEFA Women's Euro 2005, where they reached the semi-finals stage. In 2024, they won their first international competition, the invitational 2024 Pinatar Cup in Spain.

Åland Islands

Since 1943 the Åland Football Association has organized football in Åland. The ÅFA is a district association of the Football Association of Finland. However, the Åland Islands fields independent men's and women's national teams, principally competing in the Island Games.

Football stadiums in Finland

Stadiums with a capacity of 10,000 or higher are included.

Most successful clubs overall

local and lower league organizations are not included.
  • The articles in italic indicate the defunct leagues and the defunct cups.
  • The figures in bold indicate the most times this competition has been won by a team.

Attendances

The average attendance per top-flight football league season and the club with the highest average attendance:
SeasonLeague averageBest clubBest club average
20253,144HJK6,223
20242,958HJK6,361
20232,706HJK5,631
20221,894HJK4,002
2021———
20201,594SJK2,172
20192,620HJK5,007
20182,308HJK3,779
20172,476HJK4,779
20162,550HJK5,101
20152,574HJK5,281
20142,046HJK4,017
20132,287HJK5,098
20122,037HJK3,758
20112,159HJK3,610
20102,225TPS3,658
20092,389TPS4,904
20082,636HJK4,516
20072,976TPS5,294
20062,909HJK5,580
20052,695HJK4,684
20042,614TPS3,822
20032,351HJK3,646
20021,933Tampere3,202
20012,234HJK3,818
20002,152HJK3,976
19991,943KTP3,105
19982,110HJK3,460
19972,045VPS3,893
19962,298HJK4,159
19952,161HJK3,418
19941,886HJK3,224
19932,367Jazz4,065
19921,990HJK3,250
19911,902HJK3,493
19902,322HJK4,673
19892,350HJK5,034
19882,006HJK4,033
19872,094HJK5,106
19862,364HJK6,770
19852,559HJK6,789
19842,317HJK5,049
19831,934Tampere4,069
19821,852HJK3,001
19812,361KTP3,473
19802,060KTP2,980
19792,114HJK3,889
19781,412HJK2,757
19771,924KuPS2,935
19761,948HJK2,886
19752,533HJK3,489
19742,405HJK3,481
19732,368HJK3,781
19722,403TPS3,611
19712,747Reipas3,980
19702,444HJK5,177
19692,995HJK8,058
19682,946HJK6,271
19673,071HJK7,197
19662,958HJK7,150
19652,615HJK7,381
19642,330HJK3,952
19632,662Åbo4,007
19622,603TPS4,366
19612,603TPS4,511
19601,989TPS4,019
19592,482HIFK3,920

Source: