Finland 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 team has been a member of FIFA since 1904 and a UEFA member since 1957.

Finland

Nickname(s)	Huuhkajat (The Eagle-owls)[1]
Association	Football Association of Finland
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Head coach	Markku Kanerva
Captain	Tim Sparv
Most caps	Jari Litmanen (137)
Top scorer	Jari Litmanen (32)
Home stadium	Helsinki Olympic Stadium
FIFA code	FIN
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	54 (10 December 2020)[2]
Highest	33 (March 2007)
Lowest	110 (July–August 2017)
First international
Finland 2–5 Sweden  (Helsinki, Grand Duchy of Finland, Russian Empire; 22 October 1911) as Finland  Sweden 1–0 Finland  (Stockholm, Sweden; 29 May 1919)
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)
European Championship
Appearances	1 (first in 2020)
Best result	TBD
Olympic Games
Appearances	4 (first in 1912)
Best result	Fourth place (1912)

National team against Denmark in 1933.

Finland had not qualified a major tournament until securing a spot at UEFA Euro 2020 (postponed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic) and are the only Nordic team alongside minnows Faroe Islands to have never reached the FIFA World Cup finals. After many decades of relative obscurity, the nation made progression in the 2000s, achieving notable results against established European teams and reaching a peak 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

Early history

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.

Period of dispersion

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.[3] 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.[4]

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.[4] 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.[4]

Post-war years

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.[5]

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

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[6]). 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.[7] His replacement was a Scotsman, Stuart Baxter, who signed a contract until the end of the 2012 European Championship qualification campaign.[8]

Recent history

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.[9] The successful qualifying campaign in Group J, was aided by a distinctive performance of Teemu Pukki, who scored ten goals in the qualifications.[10]

Home stadiums

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 Tampere Stadium in Tampere and Veritas Stadion in Turku. Helsinki's Bolt Arena, which has artificial turf, is also 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.

The Finnish National Team Supporters at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium in 2009.

Competitive record

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
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	To be determined									To be determined
2026
Total		0/23								129	32	23	74	134	287

European Championship record

UEFA European Championship record										UEFA European Championship qualifying record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
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	Qualified									10	6	0	4	16	10
2024	To be determined									To be determined
Total		1/17								114	33	24	57	125	172

UEFA Nations League

UEFA Nations League record
Year	Division	Group	Round	Pos	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA	P/R	Rank
2018–19	C	2	Group stage	1st	6	4	0	2	5	3		28th
2020–21	B	4	Group stage	2nd	6	4	0	2	7	5		21st
2022–23	B	To be determined
Total					12	8	0	4	12	8	21st

Summer Olympics

Olympics record
Year	Round	Position	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA
1896	was not involved
1900
1904
1908
1912	Fourth Place	4th	4	2	0	2	5	16
Since 1917, Declaration of Independence
1920	Did not qualify
1924
1928
1932
1936	Round of 16	14th	1	0	0	1	3	7
1948	Did not qualify
1952	Round of 16	9th	1	0	0	1	3	4
1956	Did not qualify
1960
1964
1968
1972
1976
1980	Group stage	9th	3	1	1	1	3	2
1984	Did not qualify
1988
1992
1996
2000
2004
2008
2012
2016
2020
2024	To be determined
2028	To be determined
Total	4/25	0 Titles	9	3	1	5	14	29

Nordic Football Championship

Nordic Football Championship record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D *	L	GF	GA
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

• Gold background color indicates that the tournament was won.

Baltic Cup

Baltic Cup (football) Record
Year	Result	GP	W	D	L	GS	GA
2012	Runners-up	2	1	1	0	3	2
2014	Third place	2	1	0	1	2	1
Total	2/27	4	2	1	1	5	3

All–time record against all nations

This list is Finland national team complete records, both friendlies and competitive matches.[11]

Against	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	GF	GA	GD	% Won
Albania	7	4	1	2	8	6	+2	057.14
Algeria	1	0	0	1	0	2	−2	000.00
Andorra	2	1	1	0	3	0	+3	050.00
Armenia	4	3	1	0	6	1	+5	075.00
Austria	11	1	2	8	11	24	−13	009.09
Azerbaijan	8	7	0	1	15	5	+10	087.50
Bahrain	5	4	1	0	9	1	+8	080.00
Barbados	1	0	1	0	0	0	+0	000.00
Belarus	4	1	3	0	5	4	+1	025.00
Belgium	11	4	4	3	19	20	−1	036.36
Bermuda	1	1	0	0	2	0	+2	100.00
Bolivia	2	0	1	1	2	5	−3	000.00
Bosnia and Herzegovina	3	1	0	2	3	5	−2	033.33
Brazil	3	0	0	3	3	9	−6	000.00
Bulgaria	10	2	1	7	3	19	−16	020.00
Canada	1	1	0	0	3	2	+1	100.00
Chile	1	0	0	1	0	2	−2	000.00
China PR	4	4	0	0	7	6	+1	100.00
Colombia	1	0	0	1	1	3	−2	000.00
Costa Rica	1	0	0	1	1	2	−1	000.00
Croatia	2	0	1	1	1	2	−1	000.00
Cyprus	4	2	1	1	7	4	+3	050.00
Czech Republic	11	3	3	5	14	22	−8	027.27
Denmark	59	11	10	38	60	151	−91	018.64
East Germany	7	2	1	4	8	21	−13	028.57
Ecuador	1	0	0	1	1	3	−2	000.00
Egypt	2	0	0	2	2	4	−2	000.00
England	13	0	2	11	7	44	−37	000.00
Estonia	32	15	10	7	74	40	+34	046.88
Faroe Islands	5	5	0	0	15	1	+14	100.00
France	9	1	0	8	3	18	−15	011.11
Georgia	2	1	1	0	2	1	+1	050.00
Germany	23	1	6	16	19	82	−63	004.35
Greece	15	4	3	8	19	27	−8	026.67
Honduras	1	1	0	0	2	1	+1	100.00
Hungary	17	3	3	11	15	48	−33	017.65
Iceland	13	6	2	5	20	14	+6	046.15
India	2	1	1	0	2	0	+2	050.00
Indonesia	1	0	0	1	1	3	−2	000.00
Iraq	2	2	0	0	3	0	+3	100.00
Ireland	5	0	2	3	2	11	−9	000.00
Israel	5	2	1	2	6	6	+0	040.00
Italy	13	1	1	11	7	32	−25	007.69
Japan	2	2	0	0	7	1	+6	100.00
Jordan	1	1	0	0	2	1	+1	100.00
Kazakhstan	3	2	1	0	4	1	+3	066.67
Kosovo	2	1	1	0	2	1	+1	050.00
Kuwait	7	3	2	2	6	5	+1	042.86
Latvia	17	10	3	4	32	18	+14	058.82
Liechtenstein	3	1	2	0	4	3	+1	033.33
Lithuania	5	3	0	2	15	5	+10	060.00
Luxembourg	5	4	0	1	12	4	+8	080.00
Malaysia	1	0	0	1	1	2	−1	000.00
Malta	7	4	2	1	9	5	+4	057.14
Mexico	4	0	1	3	2	7	−5	000.00
Moldova	4	2	1	1	7	5	+2	050.00
Morocco	2	1	1	0	1	0	+1	050.00
Netherlands	14	1	2	11	14	43	−29	007.14
North Korea	1	1	0	0	3	0	+3	100.00
North Macedonia	4	3	0	1	11	2	+9	075.00
Northern Ireland	9	3	2	4	13	12	+1	033.33
Norway	66	9	16	41	81	181	−100	013.64
Oman	6	3	3	0	7	2	+5	050.00
Peru	1	0	0	1	3	7	−4	000.00
Poland	29	3	8	18	25	67	−42	010.34
Portugal	10	1	4	5	6	14	−8	010.00
Qatar	4	1	3	0	4	3	+1	025.00
Romania	11	0	4	7	5	27	−22	000.00
Russia	20	1	5	14	13	66	−53	005.00
San Marino	4	4	0	0	15	0	+15	100.00
Saudi Arabia	4	2	1	1	7	4	+3	050.00
Scotland	8	0	2	6	5	18	−13	000.00
Serbia	9	2	2	5	10	30	−20	022.22
Slovakia	3	0	1	2	1	4	−3	000.00
Slovenia	2	1	1	0	3	1	+2	050.00
South Korea	3	3	0	0	5	0	+5	100.00
Spain	8	1	2	5	5	16	−11	012.50
Sweden	88	11	11	66	96	292	−196	012.50
Switzerland	5	2	0	3	5	7	−2	040.00
Thailand	5	5	0	0	12	6	+6	100.00
Trinidad and Tobago	5	3	1	1	8	7	+1	060.00
Tunisia	3	2	1	0	6	2	+4	066.67
Turkey	15	6	4	5	22	24	−2	040.00
United Arab Emirates	1	0	1	0	1	1	+0	000.00
Ukraine	2	0	0	2	1	3	−2	000.00
United States	2	0	0	2	1	3	−2	000.00
Uruguay	2	0	0	2	1	8	−7	000.00
Wales	12	4	4	4	12	17	−5	033.33
Yemen	1	0	1	0	0	0	+0	000.00
Total (0)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Recent fixtures and results

2020

3 September 2020 2020–21 UEFA Nations League	Finland	0–1	Wales	Helsinki, Finland
21:45 (UTC+3)		Report	Moore  80'	Stadium: Helsinki Olympic Stadium Attendance: 0 Referee: Daniel Siebert (Germany)

6 September 2020 2020–21 UEFA Nations League	Republic of Ireland	0–1	Finland	Dublin, Ireland
17:00 (UTC+1)		Report	Jensen  64'	Stadium: Aviva Stadium Attendance: 0 Referee: Fabio Maresca (Italy)

7 October 2020 Friendly	Poland	5–1	Finland	Gdańsk, Poland
20:45 (UTC+2)	Grosicki  9', 18', 28' Piątek  53' Milik  87'	Report	Niskanen  68'	Stadium: Stadion Energa Gdańsk Referee: Michal Ocenáš (Slovakia)

11 October 2020 2020–21 UEFA Nations League	Finland	2–0	Bulgaria	Helsinki, Finland
19:00 (UTC+3)	Taylor  52' Jensen  67'	Report		Stadium: Helsinki Olympic Stadium Referee: Erik Lambrechts (Belgium)

14 October 2020 2020–21 UEFA Nations League	Finland	1–0	Republic of Ireland	Helsinki, Finland
18:00 (UTC+3)	Jensen  66'	Report		Stadium: Helsinki Olympic Stadium Referee: Lionel Tschudi (Switzerland)

11 November 2020 Friendly	France	0–2	Finland	Saint-Denis, France
21:10 (UTC+2)		Report	Forss  28' Valakari  31'	Stadium: Stade de France Attendance: 0 Referee: Nikola Popov (Bulgaria)

15 November 2020 2020–21 UEFA Nations League	Bulgaria	1–2	Finland	Sofia, Bulgaria
21:45 (UTC+2)	Iliev  68' (pen.)	Report	Pukki  7' Lod  45+1'	Stadium: Vasil Levski National Stadium Referee: Donatas Rumšas (Lithuania)

18 November 2020 2020–21 UEFA Nations League	Wales	3–1	Finland	Cardiff, Wales
19:45 (UTC)	Wilson  29' James  46' Moore  84'	Report	Pukki  63'	Stadium: Cardiff City Stadium Referee: Jesús Gil Manzano (Spain)

Players

Current squad

The following players were called up for the friendly match against France on 11 November 2020 and 2020–21 UEFA Nations League B matches against Bulgaria and Wales on 15 November and 18 November 2020.[12][13]
Caps and goals as of 18 November 2020 after the game against  Wales.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	GK	Lukáš Hrádecký (Vice captain)	24 November 1989	64	0	Bayer Leverkusen
12	GK	Jesse Joronen	21 March 1993	10	0	Brescia
23	GK	Anssi Jaakkola	13 March 1987	3	0	Bristol Rovers
4	DF	Joona Toivio	4 April 1988	70	3	Häcken
2	DF	Paulus Arajuuri	15 June 1988	48	3	Pafos
18	DF	Jere Uronen	13 July 1994	47	1	Genk
5	DF	Juhani Ojala	19 June 1989	30	1	Vejle
3	DF	Albin Granlund	1 September 1989	19	0	Stal Mielec
	DF	Juha Pirinen	22 October 1991	19	0	Trenčín
15	DF	Daniel O'Shaughnessy	14 September 1994	8	0	HJK
17	DF	Nikolai Alho	12 March 1993	7	0	MTK
	DF	Leo Väisänen	23 July 1997	6	0	Elfsborg
22	DF	Niko Hämäläinen	5 March 1997	4	0	Queens Park Rangers
	MF	Tim Sparv (Captain)	20 February 1987	79	1	AEL
11	MF	Rasmus Schüller	18 June 1991	45	0	Djurgården
8	MF	Robin Lod	17 April 1993	41	4	Minnesota United
13	MF	Pyry Soiri	22 September 1994	28	5	Esbjerg
6	MF	Glen Kamara	28 October 1995	27	1	Rangers
19	MF	Joni Kauko	12 July 1990	22	0	Esbjerg
16	MF	Robert Taylor	21 October 1994	17	1	Brann
21	MF	Ilmari Niskanen	12 October 1997	6	1	Ingolstadt
14	MF	Onni Valakari	18 August 1999	2	1	Pafos
10	FW	Teemu Pukki	29 March 1990	87	27	Norwich City
20	FW	Joel Pohjanpalo	13 September 1994	38	7	Union Berlin
7	FW	Rasmus Karjalainen	4 April 1996	13	1	Örebro
9	FW	Marcus Forss	18 June 1999	3	1	Brentford

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	Niki Mäenpää	23 January 1985	26	0	Stoke City	v.  Republic of Ireland, 14 October 2020
DF	Jukka Raitala	15 September 1988	53	0	Minnesota United	v.  Wales, 18 November 2020 ^INJ
DF	Thomas Lam	18 December 1993	24	0	PEC Zwolle	v.  Republic of Ireland, 14 October 2020 ^INJ
DF	Sauli Väisänen	5 June 1994	18	0	Chievo	v.  Republic of Ireland, 6 September 2020 ^WD
MF	Fredrik Jensen	9 September 1997	16	7	Augsburg	v.  Republic of Ireland, 14 October 2020
FW	Jasse Tuominen	12 November 1995	15	1	Häcken	v.  Republic of Ireland, 14 October 2020 ^INJ
FW	Lassi Lappalainen	24 August 1998	7	0	Montréal	v.  Republic of Ireland, 14 October 2020 ^INJ
FW	Santeri Hostikka	30 September 1997	0	0	Pogoń Szczecin	v.  Republic of Ireland, 6 September 2020

• ^INJ = Withdrew due to an injury.
• ^WD = Withdrew due to private reasons

Coaching staff

[14][15][16]

Position	Name
Head Coach	Markku Kanerva
Assistant Coach	Mika Nurmela
Assistant Coach	Kari Martonen
Goalkeeping Coach	Antti Niemi
Fitness Coach	Jari-Pekka Keurulainen
Physiotherapists	Jari-Pekka Keurulainen Paavo Leiramo
Video Analyst	Henri Lehto
Doctor	Heikki Kinnunen
Osteopath	Hannu Kanerva
Kit Manager	Jari Parikka
Team Manager	Lennart Wangel

Player records

As of 18 November 2020

• Players who are still active and available for selection are in bold

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	1999–2014	87	29
	Teemu Pukki	2009–	87	27
8	Erkka Petäjä	1983–1994	84	0
9	Tim Sparv	2009–	79	1
10	Arto Tolsa	1964–1981	77	10

Top goalscorers

Rank	Name	Career	Goals	Caps	Average
1	Jari Litmanen	1989–2010	32	137	0.23
2	Mikael Forssell	1999–2014	29	87	0.33
3	Teemu Pukki	2009–	27	87	0.31
4	Jonatan Johansson	1996–2010	22	105	0.21
5	Ari Hjelm	1983–1996	20	100	0.2
6	Mika-Matti Paatelainen	1986–2000	18	70	0.23
7	Verner Eklöf	1919–1927	17	32	0.53
8	Aulis Koponen	1924–1935	16	39	0.41
	Gunnar Åström	1923–1937	16	44	0.36
10	Alexei Eremenko	2003–2013	14	57	0.25

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		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

Honours

• 1912 Summer Olympics
  • Fourth place: 1912

Minor tournaments

• 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

Kits and crest

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

Kit sponsorship

Kit supplier	Period
Adidas	1979–2014
Nike	2014–

See also

• Finland national under-21 football team
• Finland national under-19 football team
• Finland national under-17 football team
• Finland women's national football team
• Finland women's national under-17 football team
• Football in Finland
• Åland Islands official football team
• Sápmi football team

References

1. Palkittu Bubi käväisi yllättäen palkitsemistilaisuudessa HS.fi – Kaupunki
2. "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking". FIFA. 10 December 2020. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
3. Andersen, Svein S.; Ronglan, Lars Tore (2012). Nordic Elite Sports: Same Ambitions - Different Tracks. Copenhagen: Copenhagen Business School Press. pp. 85–88. ISBN 978-876-30024-5-5.
4. Syrjäläinen, Antti (2008). Miksi siksi loikkariksi? Huippu-urheilijoiden loikkaukset TUL:sta SVUL:oon 1919–1939. Joensuu: University of Joensuu. pp. 45–47. ISBN 978-952-21913-7-3.
5. rsssf Nordic championship 1964–66.
6. "World Football Elo Ratings: Finland". World Football Elo Ratings. Retrieved 22 September 2011.
7. Hodgson to return for Inter role BBC Sport, 1 December 2007
8. Suomen Palloliitto – Etusivu Archived 2011-05-25 at the Wayback Machine (in Finnish)
9. "Finland 3–0 Liechtenstein". BBC. 15 November 2019.
10. "Teemu Pukki: From failures in Europe to Finland great - the fall and rise of the Norwich striker". BBC. 12 October 2019.
11. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 29 June 2016. Retrieved 16 August 2015.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
12. Huuhkajat nimetty marraskuun otteluihin
13. Pirinen korvaa Raitalan Huuhkajissa
14. "Markku Kanerva A-maajoukkueen päävalmentajaksi". Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
15. Kari Martonen Huuhkajien valmennusryhmään
16. Valmennus ja joukkueenjohto

External links

• Official website (in Finnish)
• RSSSF archive of results 1911–
• RSSSF archive of most capped players and highest goalscorers
• RSSSF archive of coaches
• The Finnish National Team Supporters' Association
• Reports for all official matches