Women's football in Finland
Thursday, July 7, 2022
Article summary
With a philosophy of "football for everyone" and high levels of participation, the women's game in Finland has made impressive strides in recent years.
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History
Trend setters
Finland, like its Nordic neighbours, was an early adopter of women's football. Indeed, the very first female game in UEFA competition was staged in Finland, the hosts contesting the inaugural UEFA Women's EURO qualifier against Sweden in Vammala on 18 August 1982. However, although HJK Helsinki made an early impact in the UEFA Women's Cup, Finland's national team struggled until they surprised Russia in the Women's EURO 2005 play-offs and went on to reach the semi-finals. Four years later, they were tournament hosts and Finland continues to punch above its population weight in the women's game - over a quarter of the country's 150,000 registered footballers are female.
Best UEFA competition performance
Senior: UEFA Women's EURO semi-finals (2005)
Youth: UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship semi-finals (2005, 2013), UEFA Women's U17 Championship third place (2018)
Role model
Finland midfielder Essi Sainio featured at Women's EURO 2009 and has been included in the squad for the 2022 edition after a remarkable comeback. In 2012, while playing in Germany, she was admitted to hospital with anorexia and depression. After 12 months of treatment, she returned to football before finally appearing for the national team again in 2020.
Milestone moments
On the pitch…
Finland lost the opening game of Women's EURO 2005 – the last Women's EURO in England – after a last-gasp winner for the hosts. Six days later, however, they stunned Denmark 2-1 in Blackpool thanks to early goals from Laura Österberg Kalmari and Heidi Kackur , going on to reach an unexpected semi-final on their tournament debut.
…and off it
A Finnish record crowd of 16,324 watched the Women's EURO 2009 hosts begin their campaign with a 1-0 win against Denmark thanks to Maija Saari's free-kick. Finland eventually progressed to the quarter-finals and the tournament had a lasting impact on the popularity of the game across the nation.
Game changer
Finland's strong Women's EURO performances in 2005 and 2009 have proved tough to match, but the team continues to attract support: in a recent survey, 26% of 18-year-old Finns expressed interest in the national side, not bad for a sport which has to compete with the huge popularity of ice hockey. The high level of participation has been augmented by initiatives such as the free supply of sport hijabs and investment in girls' clubs.
Here and now
Junior/senior: Playing perspectives
Tuija Hyyrynen, 34, has more than 100 Finland caps since her debut in 2007, and is appearing at her third Women's EURO, while Olga Ahtinen, 24, is preparing for her first.
Hyyrynen: "This is going to be the biggest female championship ever, so I am sure it is going to be a huge party at the tournament with superb conditions and huge media attention."
Ahtinen: "We have been preparing for this on a really big scale. As Tuija just said, it is going to be a huge event in all Europe and in all the world."
Joining the game in Finland
Are you interested in playing women's football?
Find out how to play where you are with the help of #WePlayStrong.
Trailblazers exhibition
"Trailblazers" is a unique exhibition that showcases the work of European artists given a blank canvas to celebrate women’s football. UEFA invited artists from participating nations in this summer’s tournament to create an image inspired by the game in their country. Germany's representative is Janine Rewell: "I wanted to capture the divinity of the sport and combine it with footballs as objects since they are so inspirational to me — with all the different patterns and weavings. We have a big meadow-like football field on the back yard of my lake side cottage with goals self-crafted from old wood planks and gardening net and tall forest surrounding it. I love playing there with my small nephews in the summers - like that football is a game that can be done almost anywhere and with anybody, bringing together different generations and friends."
Investing for the future
The Football Association of Finland (SPL)'s 'Football for everyone' strategy
The SPL launched its very first women's football strategy in February 2021 – on the same day the national team qualified for Women's EURO 2022. It also marked the 50th anniversary of organised women's football in Finland.
The strategy for 2021–2024:
* Increase the number of female players
* Improve the visibility, image and commercial value of women's football
* Raise the competitiveness of the national team and domestic clubs
* Strengthen the participation of women in football roles
Women's Football Development Programme (WFDP)
Since 2010, UEFA's WFDP has provided associations with funding and tools to increase participation, improve standards and build infrastructure to help keep the female game growing. One example of a project funded by the WFDP programme in Finland is…
Youth elite player pathway (2016–20)
Established in cooperation with clubs, this project endeavoured to launch academies to ensure that systems and pathways are in place to help players develop. Its main objectives were to build a structure for academies and set up two academies for women's U16 to U19 national team players.
These were duly created in Helsinki and Tampere, with 35 youth national team players attending. The SPL worked with a women's national league club and sports academy to set up the second academy, setting an example for other geographical regions and leading to a third academy being established in central Finland.