Welcome to the UEFA Super Cup!

UEFA president, Aleksander Čeferin

Welcome to Helsinki for the 2022 UEFA Super Cup match. The impressive Olympic Stadium in the Finnish capital provides the setting for this curtain-raiser to the new UEFA club competition season; it brings together Real Madrid and Eintracht Frankfurt, the respective winners of last season’s UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League.

Football historians and the game’s long-term enthusiasts will certainly recall the last competitive match between these two distinguished clubs. Way back in 1960, no less than 127,000 spectators packed into Glasgow’s Hampden Park stadium to watch them contest an epic European Champion Clubs’ Cup final which ended with Madrid clinching the trophy courtesy of a 7-3 victory.

We dare to hope for a match of a similar calibre this evening to reward our Finnish hosts, who are the latest country to have the opportunity to welcome the Super Cup. Our thanks to the Football Association of Finland, who are relishing the chance to shine in football’s international spotlight by staging the first UEFA club competition final to be held in Finland.

Madrid won their 14th Champions League/Champion Clubs’ Cup title in May, while Frankfurt now have one UEFA Europa League triumph to add to their success in this competition’s predecessor, the UEFA Cup, in 1980.

Tonight’s game in Helsinki promises football of the highest quality. I join all fans in hoping for a match to remember, and the best of luck to the two teams.

Football Association of Finland president, Ari Lahti

It is my pleasure and honour to welcome you to Finland’s capital Helsinki for one of Europe’s most important football events, the UEFA Super Cup.

We in Finland are extremely proud to host the Super Cup. Our important partner, the city of Helsinki, also eagerly awaits the moment when two top European teams meet at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium.

The stadium – the setting for the 1952 Olympics – is the sanctuary of Finnish sport. The stadium’s 72-metre-high tower is a distinctive symbol among stadiums worldwide and one of the most famous structures and tourist attractions in Helsinki and Finland, as well as an ideal place to admire Helsinki’s entire cityscape.

We Finns want to show fans the best of Finland and Helsinki. Finland is renowned as a model country for sustainable development and a pioneer in equality, and has also been chosen five successive times as the world’s happiest country. We will do everything to ensure that fans experience the warm Helsinki spirit. Unique, urban and close to nature, maritime Helsinki will be an unforgettable experience alongside the game itself.

We are extremely proud that UEFA honours the Football Association of Finland and the Olympic Stadium with the organisation of our first-ever UEFA club competition final. This special opportunity clearly shows football’s growth in Finland and shows trust in us as event organisers. Finnish football’s potential is recognised throughout Europe.

Football’s status in Finland has flourished recently and is becoming even stronger. The association’s measures to develop girls’ and women’s football have been especially successful, and football’s popularity has grown impressively. The Super Cup will hopefully inspire more Finns to embrace football and also fill the stands in our domestic game.

A warm welcome to the Helsinki Olympic Stadium for this Super Cup event.