The Finnish Football Show

In this episode... We knew it would be a tough competition, and the starting match against France was the toughest possible introduction to Le Tournoi.  Mark H, Rich, Keke & Mark W discuss the three games for the Finland Women's team, and how this prepares them for upcoming World Cup qualifiers and Euro 2022 in the UK. Blog: show notes and links https://finnishfootballshow.com/2022/02/24/le-tourno...

In this episode... Le Tournoi, Caen & Le Havre, 22–26.2.2022 The 2022 Tournoi de France will be the third edition of the tournament, it is an invitational women's football tournament held annually in France and this year takes place from 16th to 22nd February. Joining Finland and hosts France this year are Brazil and the Netherlands. Rich and Keke look forward to the action, discuss the form of th...

In this episode... After a dark, very cold winter break, the Finnish football scene burst into life this past week, as we saw competitive action in the Liigacup. Keke, Rich & Mark W get together to discuss this first round of results, as well as the draw for the revamped Suomen Cup and the imminent release of the Veikkausliiga fixtures. They also reflect on closed-season transfers and look back at...

In this episode... Keke, Mark H and Mark W are joined by another Huuhkajat star, Rasmus Schüller, who has over 50 Finland caps to his name. A serial winner, who has five Veikkausliiga titles, including three League & Cup doubles 🙌🏼  Rasmus is tough tackling, smooth passing, no nonsense, central midfielder currently with Djurgårdens IF in Stockholm. Rade tells us how it felt to start in the V...

For our final show of 2021, we decided to broadcast it as a Facebook Live video and publish the results as a series of podcasts over the Christmas holiday. This was recorded on Monday 20.12.2021. In this episode, the FFS team look back at some of the standout Finnish players in 2022. We reminisce about our trip to Helsinki to watch Finland vs France (the first time all four FFS-ers were all togeth...

For our final show of 2021, we decided to broadcast it as a Facebook Live video and publish the results as a series of podcasts over the Christmas holiday. This was recorded on Monday 20.12.2021. In this episode, we are also joined by Mark H, fresh from putting the kids to bed! We are also joined by FFS fan Erno, so we talk with both of them about Tim Sparv retiring. And we ask Erno's opinion on t...

For our final show of 2021, we decided to broadcast it as a Facebook Live video and publish the results as a series of podcasts over the Christmas holiday. This was recorded on Monday 20.12.2021. The FFS team were grateful to Boris Wistuba-Marino for jumping into our Facebook Live show right at the beginning. Boris is a youth coach at Espoon Palloseura, Kitman at HJK Helsinki and the 'funny sideki...

Having recovered from our recent city break in Helsinki to watch the Huuhkajat, the FFS team get together (virtually, again) to discuss today's draw from the 2022/23 Nations League competition. We also break down the, recently announced, changes to the Suomen Cup for 2022. As well as welcoming back the prodigal Cup, as the closed-season Liigacup makes a welcome return. We look at recent news and l...

Playing away against the old enemy is never easy, but when your closest rival is also ranked number 2 in the world, you know you're in for a battle. That is what Finland faced but they also made sure they went down fighting against Sweden; standing toe-to-toe and attempting to play their own game. The other result in the group, Ireland 1-1 Slovakia, leaves the standings wide open at the halfway st...

While the FFS team were marching to the France vs Finland game this week, Mark W whipped out his recorder to capture some of the atmosphere. We thought you might like to hear it. Read Mark H's match report of Finland 0-2 France https://finnishfootballshow.com/2021/11/17/match-report-finland-0-2-france/   FFS Merch https://www.teepublic.com/user/finnish-football-show Buy Us A Coffee https://www.buy...

The Huuhkajat go down swinging as World Cup dream ends On Tuesday night Finland's World Cup qualifying hopes came to an end, as current world champions France bided their time and picked Finland off, as results elsewhere forced Markku Kanerva's hand. Read Mark H's match report of Finland 0-2 France https://finnishfootballshow.com/2021/11/17/match-report-finland-0-2-france/   FFS Merch https://www....

Saturday may prove to be an historic day in Finnish football history. Heading to a hostile away ground with barely fifty fans, Markku Kanerva officially changed the guard in a must-win game and his youthful Huuhkajat delivered a stunning win to knock the hosts out of contention for Group D qualification. Show Notes and links: https://finnishfootballshow.com/2021/11/13/match-report-bosnia-herzegovi...

In the midst of uncertainty about where, exactly, Finland will play Bosnia-Herzegovina, the FFS team look at Markku Kanerva's squad selection for these two, vital World Cup qualifiers. On 13th November, Finland travel (in theory) to Zenica to play Bosnia-Herzegovina. Then on 16th November, the Huuhkajat play hosts to France in a game that could see Finland qualify for its second consecutive major...

The final weekend of the Veikkausliiga 2021 season was full of drama. First played second, as KuPS hosted HJK in a battle for the title. While third played fourth, as Inter hosted SJK in the bronze medal match... and what accommodating hosts they were too! This game also turned into a shoot-out for the top scorer prize, with Benjamin Källman and Ariel 'Tuco' Ngueukam going toe-to-toe in this game,...

Back on home soil, the Helmarit struggled to break down a resolute Ireland side that got players behind the ball to defend, while making the most of counter-attacking on the break. A fine goal-of-the-match from Adelina Engman, was not enough against a good direct free kick and a close-range header for Ireland. Mark W, Keke and Rich got together for a chat straight after the game. Show Notes and li...

On a football pitch that resembled a ploughed field, the Helmarit put on an assured, commanding performance to take a comfortable 3-0 World Cup Qualifier victory back home from Tbilisi, Georgia. Goals from Linda Sällström, Sanni Franssi and, a penalty from, Emmi Alanen ensured that Finland sit in joint top place in group A, with local rivals Sweden. Mark W and Rich got together for a chat straight...

In this episode, Keke and Mark W are joined by another Helmarit star and yet another Finnish goalkeeper! Tinja-Riikka Korpela who is a legend of the women’s game; a serial winner who won two Bundesliga titles and three Finnish championships. As well as making 90+ appearances for the Helmarit – the women's Finland national team – and playing a large part in getting the Helmarit into Euro 2022. Read...

On Tuesday night Markku Kanerva and Finland got back to their feet after Saturday night's knockdown, to show Finland's fans that there's still life, and a few tricks, in the old dog yet, as they took on Kazakhstan at the Astana Arena. Read Mark H's match report of Kazakhstan 0-2 Finland https://finnishfootballshow.com/2021/10/12/match-report-kazakhstan-0-2-finland/   FFS Merch https://www.teepubli...

On Saturday evening, Markku Kanerva's Finland were dealt a near fatal blow by a stubborn Ukraine side, reducing the odds of their World Cup Qualification to "comical". Both Kanerva and visiting manager Oleksandr Petrakov set up with the same approach as the reverse fixture, with more familiar options Jukka Raitala and Thomas Lam replacing the injured Jere Uronen and Tim Sparv... Read Mark H's matc...

A busy show of international qualifiers, with both the Huuhkajat and Helmarit competing to qualify for upcoming World Cups. Mark W, Keke, Mark H and Rich look at the recent result for the Finland Women's team and look forward to imminent games for the Men's team. They then turn their attention to the closing stages of the 2021 Veikkausliiga season. The regular season has now finished and the leagu...

Merry-go-round = Carousel or karuselli This is the episode that Mark H has been promising/threatening for a couple of weeks. The team discuss the recent spate of sackings, announcements of resignations (pre-signations?) and rumoured manager transfers for 2022. Attention then turns to SJK Seinäjoki, who are firmly embroiled in this silly-season and whose fans are about to take action and boycott th...

On Tuesday night, 7th September, Markku Kanerva’s Huuhkajat travel to Lyon to face a struggling France side, full of quality but down on their luck. Any points from this away side will keep Finland in a play-off place, which may be necessary as Bosnia-Herzegovina play Kazakhstan in the group’s other game, kick-off is at 21:45, Finland time, at the Groupama stadium in Lyon... Read Mark H's match re...

On Saturday afternoon Markku Kanerva's Finland moved into second place in Group D with a comfortable win over Kazakhstan in the late summer sun in Helsinki. With Helsinki covid-restrictions eased the day before he game allowing more tickets to be released the home crowd were in fine voice in the late summer sun...  Mark H, Keke and Rich get together to discuss the action as Finland move up group D...

The arrival of the Kazakhstan squad to Helsinki provides Finnish fans something of a rarity a Saturday afternoon kick off. Ordinarily, the Kazakhs would provide a stubborn but ultimately beatable opponent, but they’ve proven too tough for Ukraine and frustrated the French during their creditable 2-0 defeat. If Finland are to stand any chance of a play-off spot, this is a must-win game.  Kick off a...

What turned out to be the most exciting news of the evening, filtered through just before kick off at the Olympiastadion, Helsinki. Kazakhstan had grabbed a 96th minute equalizer against Ukraine, leaving Finland eyeing up 2nd place in Group D. On the pitch in Helsinki things were far less entertaining... Mark H and Rich get together to discuss the action (such as it was) and that intriguing result...