Finnish national football team
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| Nickname(s) |
Huuhkajat (The Eagle-owls) |
|---|---|
| Association |
Football Association of Finland (Suomen Palloliitto) (Finlands Bollförbund) |
| Confederation | UEFA (Europe) |
| Head coach | Markku Kanerva |
| Captain | Niklas Moisander |
| Most caps | Jari Litmanen (137) |
| Top scorer | Jari Litmanen (32) |
| Home stadium | Helsinki Olympic Stadium |
| FIFA code | FIN |
| FIFA ranking | |
| Current | 97  2 (6 April 2017)
|
| Highest | 33 (March 2007) |
| Lowest | 101 (October 2016) |
| Elo ranking | |
| Current | 74  (29 March 2017)
|
| Highest | 30(March 2002) |
| Lowest | 125(1962-3) |
| First international | |
 Finland 2–5 Sweden  (Helsinki, Grand Duchy of Finland, Russian Empire; 22 October 1911) |
|
| Biggest win | |
 Finland 10–2 Estonia  (Helsinki, Finland; 11 August 1922) Finland 8–0 San Marino  (Helsinki, Finland; 17 November 2010) |
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| Biggest defeat | |
 Germany 13–0 Finland (Leipzig, Germany; 1 September 1940) |
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The Finland national football team (Finnish: Suomen jalkapallomaajoukkue, Swedish: Finlands fotbollslandslag) represents Finland in international football competitions and is controlled by the Football Association of Finland.
Although the Finnish national team has never qualified for a finals tournament of the World Cup or the European Championships, the Nordic nation made remarkable progression in the 2000s, reaching a peak of 30th on the Elo Rankings, under coach of Roy Hodgson they achieved notable results against much more established European teams. Unfortunately, after a few years of bad performances, they dipped to a FIFA ranking of 101, their lowest in history.
The Football Association of Finland was founded as early as 1907 and became a member of FIFA in 1908, although at that time Finland was still an autonomous grand duchy of the Russian Empire and did not gain independence until 1917. Finland played its first international match on October 22, 1911, losing to neighboring Sweden 2–5 in Helsinki.
Finland also took part in European Championship qualifying since the 1968 event, but had to wait for its first win until 1978. 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.
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.
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Wikipedia