TheFinland national football team (Finnish:Suomen jalkapallomaajoukkue,Swedish:Finlands fotbollslandslag) representsFinland in men's internationalfootball competitions and is controlled by theFootball Association of Finland, the governing body forfootball in Finland, which was founded in 1907. The team has been a member ofFIFA since 1908 and aUEFA member since 1957.
Finland had never qualified for a major tournament until securing a spot atUEFA Euro 2020.[5] After decades of average results and campaigns, the nation made progress in the 2000s, achieving notable results against established European teams and reaching a peak of 33rd in theFIFA World Rankings in 2007. Afterward, their performances and results declined, drawing them to their all-time low of 110th in the FIFA Rankings in 2017. Seven years after their all-time low in the FIFA Rankings, as of October 2025, they sit at 72nd place in the overall ranking.[6]
After the 1918Civil War, the Finnish sports movement was divided into the right-wing Finnish Gymnastics and Sports Federation (SVUL) and the leftistFinnish Workers' Sports Federation (TUL). The Finnish Football Association was a member of the SVUL.[7] Both sides had their own championship series, and between 1919 and 1939 the Finland national team was selected from Football Association players only. TheFinnish Workers' Sports Federation football team participated in the competitions of the international labour movement.[8]
However, from the late 1920s several top footballers defected from the TUL and joined the Football Association so as 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 the1936 Summer Olympics included eight former TUL players.[8] In 1937, Finland participated FIFA World Cup qualification for the first time, losing all three matches against Sweden,Germany andEstonia.
From 1939, TUL players were selected for the national team and finally, in 1956, the TUL and the Football Association series were merged.[8]
Finnish team after the victory overYugoslavia in 1950Finland against theNetherlands from 1975
Finland missed out on qualification forEuro 1980 by just a point and for the1986 World Cup by two points. Finland was invited to take part in the1980 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 byAjax superstarJari Litmanen.[10] In 1996,Euro 1992-winning coachRichard Møller Nielsen was hired to take Finland to the1998 World Cup. The team enjoyed mixed fortunes in the campaign, the high points of which were a draw and a win away toNorway andSwitzerland respectively. Going into the last match, Finland needed a win at home toHungary to earn a place in the play-offs. They led the game 1–0 going into injury time, but scored an own goal, and their qualification campaign was over. Møller Nielsen also tried to lead Finland toEuro 2000. In that campaign the Finns recorded a sensational win away toTurkey, but couldn't compete with Germany and Turkey in the long run.
Jari Litmanen is widely regarded as Finland's greatest footballer of all time.
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 asAntti Niemi,Sami Hyypiä,Teemu Tainio andMikael Forssell in addition to the legendary Litmanen. The team performed quite well under him inqualification for the2002 World Cup despite a difficult group, earning two draws against Germany and a home draw withEngland as well as beatingGreece 5–1 in Helsinki. In the end, however, England and Germany proved too strong, and the Finns finished third inthe group, although they were the only team in the group not to lose at home. Hopes were high going intoqualification forEuro 2004 after the promising previous campaign and friendly wins over the likes of Norway, Belgium and Portugal (which saw the Finns jump from 40th to 30th in the Elo ranking[4]). However, Finland started the campaign by losing toWales andYugoslavia (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 inthe group. Inqualification for the2006 World Cup, Finland failed to score a single point in six matches against the top three teams intheir group, the Netherlands, theCzech Republic andRomania. Muurinen was sacked in June 2005 and replaced by caretakerJyrki Heliskoski, but results didn't improve.
In August 2005, it was announced that EnglishmanRoy Hodgson would become the new Finland coach in 2006, and he started the job in January of that year. Hodgson stepped down as manager after they failed to qualify for Euro 2008.[11]
Hodgson's replacement was a Scotsman,Stuart Baxter, who signed a contract until the end of the2012 European Championship qualification campaign.[12] In theEuro 2008 qualifying Finland needed to win their last qualifying game away to 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 33rd.
The2010 World Cup qualifying campaign 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 equalizers.
During theEuro 2012 qualifying, head coach Baxter was sacked, and on 31 March 2011 he was replaced by former national team playerMixu Paatelainen. Paatelainen started his tenure with a win againstSan Marino, only to be followed by a 5–0 loss against Sweden. Finland eventually finished fourth in its group with only three wins, two of them against San Marino.
Paatelainen's deal with theFinnish FA extended until 2016, covering the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifiers, and also the next2014 FIFA World Cup qualification and theUEFA Euro 2016 qualifiers. As Finland had already been eliminated fromUEFA Euro 2012, his main task was to renew the national team with a generation switch, and try to qualify for one or more of the tournaments during his projected tenure as Finland's head coach. This included ultimately leaving outJari Litmanen, the most capped player and the team's long-served captain and "The King of Finnish Football".[13]
In the2014 World Cup qualifying campaign, Finland's best result was a 1–1 draw against reigning world championsSpain. They finished third in the five-team Group I, behind Spain andFrance. On 14 June 2015, Paatelainen was sacked following his fourth defeat in a row during theEuro 2016 qualifying campaign. Finland eventually finished fourth inEuro 2016 qualifying under the guidance of a caretaker manager,Markku Kanerva. They achieved a somewhat noteworthy result whenJoel Pohjanpalo's goal gave the Finns a 1–0 win at former European championsGreece, who had reached the second round of the 2014 World Cup and were the top seeds of their qualifying group.
Paatelainen had applied his preferred formation of 4–3–2–1, which he had namedjoulukuusi – the Christmas tree – due to its shape. Because of the bad results while insistently using the same formation, and his defensive statements to media, he gained a negative reputation among the supporters and the media, and his time as the national team head coach is still remembered mainly for joulukuusi.[14]
On 12 August 2015, SwedishHans Backe was named the new manager, starting on 1 January 2016.[15] His first official match with the team was on 10 January 2016, and ended in a 3–0 defeat by Sweden.[16] On 12 December 2016, Backe was fired during the2018 World Cup qualifying campaign, and a former assistant and caretaker Markku Kanerva was named the new head coach.[17] Finland did not win a single game during Backe's time as head coach. His record during 2016 was nine defeats and two draws.
Finland'sFIFA ranking had declined from its peak of 33rd in 2007 to 110th in 2017. AsUEFA created a new competition,UEFA Nations League, to largely replace international friendlies, Finland were placed in theLeague C in the first 2018–19 edition due to the low ranking position. Kanerva renewed the team roster, as veterans such asPerparim Hetemaj,Niklas Moisander andAlexander Ring had announced their retirement from international duty.Roman Eremenko was also no longer available for national team due to a competition ban. With a help of goalscoring byTeemu Pukki and saves by captain goalkeeperLukas Hradecky, Finland won their League C Group 2, ahead ofHungary,Greece andEstonia, and won promotion to League B for thenext edition of UEFA Nations League.
Kanerva continued to get outstanding results with the team in theUEFA Euro 2020 qualification, and on 15 November 2019 Finland qualified for the country's first ever major tournament,UEFA Euro 2020, after defeatingLiechtenstein 3–0 and finishing as theGroup J runner-up behindItaly.[18][5] The successful qualifying campaign was aided by the distinguished performance ofTeemu Pukki, who scored ten goals in ten qualifying matches.[19] However, the tournament finals were postponed to the summer of 2021 due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.
The second edition of UEFA Nations League started in autumn 2020, and Finland was drawn withWales,Ireland andBulgaria inGroup 4. They defeated both Ireland and Bulgaria home and away, but lost both games against Wales, finishing 2nd in the group and missing out on promotion to the following season's League A.
On 12 June 2021, in theUEFA Euro 2020 tournament, Finland beatDenmark 1-0, withJoel Pohjanpalo scoring the only goal with a header to give his country their first goal and the first win in a major tournament finals.[20] The game was interrupted by a heart attack suffered by Denmark midfielderChristian Eriksen, which he survived.[21] Unfortunately, after losing the next two games againstRussia andBelgium, Finland finished third in the group and were knocked out at the group stage alongside fellow debutantsNorth Macedonia.
Having secured their spot in the Nations League B, Finland was drawn in the2022–23 UEFA Nations League B Group 3 with Bosnia,Romania andMontenegro. They had two wins, two draws and two losses, and defended their place in League B again as the group's runners-up behind Bosnia and Herzegovina.
After qualifying for the previous European tournament, the team and the country had high hopes when starting theUEFA Euro 2024 qualifying campaign. Finland started expectedly with an away loss to Denmark, but won the next three games in a row againstNorthern Ireland away in March, andSlovenia andSan Marino at home in June, with zero goals conceded in the three games. They continued with an away win against Kazakhstan in September, but lost the next three games against Denmark at home, Slovenia away and Kazakhstan at home. The shocking loss to Kazakhstan occurred with two goals conceded late in the game after Finland had been leading 1–0. The defeat took away the possibility of direct qualification. Finland ended the qualifying campaign with two wins in the last two matches, including 4–0 victory over Northern Ireland at home in November, and finished third in the group. As they had placed among the best runner-ups in the previous Nations League, and with a help of overlapping results in other games, Finland had secured their place in theUEFA Euro 2024 qualifying play-offs. In March 2024, in the first decisive play-off match against Wales away, Finland were destroyed 4–1 and so failed to qualify for theUEFA Euro 2024 tournament.[22]
After a run of mediocre results and having been seen as not realising the full potential of the team, speculations had started about the extension of Kanerva's contract. However, during Kanerva's seven-year spell, Finland had ascended in FIFA rankings and as of Summer 2024, were sitting at the 63rd place. The national team roster had undergone a relatively large renovation by Kanerva. He had successfully called up players from the younger generation, includingKaan Kairinen,Benjamin Källman,Oliver Antman,Daniel Håkans andMatti Peltola.
On 17 June 2024, after some ambiguous comments by the Finnish FA presidentAri Lahti,[23] it was announced by the FA that Markku Kanerva would continue as the manager of the team until the end of the2026 FIFA World Cup qualification and for the possible final tournament.[24] The assistant coachesMika Nurmela andToni Korkeakunnas would be replaced byJani Honkavaara, and by former long-time national team playersTeemu Tainio andTim Sparv. Kanerva, with his new staff, was set to start preparing the team for the upcoming2024–25 UEFA Nations League B, where Finland would faceEngland, Ireland and Greece in Group 2, starting in September. Finland lost both games against Greece and England away with apathetic performances.[25][26] According toHelsingin Sanomat, Kanerva was by that point only a puppet leader of the national team until the 2024 Veikkausliiga season finished, after which assistant coach Jani Honkavaara, also a current manager of Veikkausliiga clubKuPS, would be named a sole head coach of the national team, although he then later allegedly declined the job offer. There was also a conflict of interest for Finnish FA presidentAri Lahti, who was the owner of KuPS.[27][28] Finland finished the Nations League campaign at the bottom of the group after six losses, with a 2–13 goal difference, and were relegated to League C. On 22 November 2024, the board of the Finnish FA released head coach Kanerva from his contract.[29]
On 20 January 2025, the Finnish FA announced that Danish coachJacob Friis had been named the new manager of the Finland national team, on a three-year deal with an option for the possibleUEFA Euro 2028 final tournament.[30]
Most of Finland's home matches are played at theHelsinki 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.
During 2000s and 2010s, some qualifying matches against lower profile opponents and some friendlies were hosted at theTampere Stadium inTampere, andVeritas Stadion inTurku. Helsinki'sBolt Arena, which hasartificial turf, is also used for some friendlies and qualifiers. During the reconstruction of Helsinki Olympic Stadium between 2016 and 2020, Tampere Stadium served as the main stadium for qualifying games.
The team returned permanently to Helsinki Olympic Stadium in 2020, after a delayed reconstruction and renovation were finished, but had to play some of the first games without an audience due to the pandemic.
In the five home matches during theUEFA Euro 2024 qualification campaign, Huuhkajat had a record audience average of 31,406 (157,029 in total), which corresponds to around 97 per cent of the stadium's full capacity.[31]
The following players were called up for FIFA World Cup qualification match againstMalta and friendly match againstAndorra on 14 and 17 November 2025, respectively.[33][34][35][36] Caps and goals as of 17 November 2025, after the match againstAndorra.
