 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Sport in Finland" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(February 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Sport is considered a national pastime inFinland and many Finns visit different sporting events regularly.[1][2]Pesäpallo is the national sport of Finland, although the most popular forms of sport in terms of television viewers and media coverage areice hockey andFormula One. In spectator attendance,harness racing comes right after ice hockey in popularity.
Other popular sports includefloorball,bandy,football,ringette, andPesäpallo.
Ice hockey is the most popular sport in Finland. The Finnish main leagueLiiga has an attendance average of 4,850 people.[3]Ice Hockey World Championships 2016 final Finland-Canada, 69% of Finnish people watched that game on TVMTV3-channel.[4] TheFinnish national team has won the World Championship four times, in1995,2011,2019 and2022 and is considered a member of the so-called "Big Six", the unofficial group of the six strongest men's ice hockey nations, along withCanada,Czechia,Russia,Sweden and theUnited States.[5] At the2022 Winter Olympics, the Finnish hockey team won theMen's tournament Olympic gold for the first time.[6][7][8] Some of the most notable Finnish players areTeemu Selänne,Jari Kurri,Jere Lehtinen,Teppo Numminen,Tuukka Rask and brothersSaku andMikko Koivu. Finland has hosted the Men's Ice Hockey World Championships in1965,1974,1982,1991,1997,2003,2022 and co-hosted2012 -2013 and2023.
| Year | Location | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Stockholm /Gävle Sweden | Gold |
| 2011 | Bratislava /Košice Slovakia | Gold |
| 2019 | Bratislava /Košice Slovakia | Gold |
| 2022 | Tampere /Helsinki Finland | Gold |
Football in Finland, unlike in mostEuropean countries, is not the most popular spectatorsport, as it falls behindice hockey, which enjoys a huge amount of popularity in the country.[9]Football tops ice hockey in the number of registered players (115,000 vs. 60,000[10][11]) and as a popular hobby (160,000 vs. 90,000 in adults and 230,000 vs. 105,000 in youth[12][13]). It is the most popular hobby among 3- to 18-year-olds, whereas ice hockey is 9th.[13]Football's standing is constantly increasing, where the yearly growth rate has lately been over 10 percent.[14] In season 2006–07 19.9 percent of registered players were female.[14] TheFootball Association of Finland (Palloliitto) has approximately a thousand clubs as its members.[10] According to aGallup poll, nearly 400,000 people include football in their hobbies.[12][13]
HJK is the most successful Finnish football club and has won 32 Finnish championship. Also it is only Finnish club that has played in theUEFA Champions League andEuropa League in group stage.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
Floorball is a popular sport and Finland was one of the three founding countries ofInternational Floorball Federation.Finland men's national floorball team has won theWorld Floorball Championships in 2008, 2010, 2016, 2018 and 2024, making floorball the only team sport in which Finland has defended a World Championship title, and placed second in 1996, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2012, 2014 and 2020.
Finland has hosted Men's World Floorball Championships in2002 and2010 and will host it again in2020. The game is played similar to floor hockey, with five players and a goal keeper on each team. The game is played indoors for men and woman, using 95 to 115.5 cm. sticks, and a plastic ball. The length of the game is three twenty minute periods.
Motorsport became popular in Finland in the 1950s with the birth ofrallying competitions. In the 1960s Finnish rally drivers such asRauno Aaltonen,Timo Mäkinen andPauli Toivonen started to dominate international events and have held the post since, making Finland the most successful nation in theWorld Rally Championship.Juha Kankkunen andTommi Mäkinen both won the World Championship four times during their respective careers andMarcus Grönholm won the title twice in 2000 and 2002. After 20 years laterKalle Rovanperä won the World Championship in 2022. Finland's WRC event,Neste Oil Rally Finland, gathers 500,000 spectators every year. The city ofJyväskylä in theCentral Finland region has often served as the main venue for Finnish rally competitions.[15][16]
Currently the most popular form of motorsport isFormula One. F1 was popularized in Finland in the 1980s byKeke Rosberg, who in1982 became the first FinnishFormula One World Driver's champion, and reached its peak whenMika Häkkinen won the championship twice in1998 and1999.Kimi Räikkönen, the2007 champion, has retired from the sport at the end of 2021. Since 2013,Valtteri Bottas has competed for theWilliams F1,Mercedes andAlfa Romeo teams.
Other forms of motorsport popular in Finland includeGrand Prix motorcycle racing, which reached its peak in the early 1970s before the death ofJarno Saarinen. Inenduro, 7 and 13-timeWorld Enduro ChampionsKari Tiainen andJuha Salminen have ensured media coverage in their home country.
.jpg)
Bandy is played throughout Finland. It was the first team sport with a national Finnish championship. TheBandyliiga is still popular. In2004, Finland won theBandy World Championship. The game consists of two teams whose goal is to put a single ball in opposing team's goal to score. The game is played on ice, with both teams on skates. In terms of licensed athletes, it is the second biggest winter sport in the world.[17]Finland's Bandy Association (Finnish: Suomen Jääpalloliitto, Swedish: FinlandsBandyförbund) is the governing body for the sport of bandy in Finland. Finland has hosted the Men's Bandy World Championships in1957,1967,1975,1983,1991,2001 and 25 years later in2026.
_09.JPG)
Developed byLauri "Tahko" Pihkala in the 1920s and often considered as a national sport of Finland,pesäpallo has a steady popularity around the country, especially in the Ostrobothnia region. The main national league,Superpesis, has an attendance average of about 1,600 in men's and 500 in the women's league.[18]
The average attendance per top-flight league season and the pesäpallo club with the highest average attendance:
| Season | League average | Best club | Best club average |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 986 | Joensuun Maila | 1,685 |
Source:[19]
In 1979,Juhani Wahlsten introducedringette in Finland.[20] Wahlsten created some teams inTurku. Finland's first ringette club was Ringetteläisiä Turun Siniset, and the country's first ringette tournament took place in December, 1980. In 1979Juhani Wahlsten invited two coaches, Wendy King and Evelyn Watson, fromDollard-des-Ormeaux, a suburb of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to teach girls of various ages how to play ringette.[21] The Ringette Association ofTurku was established in 1981 and several Canadian coaches went there to initiate the training and help establish the sport. The ski national week then organized an annual tournament to bring together all the ringette teams.
InternationallyCanada and Finland have always been the most active ambassadors in theInternational Ringette Federation. Canada and Finland regularly travel across various countries to demonstrate how ringette is played.
.jpg)
Racers are typically athletes with a background in ice hockey, however competitors from the sports of bandy and ringette have also competed with great success, such as Salla Kyhälä from Finland's national ringette team, who also played in Canada's National Ringette League and Mirko Lahti has win Finnish downhill skating championship two times 2020 and 2021. Junior World championship 2017-2018 and Men`s World championship 2022-23.
Inline skating originated in Finland in the 1980s and was initially known as group patterning. The first Finnish Synchronized skating team, The Rockets (HTK; now Helsinki Rockettes), was founded in 1984. Today, Finland is one of the top countries in figure skating - the teams have done well in international competitions for years. There are more than 100 Synchronized skating teams in Finland.
FIS Nordic World Ski Championships Seefeld 2019 - Men 15 km Interval Start Classic. Picture shows Iivo Niskanen (FIN).Finland has always produced successful competitors in the disciplines ofnordic skiing. Championship-winning malecross-country skiers from Finland includeVeli Saarinen (winner of anOlympic gold and threeWorld Championship titles in the 1920s and 1930s),Veikko Hakulinen (who won three Olympic and three World Championship golds in the 1950s and 1960s, as well as a World Championship silver medal inbiathlon) andJuha Mieto (who won an Olympic gold medal in1976 and two overallFIS Cross-Country World Cups). Among female athletes,Marjo Matikainen-Kallström won a gold at the1988 Winter Olympics, three World Championships and three overall World Cups andMarja-Liisa Kirvesniemi won three golds at both the Olympics and World Championships and two overall World Cup titles.
Finland has been the most successful nation inSki jumping at the Winter Olympics, having won ten golds, eight silvers and four bronze medals. Notable names includeMatti Nykänen, a four-time Olympic gold medalist, a five time Ski Jumping World Champion, the 1985 winner of theFIS Ski-Flying World Championships, a four-time winner of the overallWorld Cup title, and a double winner of the prestigiousFour Hills Tournament. More recentlyJanne Ahonen has been one of the top competitors in the sport since the mid-1990s, winning five World Championship golds and two overall World Cups. He is also the record holder for wins in the Four Hills Tournament, having won the competition five times.
As a country strong in both cross-country skiing and ski jumping Finland has also enjoyed success inNordic combined.Heikki Hasu won golds in Nordic combined in the1948 and1952 Olympics, as well as a cross-country gold in the 4 x 10 kilometre relay at the1952 Olympics. He also won a World Championship gold in1950.Eero Mäntyranta won 7 Olympic medals (3 golds, 2 silvers, and 2 bronzes) spread over the1960,1964, and1968 Olympics in addition to his five World Championship medals (2 gold, 2 silver and a bronze) spread over the1962 and1966 games.Samppa Lajunen won three Olympic golds at the2002 Olympics and twoFIS Nordic Combined World Cups.Hannu Manninen won the World Cup for four consecutive seasons between 2003/4 and 2006/7.
Although traditionally not as strong as Norway, Sweden, Germany and Russia in biathlon, Finland has had world-class competitors in this discipline.Heikki Ikola andJuhani Suutarinen were both highly successful in the 1970s - Ikola won fourWorld Championship golds and Suutarinen won three. In 2011Kaisa Mäkäräinen won a World Championship title in the pursuit at theBiathlon World Championships and wasBiathlon World Cup champion. She won her second overall Biathlon World Cup in2014, and a third in2018.
In recent years Finnish skiers have enjoyed success in the technical disciplines ofalpine skiing.Kalle Palander was Slalom World Champion in 1999 and World Cup Slalom champion in the2003 Alpine Skiing World Cup.Tanja Poutiainen won three discipline World Cup titles in Slalom and Giant Slalom in the 2000s.
.jpg)
The sport ofathletics has historically been an important part of both Finnish sports history and national identity.Hannes Kolehmainen has been said to "run Finland onto the world map" at the1912 Summer Olympics, and from the1920 Summer Olympics toWorld War II Finland was the second most successful country in athletics, as only theUnited States managed to collect more Olympic medals.Javelin throw is the only event in which Finland has enjoyed success all the way from the 1900s to this day. Thus, it is currently the most popular athletics event in Finland.Jukola Relay andVenla's Relay are the largest andthe most famousorienteering events in Finland.
Wrestling was a successful sport for Finns in the early 20th century. The first wrestling club was theHelsingin Atleettiklubi founded in 1891, and the Finnish championship series (SM-kilpailut) were organized for the first time in 1898.[22]Verner Weckman won his seriesAt the 1906 Athens Intermediate Olympics and achieved Finland's first official Olympic victorytwo years later in London.[23] In total, Finns won 20 Olympic gold medals in wrestling between 1908 and 1936, thirteen of them in Greco-Roman wrestling and seven in freestyle wrestling. From the period after the Second World War, Finland has six wrestling gold medals, five of which are from Greco-Roman wrestling.[24] The last Finnish men's world champion isMarko Yli-Hannuksela from 1997, but the European Finns have won championships even in the 2000s, when women's wrestling became more common, and in 2018Petra Olli became the first Finnish female wrestler to win the world championship.
.jpg)
_Tokyo_2020.jpg)
Finnish boxing championship competitions started in 1923.[25] Finnish Olympic champions areSten Suvio from 1936 andPentti Hämäläinen from 1952.[26] However, the most famous Finnish boxer of the 1930s wasGunnar Bärlund, who was the second challenger to world championJoe Louis in the professional boxing heavyweight rankings.[27] The first Finn to compete in the professional world championship wasOlli Mäki, who lost toDavey Moore in the World Championship match at theHelsinki Olympic Stadium in August 1962.[28] Mäki is the only Finn who has won both the amateur and professional European championships.[29] The amateur WC medal has been achieved byTarmo Uusivirta 1978 and 1982,Jyri Kjäll 1993[30] andJoni Turunen 1995 and 2001. Women's boxing n's biggest star isEva Wahlström, who in 2015 was the first Finn to win the world championship in professional boxing.[31] Today,Robert Helenius is Finland's most successful boxer.
As Finland appeared at the2014 Basketball World Cup for the first time, the sport received a huge boost and major public attention. More than 8,000 basketball fans travelled to Spain to support their team. Overall, they booked more than 40 airplanes.[32] For the second time, Finland made it in2023 Basketball World Cup, for the first time through thequalifiers. Finland has hosted Men'sEuroBasket in 1967 and co-hosted 2017 and 2025.
As in many countries worldwide, Finland has shown some major improvements in its professionalization of the game of basketball recently. ItsKorisliiga sends teams to European competitions and has drawn the interest of an increasing number of talents especially from North America but also from Southeastern Europe.[33]
Fiba Europe Cup in the2022-23 season,Karhu Basket become the first Finnish club to advance to the final four.
Finland featured a women's national team inbeach volleyball that competed at the2018–2020 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup.[34]
Disc golf is the fastest growing sport in Finland.[35] According to the Finnish Research Institute for Olympic Sports (KIHU), it is more popular among Finns thanball golf,volleyball,basketball andtennis.[36] As of June 2020[update], there are approximately 700 disc golf courses in Finland.[37]
Harness racing in Finland is characterised by the use of the coldblood breedFinnhorse along with modern light trotters such as theStandardbred. In lack ofgallop racing culture, harness racing is the main equestrian sport inFinland. Horses used for harness racing in Finland are exclusively trotters.
Racing back home from church had been a tradition long before the first organised race was held in 1817. Modern racing started in the 1960s, when light breeds were allowed to enter the sport andParimutuel betting gained foothold as pastime. Nowadays harness racing remains popular, with the main events gathering tens of thousands of spectators in the country with a population of some 5 million.
TheFinnish Shooting Sport Federation is the umbrella organization forsport shooting in Finland.
Tennis came to Finland in 1881. The first club was Wiborgs lawntennisklubb, founded in 1898. The Finnish Tennis Federation was founded in 1911, and it immediately joined the international tennis federation. The first Finnish championship was won in 1912 byBoris Schildt. in 2023Finnish team advanced to theDavis Cup final tournament for the first time and knocking out 32-time championsUSA to reach the quarter-finals for the first time.Henri Kontinen has involved in winningWimbledon Championships – Mixed doubles andAustralian Open – Men's doubles,Harri Heliövaara has involved in winningUS Open – Mixed doubles.Jarkko Nieminen is the highest-ranked Finnish tennis player ever in the world and the only Finn to win an ATP singles tournament.
Finnish skittles (Kyykkä), is a centuries-old game of Karelian origin.Mölkky is modern version of Kyykkä.
Kaisa or karoliina is acue sport mainly played in Finland and its the most traditional form of billiards in Finland and has been practiced in Finland for several decades before the birth of Finnish billiards association. The sport is still popular in Finland, and 20–30 tournaments under the Finnish Billiards Association are organized every year. In addition to the main series, there are different series, Seniors and Juniors.
Arto Halonen made a documentary aboutdoping in sport in Finnish winter sports in 2012.[38]Janne Immonen,Jari Isometsä andHarri Kirvesniemi were convicted in October 2013 by theHelsinki District Court.[39]
.jpg)
.jpg)
| Summer Olympic Sports |
|
|---|---|
| Winter Olympic Sports |
|
| Other IOC Recognised Sports |
|
| Others Sports |
|