Women's football in Finland
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Loading... - Karl Huber
- 25 Jul 2022
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History
Trend setters
Finland, like its Nordic neighbours, was an early adopter of women's football. Indeed, the very first female game in UEFA competition was staged in Finland, the hosts contesting the inaugural UEFA Women's EURO qualifier against Sweden in Vammala on 18 August 1982. However, although HJK Helsinki made an early impact in the UEFA Women's Cup, Finland's national team struggled until they surprised Russia in the Women's EURO 2005 play-offs and went on to reach the semi-finals. Four years later, they were tournament hosts and Finland continues to punch above its population weight in the women's game - over a quarter of the country's 150,000 registered footballers are female.
Best UEFA competition performance
Senior: UEFA Women's EURO semi-finals (2005)
Youth: UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship semi-finals (2005, 2013), UEFA Women's U17 Championship third place (2018)
Role model
Finland midfielder Essi Sainio featured at Women's EURO 2009 and has been included in the squad for the 2022 edition after a remarkable comeback. In 2012, while playing in Germany, she was admitted to hospital with anorexia and depression. After 12 months of treatment, she returned to football before finally appearing for the national team again in 2020.
Milestone moments
On the pitch…
Finland lost the opening game of Women's EURO 2005 – the last Women's EURO in England – after a last-gasp winner for the hosts. Six days later, however, they stunned Denmark 2-1 in Blackpool thanks to early goals from Laura Österberg Kalmari and Heidi Kackur , going on to reach an unexpected semi-final on their tournament debut.
A Finnish record crowd of 16,324 watched the Women's EURO 2009 hosts begin their campaign with a 1-0 win against Denmark thanks to Maija Saari's free-kick. Finland eventually progressed to the quarter-finals and the tournament had a lasting impact on the popularity of the game across the nation. Read More...
