Finland is Suomi
Hi there!
Photo: © Comma-Image Oy
We thought to collect essential information on Finland to this page, but found out there are lots of people who have already done so. So, instead of complete guide to Finland we offer you thisisFINLAND (www.finland.fi), the best webpage we found on Finland.
On the site you will find facts on life in Finland, statistics, how to learn to speak Finnish etc. The page is available in English, French and Russia and is produced by Finnish Foreign Ministry.
If you prefer Swedish or some other language you can type www.suomi.fi. Since Swedish is the other official language of Finland, you will find all public services in Swedish as well. In Suomi.fi there is Info bank where you will find essential information on how the Finnish society works in 15 different languages. Maybe boring, but useful.
Floorball in Finland
Instead, we believe you are interested in floorball, right?
Floorball is called “salibandy” in Finnish. The beloved nickname among floorball pioneers is still “sähly”.
Finland is one of three founding members (others Sweden and Switzerland) of International Floorball Federation since 1986. Finnish Floorball Federation (later called SSBL) was founded only one year before IFF, year 1985. The year of the Magical Games is 25th active year of SSBL. What a way to celebrate!
Some famous and successful Floorball Characters
Latest international floorball super stars of Finland are Tero Tiitu, who had the honour to put the ball to Sweden’s goal in overtime in Prague 2008, and Rickie Hyvärinen who passed the magical pass to Tiitu. Very influential players behind the team’s success were Mikael Järvi, the Captain and, the world’s best floorball player, Mika Kohonen. No doubt, he is the most famous and appreciated Finnish floorball player.
Before their golden decade 2010 we do remember the floorball legend Janne Tähkä, Mr. Zorro, as he is recognized in floorball world for his air hook goals. He blew our minds about how to handle the ball for the first time with his magnificent behind-goal scoring against Sweden in Lahti 14.11.1999. To see some of his magic, just go to YouTube and search for Janne Tähkä.
Petteri Nykky is the first Finnish head coach to lead his side to the World Floorball Champiohsip Victory in 2008. During his time as a head coach of Finnish national team, he has produced huge boost to the way national team is practising and performing. He is also the first national team level coach exporting Finnish coaching ability. Being the coach of the reigning champions he has the rare opportunity to be the first Finnish male team sport national coach to win the title two times in a row – at the home arena!
Finnish clubs and the amount of licensed players
Growth of the licensed player number is not as rapid as it was in 1990’s. Back then the amount doubled in couple of years. Nowadays the number is rising annually about 1.500-2.000 players, which is still very good amount! End of last season saw the amount rising over 43.000, and the expectancy for the season 2009-2010 is to break another record, 45.000 licensed players. Since the proportion of female players is only 15 %, SSBL has launched a program to support female participation on floorball in different fields: player, coach or referee. The head of the program’s working group is legendary national team player Arja Kilpeläinen (earlier known as Joutsen.
There are about 850 floorball clubs in Finland. Those clubs support about 2.200 teams. The biggest of the clubs is Koo-Vee from Tampere with 1016 licensed players. The most successful club of Finland is SSV (679 licensed players), with 10 men’s league victories (counted together with fusion club Viikingit) and reigning EuroFlorball Cup winner. SSV was just second Finnish club to win Eurocup, after HIFK did the same in 2000-2001. In women’s side there are also two clubs that have achieved Eurocup Gold: Tapanilan Erä (1999) and SC Classic (2003-2004). Tapanilan Erä holds also nationally and internationally rising men’s team as well as SC Classic.
International events/IFF tournaments organised by Finland:
- 1993 Women’s Eurocup final tournament, Helsinki
- 1994 Men’s European Championships, Helsinki (the first one)
- 1997 Women’s World Championships, Maarianhamina Åland (the first one)
- 1998 Eurocup final tournament, Helsinki
- 2002 Men’s World Championships, Helsinki
- 2004 U19 Women’s World Championships, Tampere (the first one)
- 2008 EuroFloorball Cup final tournament, Vantaa
- 2009 U19 Men’s World Championships, Turku
