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The FFS team reconvenes for the Nations League qualifying match between Wales and Finland. Winner takes all and finishes top of group B4 (although, technically, a draw is good enough for Wales.) Join Mark W, Mark H, Rich & Keke to will hear our pre-match predictions, our half-time thoughts and our full-time reaction.Show notes and links

The first in a new format of FFS show, as the team get together for the Nations League qualifying match between Bulgaria and Finland. You will hear our pre-match predictions, our half-time thoughts and our reaction at full-time.Show notes & links

In this episode, firstly, we look back at the historic win for Finland away to France. We then turn our attention forward to this week’s Nations League fixtures. There are two away games for the Huuhkajat, who take on Bulgaria and Wales in the final two games in the 2020 Nations League.We’ll also look back at the Veikkausliiga season, which was cut short after the 22 'regular season' games (as we'd speculated in the last show). We'll look at the winners, the losers, the surprise packages and the predictably average.Show notes & links

In answer to a question on Facebook from Kevin Moseley, who asked "Is there an episode of the podcast in which you each discuss how your passion for Finnish football came to be? I’d be interested to hear about it - if the topic hasn’t been covered previously, perhaps you could consider including it in a future show!"Well Kevin, you asked for it...

Mark H, Keke & Mark W get together (with a cameo from Rich) for a quick chat to look back at the three recent games for the Finland National team. Starting with a 5-1 friendly defeat away to Poland, followed by two Nations League wins; 2-0 over Bulgaria and 1-0 over the Republic of Ireland, both at home in the recently renovated Olympic Stadium in Helsinki.Show notes & links

In this episode, we will look forward to this week’s Nations League fixtures. There are two home games for the Huuhkajat, who take on Bulgaria and Ireland, before two away games in November.We will also glory and commiserate with Rich, about the progress of KuPS Kuopio in Europe. We’ll discuss their performances in both the Champions League and the Europa League.Finally, we’ll close the show with an overview of the recent action and current league positions in the Veikkausliiga, with teams having played about 18 games of 22, in the regular season, before it splits into two closing series; the Mestaruussarja (Championship series) and the Haastajasarja (Challenger series).Show notes & links

Keke & Mark W are joined by another legend of Finnish football, former international goalkeeper, Antti Niemi. He explains why he loves both Glenn Kamara and the city of Edinburgh equally. He exposes Sami Hyyppiä as a bad loser and explains his FA Cup final gamble. He also outlines why Markku Kanerva is the new Roy Hodgson. Finally, he discusses his new venture ,marketing and selling the 'Sport Shot 0.03' made from Finnish beetroot juice.Show notes and links

Mark H, Keke & Mark W get together for a quick chat to look back at the two recent Nations League games for the Finland National team; a 1-0 defeat at home to Wales, followed by a 1-0 win away to the Republic of Ireland.Show notes & links

The FFS team has a full squad to select from this week, and no difficult selection problems EVERYONE can play. This is a special occasion too, because we promised an episode between the European clubs games and the Nations League and that is EXACTLY what you are going to get. So, for once, I have nothing to apologise for. At least, not at the start – that may have changed by the end of the show!We will be joined today by a returning special guest. Mikko Laitinen from the Finnish FA (Palloliitto) has come to tell us about the new Finland national team kit that was launched today! We will then look forward to the upcoming Nations League matches for Finland. We will also discuss the recent games in the Champions League and Europa League for Finnish club sides. And we’ll wrap everything up with a brief summary of the position in the Veikkausliiga.Show notes and links

In this episode, the FFS team is missing one or two key players. Not because of injury or poor form, but because of holidays. Mark has a had a challenging summer and is taking a well-earned break. Similarly, Keke seems to have ventured overseas for a family vacation.But we didn't want to keep you waiting, so this episode is Mark W and Rich, possibly joined by Keke. We will discuss our recent predictions competition (if a survey that collects answers but offers no prize can be called a competition!) We will then look at how the opening 7 rounds of Veikkausliiga action has panned-out. Who is leading the table? Who has already fallen behind? And why does Rich keep trolling me about the form of SJK?I have to also give a shout out to Kevin Cumming in our Facebook group. He found us recently and has listened to the entire back catalogue. Kevin - THANK YOU! 🙏🏻You can read Kevin's full review of five-and-a-half shambolic years of FFS: https://www.facebook.com/groups/FinnishFootballShow/permalink/2628245217275512/Show notes and links Veikkausliiga Predictions(Check the Show Notes for beautiful colour charts & graphs)Suomen Cup winners 2020HJK Helsinki (18 responses) , Inter Turku (5)Veikkausliiga champions 2020HJK Helsinki (23 responses) , Inter Turku (2), HIFK Helsinki (1), Honka (1), Ilves (1), KuPS Kuopio (1), SJK Seinäjoki (1)Europa League qualifiers 2020KuPS (12 responses, 40%), Honka (11, 36.7%), Inter Turku (11, 36.7%), SJK Seinäjoki (7, 23.3%), Ilves (6, 20%), HJK (6, 20%)Relegated 2020TPS Turku (14 responses), RoPS Rovaniemi (7), IFK Mariehamn (4), HIFK Helsinki (3), Lahti (1), KuPS (1)What are you most looking forward to in the 2020 season?Live Football (5 responses)Eero Markkanen 😍 (3)Seeing how KuPS perform (3)Expecting RoPS to struggle (2)Veikkausliiga Table (After 7 Games)Veikkausliiga Top Scorers (After 7 Games)

Keke & Mark W are joined by a legend of Finnish football, Aki Riihilahti.Aki takes us back down memory lane for a fascinating conversation about his playing career at HJK Helsinki and Crystal Palace, as well as behind-the-scenes in his current role as CEO at HJK.Learn how Aki once broke Keke's heart 💔 (and that he's not sorry about it), how his work with the European Clubs Association gives him so much satisfaction and why he's added 'Toilet Paper Delivery Driver' to his CV.Video: Aki starting the move that led to the goal that broke Keke's heart 💔 https://youtu.be/KUHtnO0PVsoShow notes & links: https://finnishfootballshow.com/2020/07/10/in-conversation-aki-riihilahti/

Wiltshear here with a quick reminder to submit your entries to our predictions competition. You can do it now by clicking this link: Veikkausliiga 2020 Predictions CompetitionWe want you to predict the following:Suomen Cup winners 2020Veikkausliiga champions 2020Europa League qualifiers 2020Relegated 2020 (the bottom team)What are you most looking forward to in the 2020 season?Remember, you stand the chance to win NO PRIZES but you might get your name read out on the show.

It's early-June 2020 and there are a couple of key dates coming up in the near future; the Veikkausliiga is due to kick off from the 1st July and the Suomen Cup has matches scheduled from 16th June.Mark W, Rich, Keke and Mark H, look forward to and then start to prepare for the Veikkausliiga kick off, by looking at the transfers that have taken place during the extended closed season. Other topics of conversation include: Clubs' pre-season preparations, will fans be able to enter the stadiums and sexy 3rd kits. Yes really, 'sexy' 3rd kits.Show notes & links 

Mark W speaks to Chris Cleaver, the British football agent at Scandinavian FI OÜ Player Agency. Chris is the former captain & first team coach of SJK Seinäjoki in Finland. He talks about his playing career in Finland, bookended with spells in Seinäjoki, before explaining about the transition to becoming an agent and how this has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.Show notes & links

Back in February 2020, the Finnish Football Show team got together online to record FFS27. Mark began that episode with the words "We started recording this show at 21:45 because we've had some technical problems for the last 20 minutes, which were MY fault this time...!"What you are about to hear is what happened before the show, eventually, went live.Show notes and links

Yes, we know, it’s been ages since the last show, but this time it really ISN’T our fault. There’s been this virus thing, you see. This episode is something a little different. Firtsly, it's only Mark W & Keke, but this time we are joined by a very special guest, Mikko Laitinen, Marketing Manager at Suomen Palloliitto – the Finnish Football Association.Mikko talks to us about financial challenges within Finnish football and, conversely, the commercial opportunities offered by the impressive performances of the Huuhkajat. Mikko also explained the background to the "Kauden tärkein ottelu" (the Season's Most Important Game) campaign, which enables fans to support Finnish football during this difficult time. Encouragingly, the start of the 2020 Veikkausliiga season was also announced on 6.5.2020, the day of the recording, so of course we talked about that too.🎟 Buy tickets for the Kauden tärkein ottelu" (the Season's Most Important Game) campaign📖 Show notes & links

Rich speaks to Jonne Lindblom, a former agent and now the Sporting Director of KuPS Kuopio in Finland. Jonne explains how KuPS is helping its players maintain fitness during the COVID-19 pandemic. He looks at the challenge the corona virus poses for new manager, Arne Erlandsen, to communicate his ideas to the team, as they prepare for the defence of the Veikkausliiga title they won in 2019 – whenever that defence might start!Jonne tells about his role as Sporting Director (handling recruitment, scouting, player contracts and agents). He also gives some insight into his close involvement, as an agent, in the rise of Alfredo Morelos. Then he looks forward to future plans for a new stadium in Kuopio and his determination to develop the KuPS Academy, so it provides more players for the first team squad.Show notes & links

Keke talks to Finland international player (or Huuhkaja) Markus Halsti, who explains how he, and fellow Finn Joni Kauko, are trying to keep fit for Esbjerg fB in Denmark, and how they could be recalled to action with a days notice, even though the club coaches are currently NOT ALLOWED to train them!Markus tells about his special connection with HJK Helsinki and FF Malmo and his experiences at D.C. United in Major League Soccer – including how USA fan culture incorporates chainsaws! 😨 Finally Markus shares his disappointment at not swapping shirts with Xabi Alonso and why he couldn't celebrate on the pitch after THAT Liechtenstein game, when Finland qualified for Euro 2020.Show notes & links

Mark W talks to SJK Seinäjoki's new 1st Team Coach, Joaquin Gomez about his bold move from Spain to the UK and dramatic rise, as a coach and assistant manager, through the Football League (EFL). We talk about how meeting Sami Hyypiä and Antti Niemi, later led to opportunities to become coach for Finland U21s and, latterly, SJK. Finally, he explains how they are keeping the SJK players fit, physically and mentally, during this period of uncertainty.Show notes & links

Keke speaks to Jussi Hartikainen, the Executive Director of the Finland national team supporters club, Suomen Maajoukkueen Kannattajat ry. Also known as SMJK to its friends.Jussi explains how the SMJK has handled the postponement of Euro 2020, how he manages relations with the Finnish Football Association, Palloliitto, the prospect of club football restarting anytime soon and the prospects for his club FC Vikingit. Oh, and the new SMJK beer: Pohjoiskaarre Pale Ale.Show notes & links