The Finnish national futsal team represents Finland in international futsal competitions. The team is run under supervision of the Football Association of Finland. It has never qualified for the World Cup or the European Championships. On 29.7.2022 rankings Finland is 18th globally and 11th in Europe.[2]
The Finnish national futsal team was formed for the first time in 1994 when Finland participated in the World University Futsal Championship held in Cyprus. The World University Futsal Championship was held in Jyväskylä, Finland two years later. The first official international matches were played on October 21 and 22, 1998 against Hungary. Later that year Finland also participated in the qualifiers for the 1999 UEFA Futsal Championship tournament with futsal national team coach Timo Liekoski,[3] but failed to qualify.[4]
Simo Syrjävaara was selected as national futsal team coach at the end of year 1999.[5] During Syrjävaara's spell, the team has participated twice in FIFA Futsal World Championship qualifiers and three times in UEFA Futsal Championship qualifiers. In these qualifiers, the team won only twice and lost total of 14 times. After Syrjävaara stepped down, rising talent Jouni Pihlaja took over coaching the team from the beginning of year 2005.[4]
The following players have also been called up to the squad within the last 12 months.
Season 2018-2019
Futsal national team games 2010-11
References
^Futsal World Ranking
^"Futsal World Ranking". www.futsalworldranking.be. Retrieved 2022-07-29.
^"Maaottelut 1998-". Suomen Palloliitto. Retrieved 2009-11-03.
^ a bYrjö Lautela; Göran Wallén (2007). Rakas jalkapallo – sata vuotta suomalaista jalkapalloa. Teos. pp. 264–265. ISBN 978-951-851-068-3.
^"Futsalmaajoukkue Simo Syrjävaaran komentoon". Helsingin Sanomat. 1999-10-31.
^"Miesten futsalmaajoukkue MM-karsintaotteluihin Portugalia ja Armeniaa vastaan nimetty" (in Finnish). Suomen Palloliitto. 25 August 2023. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
^"Finland Squad". UEFA. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
