Early history The
Football Association of Finland was founded in 1907 and became a member of
FIFA the next year. At the time, Finland was an
autonomous grand duchy ruled by the
Russian Emperors. Finland played its first international on 22 October 1911, as
Sweden beat the Finns at the
Eläintarha Stadium in Helsinki. Finland participated the
1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, beating
Italy and the
Russian Empire, but losing the bronze medal match against the
Netherlands.
Period of dispersion in 1933 After the 1918
Civil War, the Finnish sports movement was divided into the right-wing Finnish Gymnastics and Sports Federation (SVUL) and the leftist
Finnish Workers' Sports Federation (TUL). The Finnish Football Association was a member of the SVUL. Both sides had their own championship series, and between 1919 and 1939 the Finland national team was selected from Football Association players only. The
Finnish Workers' Sports Federation football team participated in the competitions of the international labour movement. However, from the late 1920s several top footballers defected from the TUL and joined the Football Association so as to be eligible for the national team. During the 1930s, these ″defectors″ formed the spine of the national team. For example, the Finland squad at the
1936 Summer Olympics included eight former TUL players. Finland also took part in European Championship qualifying from the
1968 event, but had to wait for its first win until 1978.
Late 20th century in 1950 from 1975 Finland missed out on qualification for
Euro 1980 by just a point and for the
1986 World Cup by two points. Finland was invited to take part in the
1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow after many Western countries announced they would boycott the games, but failed to progress from its group. By the mid-1990s Finland started to have more players in high-profile European leagues, led by
Ajax superstar
Jari Litmanen. In 1996,
Euro 1992-winning coach
Richard Møller Nielsen was hired to take Finland to the
1998 World Cup. The team enjoyed mixed fortunes in the campaign, the high points of which were a draw and a win away to
Norway and
Switzerland respectively. Going into the last match, Finland needed a win at home to
Hungary to earn a place in the play-offs. They led the game 1–0 going into injury time, but scored an own goal, and their qualification campaign was over. Møller Nielsen also tried to lead Finland to
Euro 2000. In that campaign the Finns recorded a sensational win away to
Turkey, but couldn't compete with Germany and Turkey in the long run. is widely regarded as Finland's greatest footballer of all time.|thumb|right|150px
Antti Muurinen succeeded Møller Nielsen as coach in 2000. He had arguably the most talented group of Finnish players ever at his disposal, including players such as
Antti Niemi,
Sami Hyypiä,
Teemu Tainio and
Mikael Forssell in addition to the legendary Litmanen. The team performed quite well under him in
qualification for the
2002 World Cup despite a difficult group, earning two draws against Germany and a home draw with
England as well as beating
Greece 5–1 in Helsinki. In the end, however, England and Germany proved too strong, and the Finns finished third in
the group, although they were the only team in the group not to lose at home. Hopes were high going into
qualification for
Euro 2004 after the promising previous campaign and friendly wins over the likes of Norway, Belgium and Portugal (which saw the Finns jump from 40th to 30th in the Elo ranking). However, Finland started the campaign by losing to
Wales and
Yugoslavia (later Serbia and Montenegro, now two separate nations). These losses were followed by two defeats by Italy, and a 3–0 home win over Serbia and Montenegro was little consolation as the Finns finished fourth in
the group. In
qualification for the
2006 World Cup, Finland failed to score a single point in six matches against the top three teams in
their group, the Netherlands, the
Czech Republic and
Romania. Muurinen was sacked in June 2005 and replaced by caretaker
Jyrki Heliskoski, but results didn't improve.
Recent history In August 2005, it was announced that Englishman
Roy Hodgson would become the new Finland coach in 2006, and he started the job in January of that year. Hodgson stepped down as manager after they failed to qualify for Euro 2008. Hodgson's replacement was a Scotsman,
Stuart Baxter, who signed a contract until the end of the
2012 European Championship qualification campaign. In the
Euro 2008 qualifying Finland needed to win their last qualifying game away to Portugal to qualify for their first major football tournament. However, the match ended 0–0, meaning the team missed out on qualification to the tournament, with Finland ending the group stage with 24 points and Portugal with 27 points. However, the performance in qualifying led to the Finns gaining their best-ever FIFA world ranking to date at 33rd. The
2010 World Cup qualifying campaign saw Finland again finish third in their group with five wins, three draws and two defeats. They were the only team in qualifying not to lose to eventual 3rd-place finishers Germany. In both the home and away matches Finland had led Germany, only to concede late equalizers.
Mixu Paatelainen era (2011–2015) During the
Euro 2012 qualifying, head coach Baxter was sacked, and on 31 March 2011 he was replaced by former national team player
Mixu Paatelainen. Paatelainen started his tenure with a win against
San Marino, only to be followed by a 5–0 loss against Sweden. Finland eventually finished fourth in its group with only three wins, two of them against San Marino. Paatelainen's deal with the
Finnish FA extended until 2016, covering the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifiers, and also the next
2014 FIFA World Cup qualification and the
UEFA Euro 2016 qualifiers. As Finland had already been eliminated from
UEFA Euro 2012, his main task was to renew the national team with a generation switch, and try to qualify for one or more of the tournaments during his projected tenure as Finland's head coach. This included ultimately leaving out
Jari Litmanen, the most capped player and the team's long-served captain and "The King of Finnish Football". In the
2014 World Cup qualifying campaign, Finland's best result was a 1–1 draw against reigning world champions
Spain. They finished third in the five-team Group I, behind Spain and
France. On 14 June 2015, Paatelainen was sacked following his fourth defeat in a row during the
Euro 2016 qualifying campaign. Finland eventually finished fourth in
Euro 2016 qualifying under the guidance of a caretaker manager,
Markku Kanerva. They achieved a somewhat noteworthy result when
Joel Pohjanpalo's goal gave the Finns a 1–0 win at former European champions
Greece, who had reached the second round of the 2014 World Cup and were the top seeds of their qualifying group. Paatelainen had applied his preferred formation of 4–3–2–1, which he had named
joulukuusi – the Christmas tree – due to its shape. Because of the bad results while insistently using the same formation, and his defensive statements to media, he gained a negative reputation among the supporters and the media, and his time as the national team head coach is still remembered mainly for joulukuusi.
Hans Backe (2016) On 12 August 2015, Swedish
Hans Backe was named the new manager, starting on 1 January 2016. His first official match with the team was on 10 January 2016, and ended in a 3–0 defeat by Sweden. On 12 December 2016, Backe was fired during the
2018 World Cup qualifying campaign, and a former assistant and caretaker Markku Kanerva was named the new head coach. Finland did not win a single game during Backe's time as head coach. His record during 2016 was nine defeats and two draws.
Markku Kanerva era (2016–2024) managed to lead his Finnish national team to first time qualification to a
UEFA European Tournament.|thumb|right|150px Finland's
FIFA ranking had declined from its peak of 33rd in 2007 to 110th in 2017. As
UEFA created a new competition,
UEFA Nations League, to largely replace international friendlies, Finland were placed in the
League C in the first 2018–19 edition due to the low ranking position. Kanerva renewed the team roster, as veterans such as
Perparim Hetemaj,
Niklas Moisander and
Alexander Ring had announced their retirement from international duty.
Roman Eremenko was also no longer available for national team due to a competition ban. With a help of goalscoring by
Teemu Pukki and saves by captain goalkeeper
Lukas Hradecky, Finland won their League C Group 2, ahead of
Hungary,
Greece and
Estonia, and won promotion to League B for the
next edition of UEFA Nations League. Kanerva continued to get outstanding results with the team in the
UEFA Euro 2020 qualification, and on 15 November 2019 Finland qualified for the country's first ever major tournament,
UEFA Euro 2020, after defeating
Liechtenstein 3–0 and finishing as the
Group J runner-up behind
Italy. However, the tournament finals were postponed to the summer of 2021 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. The second edition of UEFA Nations League started in autumn 2020, and Finland was drawn with
Wales,
Ireland and
Bulgaria in
Group 4. They defeated both Ireland and Bulgaria home and away, but lost both games against Wales, finishing 2nd in the group and missing out on promotion to the following season's League A. On 12 June 2021, in the
UEFA Euro 2020 tournament, Finland beat
Denmark 1–0, with
Joel Pohjanpalo scoring the only goal with a header to give his country their first goal and the first win in a major tournament finals. The game was interrupted by a heart attack suffered by Denmark midfielder
Christian Eriksen, which he survived. Unfortunately, after losing the next two games against
Russia and
Belgium, Finland finished third in the group and were knocked out at the group stage alongside fellow debutants
North Macedonia. Finland failed to qualify for the
2022 FIFA World Cup, even though Pukki continued his scoring streak with 6 goals in the qualifiers. They were drawn with
France,
Ukraine,
Bosnia and Herzegovina and
Kazakhstan in the
Group D, finishing 3rd and missing the second round qualification play-offs. The long-serving defenders
Jukka Raitala,
Paulus Arajuuri and
Joona Toivio announced their retirement from international football after the qualifiers. Having secured their spot in the Nations League B, Finland was drawn in the
2022–23 UEFA Nations League B Group 3 with Bosnia,
Romania and
Montenegro. They had two wins, two draws and two losses, and defended their place in League B again as the group's runners-up behind Bosnia and Herzegovina. After qualifying for the previous European tournament, the team and the country had high hopes when starting the
UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying campaign. Finland started expectedly with an away loss to Denmark, but won the next three games in a row against
Northern Ireland away in March, and
Slovenia and
San Marino at home in June, with zero goals conceded in the three games. They continued with an away win against Kazakhstan in September, but lost the next three games against Denmark at home, Slovenia away and Kazakhstan at home. The shocking loss to Kazakhstan occurred with two goals conceded late in the game after Finland had been leading 1–0. The defeat took away the possibility of direct qualification. Finland ended the qualifying campaign with two wins in the last two matches, including 4–0 victory over Northern Ireland at home in November, and finished third in the group. As they had placed among the best runner-ups in the previous Nations League, and with a help of overlapping results in other games, Finland had secured their place in the
UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying play-offs. In March 2024, in the first decisive play-off match against Wales away, Finland were destroyed 4–1 and so failed to qualify for the
UEFA Euro 2024 tournament. After a run of mediocre results and having been seen as not realising the full potential of the team, speculations had started about the extension of Kanerva's contract. However, during Kanerva's seven-year spell, Finland had ascended in FIFA rankings and as of Summer 2024, were sitting at the 63rd place. The national team roster had undergone a relatively large renovation by Kanerva. He had successfully called up players from the younger generation, including
Kaan Kairinen,
Benjamin Källman,
Oliver Antman,
Daniel Håkans and
Matti Peltola. On 17 June 2024, after some ambiguous comments by the Finnish FA president
Ari Lahti, it was announced by the FA that Markku Kanerva would continue as the manager of the team until the end of the
2026 FIFA World Cup qualification and for the possible final tournament. The assistant coaches
Mika Nurmela and
Toni Korkeakunnas would be replaced by
Jani Honkavaara, and by former long-time national team players
Teemu Tainio and
Tim Sparv. Kanerva, with his new staff, was set to start preparing the team for the upcoming
2024–25 UEFA Nations League B, where Finland would face
England, Ireland and Greece in Group 2, starting in September. Finland lost both games against Greece and England away with apathetic performances. According to
Helsingin Sanomat, Kanerva was by that point only a puppet leader of the national team until the 2024 Veikkausliiga season finished, after which assistant coach Jani Honkavaara, also a current manager of Veikkausliiga club
KuPS, would be named a sole head coach of the national team, although he then later allegedly declined the job offer. There was also a conflict of interest for Finnish FA president
Ari Lahti, who was the owner of KuPS. Finland finished the Nations League campaign at the bottom of the group after six losses, with a 2–13 goal difference, and were relegated to League C. On 22 November 2024, the board of the Finnish FA released head coach Kanerva from his contract.
Jacob Friis (2025–present) match between
New Zealand and Finland. Finland won 2–0 and would go on to win the 2026 New Zealand FIFA Series.|left On 20 January 2025, the Finnish FA announced that Danish coach
Jacob Friis had been named the new manager of the Finland national team, on a three-year deal with an option for the possible
UEFA Euro 2028 final tournament. Friis led Finland in the
2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, where they finished third in their group after Netherlands and Poland, with three wins, one draw and four losses. During the qualifiers, Friis called up players from the previous
Finland U21 national team, which had qualified for the European final tournament in 2025. On 17 November, Teemu Pukki played his last international match for Finland and scored a goal in 4–0 friendly win against
Andorra at
Tammelan Stadion. In late-March 2026, Finland attended the
2026 FIFA Series tournament in
Auckland, New Zealand, where they won against the
host nation 2–0 and drew with
Cape Verde 1–1, eventually winning the mini-tournament.
Naatan Skyttä was named the MVP of the tournament. ==Home stadiums==