We preview this weekend’s final round of Veikkausliiga games and discuss who might get the European places and these new, European play-off spots. Plus, the re-emergence of Escape to Suomi.

Download an MP3 of Euro 2020, Finland are nearly there

Join Mark (@explorefinland),  Mark (@FCSuomi) and  Keke (@kekemyllari) for regular episodes, where 3 old blokes sit and talk about football in Finland. In English.

We also have the regular features, “ja sillä sipuli” and “Following”. But. Surely. There’s only one place to start this week. And that is with last week’s games for the National team against Bosnia-Herzegovina and Armenia.

Add to that, the re-emergence of our old friend (and FFS founding co-host) Rich from Escape to Suomi  and our regular features. It all adds up to refreshingly upbeat,  Finnish Football Show.

Show Notes & Links

From episode 24, the show is recorded & broadcast live on PodBean. Follow the Finnish Football Show on PodBean for announcements of future broadcasts and to join the live show.

The #FFS theme tune is “Loppuun asti” by Lemmenpyssyt. You can listen to the song on Spotify or on YouTube . Connect with Lemmenpyssyt on Facebook.

First Half

Kick-off Euro 2020 Qualifiers

• 12.10 BOSNIA-HERTZEGOVINA 4 – 1 SUOMI
• 15.10 SUOMI 3 – 0 ARMENIA

Upcoming fixtures, both Euro 2020 qualifiers:

• 15.11  SUOMI – LIECHTENSTEIN Telia 5G Areena, Helsinki
  • Win this and Finland are going to Euro 2020!
• 18.11  KREIKKA – SUOMI Olympiastadion, Ateena

Half-time

“Ja sillä sipuli”
Finnish footy phrases / terminology.

• Länget – Nutmeg, Nuts, Megs

Second Half

Veikkausliiga splits after 22 games in Champions series and Challenger series

http://www.veikkausliiga.com/

Champions Series

• KuPS still have a two point lead and the final game is essentially a Championship play-off as they take on 2nd place Inter.
• Honka, who play Mariehamn, and Ilves, who play HJK, are both on 44 points and will both want a win to take the 3rd place.
• HJK will finish in fifth place.
• Mariehamn will finish sixth.
• HJK & Mariehamn will fight of the Europa League play-offs.

Challenger Series

• Remember? Top 2 of the Challenger series go into a play-off for Europa League qualification. That is now confirmed as Lahti and HIFK
• SJK and RoPS – meh!
• VPS will finish bottom and KPV will finish second bottom and the relegation play-off with TPS Turku.

http://www.veikkausliiga.com/tilastot/2019/veikkausliiga/joukkueet/Top Scorers – table on Veikkausliiga.com

1. Filip Valencic – FC Inter: 26 games 16 goals
2. Lauri Ala-Myllymäki – Ilves: 24 games 12 goals
3. Borjas Gonzalez – FC Honka: 25 games 11 goals
4. Dos Santos – HIFK: 25 games 10 goals
5. Timo Furuholm – FC Inter: 24 games 10 goals

Injury time

“Following”
Our monthly nomination of someone we know/like on Twitter…

• Escape To Suomi @EscapeToSuomi
  • ‘Finnish football in English since 2012.’
• In the week that Rich decided to step back into the Finnish football arena, and reactivate his Twitter account, there can be only one nomination for ‘Following’
• Rich will also start to write for the Finnish Football Show website and, after his brief appearance in FFS25, will also rejoin the FFS crew in future 💪🏻

Full-time

Remember, you welcome to join us for the recording of the podcast which is streamed live on PodBean. You could join in by asking a question in person, or just come on and say hi. Thanks again for everyone that joined us for the live recording of #FFS24.

Follow one (or all) of us on Twitter for advanced warning of the next Show.

Useful Links

The most useful, of course, is our new website: https://finnishfootballshow.com/

These other should also keep you busy between shows:

• http://explorefinlandpodcast.com/
• https://kekemyllari.wordpress.com/
  • https://standfanzine.bigcartel.com/
• Finnish Football Show on YouTube
• Finnish Football Show Facebook Group