The Finnish Football Show is an independent video and podcast series that has reached a new landmark. The episode “Match Reports: Finland 4-0 Slovakia & Romania 0-1 Finland. Veikkausliiga Update plus VPS Fan, Ville” published on 28.9.2023, was the 150th episode since launching in November 2015.

Mark Wiltshear looks back at some of the landmarks from the history of the first and only, English-language show about Finnish football – FFS!

Origins of the Finnish Football Show

I had been recording the Explore Finland Radio Show, investigating life, culture and, occasioanlly football in the Seinäjoki area, for about a year when I received an email from Mark H (FC Suomi) and Rich (Escape to Suomi). Having heard a couple of my episodes about SJK Seinäjoki, they asked if I’d be interested in making a podcast about Finnish football. As our podcast tagline now says:

The original English-language podcast about Finnish football. Presented by Mark W, Mark H, Rich, Keke & Ally, five Brits with Finnish wives and shared passion for the beautiful game. FFS – supporting football in Finland since 2015.

Finnish Football Show

My knowledge was pretty narrow being focused on my team, SJK, but they had wider experience of the Veikkausliiga and the Finland national team, while I had experience of the technical side of podcasting. So in November 2015, we met-up online using a new softeware called Blab (now defunct) which was made for podcasters and streamers to meet online and record conversations easily. It sounds mundane now, but back then this really was a step into the unknown. None of those early videos exist now, we only published the audio and didn’t think to download the videos.

Meet the hosts of the Finnish Football Show

Over the years, we recruited to our team, adding Keke and Ally, so there are now five of us. Which gives us different perpsectives on the world of Finnish football:

• Mark W (Finland): SJK Seinäjoki season ticket holder, annual trip to Helsinki to watch the Huuhkajat.
• Mark H (Finland): Seasoned Huuhkajat follower, blogger with FC Suomi with a soft spot for HJK Helsinki.
• Rich (UK): KuPS kuopio fan, Huuhkajat fan, blogger with Escape to Suomi and the pod’s statistics guy. He even seems to understand how co-efficients work!
• Keke (UK): JJK Jyväskylä fan, regularly travels away with the Finland supporters group SMJK. When Finland qualify for finals competitions, he will probably invade the pitch.
• Ally (Finland): HJK Helsinki fan, regular goalscorer (in 2023) for Ponnistus FC’s 2nd team and the show’s thespian.

Follow the Finnish Football Show team members on Twitter/X

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The FFS team representing Finnish football overseas

As an international-facing outlet for Finnish football content, the FFS team has been called into action by various fan podcasts ahead of international or European fixtures. We have also assisted overseas broadcasters by sharing knowledge and insights on the international team or club sides.

Euro 2020, when Finland qaulified for a major finals competiton for the first time, life got pretty hectic. I was up at 3am to take part in the World Football Phone-In, I also took part in a few radio conversations with other BBC radio shows. While Rich appeared on the British TV institution, Match of the Day, to preview the Finland v Belgium match at Euro 2020.

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Guest appearances on the Finnish Football Show

Over the years, we have been proud to be able to interview many people from across the Finnish football world. We’d like to say a big thank you to all of those that supported us in supporting Finnish football:

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The future of the Finnish Football Show

It’s fair to say that some years have been more prolific than others – for some reason, lost to the sands of time, we only published FOUR episodes in 2018!

That said, recent years have been better. Inspired by our Helmarit guest, Paula Myllyoja, we have tried to give more coverage to the women’s game, at least at intertnational level. The increase in competitive international games, with the Nations League for women now as well as men, gives us more impetus to meet up and get our mics out.

With a larger squad it is easier for us to get episodes out more regularly and this is something we aim to do in late-2023 (and hopefully into 2024!) That said, if anyone is interested in creating content about Finnish women’s football, we would be happy to hear your ideas and see if the Finnish Football Show can help with that.

So, 150 episodes done, onwards to the next 150! We want to offer a huge thanks to our guests so far and look forward to meeting all our future guests.

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Follow our Facebook page for content coming directly from the FFS team; podcasts, blogs etc. There you will also find the link to our Facebook Group, where you can join or, better still, instigate a conversation!

• Facebook Page
• Facebook Group
• FFS Instagram Page
• FFS YouTube Channel

You could also follow one (or all) of us on Twitter/X:

• Mark W @explorefinland
• Mark H @FCSuomi
• Keke @kekemyllari
• Rich @EscapeToSuomi
• Ally @Mano99