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.
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!”
[Show Notes] 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.
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] 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] 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.
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.
We’ve also brought back our regular features ‘Ja sillä sipuli’ and ‘Following’ so we really DO have a full team. So, if you’re ready gents, let’s get going…
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.
We didn’t want to keep you waiting any longer, 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 – you are clearly bored during lockodown or a superfan or a lunatic, but THANK YOU! You can read Kevin’s full review of five-and-a-half shambolic years here https://www.facebook.com/groups/FinnishFootballShow/permalink/2628245217275512/
This show was yet again pulled together at the last minute so, once again, we won’t have all the usual features this time. We’ll bring back ‘Ja sillä sipuli’ and ‘Following’ next time we have a full team.
[Show Notes] 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.
In this episode, I hope we’ll get back to something like normal. Wait, wait, don’t all switch off or skip to the next show in your podcast player. Surely YOU are gagging for football as much as we are?! We recorded this in the first week of 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.
We look at those Suomen Cup fixtures and then start to prepare for the Veikkausliiga kick off, by looking at the transfers that have taken place during the extended closed season. All EIGHT months of it! 😫 This show was pulled together all of a sudden (with two weeks planning!) but we won’t have all the usual features this time. We’ll bring back ‘Ja sillä sipuli’ and ‘Following’ next time, we promise.
