[Podcast] Finnish Football Show: Veikkausliiga Season Underway, Suomen Cup Update, Women’s Nations League Draw, Huuhkajat Ticket Sales

Lots to discuss as the Veikkausliiga gets going, with most teams having played at least 5 games. So Mark W, Keke, Rich and Ally recovene to look at the opening rounds. What’s new? SJK winning. What’s old? HJK at the top. And any surprises at this early stage.

They also look at the early rounds of the Suomen Cup, with a couple of first-hand accounts of games in Seinäjoki from Mark. Rich also tells us all about the draw for the inaugural Women’s Nations League. And there’s a little more news on ticket sales for the men’s national team Euro 2024 qualifers.

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[Podcast] Finnish Football Show: Helmarit Win the Cyprus Cup, Liigacup Update, Transfer News, Finns Overseas, Huuhkajat “Season Ticket” Sales

It’s the Mark W & Keke Show again (sorry!) but we wanted to keep you informed as we plough through the closed season. Firstly, Keke reviews the recent performances of the women’s national team, the Helmarit, in winning the Cyprus Cup competition against Croatia, Romania and Hungary.

Next, Mark looks at the recent Liigacup results as the group stage nears its conclusion ahead of the semi-final stage. They also look at some of the more notable transfers involving Finnish clubs and players in the past few weeks, impressive sales of Huuhkajat ‘season tickets’ for the home Euro 2024 qualifiers, and finish up by speculating “just how good is Mark H’s new sauna?”

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[Podcast] Finnish Football Show: Liigacup Results, Veikkausliiga Talent Drain → More Finns Overseas, Huuhkajat Friendlies & Euro 2024 Campaign, News Around The Helmarit

The FFS team is down to its bare bones for this episode, as Mark W & Keke get together to look at recent developments in the Finnish Football world.

First up, the first few results in the revamped Liigacup. Then a discussion on the exodus of players from the Veiikausliiga and worry about a talent drain, although this does mean more Finns playing overseas, for Keke to track!

They look back at the Huuhkajat winter training camp & friendlies in Portugal and then forward to the upcoming Euro 2024 qualifiers.Finally, the Helmarit prepare for the Cyprus Cup tournament and the four Nordic countries prepare a joint bid to host Euro 2025.

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[Podcast] Finnish Football Show: Veikkausliiga Finale, Helmarit Squad, Tuija Hyyrynen Retires, HJK in Europe, Finns Overseas

Rich, Keke and Ally reconvened to tie up the 2022 Veikkausliiga season in a bow. Looking at the final games and the play offs, they celebrate the winners, commiserate with the losers and deride Lahti, again.

Next, they turn their attention to the Helmarit squad selection for the upcoming friendly against Wales and give props to retiring Helmari, Tuija Hyyrynen. They discuss VAR sabotaging David Browne’s wonder goal, a highlight of HJK’s European campaign even though it was disallowed, and finish with a look at Finns in action overseas.

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[Podcast] Finnish Football Show: Finnish Teams in Europe, Veikkausliiga Update, Helmarit WC Qualifiers, Suomen Cup Semis & Finnish League Restructure

Mark W, Keke and Rich bring you a selection of recent news from the world of Finnish football including a proposed restructuring of the Finnish league in 2024, the Womens World Cup qualifying campaign and the Suomen Cup semi-finals played this week.

We also talk in more detail about the current state of play in the Veikkausliiga, with 20 games played and ‘the split’ (into the Champions Series and the Challenger Series) about to take place. We look back at the Europa Conference campaigns of SJK, Inter and KuPS, as well as HJK’s progression (Backward progressions? Downwards qualification?) from Champions League qualifiers into the Europa League group stage.

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[Podcast] Review of Finland at the Womens Euro 2022

As the Helmarit exit the Euros at the group stage, the FFS team reconvenes to look at the performances in the three group games. Rich, Keke & Ally give their perspectives from the stands at Stadium MK, where Finland lost to Spain (1-4), Denmark (0-1) and Germany (0-3), but provided hope for the future – possibly a future in which they are led by a new manager 🤔

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[Podcast] Finnish Football Shorts – Keke at the Helmarit Media Day 13.7.2022

Keke had the opportunity to attend the Helmarit Media Day during the Women’s Euro 2022. Never one to miss a chance of mingling with his heroes, Keke headed out to deepest Buckinghamshire (not far from Stadium MK where Finland play their 3 games in the Euros).

In this episode, you will hear Keke speaking with three Helmarit, Linda Sällström, Jenny Danielsson and Eveliina Summanen, on the day after Finland were beaten 1-0 by Denmark, ending their chances of qualifying from Group B.

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[Podcast] In Conversation with… Johanna Ruohonen

In this special episode ahead of the 2022 Women’s Euros beginning this week in England, Rich spoke with author Johanna Ruohonen about her new book Naisten Laji, the origins of women’s football in Finland and Europe and how things have changed – and where inequality still remains. Finland play their three group games in Milton Keynes, where Rich and Keke will be supporting the Helmarit in the matches against Spain, Denmark and Germany.

Johanna describes how the book came about, speaking with female players past and present, hopes for the future and how the Helmarit and Kansallinen Liiga can provide positive role models for the next generation of women’s footballers and coaches in Finland.

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[Podcast] Veikkausliiga Update, Women’s Euro 2022 Preview, Suomen Cup Quarter Finals.

The summer of Finnish football continues apace, so Mark W, Rich & Keke got together to bring you an update on the Veikkausliiga season, now at the halfway stage. We also previewed the Women’s Euro 2022 competition, as Finland prepares to take on Spain, Denmark and Germany.

The Suomen Cup is now at the quarter final stage, so we look back at the 6th round and preview the quarter finals – the results are in the blog post, so you can see how accurate we were! Finally, we look forward to next week’s UEFA club competitons, which see HJK, KuPS, Inter and SJK in actionnns overseas, many successes and just a few disappointments.

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[Podcast] Veikkausliiga After 4 Games, Helmarit Match Reports, Suomen Cup Progress & Mixu’s Back!

The FFS team was selected from a full squad for this episode as Mark W, Rich, Keke & Mark H reconvene to bring you an update across the world of football in Finland. We start by looking at the current state of play in Veikkausliiga 2022, where all the teams have played four games.

We also discuss Helsinki IFK’s tough start to the season, their new manager (already!) Mixu Paatelainen and the upcoming ‘Stadin Derby’ between HIFK and HJK. We look back at the recent World Cup qualifiers for the women’s national team, the Helmarit, and results & upcoming fixtures in the Suomen Cup.

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