Tag: UEFA Europa League

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Veikkausliiga update & the first round of European Games

Mark Wiltshear

Mark W & Rasmus get back together during Finland’s 2025 summer heatwave and spend another hour discussing the current situation in the Veikkausliiga, which includes a very congested top half led, but not dominated, by Inter Turku. They also consider the first round of European games played, to varying degrees of success, last week by SJK Seinäjoki, KuPS Kuopio, HJK Helsinki & Ilves. Continue reading Veikkausliiga update & the first round of European Games

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

Mark Wiltshear

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.

Continue reading “[Podcast] Finnish Football Show: Veikkausliiga Finale, Helmarit Squad, Tuija Hyyrynen Retires, HJK in Europe, Finns Overseas”
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[Podcast] Finnish Football Show: Veikkausliiga Run-in, Euro 2024 Draw, Essi Sainio Retires from Helmarit, Finns Overseas

Mark Wiltshear

Rich & Keke (enhanced by Producer Mark in post-production) discuss the upcoming Veikkausliiga play offs, as 5 teams enter an 8-match bun fight for the final Europa Conference place. They look again at the restructuring of the Finnish league in 2024, as a few more details are released and make everything clearer (erm!)

The chaps also pay a tribute to Essi Sainio, who retires from football with over 50 Helmarit caps to her name. They look at a favourable Euro 2024 qualifying draw for the Huuhkajat and start booking their flights to the qualifiers all across Europe, before finishing up with a look at recent events for Finnish players overseas.

Continue reading “[Podcast] Finnish Football Show: Veikkausliiga Run-in, Euro 2024 Draw, Essi Sainio Retires from Helmarit, Finns Overseas”
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[Podcast] Finnish Football Show: Nations League Preview, Veikkausliiga, Suomen Cup Final, HJK and KuPS Women in Europe

Mark Wiltshear

They say size doesn’t matter, but 1 hour 18 minutes of FFS action may just change your mind!

Mark W, Rich, Keke & Ally get together to preview the autumn 2023 Nations League games for Finland against Romania and Montenegro. They also look at teh situation in the Veikkausliiga, now it has split into the Mestaruussarja and the Haastajasarja for the final five rounds of matches.

Ally then talks through the Suomen Cup final (KuPS 1-0 Inter) and HJK Helsinki’s first two Europa League performances against Real Betis and Roma. Finally, Rich looks forward to KuPS Women who have two games against St Pölten of Austria, in order to qualify for the Champions leagus group stage.

Continue reading “[Podcast] Finnish Football Show: Nations League Preview, Veikkausliiga, Suomen Cup Final, HJK and KuPS Women in Europe”
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[Podcast] Finnish Football Show: Finnish Teams in Europe, Veikkausliiga Update, Helmarit WC Qualifiers, Suomen Cup Semis & Finnish League Restructure

Mark Wiltshear

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.

Continue reading “[Podcast] Finnish Football Show: Finnish Teams in Europe, Veikkausliiga Update, Helmarit WC Qualifiers, Suomen Cup Semis & Finnish League Restructure”
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[Podcast] Finnish Football Show: European Club Competitions | Veikkausliiga | Brexit Transfer Troubles

Mark Wiltshear

After the craziness of the Euros – the FFS team was crazy-busy representing Finland across the world’s media – you MAY have noticed!), crazy-tired staying up until 1:00 AM watching too many games of football, and crazy-hot (at least here in Finland) – it’s been nice to calm down and return to normality.

Mark H, Mark W, Rich and Keke get together to look back at the recent European action for HJK Helsinki, KuPS Kuopio, Inter Turku and Honka, and look forward to upcoming ties for HJK and KuPS. We reflect on a comment from Joni Kauko, about transfers to Brexit Britain, which seems to have started having an effect on Finnish players. We also look back at the last month of Veikkausliiga action, which has given us a league table that is tight at both ends. Ooh-er! 😳

Continue reading “[Podcast] Finnish Football Show: European Club Competitions | Veikkausliiga | Brexit Transfer Troubles”
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Champions League and Conference League Qualifying 2021/22

Rich Nelson

Football never sleeps. Less than three weeks since Chelsea lifted the Champions League trophy (spit), European club competition roll back into town this week with the draw for the first qualifying round of the various tournaments, including the new Europa Conference League.

Rich drags himself away from Euro 2020 for a few minutes to explain how Finnish teams might fare in this year’s draws. Continue reading Champions League and Conference League Qualifying 2021/22