The Football Association of Finland (, SPL; ) is the governing body of football and futsal in Finland. It was founded in Helsinki on 19 May 1907.
The SPL organises the men's and women's national football teams, the second to ninth tiers of national football, the Finnish Cup and the Finnish League Cup. The premier division Veikkausliiga is organised by a distinct organisation. The SPL is based in the Finnish capital city of Helsinki.
History The SPL was founded on 19 May 1907 in a restaurant called Catani in Esplanadi, Helsinki. The founding meeting was attended by representatives of Unitas Sports Club, Stjernan and Polytechnics Sports Club from Helsinki, Viborgs Hockeyklubb from Vyborg, Åbo Idrottsvänner and Turun Jalkapalloseura from Turku and Idrottens Vänner from Kokkola.
The association was the governing body of bandy in Finland until Finland's Bandy Association was founded in 1972. In 1928, it also arranged the first Finland ice hockey championship, before the 1929 establishment of the Finnish Ice Hockey Association, and arranged the first Pesäpallo matches until 1925.
Background The SPL has more than 1,000 member clubs and approximately 140,000 registered players. The Finnish Gallup survey has indicated that football is a popular pastime with around 500,000 Finns interested in the sport. The SPL is Finland's largest amateur sports federation.
Publications The association publishes several magazines, including now-defunct monthly magazine Futari.
National teams Men's team Under-21 team Under-19 team Under-17 team Women's team Women's under-20 team Women's under-19 team Women's under-17 team Men's Futsal team Men's under-19 Futsal team Women's Futsal team
Presidents
Walter Flander: 1907–1908 John Catani: 1909 Uno Westerholm: 1910–1911 Carolus Lindberg: 1912 Walter Qvist: 1913–1917 Erik von Frenckell: 1918–1952 Juuso Walden: 1953–1963 Osmo P. Karttunen: 1963–1974 Ove H. Rehn: 1974–1975 Jouko Loikkanen: 1975–1983 Lauri Pöyhönen: 1983–1987 : 1987–1997 Pekka Hämäläinen: 1997–2009 Sauli Niinistö: 2009–2012 Markku Lehtola: 2012 (interim) Pertti Alaja: 2012–2017 Markku Lehtola: 2017–2018 (interim) Ari Lahti: 2018–present
Hall of Fame
References
External links
Finland at UEFA.com Finland at FIFA.com