Сб. Финляндия / Finland National team

Nickname Sinivalkoiset (Blue and White)
Association Football Association of Finland (Suomen Palloliitto)
Confederation UEFA (Europe)
Head coach Roy Hodgson, 2006-
Captain Jari Litmanen
Most caps Jari Litmanen (106)
Top scorer Jari Litmanen (28)
FIFA code FIN
FIFA ranking 52
Highest FIFA ranking 36 (March 2005)
Lowest FIFA ranking 79 (December 1996)
Elo ranking 47
Highest Elo ranking 30 (March 2002)

The Finland national football team represents Finland in international football competitions and is controlled by the Football Association of Finland.

The Finnish national team has never qualified for a finals tournament of the World Cup or the European Championships, but has made four Olympic tournament appearances. It was considered one the weakest teams in Europe in past decades; especially at a time when many of today's smallest nations didn't yet compete in international football. Finland is one of the few European countries where football is not the most popular spectator sport, and the game has traditionally been played on an amateur basis in the country. Only in the last decade – after the Bosman ruling and the removal of foreign quotas in the EU region – have Finnish players had significant opportunities to play in the continent's top leagues. Today, nearly all regular members of the national team play outside of Finland.
Finland currently ranks somewhere around the lower middle class in the UEFA region. It regularly beats the lowest-ranked teams, and can occasionally perform well against the stronger teams. It has not, however, yet found enough consistency against the top nations to truly push for qualification.

Finland are currently competing in Group A in qualification for Euro 2008 together with Portugal, Poland, Serbia, Belgium, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. The team started the campaign very well, beating Poland 3-1 away and earning a 1-1 draw with Portugal at home. The Finns then gained four points from their difficult away ties against Armenia and Kazakhstan, drawing 0-0 with the former and beating the latter 2-0. On 15th of November, 2006 Finland beat Armenia 1-0 at home, thus remaing undefeated in the qualifying.