Scandinavia has always boasted a proud footballing heritage.
Sweden hosted the 1958 World Cup where a 17-year-old Pele announced his genius.
Denmark of course won the Euros in 1992 against all expectations.
Norway have long produced great players, from AC Milan legend Per Bredesen to the modern-day phenomenon that is Erling Haaland.
Then there’s Finland. When we get to the Finns that heritage does significantly diminish.
Biggest Clubs in Finnish Football
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HJK
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FC Haka
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TPS
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KuPS
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VPS
This is largely due to other sports taking precedence. The national pastime in this particular Nordic region is Pesapallo, a game similar to baseball, while ice hockey and Formula One are also both hugely popular pursuits. Football? Not so much.
This explains why – despite Finland having roughly the same population as Denmark and Norway – there wasn’t a professional football league until 1990.
Prior to that the Mestaruusarja (‘Championship Series’) ran for 60 years as an amateur organisation.
And even now, the Veikkausliiga, that took its place, only comprises of 12 teams.
Picking out the five biggest clubs therefore is hardly an arduous exercise. As for the ultimate number one, it virtually picked itself.
5) VPS
Since forming in 1924, Vaasan Palloseura have only won two league titles and though they are well-supported – justifying a new stadium build in 2015 – in terms of silverware they pale to several others in Finnish football.
Those two league triumphs incidentally were achieved way back in 1945 and 1948.
So what gives? Why are they deemed the fifth biggest club when they are clearly undeserving of this honour?
To explain this, let’s rattle through the more successful outfits, a somewhat depressing tour that largely highlights why Finland lags behind its Scandinavian neighbours when it comes to the global game.
HPS (Helsingin Palloseura) have won nine league crowns, all but one of them lifted pre-war. They currently ply their trade in the fourth tier of the Finnish pyramid.
In that same league, drawing scant crowds, also resides AIFK and VIFK, who have six titles between them. They are giants of the past but minnows of the present-day.
Then there’s HIFK, seven-times champions, but now in the fifth tier and bankrupt.
They compete at that level with Kiffen, also multiple title winners.
In 1986, FC Kuussysi reached the quarter-final of the European Cup, a tremendous feat. Yet ten years later, broke and broken, they merged with local rivals Reipas, later reclaiming their identity and starting anew in the lower leagues.
Lastly, there is Tampere United, or rather there was. Founded in 1998 the nascent club enjoyed enormous initial success, winning the Veikkausliiga three times over.
That was until the club was found guilty of money laundering and banned indefinitely by Finland’s governing body.
4) KuPS
Based in the beautiful city of Kuopio, Kuopion Palloseura are the reigning champions of the Veikkausliiga, completing a league and cup double in October, 2024.
Guided by manager Jani Honkavaara and propelled by a fantastic midfield trio of Axel Vidjeskog, Matias Silitanen and Jaakko Oksanen, their clean sweep of domestic honours excitedly sets them up for Champions League participation next term even if history suggests there is little to be too animated by.
Across their 101 years of existence, KuPS have qualified for continent competition – in its various forms – on 20 occasions. They have yet to progress past opening rounds or play-offs to reach the competition proper.
Naturally, this is no slight on the Canaries, who suddenly find themselves coming up against the likes of Legia Warsaw or Union Berlin.
With a stadium that holds just 5000 and their highest earning player on about the same as a Premier League teenager still to make his professional debut, this is a club that survives on limited resources.
It's their achievements and considerable standing within Finnish football that makes them big in this context.
3) TPS
Presently, Turun Palloseura, commonly known as TPS, reside in the second tier, their home for six years and counting, but if current struggles have to be factored in when ranking them here, an illustrious past makes a strong argument for their inclusion.
First winning the Mestaruusarja in 1928, then flourishing anew around the time of the Second World War, it is their Seventies incarnation that demands respect, a wonderful collective who claimed three league titles in four years.
With a team stuffed with internationals, and benefiting from a Spanish influence courtesy of their coach Manuel Gerpe, ‘Tepsi’ – as they are nicknamed – reigned supreme in an era that saw Finnish football finally begin to find its feet.
Yet, for all that silverware it is 90 remarkable minutes for which they are chiefly known, a 1-0 victory secured in the San Siro against the indomitable Inter Milan in 1987 sending shockwaves throughout the game.
It was Mika Aaltonen who scored the goal in that famous UEFA Cup win and of course the Nerazzurri promptly went and signed him because that’s what the elite clubs do.
2) FC Haka
A robust club coming out of the industrial region of Valkeakoski, Haka have been there or thereabouts at the summit of Finnish football for well over half a century.
Since 1960, they have won nine league crowns, finishing runner-up on a further seven occasions, and 12 Finnish Cup successes are not to be sniffed at either.
Down the years, their tiny Tehtaan Kentta ground has hosted some memorable nights, not least in the early Eighties when Haka confounded the betting by reaching the quarter-finals of the Cup Winners Cup, beating Sligo Rovers and Hammarby before inevitably being outclassed by Juventus.
In modern times the club has endured financial woes and subsequently seen their status decline. Titles won in four different decades however suggest that Haka usually rediscover a way back to the top.
1) HJK
The good people of Finland know better than to back against Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi in the football betting. The Helsinki giants have won 33 league titles, spanning a time period of 111 years.
Since the Millenium alone ‘Klubi’ have topped the rest 14 times, making them a regular participant in the Champions League qualifying rounds, if not the group stages.
In recent times the Bolt Arena – one of the very few stadiums in Finland with a capacity that stretches to five figures – has hosted such names as Mikko Hauhia and the Brazilian striker Luiz Antonio and unsurprisingly star attractions continue to be drawn to HJK, the consistent dominant force in a league hardly awash with strong competition.
*Credit for the photos in this article belongs to Adobe*
