Nordic Football News

TPS still looking to strengthen the squad

Marco Casagrande, the CEO of TPS, was delighted with the club’s capture of Finland international Jonatan Johansson. He spoke to NFN after Johansson’s introduction to the media, revealing that TPS are still looking for new signings and that a contract extension is in the making for goalkeeper Jukka Lehtovaara.

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Johansson pleased with Euro 2012 qualification draw

New TPS signing Jonatan Johansson is content with Sunday’s Euro 2012 draw that placed Finland in qualification group E alongside Sweden, Netherlands, Hungary, Moldova and San Marino.

“Netherlands are the favourites”, Johansson stated the obvious. “It is great to play Sweden after a long time. They are going through some changes and are unsure who is staying and who isn’t, so I think we have a good chance against them. The same applies to Hungary. The way I see it, we can claim the second spot in the group”, the striker predicts.

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Jonatan Johansson returns to TPS

New TPS signing Jonatan Johansson was introduced to the media via Skype on Monday. Photo courtesy of Jani Mesikämmen.

TPS have strengthened their attack significantly by signing the 34-year-old Finnish international Jonatan Johansson on a one-year contract. Johansson returns to TPS after spending 14 years abroad, donning the colours of FC Flora Tallinn, Glasgow Rangers, Charlton Athletic, Norwich, Malmö FF, Hibernian and, most recently, St. Johnstone.

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Payback time

Finnish football journalist Janne Oivio makes his NFN debut with an appeal for Finland to heal the scars caused by a previous close shave in qualifying, after the Euro2012 draw pitted Finland against a former nemesis.

I don’t care about qualifying for Euro 2012. Just destroy Hungary.

I’ll never forget October 11th, 1997. For the first time ever, Finland’s national football team had really and truly sucked me in to their travails on the road to World Cup 98. Oh, I’d watched them plenty in the past. But years of sad-sack performances left little room for hope, so it was just about watching a game of football.

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Stromsgodset 1-2 Red Bull New York

Stromsgodset went down 2-1 to Red Bull New York in a friendly in Spain yesterday. Both teams are preparing for the forthcoming seasons in La Manga.

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Deadline Day Deals

It has been a relatively quiet day on the transfer front as the window slammed shut. The usual frantic madness of late shopping, panic buys and drama has died a death in the midst of the current global economic downturn, and the financial incompetence characteristic of football clubs.

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Scandinavians Abroad Weekend Round Up

Scandinavians had a mixed weekend, when many of the football concerns were on matters such as transfers rather than what was actually happening on the pitch. Five Scandinavian stars managed to get on the score sheet, others outlined their value to their clubs as their main assets (notably Morten Gamst Pedersen) and some just had a pain in the jaw with what was going on around them.

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Transfer Round Up

With the transfer window closing on Monday at 5pm, lets bring you up to date with the latest deals that are and aren’t taking place. A relatively quiet month all across the continent has not been a surprise, however a late flurry of activity is expected.

Here are some deals involving Nordic players you may or may not be aware of that have taken place this month.

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Photo special: Myntti’s back!

Photo by Olli Jantunen.

Henri Myntti was joint top scorer in Veikkausliiga last time he played here in 2008. As a 1.99m tall striker, his goals came from optimal use of his huge frame and a team that was (eventually) set up to maximise those strengths, after he began the season as a defender and was shoved up front in TamU’s search for goals. A move to Hansa Rostock followed, but he did not get playing time and has finally returned to Tampere United, much to the delight of the club’s fans. He had become quite a cult hero in his previous spell, and in this picture he shows how he often uses his size to prevent opposition defenders even seeing the ball, much less take it off him. I’m not sure who the PoPa defender is, but the photographer thinks it might be Joni Vuorinen.

TamU won this match 2-0 and progress to the next round of the Uusi Lahti Cup, a three day indoor football jamboree that is the traditional start of Finland’s pre-season, although it has been usurped a little recently as clubs stretch the league cup programme into January. You can find the results here, and hopefully we’ll have another photo tomorrow.

Photo special: Frozen football 2

Haka and JJK postponed their League Cup match last Friday, because it was forecast to be too cold for them to play. The Finnish FA advises that games are not played when the temperature is below -10, so given the -15 weathe rforecast last week, the best option was to call it off and reschedule for this Tuesday. Great plan, only…. it was even colder this week. The teams had a discussion, thought about potential new dates, and decided ‘fuck it, let’s play’. So in -20 temperatures they took to the field in Valkeakoski, and JJK recorded a 1-0 win. “My body is okay, but my face, fingers and toes are frozen,” JJK defender Juha Pasoja said afterwards. Here is the front page of Wednesday’s Iltalehti sports supplement:

Iltalehti sports page Haka v JJK League Cup 26/01/10 freezing conditions

More pictures from Aamulehti here, and from Keskilinkki here.

Photo special: Rafinha shushes TPV

Rafinha celebrates after scoring against TPV in the seventh round of the 2009 Finnish Cup. His two goals were crucial in TamU's win over their Tampere rivals. Photo by Petteri Lehtonen

Photo by Petteri Lehtonen

Rafinha has had an interesting career. He very nearly stopped playing football at all when back in Brazil, until an unlikely guardian angel arrived in the form of then AC Oulu manager Miikka Juntunen. Juntunen was on a talent-spotting mission in Brazil (not too shabby a winter job when you live in Oulu), and persuaded Rafinha he should give Northern Ostrobothnia a try, it being a much more conducive environment for footballing success than Southern Brazil. That was back in 2007, and Rafinha has not looked back since, securing a move to Tampere United where he played as a left-back for a time before finishing the 2009 season as top scorer. He then moved to HJK, spurning offers from abroad because of his young family, and annoying the TamU fans whose idol he had become.

Photo Special: Timo Furuholm

Photo by Tero Wester

Timo Furuholm certainly divides opinion in Finland. His body language and in-your-face style are certainly not popular with TPS fans, but he adds a certain slapstick quality without which Veikkausliiga would be a much duller place. One example of that would be when TPS defender Jarno Heinikangas tackled him during the Turku derby last August. Furuholm gave chase for a bit, but then he thought better of it and elected to simply give Heinikangas a kick up the arse instead. Heinikangas carried on and Furuholm faced no penalty, probably because iof the inherently comic rather than violent nature of the act.

Finnish TV revenue sharing echoes Sepp Blatter’s 6+5 rule

Veikkausliiga has offered a little more information about how it will share revenue from the new TV deal. the sums involved are pretty small, but the distribution formula has been clearly tweaked in the light of recent debates in Finnish football. Clubs will be allocated points based on various criteria, and the more points you get, the more money you receive.

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Photo special: Frozen football

Photo by Tiina Pirilä

Finland has often debated whether to lengthen the season by starting early. As climate change accelerated in recent years, the discussion has intensified and the late-starting schedule has come under fire, but this year things are a little different. Temperatures have barely struggled above -10 across large parts of Finland since the middle of December, and winter football is a good deal more challenging than it has been in recent years. Here Baratunde Wusu shows the PoPa defender and a well-wrapped-up linesman that you don’t need trousers to play in the snow.

Photo special: Finnish Cup

We’re going to try to have a regular photography feature here, utilising some of the excellent photography available to us. Click the photo to enlarge.

The Finnish Cup is soon to start, mainly indoors and involving teams from the very bottom of the pyramid. The draw is here, but to get you in the mood here is Tero Wester’s pre-match photo from last season’s final. In the background you can see Tampere United and Inter Turku lining up before they contested a pulsating final that ended with a 2-1 win for Inter. The other side of the cup is shown by the empty stand behind the teams, as the competition has failed to draw crowds in recent years, although last year’s final was at least attended by large and loud contingents supporting both sides.

Finland gets ready for the television era

Photo by Tero Wester

Finnish club football seems to be on the cusp of some major upheaval. The combination of new leadership at the FA following the retirement of former president Pekka Hämäläinen and the election of Sauli Niinistö to replace him, combined with the arrival of a paying broadcaster and all that entails in terms of fixture lists, have ensured that the media coverage and economics of the sport will change substantially over the next year. The announcement of the 2010 match schedule has caused rejoicing among many Finnish friends of football, a reaction that requires a little bit of explanation.

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