This is the first in a series of posts that will aim to tell something about Finland’s 2009 season using photgraphs. The pictures should form a gallery, when you click on one of them, but the text is not visible in those galleries. Thanks to Tero Wester, Petteri Lehtonen and FutisForum2 for all their help this year.
The constant struggle to define the ‘level’ of Finnish football is an often irritating part of discourse on the game here. Wayne Brown was often asked about this during his loan spell at TPS, and he consistently replied that Veikkausliiga was about the same as better League One sides or the lower end of the Championship. He helped TPS to a barnstorming run that very nearly led to a title win, returning after the end of his original loan spell to try and finish the job.
Wusu is one of the more unlikely professional footballers in Finland. Arriving in 2001 as a voluntary worker at a nursery in Konnevesi, a small village in Central Finland, Wusu had never played organised football before. He was 17, and started kicking a ball about with local team KonnU. Kanavan Pallohait noticed the young Nigerian, and he moved up to Kakkonen where he scored 21 goals to become the top scorer. He moved from there to TPS, where things did not really work out, and on to Ljungskile SK, MP, JJK, and finally back to TPS.
TPS fans were sceptical when he returned after failing in 2003-04, but were won over by his tremendous work rate and improving performances. His humility is remarkable, in comparison to the stereotypical image of a footballer, often talking about his own limitations, personal development and relative lack of experience.
Dickson’s club was subsequently punished for playing the Nigerian striker before he was eligible. He had played for a club in Senegal in May, and was therefore unable to play for his new side until August, and so the Finnish FA reversed KuPS’s 3-0 victory and awarded a 3-0 win to RoPS instead. This had huge implications for the relegation battle, in which both clubs were involved, and KuPS inexplicably won their appeal – a decision that proved crucial in consigning RoPS to the automatic relegation spot.
Jari Litmanen’s second Veikkausliiga season in a row got off to a flying start with a 4-1 victory over Zeddy Saileti’s RoPS. The two veterans have had massively contrasting careers, but both are legends at their clubs. Saileti ended the season as caretaker manager of RoPS after first Valeri Bondarenko and then Mika Lumijärvi were sacked in a disastrous season for the Rovaniemi side, while Litmanen was left to contemplate his options as Lahti narrowly lost their Europa League tie against Club Brugge, and Finland failed to qualify for the World Cup in South Africa. Saileti is now 40 years old, and he played his last game against KuPS on the final day of the season, while Litmanen is 38 and has come to no firm conclusions about what he will do next year.
November 18th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
What a wonderful story about Wusu. Would definitely love to hear more about him.
November 19th, 2009 at 6:13 am
Great photo essay.
Thanks very much for producing it.
November 19th, 2009 at 11:37 am
I have a short Wusu interview on my dictaphone from after the turku derby in August, but never got around to writing it up. I’ll try to do another in the spring.
turkued – there’s a lot of great Finnish football photgraphy, and thankfully most of the photographers are willing to let NFN use their work free of charge. It’d be a shame not to do something like this!
November 19th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
Excellent!
I just want to say hello to You and your colleagues. Since 2007. I have closely followed Veikkausliiga, and your site is one of my main resources for trustful informations, interesting comments… Thank you!
P.S. – I tried to use translator for news about changes in Suomen Cup competition… But, I didn`t understand all of that. Please, can you ( briefly; I don`t want to take much of your time) explain to me, what is the major changes in Cup? Thank`s.
Greetings from Serbia!
November 19th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Hi Milos,
You are an early bird, I myself got the news also only today. If you are referring to this piece of news lets go through it briefly as ordered;
No more academy and old boys teams are allowed.
The competition starts in January.
Veikkausliiga teams join the competition when there are 64 teams left,
exept for those 4 teams taking part in UEFA competitions (HJK, Honka,TPS, Inter), who will join for the last 32.
Cup Final will be played at Finnair Stadium 25th Sep 2010, about a month earlier than usual.
More info in January.
“Suomen Palloliiton (SPL) liittohallitus hyväksyi torstaina (19.11.) muutoksia jalkapallon Suomen Cupin sääntöihin kaudelle 2010. Ensi kaudella Suomen Cupiin voivat osallistua SPL:n jäsenseurojen aikuisten joukkueet, jotka osallistuvat SPL:n tai sen piirien viralliseen kilpailutoimintaan. Juniorijoukkueiden ohella myöskään JKKI-joukkueet eivät voi osallistua Suomen Cupiin 2010.
Osallistumisoikeuden muuttuessa myös loppuotteluihin tulee muutoksia. Miesten Pikkufinaalissa pelaavat kaksi Ykköstä alemman sarjatason joukkuetta ja naisten Pikkufinaalissa kaksi parasta Naisten Liigaa alemman sarjatason joukkuetta. Mikäli Pikkufinaaliin selviytynyt joukkue pääsee Cupin pääfinaaliin, sen tilalla Pikkufinaalissa pelaa seuraavaksi paras joukkue.
Suomen Cupin peliaika on 2 x 40 minuuttia kilpailun alkukierroksilla. Normaali 2 x 45 minuuttia pelataan siinä vaiheessa, kun liiton sarjojen joukkueet tulevat mukaan niin sanotulla 128 joukkueen kierroksella, joka pelataan 1.-15.4. Veikkausliigajoukkueet osallistuvat kilpailuun 64 joukkueen kierroksella.
UEFA:n cupeissa pelaavat neljä joukkuetta tulevat Cupiin mukaan siinä vaiheessa, kun 32 joukkuetta on jäljellä. Naisten Cupissa kaikki muut paitsi Naisten Liigan joukkueet aloittavat ensimmäiseltä kierrokselta. Liigajoukkueet tulevat mukaan siinä vaiheessa, kun 32 joukkuetta on jäljellä.
Suomen Cupin finaalit pelataan Finnair Stadiumilla Helsingissä 25.9.2010. Kilpailu alkaa tammikuussa 2010. Tarkka aikataulu tiedetään Cupin ilmoittautumisajan päätyttyä. Joukkueet voivat ilmoittautua Suomen Cupiin kuluvan vuoden loppuun mennessä.
Suomen Palloliitto järjestää Cupin muista muutoksista tiedotustilaisuuden tammikuussa 2010.”
November 23rd, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Thanks Milos. Does Finnish football have much of a following in Serbia?