HELSINKI TIMES - Veikkausliiga preview

When Tampere United got to the Third Qualifying Round of the Champions League in 2007, it should have been a big step towards confirming the improvements made in the Finnish game. The national team was having one of it’s best ever qualification campaigns, the Under 21s were looking good for the 2009 European Championships, [...]

2008 Veikkausliiga budgets

Nelonen news have dug out the budgets for this coming season, and once again TPS are right at the top. Here are the figures for the total club budgets:
TPS 2 300 000
Tampere United 1 963 000
HJK 1 880 000
FC Honka 1 820 000
MyPa 1 200 000
VPS 1 083 000
FC Haka 1 080 000
FC Inter 931 [...]

Waste of time

FC Inter won the Sami Hyypiä Award (or whatever it is called), the trophy given out to the Liigacup winner. That is basically all there is left to say about the game, because the game was just horrible. TPS could do nothing at all and Inter had a couple of chances, making them deserved victors. [...]

Inter Turku v TPS League Cup final preview

Even if Liigacup is not that popular a competition, a final is always a final so I think taking a look at the match is in order.
Because it’s a derby, both teams will be desperate not to lose. They both have a good defence, but Inter might have a slight edge in this department. They [...]

Medo turns Finnish?

Will HJK’s Medo get another blue and white shirt to wear soon?

This week’s issue of IS Veikkaaja had an interesting piece of news. It seems like Medo, the 20-year-old midfielder currently playing for HJK Helsinki is applying for Finnish citizenship.
Medo, or Mohamed Kamara as he is known to his mother, was a member of the [...]

Cup confusion

The Finnish Cup has already started! Nearly a month before the league season begins, teams in Kolmonen and below are beginning their campaigns to get to Finnair Stadium and win a place in the 2009-10 UEFA Cup. Whether many people turn up to the final is an open question - less than 2,000 attended last [...]

Svenskfinland

Because I recently pondered why there weren’t so many Finnish-Swedish blogs about, I feel I should publicise a couple that have come to my attention. Svensk Finland is a welcome addition to the Finnish blogosphere, giving a view on current affairs from a Finnish-Swedish perspective. Not much about football there, but it’s well worth a [...]

Yes, it’s gonna be the derby

Yes, local rivals FC Inter and TPS will be playing each other in the Liigacup final. The semi finals were played on Saturday in Helsinki (see the post before last for some whining). TPS won 3-2 against FC Lahti while Inter beat Honka 4-2.
There was nothing much between TPS and Lahti during the first 20 [...]

The Tampere Stadium mystery

Tampere City Council published a report yesterday on the prospects for building a new arena in Sorsapuisto. The arena would host concerts, ‘events’, and ice hockey matches; hold a few thousand more than Hakametsä, and give self regarding important men another nice place to entertain other self regarding important men.
I have not read the entire [...]

And the winner is….

Wednesday secured one of the six points apparently available last night, pulled out of the relegation zone and generally made things look a bit better. Apparently Jermaine Johnson is ‘not a right back but he cried so its alright’. It was Johnson’s mistake that gave Coventry their goal, and Wednesday’s last minute winner was all [...]