Head coach Mićo Martić Most caps Risto Salmi (66) FIFA code FIN | Captain Panu Autio Top scorer Panu Autio (41) Confederation UEFA | |
Nickname(s) Huuhkajat
(The Eagle-Owls) Association Football Association of Finland | ||
The Finnish national futsal team represents Finland in international futsal competitions. The team is run under supervision of the Football Association of Finland. It has never qualified for the World Cup or the European Championships.
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History
The Finnish national futsal team was formed for the first time in 1994 when Finland participated in the World University Futsal Championship held in Cyprus. The World University Futsal Championship was held in Jyväskylä, Finland two years later. The first official international matches were played on October 21 and 22, 1998 against Hungary. Later that year Finland also participated in the qualifiers for the 1999 UEFA Futsal Championship tournament with futsal national team coach Timo Liekoski, but failed to qualify.
Simo Syrjävaara was selected as national futsal team coach at the end of year 1999. During Syrjävaara's spell, the team has participated twice in FIFA Futsal World Championship qualifiers and three times in UEFA Futsal Championship qualifiers. In these qualifiers, the team won only twice and lost total of 14 times. After Syrjävaara stepped down, rising talent Jouni Pihlaja took over coaching the team from the beginning of year 2005.