The throwing of former national team players led to a new nickname for the Finnish women’s national football team.
Riku Salminen,
Roope Visuri
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Helmarit will start their fourth European Championship on Friday, but many may no longer remember the background of the nickname of the Finnish women’s national football team.
The story of the helmets began at the time of the 2009 EC home games from the couch of ‘s morning TV. Then Riina Malhotra asked former national team players on morning TV A fairy tale from Kunnas and Eveliina from Sarapää, which could be a good name for the women’s national team. The background of the question was naming the men’s national team as Huuhkaji and talking about the boys’ national team as Minihuuhkaji.
– For the two of us, two old eels are probably enough, but couldn’t we organize a competition for that? Kunnas and Sarapää threw.
Nicklas Wancke asked the viewers for suggestions. From those suggestions, Helmipöllöt survived, somewhat ironically, within the team. Helmarit later became established as the team’s nickname.
When Finland was about to get to the World Cup
Finland has twice been very close to the World Cup venue. We narrowly missed out on the 1999 and 2007 World Championships.
In the decisive qualifying match of the 1999 World Cup, the Finnish women’s national football team played at the Olympic Stadium for the first time. However, Russia won the match with the goals of 2–1 and the two-part qualifying round with a total score of 4–2.
The place at the 2007 World Cup was just a goal away. Denmark won the decisive match 1–0.
When Finland qualified for the European Championships for the first time
In October 2004, the first place for the final tournament of adult competition tournaments was decided in Moscow.
A 20-year-old on a field softened by the rain Tina Salmen took Finland to a three-goal run away. Even though Russia narrowed down to the final numbers 1–3, the celebration belonged to Finland.
– Incredible feeling. I still don’t realize it. This has been aimed for. I wouldn’t have thought that I would score two goals, Salmen expressed in the Sports Screen.
Linda Sällström – all-time top scorer
Linda Sällström is the all-time best goal scorer in Finnish national football. The first goal was scored at the age of 19 in the fall of 2007. At that time, the opponent was Scotland.
Exactly ten years later, against Israel, the men’s market leader at the time was left behind Jari Litmanen. In October 2019, four goals against Albania guaranteed promotion Laura Österberg from Kalmar.
The 47th national team goal of his career took Finland to the ongoing European Championships in England.
Finland was one of the first countries to play for the championship
Finland is also one of the first countries in Europe where women have played continuously for the national football championship. It was played in many countries at the beginning of the 20th century, but the actual organization started much later.
It has been played in Italy since 1968 and in Czechoslovakia a year later. In Finland and Switzerland, the first trophies were awarded in 1971. The first Finnish champion was HJK.
The change in attitude is indicated by the fact that at that time women were still asked if they were serious about playing football, and who would wash the sweaty jerseys.
When Finland played its first international match
The Finnish women’s national football team played its first international match in Åland in August 1973 against Sweden. The national team group was not very big, but we had time to hold a few joint exercises.
The match was shown on TV’s number one network, the commentator was Anssi Kukkonen. The videotapes of that historic match no longer exist in ‘s archive.
The match ended in a goalless draw. There weren’t many real scoring opportunities in Finland. Sweden was stronger, but Finland fought for a draw.
Every match of the European Football Championship can be seen on ‘s channels. Competition games, background stories, news, highlight clips can be found on ‘s competition pages.