Huhkajat in a completely new situation: Such extraordinary puzzles must be solved by the Finnish Football Association due to further qualification | Sport

will show the Huuhkajie’s further qualifying matches in March and next summer’s European Championships on its channels.

– The fact is that we have never had such a situation. We will find out five days before the h-moment if one of the greatest matches of all time, or even of all time, will be played in Finnish football. Or will we play, in no way belittled, the A national match against Estonia or Poland. And the date is still March, updates the Finnish Football Federation’s marketing manager Mikko Laitinen.

The Finnish men’s national football team Huuhkajat is in an unprecedented situation. The football association has had to find solutions to new kinds of problems.

When Huuhkajat played for the first time in 2019, the team took a place in the competition directly from the European Championship qualifying group.

Now Huuhkajat finished third in their qualifying group, behind Denmark and Slovenia. However, Finland will play in March in the further qualification, which was opened up by the success of the Nations League.

The price of the Olympic stadium and the problem of ticket sales

It is the Advanced Qualifier that has pushed the Finnish Football Association into a special situation. First of all, Finnish men have never progressed to any further qualification before.

The extraordinary challenge comes especially from the fact that Finland first faces Wales away. The winner of that match will face the winner of the Poland-Estonia match in the qualifying final on their home field.

So Finland won’t find out until five days before the final on March 26, whether it will participate in the match at all, but the arrangements for the home match naturally have to start months in advance.

It has been confirmed that even if the Huhkajat lose to Wales, they will play a home game in March anyway. In this case, it would be a practice match against the loser of the Poland-Estonia match.

Thus, the Football Association does not have to do extensive organizational work completely for nothing. However, it is clear that, for example, the ticket buyers are not interested in the non-stakes international match in March in the same way as the final match for the match place.

– If we play at the Olympic Stadium, especially in March, it’s definitely not free. It must be taken into account in our ticket sales strategy. If we were to lose to Wales and only then open ticket sales, selling the national match would not be easy, marketing manager Laitinen admits.

Laitinen claims that Palloliitto will open advance ticket sales in January-February. Various mechanisms and pricing are still being worked on. That also affects what the ticketing partner’s system is technically inclined to do.

There is not going to be an option where the viewer could buy a ticket in advance, and then get their money back if Huuhkajat doesn’t play for a place in the European Championship in the qualifying final.

According to Laitinen, advance ticket prices take into account the fact that it might be a non-stakes home match. Then, should the Whistleblowers beat Wales, the prices of the remaining tickets will be significantly increased.

The football association believes that the match in March can be financially positive. On the other hand, the nose can also come in significantly.

– The expenses are considerable, and the financial equation depends on ticket sales revenue. It’s really hard to judge whether ticket sales will pick up or whether people are waiting for the Wales match first. Of course, we believe that sales will take off, as long as the prices take into account the risk of the A national match instead of the qualifying final, Mikko Laitinen formulates.

General Secretary of the Football Association Marco Casagrande says that the negotiations with the Olympic Stadium are still in progress. It’s a normal process regarding next year’s events, such as the terms of the lease. That’s why Casagrande is talking about 2023 numbers.

– Rent is always per event. Stadika’s total costs are easily 350,000–400,000, to which are added the team’s costs, in March additional costs are caused by, for example, heating the field and snow removal, overall the cost side is closer to a million euros.

Casagrande says that Huuhkajat will reach well over a million euros in box office revenue at best.

There is no special compensation coming from UEFA. Centrally sold media rights can be included in the calculations. Other guidelines have been negotiated recently.

– We just negotiated with Poland, Wales and Estonia about the common rules of the game regarding travel, hotels and training conditions. In all matches, the home team takes care of the away team’s usual expenses at the destination. We will discuss in more detail what kind of compensation the home team pays the away team for travel expenses. According to my estimate, in total the home team compensates the away team around 150,000 euros.

The arrangements for one, albeit exceptional, match are a separate matter. Huahkajat plays for bigger money too. Making it to the previous European Championships brought Palloliito approximately 10 million euros in prize money. Part of it went to the players and the expenses of the EC tournament, so the Balloliitto got about 5 million net. A big pot, too, when the entire budget of the Football Association was around 35 million euros.

In addition, the excitement brought by the historic venue was visible both on the partner side and in full stands in these qualifiers as well.

The events manager of the Swedish Football Association Antti Vanhala also says that the match will basically be played at the Olympic Stadium.

– The match will come quickly. Of course, we were interested in whether the field would be ready to play in March. From the point of view of the event, of course, the condition of the areas outside the playing field, such as the stands, also affects, Vanhala points out.

Vanhala opened that for the matches, Palloliitto always rents the Olympic Stadium for four days. The construction of the event starts two days before the match, and the demolition work is the day after the match.

In terms of event arrangements, it was a relief to hear that the stadium will be played anyway. However, now we deviate greatly from the basic template.

Normally, arrangements such as transportation, stadium catering, training opportunities and press conferences are agreed upon well in advance with the opponent. Now these things must be agreed with the two opponents to be sure.

This is how the stadium grass is revived

Fortunately for the Swedish Football Association, the Olympic Stadium has an experienced Field Master, also known as a “lawn whisperer”. Jani Kurvinen.

Finland played at the Olympic Stadium against Bosnia-Herzegovina on March 24 in 2021, and the field champions will be able to utilize those experiences.

First, we need confirmation that Huuhkajat will play at the Olympic Stadium in March. Then Kurvinen and his team sit down and review the carefully recorded successes and failures from the Bosnia match and create new plans.

– About six weeks before the match, the field heating is turned on. Hopefully it won’t be such a cold winter, so we can do treatment procedures at the end of February.

– It went quite well last time too. We got the field in playable condition. It wasn’t the best possible, but bearable considering the time of year.

The Olympic Stadium was still played in November, when Huuhkajat met Northern Ireland in the European Championship qualifier. Kurvinen says that then winter came a little too quickly. Not all desired treatment measures could be carried out.

– I am still confident.

When the last match of this year was played, the heats were immediately turned off. After that, the field masters did what they could. Now the grass is not protected in any way, but in the winter “nature is allowed to do its job”.

When the grass starts to be thawed in February, there will be enough work again.

– Let’s take care of the grass mechanically, fertilize, sow more seeds, move grow lamps on the field. There is moisture, heat comes from the ground, and the sunlight starts to warm. In principle, there shouldn’t be any problems, but you can never be 100% sure. Two weeks before the Bosnia game, there was suddenly 15 centimeters of snow.

Field care is also continuous study and learning. Kurvinen knows that there was still room for improvement even in the Bosnia match. This time, for example, the heating will probably start immediately with higher outputs, and there is something to be done about the schedules for moving the heating lamps.

will show Huuhkajie’s further qualifying matches and next summer’s European Championships on its channels. The men’s EC final tournament will be played from June 14 to 14. July 2024 in Germany.