The National Football League continues after the national team break with a full round on Saturday. Urheilu’s experts discussed the future of the domestic league and Finnish football in the studio on Wednesday.
Riku Salminen,
Hinn Hirvonen
Helmareit’s modest success on the European Championship green turned the eyes: what does the future of Finnish football look like?
Eyes turn not only to the junior side, but also to the domestic league, where they will mature for the future. When talking about the national league, one can really talk about the stars of the future, because the average age of the league is low this season as well: according to Urheilu’s calculations, around 21.9 years (*all players who have played at least one match on the assumption that they have already completed their full years this year).
The current level of the National Football League does not convince Urheilu’s experts.
– I am worried whether we have the level of the game, players and clubs in the league, as well as the conditions and operations at a sufficient level that we have about as many teams participating, HJK’s head coach Jonne Kunnas started on wednesday.
HJK, coached by Kunnas, is third in the ten-team series, ten points away from league leader KuPS, who, like Honga, has played a match more than the others. The people of Kuopio have lost only once during the season, when the league runner-up, the successful club of the 2010s, PK-35 Vantaa, was stronger in Myyrmäki by a score of 2–1.
The people from Kuopio have scored a total of 54 goals in 13 matches, while their own head has rung eight times.
For comparison: at the other end of the table, the league champions ONS and NJS have managed to collect between two and four points. The people of Oulu have succeeded in scoring six times, the people of Nurmijärvi four times. ONS has allowed 45 hits, while NJS has managed 40 rebound goals. Especially the encounters against the people of Kuopio have been sad: NJS’s KuPS crushed 9–0, ONS’s 9–1.
However, Kuopio is more the exception than the rule. In many other clubs, there is enough development in the operation.
The municipality directly proposes to drop the number of teams from ten.
– According to my logic, dropping a few teams will forcefully raise the level of the games. The players have to compete harder for a place in order to join the National League team. As a side effect, the team’s level rises, Kunnas thrives.
Football Association’s game analysis manager Henri Lehdon and late game analysis expert Mauri Heinonen in the report he is working on, 16 major European leagues have been compared, and Finland has been ranked as the third weakest. Only the main leagues of Hungary and Moldova remain behind.
According to the report, in the National League, “the ball stays in play for a long time and one team is in possession, and passes, for example, succeed quite well compared to the leagues that were compared. However, the pace of passing remains lower and there are also relatively few advances and goal chances in the National League matches.” The report ponders why in the National League “you don’t get refined control and, as such, successful passing and control of the game tool for effective progress, attacks or shots”.
But what are the results presented in the report?
According to experts, at least not about coaching skills.
– I feel that it has moved forward at a breakneck pace. More coaches are being trained all the time. However, I believe it will take time. More work should be done so that the girls’ junior side has a higher level of requirements and intensity, who was part of the KuPS coaching team last season Liisa-Maija Rautio to point out.
Also acting as the head coach of the U18 and U19 girls’ national teams Arttu Pitkäkangas is on the same lines.
– Under no circumstances would I start lynching the coaches at this point. Excellent work is being done in the clubs and the activities have developed over the past three years. For example, morning exercises are here to stay, while three years ago they were still not available everywhere. Now the question is to get reasonable things and quality there, Pitkäkangas begins.
– As for physical training, resources have improved in many clubs. The players coming to the youth national teams almost all have their own strength programs. Such steps have been taken forward in coaching, Pitkäkangas lists.
Where do we start?
But how to improve the level of the National League?
– I think that reducing the number of teams is a good, concrete proposal on how to get harder games and a higher intensity in the main league. I think the logic is that there will be tougher games because there are better players playing there, Pitkäkangas agrees.
– But I’m not ready to vote for it right away. How is regionality taken into account? We already have six teams from the capital region. How do we take care of clubs in the area? We need everyone involved so that we can grow the masses even more. If the tip is reduced, what will it do to the clubs in the big picture? Long cloth continues.
Development Manager of the Football Association Heidi Pihlaja hopes to see clubs from cities like Turku, Vaasa, Seinäjoki, Lahti and Jyväskylä in the league in the future.
In June 2021, the Finnish Football Association’s board approved the Fast track model, through which clubs that have done a strong job on the men’s football side have the opportunity to apply for a place in the Women’s First Division. FC Lahti became the first club to pass the process in October 2021, and the club can apply for a place in the First Division for the 2023 season.
At least Pihlaja does not directly Flag in favor of dropping the number of teams.
– A couple of years ago, we did an analysis of the highest league levels for women, and then we concluded that Ykkönen was condensed into a ten-team league. A nationwide national entity of 18-20 teams was built between the league and Ykkönen, which will be reviewed in the fall, Pihlaja says.
The head coach of HPS, which is in sixth place in the national league Mari Savolainen nor would he immediately start dropping the number of teams on a handshake – or direct players to clubs in smaller towns.
– I don’t see it as black and white. In my opinion, the everyday activities should be improved above all: the players’ everyday life, the quality of coaching and the environment and activities of the club. Clubs must work for quality and financial capabilities so that players see the alternatives as attractive.
On Saturday, the quarter-final match between Holland and France will be played at the European Football Championship starting at 10 p.m. Live broadcast in Areena and app from 21:30. On TV1, the broadcast starts at 22:30. You can find everything about the European Championships on ‘s competition page here.