The Finnish Football Association’s annual Captain’s Ball award gala is scheduled this year at the same time as the women’s and girls’ national teams play their national matches.
At the Finnish Captain’s Ball award gala, the best players, coaches, referees and football officials of the football year 2023 will be awarded. This year, the gala will take place next Friday – in the middle of the women’s international match window.
France Football magazine’s traditional Ballon d’or gala organized at the end of October once again received criticism, this time largely because of its timing. The gala, which focuses on the world’s best soccer players, was organized in the middle of the women’s international window in October, which is why not many of the nominated players could attend.
The Finnish women’s national football team will face Romania in their Nations League match this Thursday in Turku. On Tuesday, the team has their last Nations League game, an away match in Slovakia.
In addition to the women’s national football team, the girls’ national teams also play during the international window, which means that many girls and women’s teams are prevented from participating in the gala.
General Secretary of the Football Association Marco Casagrande tells about the time chosen by the union and its reasons. At the time, efforts were made to ensure that especially all domestic competitions had ended. The game windows of the national teams have always been a challenge.
– Sometimes in the past it has happened that the qualifying games of the series or other similar games were still in progress. That is why we have delayed the date of the gala. However, we have wanted to keep it reasonably close to the end times of the series. The time window for organizing is reasonably short and there is a limited number of high-quality places for organizing. That’s why we have had to make compromises and the gala ended up in the current interval, Casagrande opens to Urheilu.
Romania was asked to postpone the match day
Casagrande says that the Finnish Football Federation knew when booking the event date that Helmarit will play a match in the Nations League on the same date. In the end, the home game was drawn on the same day as the Captain’s Ball gala.
– We had to adjust the date of that home match. We asked Romania that we could play the game a day earlier, so that it would make it possible for the national team to be represented at the gala, at least to some extent, says Casagrande.
The General Secretary says that the Football Association has had its wish fulfilled, that the Romania match will be played in Finland and just one day earlier on Wednesday evening.
– When it’s right next to the gala on the calendar, we can at least get some of the women’s national team players who receive our big awards on the spot. It should be noted that when there are no international international match windows, the players are in their own club teams, he emphasizes.
The Finnish Football Association has also taken into account the criticism directed at the timing of the Kultainen pallo gala in the past. Casagrande also understands why similar criticism can also arise from the fact that the Captain’s Ball is scheduled during the period of women’s national matches.
– I understand that. We have tried to think of the best possible time. Of course, when this falls into the gap, we have to think about who all of the women’s A national team may not be able to attend at this point due to sporting issues.
– It’s sad, because we would definitely like everyone to be there. But it is clear that in terms of sportsmanship, you should focus on preparing for the next match. This is a balancing act between everything, where we try to find a solution that would be good for everyone.