Football Ground Map
Football Ground Map
Okay, so we admit it - Finland isn't the first country you think of when you're looking for the planet's top footballers. The national team is currently ranked 60th in the world and has never qualified for a FIFA World Cup. Indeed, the 2021 European Championship was their first ever appearance at a major finals (we're not counting the Olympics), with the Fins being knocked out in the group stage.
So it's hardly a surprise that the national team isn't one of the bookies' favourites when it comes to international sports betting at sites like casinogorilla.com. However, that may change as the national side currently lie third in their World Cup 2022 qualifying group - just one point and one place behind Ukraine, with 2 games left to play.
Despite its lack of major tournament success, the small Nordic nation has produced some very special talent over the years. Here we count down our top 5 Finnish players to play in the Premier League.
Jari Litmanen is Finland's all-time most capped player, having played 137 times for the national team, scoring 32 goals.
Litmanen made his name at Dutch giants Ajax, scoring 91 goals in 159 appearances before joining Louis Van Gaal at Barcelona.
His stay in Spain was short-lived, moving onto Liverpool in 2001. The Fin played 26 matches for the Reds, scoring 5 goals, before returning to the Netherlands for a second spell at Ajax.
Litmanen's playing career was plagued by injuries, with the talented front man failing to play many matches in his latter years.
He actually signed for Fulham in Jan 2008, but had to return to Finland due to heart problems - he was released from his Fulham contract 2 months later, having not made a single first team appearance for the club.
Sami Hyypia is regarded a one of Liverpool's biggest ever bargain, joining the club for just £2.6m from Dutch side Willem II. He went on to play 318 games for the club, scoring 22 goals - not bad for a centre half!
Hyypia formed a formidable partnership with Swiss ace Stephan Henchoz, which gave the club a foundation to achieve success in the early 2000s.
He started his career at Bayer Leverkusen, and moved into management of the German club in 2012. Hyypia then spent an unsuccessful 6 months at Brighton winning only 6 of his 26 games in charge.
His last managerial appointment was at FC Zurich which he left in 2016, the team were relegated at the end of the season to the Swiss second division.
The only player in our top 5 to still be playing in the Premier League, Teemu Pukki has represented the national side at U15, U16, U17, U18, U19 and U21 level before making his full debut in 2009.
His early club career included spells at Sevilla, Schalke and Celtic before joining Norwich City on a free transfer in 2019. Pukki has quickly established himself as a modern day Norwich legend, scoring 68 goals in 127 appearances which has seen the club promoted to the Premier League on two separate occasions.
He is the national team's all-time record goalscorer with a total of 33 international goals so far - a figure which the 31 year old will look to improve upon in the coming years.
Mikael Forssell was actually born in Steinforth, Germany, close to Desseldorf. He made his professional debut at 16 and was quickly transferred to Chelsea in England.
Despite being with Chelsea for 7 years, he only actually made 33 appearances for them, being loaned out to Crystal Palace and Birmingham City before joining Birmingham permanently in 2008.
He played for Birmingham for 3 years, scoring a total of 30 goals for the club. His later career was split between Germany and Finland, with one quick spell at Leeds United, playing 15 games for the Yorkshire side.
Our last retired Finnish Premier League legend is goalkeeper Jussi Jaaskelainen who was signed by Bolton for just £100,000 in 1997.
Jaaskelainen quickly established himself as the club's number one and saved 2 penalties in one match away at Blackburn, cementing his place as a firm fans' favourite.
He spent a total of 15 years at Bolton, playing over 590 games for the club. His time with Bolton came to an end after the club were relegated to the Championship.
Jaaskelainen elected not to help the club regain their Premier League place, but did spend a further 5 years in England, playing 57 games for West Ham and 44 times for Wigan Wanderers before returning to Finland and retiring in 2018.
Jaaskelainen is the most represented Finnish player in Premier League history, playing almost 700 games for 3 different teams - that's more than twice as many as Sami Hyypia.
Despite his successes at club level, Jaaskelainen only played 56 times for the national team in a 12 year career.
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