TPS Turku bade ‘farewell' to Wayne Brown this week after the Fulham midfielder finished his summer loan spell at the club. The attacking midfielder, who is hoping to break into the first team of the Premier League club this season, made a very positive impression on Finnish football, scoring an impressive six goals in 19 [. Click to continue reading...

Ilves have been playing again for a season and a half now, and for the most part they've been up near the top of the Kakkonen group B table. Tampere photographer Petteri Lehtonen has been following them, and has kindly agreed to allow NFN to use his photos to bring a little bit of Kakkonen to our readers.

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Watching Tampere United struggle to a single goal victory over JJK at Ratina yesterday, it occurred to me just how astonishing it is that anyone watches Finnish football. The first half was enjoyably predictable, as TamU attacked and JJk attempted to string a few passes together. JJK's South Korean striker Nam was brought off injured, and someone curled a shot against the bar for the Jyväskyläns (it could very possibly have been Koskela), and Rafinha got the winner when Sinisalo's headed past his own keeper, but overall it was a pretty run of the mill Veikkausliiga match.

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A match between two skillful, attacking-minded teams was always going to be entertaining and Inter and Honka lived up to their expectations. It was a very good game from both teams, and neither side really deserved to lose. Honka did lose in the end, and will not look back at their early season very positively.

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The Finnish newspapers have been full of talk about Veikkausliiga's apparent 'crisis' in the last few weeks. Domestic football in Finland has long suffered from poor facilities, low attendances, players leaving for richer foreign leagues, but these problems have become more prominent recently, and the football media has not been slow to point out the difficulties.

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Alright, so I've picked five winners. The standard of entries was really, really high, and the judges were all blown away by some of the work displayed. Honourable mentions should go to Venire, Sylvia, Piip, CF and Leonardo (Veikkausliiga's only Barzilian poet, as far as NFN is aware), who made the decisions very difficult, but decide we did and we now finally have our winners.

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VPS went down 2-1 to Jaro in Wednesday's Ostrobothnian derby, and VPS head coach Tomi Kärkkäinen felt he had had enough. He decided to hit the road a few hours later, and was honest enough to compose a press release in which he stated that he thought he does not have the resources to bring about a change to the club's recent form.

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ATLANTIS are not the most glamorous of teams to play for, but Helsinki football has been a revelation for their Antiguan striker since he signed for the Ykkönen side. Having played part time in his homeland, making ends meet by working as a journalist, the opportunity to play professionally arrived late for Skepple.

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"Tervakoski! So you're going to Puuhamaa, yes?"

Not exactly. The town is famous for Puuhamaa ("Finland's most diverse theme park"), and mighty exciting it looked too, as well as a paper mill and lastly, a rather physical football team. NFN's journey started from Sampola, the usual pick-up point for football teams, fans, day-trippers and school excursions in Tampere, and our transport was something special.

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The second round of games, similarly to the first, shrank a bit because newly promoted JJK joined the already too long list of teams who had to cancel their opening fixture. VPS and Haka kicked off the round yesterday, with the latter snapping a 1-0 away win thanks to a goal from Pietari Holopainen.

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The second round of games, similarly to the first, shrank a bit because newly promoted JJK joined the already too long list of teams who had to cancel their opening fixture. VPS and Haka kicked off the round yesterday, with the latter snapping a 1-0 away win thanks to a goal from Pietari Holopainen.

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There are just three days left till the start of the Veikkausliiga season, and it's about time we previewed the league. The tardiest of the Nordic summer seasons, Finland's is the most susceptible to inclement weather, and already there is a postponement: Jaro-RoPS� rather than this weekend. It is still cold up north.

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There are just three days left till the start of the Veikkausliiga season, and it's about time we previewed the league. The tardiest of the Nordic summer seasons, Finland's is the most susceptible to inclement weather, and already there is a postponement: Jaro-RoPS� rather than this weekend. It is still cold up north.

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There are just three days left till the start of the Veikkausliiga season, and it's about time we previewed the league. The tardiest of the Nordic summer seasons, Finland's is the most susceptible to inclement weather, and already there is a postponement: Jaro-RoPS� rather than this weekend. It is still cold up north.

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EGAN'S PREDICTION JUHA'S PREDICTION 1. FC Honka 1. HJK 2. HJK 2. FC Honka 3. FC Inter 3. Tampere United 4. Tampere United 4. TPS 5. TPS 5. FC Inter 6. FC Lahti 6. FC Lahti 7. FC Haka 7. FC Haka 8. VPS 8. MyPa 9. IFK Mariehamn 9. VPS 10. MyPa 10. FF Jaro 11. FF Jaro 11. IFK Mariehamn 12. KuPS 12. JJK 13. Click to continue reading...

EGAN'S PREDICTION JUHA'S PREDICTION 1. FC Honka 1. HJK 2. HJK 2. FC Honka 3. FC Inter 3. Tampere United 4. Tampere United 4. TPS 5. TPS 5. FC Inter 6. FC Lahti 6. FC Lahti 7. FC Haka 7. FC Haka 8. VPS 8. MyPa 9. IFK Mariehamn 9. VPS 10. MyPa 10. FF Jaro 11. FF Jaro 11. IFK Mariehamn 12. KuPS 12. JJK 13. Click to continue reading...

EGAN'S PREDICTION JUHA'S PREDICTION 1. FC Honka 1. HJK 2. HJK 2. FC Honka 3. FC Inter 3. Tampere United 4. Tampere United 4. TPS 5. TPS 5. FC Inter 6. FC Lahti 6. FC Lahti 7. FC Haka 7. FC Haka 8. VPS 8. MyPa 9. IFK Mariehamn 9. VPS 10. MyPa 10. FF Jaro 11. FF Jaro 11. IFK Mariehamn 12. KuPS 12. JJK 13. Click to continue reading...

Just a short post to plug Mika Peura's excellent transfer page. I'll write a bit more on the more interesting news in due course (Valeri Popovitch's departure from Haka being the juiciest little morsel), but if you need to keep in touch with the ins and outs in the meantime, Mika's your man. We have a [. Click to continue reading...

Just a short post to plug Mika Peura's excellent transfer page. I'll write a bit more on the more interesting news in due course (Valeri Popovitch's departure from Haka being the juiciest little morsel), but if you need to keep in touch with the ins and outs in the meantime, Mika's your man. We have a [. Click to continue reading...

This news has been greeted with fanfare, street parties and celebratory gunfire in parts of the Finnish football community. Too many Finnish players move abroad and rot in the reserves, and Tainio has been desperate to play some games for a long time now. Roy Keane was very happy, according to the Guardian. Click to continue reading...

TamU lost yesterday, but the stats show a decent performance. The result sent MyPa to the top of the league, and kept TamU down in  lower mid-table. They will almost certainly have to rely on the cup to get into Europe this year, and they have a tough Quarter Final draw: FC Haka – TP-47 FC Honka [. Click to continue reading...

I have written one article for When Saturday Comes, the best English football monthly. It was about Finnish football, and tried to promote the game here as one that is good fun to watch, easy to follow, and emphatically not run by idiots. There is one area in which the powers-that-be in Finnish football do [. Click to continue reading...