FC Inter (6th) IFK Mariehamn (4th), Saturday 6:30 PM

The weekend (Monday included) has a full round of Veikkausliiga in store for football fans. Tonight's game is first of the seven matches to be played, and NFN will treat you to minute-by-minute updates of the game in this post.

Click to continue reading...

VPS and IFK Mariehamn played to a lackluster scoreless draw on Sunday evening at Wiklof Holding Arena in Mariehamn. Click to continue reading...

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.

Click to continue reading...

FC Honka KuPS 4-1
TPS RoPS 3-2
Haka FC Lahti 3-0
FF Jaro IFK Mariehamn 0-0
VPS JJK 3-2

This round-up comes a bit late, sorry for that. The reason is that I was on target with all my predictions and have spent my day signing autographs, posing with ugly football fans and talking to betting companies, who are competing for my signature and offering me cars, yachts, virgins and big houses.

Click to continue reading...

We apologise for being unable to write a preview of last night's games, but here's an extended round-up to ease the pain.

MYPA - VPS 0-2

I can't help gloryhunting. VPS took a third consecutive win and I just have to support them. If I didn't, I would be scared by them.

Click to continue reading...

FC Inter - VPS

I am just about to hop on the VPS bandwagon. They scored two goals against RoPS on Sunday, a rare treat for their fans, and rumours are circulating that the central market place in Vaasa has already been booked for VPS' title celebrations in October.

Still, Inter are too strong for the Ostrobothnian side.

Click to continue reading...

It's not April Fools' Day, and I'm not kidding for any other reason either. See for yourself. Tony Björk found the net on the 12th minute and Antonio Inutile doubled the lead 11 minutes later. The two goals were enough to leave RoPS all alone in the relegation spot, and anger the fans. A thread demanding the resignation of CEO Jouko Kiistala was soon opened on Finland's biggest football message board, and the fans might have a point.

Click to continue reading...

TPS - IFK Mariehamn

TPS basically have the edge in this game, but it all depends on how they play. If they build on last week's win over VPS and produce another confident display, they should be able to win the game, but if they are inefficient and start pushing it, the game will turn out much more difficult, even more so as IFK Mariehamn really know how to play against "better" teams.

Click to continue reading...

JJK have had an encouraging start to their first ever campaign in the Finnish top flight. They have already managed to limit TPS, Haka and HJK to draws, and nothing suggests that they could not cause another upset against Honka, especially as Honka have had a poor start to this year's Veikkausliiga.

Click to continue reading...

OK, maybe I am taking a step too far in comparing this 19-year old to mr. Litmanen. Still, what a performance! Riski, or RR10, as his recently innovated nickname goes, beautifully set up TPS's 2-0 winning goal against VPS and also put the ball past Henri Sillanpää himself. He was composed with the ball, passing precisely and setting up a number of chances for his mates.

Click to continue reading...

HJK v IFK Mariehamn, Wednesday 6:30pm

This is, somewhat surprisingly, a top of the table clash. IFK have already beaten last season's champions, drawn with one of the favourites for this season, and had a regulation win over wooden spoon-chasers KuPS. This puts them level on points with HJK, who dropped their two points at home to draw specialists TPS.

Click to continue reading...

Haka v HJK

This is Finland's classico, the game between the historical heavyweights with more titles between them than they know what to do with. It's also Haka's first home game, Sedu Koskinen's first chance to bring the magic of a summer of music festivals and family-friendly entertainment to Tehtaan Kenttä.

Click to continue reading...

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.

Click to continue reading...

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.

Click to continue reading...

IFK Mariehamn 2 Inter Turku 0

The first round of Veikkausliiga threw up a few surprising results, but arguably the biggest shock was Inter Turku's 2-0 defeat in Mariehamn. The manner of defeat was more surprising than the result, as Iner's manager Job Dragtsma pointed out afterwards.

Click to continue reading...

IFK Mariehamn 2 Inter Turku 0

The first round of Veikkausliiga threw up a few surprising results, but arguably the biggest shock was Inter Turku's 2-0 defeat in Mariehamn. The manner of defeat was more surprising than the result, as Iner's manager Job Dragtsma pointed out afterwards.

Click to continue reading...

IFK Mariehamn 2 Inter Turku 0

The first round of Veikkausliiga threw up a few surprising results, but arguably the biggest shock was Inter Turku's 2-0 defeat in Mariehamn. The manner of defeat was more surprising than the result, as Iner's manager Job Dragtsma pointed out afterwards.

Click to continue reading...

Veikkausliiga announced their hoped-for attendance figures yesterday, and they seem to be grounded in as much reality as the budgets. Clubs are hoping for an increase in their attendances that may be difficult to achieve with current facilities, as well as the cold, hard fact that most clubs will be unsuccessful in most seasons.

Click to continue reading...

Veikkausliiga announced their hoped-for attendance figures yesterday, and they seem to be grounded in as much reality as the budgets. Clubs are hoping for an increase in their attendances that may be difficult to achieve with current facilities, as well as the cold, hard fact that most clubs will be unsuccessful in most seasons.

Click to continue reading...

Veikkausliiga announced their hoped-for attendance figures yesterday, and they seem to be grounded in as much reality as the budgets. Clubs are hoping for an increase in their attendances that may be difficult to achieve with current facilities, as well as the cold, hard fact that most clubs will be unsuccessful in most seasons.

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...

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...

In: Dymytro Voloshyn, Marcus Olofsson, Kenneth Gustavsson, Tamás Gruborowics, Gustav Långbacka, Kenneth Vickström, Sasha Anttilainen, Arsim Gashi, Jimmy Sundman, Ante Simunac

Out: Daniel Norrmén, Travis Binnion, Jani Lyyski, Andreas Björk, Andreas Friman, Peter Sjölund, André Hansell, Petter Isaksson, David Carlsson, Anders Överström, Tommy Wirtanen, Arash Bayat, August Bergman, Akombo Ukeyima, Moses Reid

Coach: Pekka Lyyski

Claimed playing budget: €450,000

Egan says:A big re-building job has been undertaken at the Wiklof Holding Arena, with retirements decimating IFK's squad.

Click to continue reading...

In: Dymytro Voloshyn, Marcus Olofsson, Kenneth Gustavsson, Tamás Gruborowics, Gustav Långbacka, Kenneth Vickström, Sasha Anttilainen, Arsim Gashi, Jimmy Sundman, Ante Simunac

Out: Daniel Norrmén, Travis Binnion, Jani Lyyski, Andreas Björk, Andreas Friman, Peter Sjölund, André Hansell, Petter Isaksson, David Carlsson, Anders Överström, Tommy Wirtanen, Arash Bayat, August Bergman, Akombo Ukeyima, Moses Reid

Coach: Pekka Lyyski

Claimed playing budget: €450,000

Egan says:A big re-building job has been undertaken at the Wiklof Holding Arena, with retirements decimating IFK's squad.

Click to continue reading...

In: Dymytro Voloshyn, Marcus Olofsson, Kenneth Gustavsson, Tamás Gruborowics, Gustav Långbacka, Kenneth Vickström, Sasha Anttilainen, Arsim Gashi, Jimmy Sundman, Ante Simunac

Out: Daniel Norrmén, Travis Binnion, Jani Lyyski, Andreas Björk, Andreas Friman, Peter Sjölund, André Hansell, Petter Isaksson, David Carlsson, Anders Överström, Tommy Wirtanen, Arash Bayat, August Bergman, Akombo Ukeyima, Moses Reid

Coach: Pekka Lyyski

Claimed playing budget: €450,000

Egan says:A big re-building job has been undertaken at the Wiklof Holding Arena, with retirements decimating IFK's squad.

Click to continue reading...

These are two of the brighter young stars of Veikkausliiga, and they're both heading over to Trond Sollien's little Nordic colony in Eredivisie. I spoke to Ojala's coach Job Dragtsma this week, and he understandably feels that it would be a little early for Ojala to leave Inter Turku, but of course it's a possibility [. Click to continue reading...

TamU beat Honka 4-3 in an entertaining game that saw TamU stir up the title race once again. A few weeks ago they got a home win against Inter and now the other title candidate was treated to a defeat at their hands. FC Lahti - IFK Mariehamn A win would guarantee IFK Mariehamn a place in [...] Click to continue reading...

FC Inter - Honka 0-0 HJK - TPS 1-0 FC Lahti - Haka 1-0 KuPS - MyPa 1-4 VPS - Jaro 2-1 TamU - IFK Mariehamn 1-0 Highlights here, just click the "Veikkausliiga" link below the video. Inter and Honka couldn't spell out a difference between themselves in the long-awaited game between the two top teams in Turku. Click to continue reading...

Yle started their Veikkausliiga broadcasts today as FF Jaro played FC Lahti. The system in Finland is quite interesting: Urheilukanava broadcast the games from April to September, and Yle are only interested when the title is about to be won. The move from Urheilukanava to Yle may raise the number of people watching, as Urheilukanava is [. Click to continue reading...

FC Lahti and TamU kicked off the 18th round on Friday and the matched ended in a 2-2 draw. Dramatically, TamU were up by one until the 90th minute. Then Jari Litmanen scored in stoppage time and two minutes later Jonne Kemppinen gave the hosts the lead. Nobody expected TamU to get a result anymore, [. Click to continue reading...

KuPS - HJK 3-2 VPS - FC KooTeePee 1-1 MyPa - RoPS 1-0 FC Honka - TPS 2-2 TamU - FC Haka 1-1 FC Inter - FC Lahti 1-0 IFK Mariehamn - FF Jaro CANCELLED Inter have signed a great deal with the football gods. They won FC Lahti in front of over 8000 people willing to see Jari Litmanen in action, [...] Click to continue reading...

FF Jaro - Tampere United 1-4 RoPS - FC Inter 0-0 HJK - IFK Mariehamn 4-0 MyPa - FC Honka 0-2 FC Haka - VPS 1-0 FC Lahti - FC KooTeePee 1-0 TPS - KuPS 3-3 Click on the game for highlights. TPS-KuPS should appear later. Inter still did not lose, but their form is not so amazing anymore. They have drawn six [. Click to continue reading...

Once again, the games start on Saturday and the last one will be played on Wednesday - so if my predictions go wrong as far as Wednesday's TPS-KuPS is concerned, I'll blame it on having to write the preview so early. FF Jaro - Tampere United This is Saturday's only game. TamU are probably tired following their [. Click to continue reading...

He didn't look alright yesterday, after being knocked out by Haka goalkeeper Sasha Dovbnya while challenging for a cross. At that point KTP were, shockingly, 1-0 up after Dovbnya had dropped the ball and substitute Vesa Helenius swept the ball home with his first touch of the ball on 43 minutes. Finnish footballers are extraordinarily [. Click to continue reading...