Finland's men's football team will make a historic first appearance at a major finals tournament this summer after waiting over 80 years to qualify for either a World Cup or a European Championships.
The Huuhkajat, or Eagle-Owls, have been drawn to play against Denmark, Russia and Belgium in Euro2020 Group B. The top two teams qualify for the knock stages automatically, but finishing third in the group could also see Finland advance, if their record is better than at least two of the other third-placed teams from the five other groups.
The Eagle-Owls will kick off their campaign against Denmark at the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen on Saturday, 12 June. The game begins at 7pm Finnish time and it will be shown live on both Yle TV2 and Yle Areena.
The team will then travel to St Petersburg to play Russia on Wednesday 16 June (kick off 4pm Finnish time), and will stay in the city to face Belgium for their final group game on Monday 22 June, with a kick off time of 10pm. Both games, and all games in the tournament, will be broadcast live on Yle TV2 and streamed via Yle Areena.
"Oi Suomi on"
Danish authorities have ruled that one third of the capacity of the Parken stadium can be used for the game on Saturday, and a few hundred supporters are planning to make the trip from Finland to Copenhagen to watch the team make their finals debut.
Despite their relatively small numbers, there will no doubt be a lot of singing from the travelling contingent, with the terrace favourite Oi Suomi on ('Oh Finland is') getting more than a few renditions.
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In advance of the game, Yle compiled a short video of fans' video clips singing the song, which can be viewed from the video at the top of the article.
This week's episode of the All Points North podcast included an interview with husband and wife Noor and Hanna Jamal, who are travelling to attend the game.
"This is something that I would not miss for anything," Hanna Jamal told APN. "I would do anything that it takes to get there and to experience the moment that personally I have been waiting for all my life."
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Key players and quiet confidence
The Finland team has advanced rapidly in recent years under the stewardship of former international player Markku Kanerva.
Finland's key players include talismanic striker Teemu Pukki, has just secured promotion to the English Premier League with his club Norwich City, midfield lynchpin Glen Kamara, fresh from celebrating a Scottish league title with Glasgow Rangers, and goalkeeper Lukáš Hrádecký, who was named Finland's sportsperson of the year in January.
A number of fine performances, including home victories over Hungary, Greece and Estonia, saw Finland top Group C2 of the 2018-19 Nations League.
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This was followed by the Huuhkajat beating Liechtenstein 3-0 in November 2019 to finish in second place behind Italy in Group J and secure that historic first qualification.
The team finished second again, this time to Wales, in the 2020 Nations League Group 4 with an impressive campaign that included victories home and away against both Bulgaria and the Republic of Ireland.
Although recent friendly defeats against Sweden (2-0) and Estonia (1-0) have cast a slight shadow over the team's preparations for the tournament, Kanerva's men will be approaching the first game against Denmark with quiet confidence.
Expectations are low, most pundits think Finland will not get past the group stages, but the close-knit team knows it has already made history, and now has three games to surprise the world.