Finland national bandy team

Summary

The Finnish national bandy team (Finnish: Suomen jääpallomaajoukkue, Swedish: Finlands herrlandslag i bandy) has taken part in all the Bandy World Championships for men since the competition was launched for the first time in 1957. Finland won the championship title in 2004.[1][2] They have always finished in the top four, and have won 28 medals in 36 championships.

Finland
Shirt badge/Association crest
AssociationFinland's Bandy Association (Suomen Jääpalloliitto)
(Finlands Bandyförbund)
Head coachFinland Ari Holopainen
Team colors   
Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
Home colours
Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
Away colours
First international
Finland Russian Empire 1 – 12 Sweden Sweden
Helsinki, Grand Duchy of Finland, Russian Empire 11 March 1907
Biggest win
 Finland 23–0 Belarus 
(Haparanda, Sweden; 25 March 2001)
Biggest defeat
 Sweden 15–2 Finland 
(Trollhättan, Sweden; 22 November 1998)
Bandy World Championship
Appearances38 (first in 1957)
Best result Gold: (2004)
Olympics
Appearances1 (first in 1952)
Medals Bronze: (1952)
Medal record
World Championship
Gold medal – first place 2004 Sweden
Silver medal – second place 1957 Finland
Silver medal – second place 1963 Sweden
Silver medal – second place 1987 Sweden
Silver medal – second place 1989 Soviet Union
Silver medal – second place 1999 Russia
Silver medal – second place 2011 Russia
Silver medal – second place 2016 Russia
Silver medal – second place 2023 Sweden
Bronze medal – third place 1961 Norway
Bronze medal – third place 1969 Sweden
Bronze medal – third place 1971 Sweden
Bronze medal – third place 1973 Soviet Union
Bronze medal – third place 1975 Finland
Bronze medal – third place 1977 Norway
Bronze medal – third place 1979 Sweden
Bronze medal – third place 1981 Soviet Union
Bronze medal – third place 1983 Finland
Bronze medal – third place 1985 Norway
Bronze medal – third place 1991 Finland
Bronze medal – third place 1995 United States
Bronze medal – third place 1997 Sweden
Bronze medal – third place 2001 Finland
Bronze medal – third place 2006 Sweden
Bronze medal – third place 2007 Russia
Bronze medal – third place 2008 Russia
Bronze medal – third place 2009 Sweden
Bronze medal – third place 2010 Russia
Bronze medal – third place 2017 Sweden
Bronze medal – third place 2018 Russia
Bronze medal – third place 2019 Sweden
Bandy match between Finland and Sweden in Oulu 1947
Finland national bandy team in 1959
Finland in the final of the 2016 World Championship

The team is controlled by Finland's Bandy Association.

History edit

Finland was represented by the club Polyteknikkojen Urheiluseura (PUS) in the winter games in Helsinki in 1907, but the team was beaten by a team from Sweden.[3]

The first international bandy game after Finland became independent was held during the 1919 Finnish Winter Games in Helsinki, which were the first international sporting event organized by the recently independent nation.[4] The national team's roster was dominated by players from Viipurin Sudet and included only three players representing other domestic clubs, Harald Nyström from HIFK, Lars Schybergson from Kiffen, and Niilo Tammisalo from HJK. The national team's match against the Swedish club IFK Uppsala was held on 23 February at Töölön Pallokenttä before a crowd of 5,000 spectators, including State Regent of Finland C.G.E. Mannerheim.[3] The Finns won the match 4–1 in a victory that was described in the press as “one of the most amazing achievements of Finnish athletes.” [5]

In the 1920s and 1930s, Finland regularly played friendly games against Sweden and against Estonia.

Finland, Norway, and Sweden played bandy at the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo. After having seen them there, the Soviet Union invited these three countries to a four nation bandy tournament in 1954. This was the first time a Soviet national bandy team met other national bandy teams. The four countries used somewhat different rules prior to this tournament, but the rules were adjusted to be the same for the future.[6]

The first ever World Championships of bandy were organised in 1957 in association with the 50th anniversary of the Ball Association of Finland, which at the time was the governing body of bandy in Finland. It was played at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium.

Finland's Bandy Association was founded in 1972.[3]

Tournament records edit

Olympics edit

Games Finish
  Norway 1952, Oslo   Bronze

Unofficial tournament edit

Games Finish
  Soviet Union 1954, Moscow   Bronze
  Finland 2020, Porvoo / Lappeenranta   Gold
  Sweden 2024, Karlstad   Silver

World Championship record edit

Games Finish
  Finland 1957, Helsinki   Silver
  Norway 1961, N/A   Bronze
  Sweden 1963, N/A   Silver
  Soviet Union 1965, N/A 4th place
  Finland 1967, N/A   Silver
  Sweden 1969, N/A   Bronze
  Sweden 1971, N/A   Bronze
  Soviet Union 1973, Moscow / N/A   Bronze
  Finland 1975, N/A   Bronze
  Norway 1977, N/A   Bronze
  Sweden 1979, N/A   Bronze
  Soviet Union 1981, Habarovsk   Bronze
  Finland 1983, Helsinki / Porvoo   Bronze
  Norway 1985, Oslo / N/A   Bronze
  Sweden 1987, Stockholm / N/A   Silver
  Soviet Union 1989, Moscow   Silver
  Finland 1991, Helsinki / Porvoo   Bronze
  Norway 1993, Hamar 4th place
  United States 1995, Roseville, Minnesota   Bronze
  Sweden 1997, Västerås / N/A   Bronze
  Russia 1999, Arkhangelsk   Silver
    Finland and Sweden 2001, Oulu / Haparanda   Bronze
  Russia 2003, Arkhangelsk 4th place
   Sweden and Hungary 2004, Västerås / Budapest   Gold
  Russia 2005, Kazan 4th place
  Sweden 2006, Stockholm / N/A   Bronze
  Russia 2007, Kemerovo   Bronze
  Russia 2008, Moscow   Bronze
  Sweden 2009, Västerås / N/A   Bronze
  Russia 2010, Moscow   Bronze
  Russia 2011, Kazan   Silver
  Kazakhstan 2012, Almaty 4th place
   Sweden and Norway 2013, Vänersborg / N/A 4th place
  Russia 2014, Irkutsk / Shelekhov 4th place
  Russia 2015, Khabarovsk 4th place
  Russia 2016, Ulyanovsk   Silver
  Sweden 2017, Sandviken   Bronze
   Russia and China 2018, Khabarovsk / Harbin   Bronze
  Sweden 2019, Vänersborg   Bronze
  Russia 2020, Irkutsk COVID-19 pandemic.[7]
  Russia 2022, Syktyvkar Russian invasion of Ukraine
  Sweden 2023, Växjö   Silver
  Sweden 2025, Lidköping

Russian Government Cup edit

Games Finish
  Rossiya Tournament 1972, Ulyanovsk   Bronze
  Rossiya Tournament 1974, Arkhangelsk   Bronze
  Rossiya Tournament 1976, Khabarovsk   Bronze
  Rossiya Tournament 1978, Kemerovo   Silver
  Rossiya Tournament 1980, Syktyvkar   Bronze
  Rossiya Tournament 1982, Syktyvkar   Bronze
  Rossiya Tournament 1984, Kemerovo 4th place
  Rossiya Tournament 1986, Irkutsk   Bronze
  Rossiya Tournament 1988, Abakan   Bronze
  Rossiya Tournament 1990, Novosibirsk   Silver
  Russian Government Cup 1992, Krasnojarsk 4th place
  Russian Government Cup 1994, Novosibirsk 4th place
  Russian Government Cup 1996, Arkhangelsk \ Moscow 4th place
  Russian Government Cup 1998, Nizhny Novgorod   Bronze
  Russian Government Cup 2000, Kazan 4th place
  Russian Government Cup 2002, Arkhangelsk   Bronze
  Russian Government Cup 2003, Krasnogorsk 5th place
  Russian Government Cup 2006, Krasnogorsk 5th place
  Russian Government Cup 2008, Novosibirsk 4th place
  Russian Government Cup 2010, Kirov 5th place
  Russian Government Cup 2012, Abakan   Silver

Youth World Championship edit

Champions
Y15 Class
1996, 2004
Y17 Class
1979, 2013, 2024

Current squad edit

Finnish squad at the 2014 World Championship in Irkutsk, Russia, January 26 – February 2, 2014.[8]

Pos. Age Name Club
GK 37 Timo Oksanen   Bollnäs GIF
GK 30 Kimmo Kyllönen   IK Sirius
DF 28 Ilari Moisala   Brobergs IF
DF 35 Pekka Hiltunen   HT-Bandy
DF 31 Antti Ekman   HT-Bandy
MF 22 Samuli Helavuori   Bollnäs GIF
MF 39 Kimmo Huotelin   Kampparit
MF 28 Ville-Veikko Angeria   Akilles
MF 34 Ville Aaltonen   Bollnäs GIF
MF 29 Juho Liukkonen   Bollnäs GIF
MF 27 Tomi Hauska   Vetlanda BK
MF 26 Anssi Hänninen   JPS Jyväskylä
MF 26 Samuli Koivuniemi   OLS Oulu
FW 31 Mikko Rytkönen   JPS Jyväskylä
FW 31 Tomi Tukiainen   Akilles
FW 27 Mikko Lukkarila   IFK Kungälv
FW 26 Markus Kumpuoja   Hammarby IF
FW 39 Sami Laakkonen   Dynamo Kazan

References edit

  1. ^ The entire final
  2. ^ The decisive goal
  3. ^ a b c "The Finnish Bandy Federation, in English". Finnish Bandy Federation. Retrieved February 12, 2014.
  4. ^ Lavikainen, Jouni (2019-01-18). "Suomen talvikisat 1919 – itsenäisen Suomen ensimmäiset suurkilpailut" [Finnish Winter Games 1919 - The First Major Sporting Competition of Independent Finland] (in Finnish). Sports Museum of Finland. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
  5. ^ Koskinen, Jukka (2019-01-28). "Suomi-Ruotsi -maaotteluita jo 100-vuotta" [One-hundred years of Finland-Sweden matches] (in Finnish). Finnish Bandy Federation. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
  6. ^ Claes-G Bengtsson (23 November 2007). "Sargens entré förändrade bandyn" (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 18 January 2014. Retrieved 22 February 2014.
  7. ^ "World Championship moves to October!". FIB. 11 March 2020. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  8. ^ "Tässä Suomen jääpallojoukkue MM-kisoihin" (in Finnish). Yle Urheilu. 16 January 2014. Retrieved 21 January 2014.

External links edit

  • Finnish Bandy Federation