The Football Association of Finland is the governing body of football

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 in Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

. It was founded in 1907, and was also the governing body of bandy

Bandy

Bandy is a team winter sport played on ice, in which skaters use sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal.The rules of the game have many similarities to those of association football: the game is played on a rectangle of ice the same size as a football field. Each team has 11 players,...

 in Finland until the bandy association, Suomen Jääpalloliitto, was founded in 1972.

The SPL organises the men's

Finland national football team

The Finland national football team represents Finland in international football competitions and is controlled by the Football Association of Finland....

 and women's

Finland women's national football team

The Finland women's national football team represents Finland in international women's football. The team, controlled by the Football Association of Finland , reached the semi-finals of the 2005 European Championship, surprising the female football world having drawn with Sweden and beaten Denmark...

 national football teams, and the second and third tiers of national football. The premier division Veikkausliiga

Veikkausliiga

Veikkausliiga is the premier division of Finnish football, comprising the top 12 clubs of the country. Veikkausliiga is currently ranked as the 28th best league in Europe. Its main sponsor is the Finnish national betting agency Veikkaus, hence the league's name...

 is organized by a distinct organisation, and the lower tiers (the fourth tier and below) are organized by the 12 district organisations. The SPL is based in the Finnish capital city of Helsinki

Helsinki

Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...

.

Background

The Suomen Palloliitto (SPL) has more than 1,000 member clubs and approximately 115,000 registered players. The Finnish Gallup survey has indicated that football is a popular pastime with around 500,000 Finns interested in the sport. The SPL is Finland's largest amateur sports federation.

District organisations

At the more local level Finnish football is administered by the following regional authorities of the SPL:

• Helsinki SPL (Helsingin piiri)
• Uusimaa SPL (Uudenmaan piiri)
• Kaakkois-Suomi SPL (Kaakkois-Suomen piiri)
• Itä-Suomi SPL (Itä-Suomen piiri)
• Keski-Suomi SPL (Keski-Suomen piiri)
• Pohjois-Suomi SPL (Pohjois-Suomen piiri)
• Keski-Pohjanmaa SPL (Keski-Pohjanmaan piiri)
• Vaasa SPL (Vaasan piiri)
• Satakunta SPL (Satakunnan piiri)
• Tampere SPL (Tampereen piiri)
• Turku SPL (Turun piiri)
• Ålands Fotbollförbund
  Ålands Fotbollförbund
  The Ålands Fotbollförbund is one of the 12 district organisations of Football Association of Finland. It administrates the local level football in the Åland Islands.- Background :...
  
  

External links

• Official website
• Finland at UEFA.com
• Finland at FIFA.com