Finland

In Finland, a land ruled by ice hockey, football is nonetheless the most played sport, contested from April to October because winter shows no mercy. The championship has run since 1908 and the Veikkausliiga, created in 1990, is dominated by HJK Helsinki, record champions and the only Finnish club to reach the Champions League group stage, in 1998/99, with Inter Turku and Haka among the historics. The national team, the Huuhkajat, the Eagle-owls, waited more than a century for a first major finals, achieved at Euro 2020, crowning a country that gave European football elegance like Jari Litmanen and walls like Sami Hyypiä.