Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, opposite Estonia. Finland covers an area of 338,145 square kilometres (130,559 sq mi) and has a population of 5.6 million. Helsinki is the capital and largest city. The vast majority of the population are ethnic Finns. Finnish and Swedish are the official languages, with Swedish being the native language of 5.1% of the population. Finland's climate varies from humid continental in the south to boreal in the north. The land cover is predominantly boreal forest biome, with more than 180,000 recorded lakes.
Tampereen Tappara is a Finnish professional ice hockey team playing in the SM-liiga. They play at Nokia Arena in Tampere, Finland. The team has won 20 Finnish league championships, which makes them the most successful club in Finland. The team continued the traditions of the Tammerfors Bollklub.
Porin Ässät, officially named Hockey Club Ässät Pori and colloquially known as Pata, is a professional ice hockey club based in Pori, Finland. It competes in the SM-liiga, the highest-ranking league of ice hockey in Finland. Since 1971, Ässät has played its games in the Isomäki Ice Hall.
The Finnish men's national ice hockey team, nicknamed Leijonat / Lejonen, is governed by the Finnish Ice Hockey Association. Finland is one of the most successful national ice hockey teams in the world and a member of the so-called "Big Six", the unofficial group of the six strongest men's ice hockey nations, along with Canada, the United States, Czechia, Russia, and Sweden.
Kiira Linda Katriina Korpi is a Finnish figure skater. She is a three-time European medalist, the 2010 Trophée Eric Bompard champion, the 2012 Rostelecom Cup champion, a two-time Cup of China medalist, and a five-time Finnish national champion. She retired from competitive skating in August 2015.
Sport is considered a national pastime in Finland and many Finns visit different sporting events regularly. Pesäpallo is the national sport of Finland, although the most popular forms of sport in terms of television viewers and media coverage are ice hockey and Formula One. In spectator attendance, harness racing comes right after ice hockey in popularity.
Talent Suomi is the Finnish version of the Got Talent format of the program and airs on Nelonen. The idea behind the programme is to search for the most talented and promising entertainment. Talent contest took off for the first time in Finland at the end of September 2007. The programme was originally hosted by Susanna Laine and Martin Coulter and had contemporary magazine editor Katja Ståhl, television presenter and film director Timo Koivusalo, as well as the Finnish National Ballet dancer and choreographer Sami Saikkonen as judges. The prize was €30,000.
Yıldız Aras is a Turkish karateka competing in the kumite +60 kg and open divisions. Aras is member of the Kocaeli Büyükşehir Belediyesi Kağıt Spor Kulübü Karate team. As of May 2009, she is world's best in women's kumite open division.
The Finnish national futsal team represents Finland in international futsal competitions. The team is run under supervision of the Football Association of Finland. It has never qualified for the World Cup or the European Championships. On 29.7.2022 rankings Finland is 18th globally and 11th in Europe.
The 2010 World Ringette Championships was an international ringette tournament and the 9th (IX) World Ringette Championships. The tournament was organized by the International Ringette Federation (IRF) and was contested in Tampere, Finland, between November 1 and November 6, 2010. The main competition took place at the Tampere Ice Stadium. The previous year the 2009 World Junior Ringette Championships took place in Prague, becoming the inaugural event for elite junior ringette athletes, but was organized as a separate event from the World Ringette Championships program.
Jesse Puljujärvi is a Finnish professional ice hockey player for the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League (NHL). Rated as a top prospect, Puljujärvi was drafted fourth overall by the Edmonton Oilers in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft.
Susanna "Suski" Tapani is a Finnish multi-sport elite athlete who competes in ice hockey, ringette, and in-line hockey, currently playing in the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) with PWHL Boston. She is captain of the Finnish national ringette team and a member of the Finnish national ice hockey team.
Meeri Räisänen is a Finnish ice hockey goaltender and member of the Finnish national team, currently playing with Gladiators HT in the II-divisioona (2-div.), the fourth-tier men's national league in Finland. With the Finnish national team, she has won two Olympic bronze medals, two World Championship bronze medals, and has twice been named to the World Championship All-Star Team.
The Stadin Derby, or The Helsinki Derby, is the name for a Helsinki association football fixture played between HIFK Fotboll and HJK Helsinki. The name of the derby derives from the common slang word nickname for Helsinki (Stadi), widely used by the locals. Both the teams play at the highest level of football in Finland, in Veikkausliiga. Before 2015, the clubs had not faced each other at the highest level since 1972 when HIFK got relegated from the top league, which was then known as Mestaruussarja.
Helena Ksenia Kuusisto is a Finnish karateka. She represents the Shotokan karate club in Pori, Finland.
Nelli Laitinen is a Finnish ice hockey player and member of the Finnish national team, currently playing in the college ice hockey with the Minnesota Golden Gophers women's ice hockey program.
Elisa Holopainen is a Finnish ice hockey winger and member of the Finnish national team, currently signed in the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL) with Frölunda HC.
Sandra Sánchez Jaime is a retired Spanish karateka. She won the gold medal in the women's kata event at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. She is a two-time gold medalist in the women's individual kata event at the World Karate Championships. She also won the gold medal in this event at the European Karate Championships in seven consecutive competitions. She is also recognised by Guinness World Records for winning the most medals in the Karate1 Premier League; she won 35 consecutive medals between January 2014 and February 2020.
Kiekko-Espoo is a Finnish professional ice hockey club founded in 2018 as a continuation of the Kiekko-Espoo team originally founded in 1984. Kiekko-Espoo men's team plays in the Liiga, where they got promoted for the 2024–25 season, and the women's team plays in the Naisten Liiga.
Anne Pohjola , is an elite Finnish ringette player who plays forward and is a prolific scorer. She has been a member of the Finland national ringette team several times and currently plays in Finland's semi-professional ringette league, SM Ringette. The league is known as the Finnish national ringette league to English speakers.
