
Statue of legendary olympian Paavo Nurmi, winner of 9 golds in long distance running, near the Olympic Stadium where the final and Finland’s group games were played.
While the football games at UEFA WOMEN’S EURO 2009 were enjoyable, the schedule was really strange. Finnish sports fans had to make difficult decisions between the most important events of the Finnish sports year and a lot less established women’s football.
- Finland-Denmark game was played (almost) at the same time as men’s javelin final at Berlin Athletics World Championships.
- Finland-Ukraine game was played at the same time with Finland-Sweden athletics competition
- Finland’s quarter final was played in city of Turku on a weekday at 4pm. Even people living in Turku had to leave work early to see the game – just like anyone who wanted to see it from tv.
- Final game was played exactly at the same time when Finnish ice hockey league started
Men’s football doesn’t have to care about other sports but if women’s football wants to have new friends, it really shouldn’t be competing with events that are already highly valued by the locals.