My Favourite Place in Helsinki…

…is a bit difficult to visit: the Olympic Stadium when Finland wins a football match. Take off your glasses, Finland beats the Netherlands! This is a sport where it still takes a while before we win the World Cup.

It was unreal to hear the Champions League hymn at this stadium in 1998 and surreal when next semi-professional HJK trashed world class Benfica 2-0.

Here Denmark and Netherlands were beaten in UEFA WOMEN’S EURO 2009 and a place in the 2nd phase was secured.

Heavy rain in cold autumn weather didn’t matter when men were really close at qualifying for the first time to a major tournament…before a Hungarian flipper goal in the injury time.

This is a City Daily Photo theme day so click here to view thumbnails for all participants to see favourite parts of town from all over the world.

The Proof that I Witnessed the Saddest Day of Finnish..

…sports history on 11th October 1997.

Despite the horrible rain it was supposed to be the finest hour of Finnish football but a nightmare injury time goal by Hungary (Unkari in Finnish) in the last group game destroyed Finland’s (Suomi) dream to qualify to World Cup. Five Finns tried to clear a poor corner kick and Hungarians just watched as the pinball went into the Finnish goal – through the back of the goalkeeper. The people leaving the stadium were the most frustrated I’ve ever seen.

Tomorrow on 12th October 2010 Hungarians return to Helsinki and once again they can destroy the Finnish dream to qualify to a major football tournament for the very first time.

Dark Clouds Over The Future of the Olympic Stadium

No international football qualifiers at the stadium after 2009 because the pitch should be 4 meters wider?

Once again there is a conflict between the heritage of our unique Olympic stadium that still has the feel of 1940 and 1952 olympics and the requirements of the modern world. I’ve visited several other Olympic stadiums and often they don’t feel like olympic stadiums anymore after all the changes that have been done to them. We have a real gem in Finland and maybe we should work more to make people outside of Finland to understand that as well.

Why don’t they just make the pitch four meters wider so that we could still play European Championship football qualifiers there? That would require changes to the main structure of the stadium and it is protected against major changes due to its historical significance. Getting a permit for the changes can be difficult.

Why not play the games on some other stadium? There isn’t anything of similar size in the whole country. Football would loose a lot of money and olympic stadium earns a lot of money from the qualifiers as well. The new UEFA rules could kill the booming Finnish football.

I just hope UEFA would also understand the significance of the stadium. It is important for European football as well as the Magical Magyars won an olympic gold medal there. It might be already forgotten that Hungarians, who were led by the legendary Ferenc Puskas, dominated football in the 1950′s with their still unbeaten record of 33 consecutive wins.

I’m confident that pragmatic Finns will once again find a solution so that big games are still played at the stadium and the spirit of the olympics is not lost.

Helsinki Olympics Today: My Olympic Stadium Memories

Euro2008 football qualifier between Finland and Poland is about to start. Taken with a cell phone camera. The roof is the latest addition to the Olympic Stadium.

Here are some of my memories from the events that I have watched at the stadium.

Finland’s Worst Sports Moment Ever

In 1997 Finland needed a win against Hungary in order to have a very good chance to qualify for the first time in history to football’s World Cup. I’ve never been outdoors in such a terrible rain but nobody cared as Finland had a 1-0 lead when 90 minutes was played. Hungary gave a poor corner and FIVE Finnish players made unsuccessful tries to clear the ball. Hungarians really didn’t do anything but still the ball found its way into our goal. One of the best moments of Finnish football turned into anger and disappointment in the ugliest possible way. Readers of Helsingin Sanomat newspaper voted that pinball goal as the worst sports moment of all times.

HJK Plays Excellent Champions League Football

I went to see HJK Helsinki‘s champions league qualifier against a French side Metz in 1998. Normally a Finnish club wouldn’t have a chance against a good team from a country that has just won the World Cup. But HJK did the impossible and qualified. When the champions league hymn was played before a match against a Portugese side Benfica, I couldn’t believe I was in Helsinki. It was totally unreal when HJK won the game! I’m still angry at myself for not going to see the 0-0 match against Kaiserslautern. HJK had the chances to win that one as well. Unfortunately in the last home match against PSV Eindhoven I witnessed a hat trick by a promising young striker called Ruud van Nistelrooy.

Athletics

One of the craziest things I’ve ever seen was when Haile Gebreselassie made a new world record in 5000 meters. A normal young fit person could have followed him only for a few meters (I’m not kidding!) and he ran for 5 kilometers! It looks a lot slower on tv.

There was also once a giant guy who from a distance seemed to be too clumsy for his sport. We made jokes about that with my friend. When it was his turn, a name appeared on the screen – Sergei Bubka. The pole vaulter is one of the best athletes of all times.

Unfortunately in many events music seems to be more important than the actual event. The louder the better. Once in an athletics competition people from the audience had to move loudspeakers because it was impossible to sit on their seats because of the noise. I sat several rows from them and my ears were also hurting.

See other posts in the Helsinki Olympics Today serie.