Finland's best kept football secret

True: Finland is more renowned for its international success in sports such as ice hockey and Formula 1 than in football. While the national team failed yet again to qualify for a premier international football tournament, the ongoing World Cup in South Africa, there is one thing in football where Finland is on top of the world – the world's biggest fantasy football manager game Fantasy Premier League.

The concept of Fantasy Premier League is in itself simple: within an imaginary price budget of £100 million, managers select eleven players and four substitutes to build up a team of real life players in Barclays Premier League. You select a name for your team, design the layout of your team kit and nominate a captain from your squad. Invite friends to join, and set up a league of your own. As the season begins, points are scored based on the actual statistical performance of your players, or their perceived contribution on the field of play.

In FPL, no more than three players can be selected from the same Premier League club.

With more than 2.3 million players worldwide, Fantasy Premier League is the biggest fantasy football game in the world. In the season that just finished, some 1.5 million British and 17,000 Finnish managers played the game. While the single best manager of the Fantasy season 2009-2010 was Jon Reeson, a West Ham fan from England, it was the Finnish managers that topped the 'Best Countries' table once again – leaving, for example, their other Nordic colleagues far behind.

Why do the best fantasy football managers come from a country whose national team so far has never qualified for the major international tournaments?

Thorough Finns know their trivia

”The premier league is obviously followed a lot in Finland, but the same can be said of Sweden, Norway and Denmark”, says Mikko Kuronen, a Finnish football correspondent in the UK. ”My theory is that many Finns are long-distance supporters of English football clubs and that the premier league is, in a way, considered to be the domestic league by many – instead of the Finnish one”, he continues.

Top three countries of the FPL season 2009-2010.

One big reason behind the Finnish enthusiasm might be that YLE, the Finnish equivalent to the BBC, has long traditions of showing English football on national TV. In the 1980's and early 1990's, the English first division was about the only game in town for those interested in international football – and thus the Saturday kick-off established itself as the highlight of the week for many Finns. ”Since then the whole culture of football following has changed. With internet and pay-TV, there is not much difference whether one follows the premier league from Finland or here on the spot. In fact, it is not possible to see as many televised live games here in the UK than it is in Finland”, he points out.

Having lived in the UK for the last 21 years, Kuronen admits he's probably not the best person to analyse the Finnish premier league followers in Finland. However, there is one thing in particular about the Finnish fantasy premier league managers that he thinks makes them so good. ”Thoroughness. When Finns set their minds to something, they tend to do it well. Many Finnish fans also seem to know their football trivia, even to the point of being a little bit annoying.”

”FPL an excellent concept”

Iikka Jokinen and Eemeli Peltonen first set up their own league within the Fantasy Premier League five years ago. In the 2009-2010 season, the Ismo Lius League that comprises of Jokinen, Peltonen and twelve of their friends, finished 100^th out of roughly 200,000 leagues. ”Our league has always been top class, but I guess it adds to our success that most of us have played the game for years now”, Peltonen says. ”In fact, many of us have a history of playing football manager computer games before entering the FPL.”

Both managers have followed football – domestic and international leagues – more or less their whole lives. Staying up-to-date on what is happening in the real league as well as maintaining high standards from gameweek to gameweek as fantasy managers takes quite a bit of time, but this is no problem since both Jokinen and Peltonen would be watching the games anyway. Or at least most of them. While being a manager is mostly fun and games, both admit that as a downside one is sometimes forced to follow games that otherwise would be completely uninteresting. ”But you do get used to the torment after a few years”, Peltonen reassures.

Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard was one of the most valuable players of the FPL season that finished in May.

When asked about their views on the continual success of Finnish managers, both feel that their fellow countrymen (and -women!) top the table simply for being focused and not dropping out in the midst of the season. ”While I don't think the rankings are an indication of a great sense of football, it could tell that Finns are enthusiastic” Jokinen considers. ”English football is widely appreciated in Finland.”

What about the long three months during summer when the Barclays Premier League is on hold? ”The feeling of emptiness, you can't avoid that after a long season” says Peltonen. ”We'll be not only watching the World Cup, but playing some football ourselves.”

Text by Tiina Heinilä, Embassy of Finland
All graphics: Fantasy Premier League