Finland open

Profile

The Finnish Open team has had a long and successful history of playing some of the world’s best Ultimate. They are nearly always at the top of every tournament with a few notable exceptions. 

The Finns have had much difficulty with Swedish teams, whether National squads or the dominant club teams Skogshyddan and Carnegie. Finnish teams have defeated them before but the Swedes have won every European Championship since 1983 with the exception of 1997 and they always seem to be beating the Finns in the finals. It's very strange.

Sometimes the tensions can run high for these two countries, one which had formerly conquered the other in 1150. Turku, in fact, was the capital of the Finland when the Swedish monarchy ruled the country for 600 years, ending in 1809 when Russia gained control.

At the 1990 World Championships, a Finnish-Swedish game started with a scorekeeper assessing Finland a point for being late to start the game even though the Finns were on the field. The game ended with a one-point difference in Sweden's favor, 15-14. After a protest and other ways of settling the dispute could not be resolved (a suggestion by Finland that the game count in Sweden's win column but not counted as a +1 point differential was denied by the Swedes), the two teams replayed the game with Sweden winning.

Now we will see these two epic Ultimate countries face each other again as they seem to do every year. Maybe the home-town crowd can help the Finnish team in their elusive quest for Worlds Gold.

Associated Club Teams:

We have 12 players from Liquidisc, 5 from Helsinki Ultimate Team, 5 from Sipoo Odd Stars (SOS) and 2 from Aura in Turku.

Worlds Experience

"Two players have experience from worlds in 1983; some of our players were born just after it. Many have been in the national team since 1998 worlds in Minneapolis."

In 1999 several players were on the Liquidisc team that came from behind to stun arch-rival Skogshyddans 17-16 in the semifinals of the World Club Championships. In the finals, Liquidisc lost to Death or Glory 20-18 in one of the best games of recent memory in Worlds competition.

In 2003 Finland beat Sweden 17-10 at the EUC but still finished below the Swedes at the end of the tournament after losing to Great Britain.

Major Tournaments Won

Last tournament victory is from European Championships 1997.

How Many Ultimate Teams in  Your Country in Your  Division

About 15 teams

Players to Look Out For

Ilkka Rämö, Juha Jokinen, Tommi Lehto and Konstantin Laakkonen

Finland on Defense

You will see Finland playing mostly man-to-man –defense, but they’ve been working on zone-D as well.

In defense you'll want to watch Heikki Tiittanen, Konstantin Laakkonen and Pasi Tamminen. They’re young, fast and capable of making great defensive plays.

Heikki Tiittanen is among the fastest players in the team and loves to make spectacular lay-out blocks.

Konstantin Laakkonen is at his best in aerial battles. Standing at 200cm, this athletic workhorse will be interrupting many floating passes.

Pasi Tamminen is specialized on toasting the opponent's handlers. And try to stay with him after the turnover… 

Finland on Offense

Like all teams, Finland has both vertical and horizontal stack offenses, as well as something in between. There should be enough variations to make it difficult for the defense.

The best handlers are Ville Haaramo,Juha Jokinen and Timo Vaskio. 

Ville Haaramo is an experienced handler. He knows how to play safe, but he sure can send it.

Juha Jokinen is experiencing his first Worlds. Playing at his home town, Juha will be the fans' favorite player. Watch him play and you'll know why.

Timo Vaskio has been around since 1983 (not that he is old, he just started young). Watch him throw and learn.

Team's Best Receivers

Esa Pensala, 205cm, can really use his size and speed. Watch him grabbing the disc in the air or laying out.

Pekka Neuvo is an all-around player with perfect timing on his cuts, especially deep. 

Ville Nevalainen, a tall and quick lefty, has experienced the UPA nationals with DOG a few years ago. Ville is a tough match-up for any team over the world.

Team Colors
Blue and white 

Roster Size
25 all together: 22 players, 2 player-coaches and a head coach 

Head Coach
Pekka Ranta 

Player-coaches
Ville Nevalainen
Peetu Öunap 

Captains
Timo Vaskio
Ville Haaramo
Tommi Ylönen

Player profiles written by Peetu Öunap, Team profile by Tony Leonardo