Finnish FA mark centenary with Blatter and Platini

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The Finnish Football Association or Palloliitto had some distinguished guests on Tuesday as the organisation officially marked up 100 years since its foundation.
      Around 300 foreign footballing dignitaries were in Helsinki for a gala dinner to mark the event, arriving from 60 different countries. A total of 40 of the 53 UEFA member-countries were represented.
      The Finnish FA's President Pekka Hämäläinen could have no complaints about the quality of the visitors, either. Among them were the current leaders of FIFA and UEFA, Joseph S. Blatter and Michel Platini, and Platini's predecessor at UEFA, Lennart Johansson.
     
These three were all invited to become the first foreign honorary members of Palloliitto, and they were also on hand to help unveil a plaque on the wall in Helsinki's Esplanade.
      The plaque marks the site of a now-defunct restaurant in which the inaugural meeting of the FA - set up by seven Finnish clubs - was held on May 19th, 1907.
      Also at the ceremony were Jari Litmanen, Finland's most successful footballer of all time, and Christina Forssell, who won 70 caps for the Finnish women's national side before her retirement from the game a few years ago.
     
The Finnish FA will be celebrating their centenary on the field as well as around the dinner table.
      Finland will play Spain in a special 100th anniversary friendly at the Olympic Stadium on October 17th.
      Hopefully, this will be four days after the Finns have kept their UEFA 2008 qualification hopes intact by beating Belgium in Brussels.


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