Finland
An Ice Hockey Wiki article.
| Flag and abbrev. |  FIN
|
| Continent | Europe |
| Leader | Jukka-Pekka Vuorinen (SM-Liiga) Heikki Hietanen (Finnish Ice Hockey Association) |
| Population | 5,269,173 (as of 2006) |
| Registered players | 61,684 |
| Percentage | 1,17% |
| National team | Leijonat |
| National federation | Finnish Ice Hockey Association |
| IIHF ranking | 4th (-1) |
| Top league | SM-Liiga |
| Current champion | Kärpät Oulu |
Finland is an European country, bordered by Sweden, Norway and Russia. There are a little over 5.2 million people living in Finland, which capital is Helsinki.
[edit] Organisation
Hockey is a very popular sport in Finland. It's top professional league, the SM-Liiga, is among the strongest in the world. Hockey in Finland is governed by the Suomen Jääkiekkoliitto, the Finnish Ice Hockey Association. The country counts a total of 52,597 registered players, which amounts to 1.0% of its population.
| Finnish hockey scheme | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| League | Divisions | ||||||||||||||
| Elite | SM-Liiga | ||||||||||||||
| Second | Mestis | ||||||||||||||
| Third | Suomi-sarja | ||||||||||||||
| Fourth | II.Divisioona | ||||||||||||||
| Fifth | III.Divisioona | ||||||||||||||
