Flag Football National Championships for Helsinki Flag Football and Jyväskylä Jaguars

The Flag Football Finnish Championship tournament was held on Sunday in Leppävaara, Espoo. Among four women’s teams and three men’s teams, the championship was claimed by Helsinki Flag Football and Jyväskylä Jaguars.

The Finnish championships in flag football were decided for the fourth consecutive time in conjunction with the Olympic Committee’s SM week. Teams qualified for the final tournament through the autumn and spring flag football leagues and summer tournaments. In the men’s league, overlaps in American football leagues limited the number of teams to three.

Flag Football special club HFF wins first adult Finnish championship

In the women’s league, the championship chase began on Sunday morning as the semi-final games kicked off at 9:00 AM. The early start time was due to a reserved slot for Yle’s flag football production.

The schedule proved particularly challenging for the Turku team Trojans Doris, as most of its players were in Oulu on Saturday playing in the Women’s Maple League semi-finals. However, the resilient Turku group arrived in large numbers to defend their championship from the previous summer.

Semi-final 1: Trojans – HFF 7-38

In the first semi-final played on the artificial turf field 1 in Leppävaara, last season’s finalists Trojans faced HFF. In last year’s final, Trojans won with a last-minute scoring play, but on Sunday, the Helsinki team was unstoppable. HFF’s 38–7 victory meant that a new champion could be celebrated that day. HFF’s Pinja Paalasvuo scored three touchdowns in the match.

Scorers: Trojans – HFF

Semi-final 2: Cowgirls – Nuggets 46-6

On field number 2, the Kuusankoski Cowgirls took control of the game from the start and posted a harsh winning score of 46-6 against the Helsinki team Nuggets. From Kuusankoski, Anni Udd scored three touchdowns. The Cowgirls missed the medal positions in the 2025 tournament, but now the victory over Nuggets opened the path to the final.

Scorers: Cowgirls – Nuggets

Bronze match: Trojans – Nuggets 20-12

The Nuggets, starting from the challenger position in the women’s bronze match, gave the traveling Turku team a cold reception at the start of the game by taking a 0-12 lead with touchdowns from Maarit Siltala and Ada Stöd. However, Trojans regrouped at halftime and, led by national team quarterback Lotta Wulff, scored three touchdowns, securing the bronze medals for Turku.

Scorers: Trojans – Nuggets

Final: Cowgirls – HFF 8-32

In the women’s final, two flag football special clubs, Kuusankoski Cowgirls and Helsinki Flag Football, faced off. The Helsinki team managed to score four touchdowns in the first half and went into halftime with a 26-0 lead. In the second half, both teams scored a touchdown once, and the final score was sealed at 32-8.

Helsinki Flag Football succeeded in turning last year’s silver medal into gold. The team’s head coach Jasmin Lindqvist was pleased with the young flag football club’s first adult SM title. Lindqvist mentioned that the team had trained together more than before, and it showed on the scoreboard in the final tournament. The head coach gave special praise to her defense:

– Our defense was rock solid, making things easier for the offense.

The most valuable player of the women’s final was HFF’s Nina Lindholm, who scored two touchdowns in the decisive match. The Cowgirls’ best player was Heleri Kolkkanen, who scored the team’s only final touchdown.

Scorers: HFF – Cowgirls

Gold: Helsinki Flag Football (Photo: Roosa Vilkanen)
Silver: Kuusankoski Cowgirls (Photo: Roosa Vilkanen)
Bronze: Trojans Doris (Photo: Roosa Vilkanen)

Jyväskylä Jaguars dominate in men’s decisive matches

In the men’s league, the ranking among the three teams was determined by a single round-robin format, where each team faced each other once.
Match 1: HFF – Lahti Jets 7-28

In the opening match, HFF faced Lahti Jets. Helsinki Flag Football, which had shown good performances in earlier games of the season, had to enter the championship tournament without its quarterbacks, which particularly affected the Helsinki team’s offense. The Lahti team took a 0-6 lead at halftime and continued scoring in the second half, extending their lead to 0-26 before HFF scored its first points. The impressive victory for Lahti was 7-28.

Scorers: HFF – Jets

Match 2: Lahti Jets – Jaguars 6-58

In the second game of the men’s league, Lahti Jets faced the young Jaguars team. The Jyväskylä team left nothing to chance, scoring 6-45 by halftime. In the second half, the Lahti team performed better in stopping the Jaguars, and the Jyväskylä team managed to score a touchdown only twice. The final score was 6-58 in favor of the Jaguars.

Scorers: Jets – Jaguars

Match 3: Jaguars – HFF 45-13

In the decisive third game, Jyväskylä Jaguars faced Helsinki Flag Football. The Jaguars started their second game with a shock, scoring on their first offensive play. HFF could not contain the Jaguars’ passing game at any point, and the Jaguars sealed the victory and the Finnish championship with a score of 45-13.

The young Jyväskylä team played enjoyable fast flag football, and it would have been interesting to see how the Jaguars would have fared against the veteran-laden FlagLions, who have won the previous three championships.

Jaguars head coach Jarkko Suominen mentioned that his team had been playing together for several years, despite having only three adult players on the roster.

– The boys were on fire today, and it showed on the field

Suominen highlighted several young talents from his team, whose names will be heard in matches in the future:

– From the offense, I must highlight Morten Mehtälä, he scored quite a few TDs, and I lost count myself. There were many good performances on defense. Rasmus Dansk had many interceptions, as did Xolani Vehviläinen. And I must highlight our U15 quarterback Rasmus Selin, he had a strong performance at the men’s SM level.

The best player of the men’s tournament was the quarterback Rasmus Selin, mentioned by Suominen, who played two outstanding games.

Scorers Jaguars – HFF

Gold: Jyväskylä Jaguars (Photo: Roosa Vilkanen)
Silver: Lahti Jets (Photo: Roosa Vilkanen)
Bronze: Helsinki Flag Football (Photo: Roosa Vilkanen)