The American Football Association of Finland  has chosen Kuopio as the host city for the Maple Bowlp XLIII. Negotiations were held with three cities and arenas to host the match on September 10th.

Maple Bowl XLIII will be played in the 2022 season at the Väre Areena in Kuopio. The 43rd Maple Bowl is now being played for the fourth time outside the Helsinki metropolitan area. The previous two finals have been held in Lahti and the 2019 season ended in Tampere Ratina.

Roope Noronen, President of SAJL, explains the selection process for the host city as follows:

-Playing a Maple Bowl in Kuopio in 2022 continues our strategy created before corona to organize the event in new locations across Finland. Steelers has done great promotions for America football in the area and the cooperation with the city of Kuopio enables the event to be further developed. The maple bowl 2022 weekend in Kuopio will be worth a visit.

Kirsi Soininen, Marketing Director of the City of Kuopio, is pleased to have the final game of  American football in the city:

– The city of Kuopio is extremely proud to host the final of the 2022 Maple League in the hometown of the Finnish champion Steelers. There is an ongoing boom in team sports in Kuopio, and we expect Maple Bowl to be a family event with several activities events around city.

SAJL’s goal is to make decisions about the host cities for the 2023 and 2024 Maple Bowl during the current year.

Maple League will be kicked off on May 14th. In Helsinki. Last season’s finalists Kuopio Steelers and Helsinki Roosters will face in the opening game. The top four in the seven-team double series will advance to the semi-finals in early September. The winners of the semi-finals will decide the Finnish championship at Kuopio Väre Areena on Saturday 10.9. Maple Bowl in the XLIII game.