U17 American Football Nordic Championships Cancelled

The U17 Nordic Championship tournament planned for October in Finland will not take place, as Sweden, Norway, and Denmark have withdrawn from the tournament. This decision also temporarily ends one Nordic American football tradition.

The competitions have long provided young players with a unique opportunity to wear their national team jersey, and for many players, the tournament has been their first experience of international competition and an important step towards a future national team career. The significance of youth national team pathways is particularly emphasized in sports where international events are limited. And although youth national team activities require players’ own financial contributions, in return, they offer unique experiences, international matches, the pride of representing the national team, and memories that last a lifetime.

–Sweden was the first to withdraw from the competition due to costs, and when Denmark followed suit, Norway also no longer wanted to attend alone – says SAJL chairman Roope Noronen.

The tournament costs, which the countries have known for a long time, did not differ from what they have been in recent years and what Finland has paid for its participation.

-We hope this does not mean a final decision on the tradition. The long and respected Nordic youth national team tradition deserves to continue. Above all, it is deserved by those young players for whom the opportunity to represent their country is one of the most memorable experiences of their sports careers, Noronen said and continued – We will certainly have to reassess the situation of other Nordic countries and evaluate whether we can find a more reliable competitor from elsewhere in Europe.

The U17 national team will gather for a camp as planned

Following the cancellation of the autumn U17 matches, the national team coaching staff is already looking ahead to next spring. Despite the cancellation of the Nordic Championships, the U17 national team’s autumn camp will be held as planned in Kuortane from September 18-20, 2026. However, contrary to the previous plan, the camp will serve as a qualifying camp for the upcoming U17 and U19 international matches next spring.

The close cooperation between the coaching teams of the junior national teams allows for evaluations for both players born in 2009 moving up to the U19 age group in the spring and those born in 2010-2011 who will remain in the U17 age group.

The U17 national team’s AHC Aleksi Siirtola commented on the cancellation of the home tournament as follows:

-The surprising cancellation of the home tournament is, of course, a huge disappointment for both the players of the age group and the team’s coaching staff. We set our goal as a team during the spring selection camp to defend the Nordic Championship on home turf in 2026, and now we will not be able to compete for this goal. Based on the performances seen during the spring camp and summer matches, I also believe that this year’s U17 national team had the potential to be extremely competitive, which certainly does not alleviate the disappointment caused by the cancellation of the tournament.

The opponent and location of the U17 national team’s match will be announced later. The opponent for the U19 national team’s spring match will be determined after the Germany-Finland match played on September 19.