Bristol Rovers FC was delighted to welcome the Finland Men’s National Team to the Club’s training ground this week.
The Huuhkajat have made use of the facilities at The Quarters over the last few days, as national side head coach Markku Kanerva puts his team through their paces ahead of their UEFA Euro 2024 qualifier semi-final away against Wales.
Finland will make the short trip across the Prince of Wales Bridge and into Cardiff on Thursday evening, with the winner of their match with Rob Page's Dragons playing either Poland or Estonia for a spot at the 2024 UEFA European Championships in Germany later this year.
The 25-man squad, including the likes of Bayer 04 Leverkusen captain Lukas Hradecky, former Norwich City striker Teemu Pukki and Leeds United’s Glen Kamara, utilised the pristine pitches and gym at The Quarters as they prepared for their clash with Wales.
Finland head coach Kanerva told bristolrovers.co.uk: “When we knew we would be facing Wales in our play-off match we started to think about where we should prepare for the game. We had a few ideas and one was to prepare for the match in Bristol.
“We knew Anssi Jaakkola was working here, with Rovers, as goalkeeping coach and we made a visit to The Quarters at the end of last year, and we determined that it would be the perfect place for us to prepare for the fixture.
“We’ve been very happy to be here. It has been a quiet and relaxed atmosphere, and a perfect place to train. The facilities have been excellent and everyone at the Club has been very helpful.
“It can be hard to find good pitches to train on, but the pitches at the training ground are in great condition. We’ll have a couple more training sessions here before we fly back to Helsinki, and I want to say thank you to Bristol Rovers for being so accommodating.”
Check out images of the Finland National Team training at The Quarters in our gallery above!
