Korpela on Finland’s Euro quest: “We’ve waited nine years for this...”

Tinja-Riikka Korpela is relishing the chance to represent Finland at the Women’s European Championship for a third time, having once feared she may never play at the tournament again.

Now in her 16th year as a senior international, our experienced goalkeeper leads her country into battle against Spain in their first game in Group B at this summer’s showpiece event on Friday (5pm UK).

Having played at the Euros in 2009 and 2013, ‘Tinni’ was worried that another opportunity to step out in the illustrious competition may have passed her by when Finland failed to qualify for the finals five years ago.

But after helping her side return to the fray this time around, she’s excited to taste the action once more as Finland take their first steps in what the 36-year-old admits is a “very tough group” that also includes Denmark and Germany, the latter having dominated the Euros over three decades, winning an incredible seven of the last nine tournaments.

“As a nation, we’ve waited nine years for this, since we were at the Euros last time in 2013,” said the former Bayern Munich keeper, who joined us from Everton last year and soon afterwards passed the 100-cap milestone for her country.

“At one point, when we didn't qualify in 2017, I thought I wouldn’t see the Euros as a player anymore, so that makes this tournament even more special for me than the first two times.

“Being the captain, I want to lead the team on and off the field and as a goalkeeper, of course, my target is to keep as many clean sheets as possible. This team is very important to me – it’s like my second family and several of us have played together for many years now. Winning with this group is special every time and it feels just amazing – now we want to enjoy success in this competition.

“We know we have a very tough group and the challenge is huge for us to go through, but we believe in ourselves, we know that we’re hard to beat and in a single game, anything can happen. For sure, we need to perform at a high level, put our bodies on the line defensively and use our qualities at the other end.”

Tinni is flying the flag for Spurs at this year’s tournament along with her team-mate for club and country, Eveliina Summanen. Having joined us in January following a number of years plying her trade in Sweden, central midfielder Eveliina played an important role for us during the latter months of 2021/22 and Tinni believes the 24-year-old will impress again this month on the European stage.

“Eveliina has been a very important player for us since she joined the national team in 2017,” the keeper added. “Her abilities with the ball, being calm in tight spaces and showing her physical presence while winning duels and headers was a big part of our qualifying campaign. I believe she can – and she will – show the whole of Europe what she is made of now.”

After Friday’s clash with Spain, Finland face Denmark on Tuesday (5pm UK) before taking on Germany on Saturday 16 July (8pm UK).