Tampere – City of Big Futsal Events

There is no better place to organize a big futsal event in Finland than in Tampere and by Ilves. Tampere has a great history in hosting many national and international futsal events during the last 15 years. European Universities Championships in 2011 was a huge success with 36 university teams across the Europe enjoying a weeklong futsal-fest that is still remembered fondly by many famous futsal players. European Deaf Futsal Championships in 2018 brought another big futsal event to Tampere and now the stage is set to host the European Masters Games.

The organizing club of the futsal event, Ilves, is the most successful futsal club in Finland with eight men’s titles, four women’s titles and multiple medals in the junior’s championships. Being a pioneer of the sport here is Finland, it is a pleasure for Ilves to organize the EMG2023 futsal event in Tampere. We are expecting to host an inspiring and warm-hearted futsal event and hope to gather many teams around Europe to join the tournament.

The venue for the event, Kauppi Sports Center, is the best indoor arena in Finland for a futsal tournament. Built in 2018 the Kauppi Sports Center offers modern facilities and services, three adjacent first-class playing fields and a main stand for 900 spectators. The arena is also the home court for Ilves FS futsal teams.

The most iconic Ilves FS player is Juha-Pekka Torvinen, who’s playing number #18 is retired by the club. Torvinen played 15 years for the club in topflight from 2003 to 2018, was a club captain for 9 years, won eight championships with the team and represented Finland in 111 official futsal national team matches. What would be a better continuity for Ilves FS and Torvinen than to see him return to Ilves shirt in EMG2023 event next year with some of his old teammates. That would truly be a big reunion of futsal legends here in Finland!

Ilves proudly invites all the EMG2023 participants to join the biggest futsal event of the year in Tampere and hopes to see good, tight and exciting futsal matches during the games. Tervetuloa Tampereelle!