Finland was classed as one of the weakest teams in Europe before a lot of the smaller nations were allowed to participate in the major competitions. Finland have never qualified for a major competition mainly because Finland are one of few countries in Europe were football is not their main sport.

Finland finished fourth in Group 1 in an attempt to qualify for the 2006 World Cup. They won five of the twelve qualifying matches but were unable to compete with Holland and Czech Republic who went on to Qualify from the group.