Cricket in Finland has a longer history than you might think. The first domestic games were played in the 1960s by ubiquitous and mysterious Palmerstons society who played in Tapiola in Espoo, just outside Helsinki. Cricket began to organise itself in the 1970s under the auspices of the Helsinki Cricket Club, the oldest existing club in Finland, who notably played a game against the British Moscow before the end of the Cold War.
The contemporary growth of the game dates from the mid 1990s with the development of Turku, SKK and Vantaa as clubs to challenge the monopoly of Helsinki Cricket Club. With the welcoming involvement of the European Cricket Council the current state of Finnish cricket is one of rapid development.
In 2001 there were 4 clubs contesting the Finnish League => fast forward to 2018 and there are around 30 clubs, across various cities throughout Finland. Cricket Finland boasts numerous ICC/ECB level 1 & level 2 coaches and trains dozens of budding qualified umpires every spring. Now with over 500 male licensed players, Finland has been gradually consolidating its ICC Affiliate Status gained in 1999, and was promoted to Associate status from July 2017 when the Affiliate membership criteria was removed across the globe.