Skuriller incident in the Nations League
Team manager accidentally nominates 51-year-olds
Updated on 05.06.2025 – 6:35 p.m.Reading time: 2 min.
Nanne Ruuskanen should have been part of the Finnish national team against Serbia. But curiously, this did not happen.
A faux pas by team manager Outi Saarinen led to an extremely strange situation before the game of the Finnish women’s national team against Serbia in the Nations League on Tuesday. Dilot player Nanne Ruuskanen was suddenly not eligible to play for the duel in Helsinki, although she was appointed to the squad of the selection.
The reason: Saarinen had previously reported a wrong name to the European Association UEFA. The error only noticed after the nomination period.
In theory, nanne Ruuskanen’s namesake stina Ruuskanen could have played her third international match against Serbia. It was incorrectly specified by Saarinen on the squad list. This was also due to a technical curiosity: their name was still stored in the UEFA system-even though their first two missions for the national team had been long ago. This contested Stina Ruuskanen in 1996. In the meantime, the former player is 51 years old.
Accordingly, she took her unexpected nomination to the Finnish newspaper “Iltalehti” with humor. “Yes, my phone rang and I got an SMS. It’s great to get an invitation to the national team at this age,” said Stina Ruuskanen. Later she said with a laugh: “Maybe I could play in midfield for a while, but that would be all.”
Meanwhile, Outi Saarinen apologized in an official announcement by the association for her mishap. “Nanne was of course disappointed, but took the information very well in view of the situation,” she said. “I’m very sorry for the mistake.”