Passing it on: Finland's mentor programme helping young footballers find their feet abroad

• Finnish Football Players Association (FPA Finland) launched their first mentor group last year which sees experienced men’s and women’s footballers support young players abroad with knowledge and advice
• Tim Väyrynen, 33, is one of the programme’s mentors and helps guide Finland youth international Sulo Ketola, based in Germany
• Väyrynen and Ketola share their experiences of the programme and how the union’s initiative has benefitted them both

FPA Finland has built something quietly powerful: a mentorship programme connecting experienced Finnish footballers with young players navigating life abroad. For the men’s and women’s players involved, it's about far more than football.

Tim Väyrynen, 33, is part of the first cohort of mentors on the programme that launched last year. Currently at Italian club Livorno, Väyrynen’s career has taken him from hometown Espoo to leagues in Germany, the Netherlands, Albania and Switzerland.

The striker packed his bags for Borussia Dortmund as a 20-year-old back in 2013 and knows well the transitions a young player faces abroad: new language, new culture, new team-mates and new surroundings.

"You go to the training ground at eight-thirty in the morning, you leave at three in the afternoon," recalls Väyrynen. "And then what? You don't have your family, your friends, your support network. Suddenly you are alone. That can be a big issue for many players."

It is that specific gap that FPA Finland has set out to address through its mentoring programme. Now entering its second cycle, the initiative pairs young Finnish players abroad with experienced professionals who have walked a similar path. 

The current mentor group alone brings nearly 500 senior international appearances to the table and playing experience across 14 different countries. The names involved – Niklas Moisander, Tinja-Riikka Korpela, Tuija Hyyrynen among them – represent the full breadth of Finnish football at the highest level.

When FPA Finland asked 13-time Finnish international Väyrynen if he would become a mentor, the decision was an easy one. "During my career I received a lot of help and support," he says. "This felt like a good way to give something back to Finnish football and help the next generation."

Conversations that go beyond football

Väyrynen was matched with 19-year-old mentee and fellow striker Sulo Ketola. The union pairing Väyrynen with Ketola was no coincidence: both moved to Germany early in their careers, giving the mentor first-hand insight into the environment his mentee is experiencing today.

Ketola, who signed for Borussia Mönchengladbach at 16, puts it plainly: "With Tim, it's different than speaking to a coach. He's done the same things as me at my age. I look up to him."

What the programme offers is not football coaching; Väyrynen instead provides a perspective a coach rarely can: the view from inside the experience itself.

"A coach can teach me things on the pitch," Ketola explains, "but not so much outside of it. With Tim, he can tell me how to talk with coaches, how to react to different things in Germany – on the pitch, with people, with situations."

Their meetings happen once a month, a rhythm both find well-calibrated. Enough time passes for something real to have happened; enough connection is maintained that nothing festers unaddressed. "Not too much, not too little," Väyrynen says. "In a month, both sides have something to bring."

While the discussions naturally include football, they rarely stop there. For Väyrynen, success as a professional is about more than performances on the pitch.

"To succeed as a footballer, you need the whole package," he says. "Football is extremely demanding. It’s not only what happens on the pitch. Your life outside football also needs to be in good shape."

That perspective has resonated with Ketola as he adjusts to life in Germany. "It helps a lot to talk with someone who has experienced the same things," he says. "Tim has made mistakes before, and he tells me about them so I don’t make the same ones.

"We talk about goals and about football, but also about how to live in Germany and how to work with people," Ketola explains. "Those are things you don’t really get from a coach."

Guidance, not instructions

Väyrynen is careful not to approach mentoring as someone giving orders. Instead, he shares experiences and encourages Ketola to think through decisions himself. "My role is not to tell someone what to do," he says. "I can share what happened to me in certain situations and how those decisions turned out."

For Ketola, the benefits of the programme go beyond immediate advice. Having someone who understands both the pressures of professional football and the experience of being a Finnish player abroad provides a unique kind of reassurance.

It also reflects the wider support offered by FPA Finland, which stays in contact with Finnish players throughout their careers.

"They try to understand the player," Ketola says. "It’s easier to talk when someone has gone through the same things you have."

As the mentor programme grows, the hope is that more young players will benefit from those shared experiences and that one day, they too will pass those lessons forward.

Because in football, as Väyrynen knows well, the most valuable guidance often comes from someone who has already walked the same path.

"If Sulo has a more developed skill set for evaluating things – how to build his network in life, not only in football, how to go through problems and good times both – then I think we've done well."