Flanagan's Football Files

It's the festive season, and there are plenty of strange tales surrounding football over the years. However, the following tale seems remarkable, so I wanted to share it with you all.

FC Santa Claus was founded in 1992 when two clubs in Rovaniemi, Rovaniemen Lappi and Rovaniemen Reipas, merged. The players, fans, and locals have loved their new team from its inception and cheer them on with passion at every game. However, FC Santa Claus is not just popular in Lapland or Finland; the team, which plays in red and white and whose badge features Santa checking his naughty list, has supporters all over the world. The city of Rovaniemi is widely known as the home of Santa Claus, which has turned this remote spot into a world-class resort and center of Christmas spirit. And because Santa, like everybody else, loves the beautiful game, the city gave him his very own soccer team, the FC Santa Claus. Legend has it that Santa Claus himself approached people from the world of football and asked them to create a team for him. And while in other parts of the world winter is a rather quiet time for football, this is peak season for the world’s most Christmassy football club in the Baltic tundra of deep, dark Finland. would be easy to think that FC Santa Claus is just another Christmas gimmick, but they are a serious community football club with real ambition.

The club was formed as FC Santa Claus Rovaniemi in 1992 through the merger of Rovaniemen Reipas and Rovaniemen Lappi. Following a bankruptcy filing in 2012, the club was re-formed as a new entity under the name FC Santa Claus Arctic Circle. In 2021, the youth club re-founded a senior men's side, as simply FC Santa Claus, following the club's disbanding following the 2019 season.

The origin of the name stems from the legend that Rovaniemi, Finland, is the hometown of Santa Claus. They chose to use the English name of Santa Claus, as opposed to the Finnish translation Joulupukki, since English is the most commonly spoken language in the world, allowing for increased awareness of the club. The club receives regular coverage from media outlets around the world, especially during the Christmas season.

I wonder if their players only get selected for their Boxing Day game if they go to bed early on Christmas Eve, or perhaps it all depends on whether they leave out some mince pies for their manager.