by If there is a football team that lives Christmas differently, that is the FC Santa Claus. A real team, based in Rovaniemen, Finlandthe city that is known as the birthplace of Santa Claus, and that competes in the youth ranks of Finnish football.
With mostly amateur players who combine their passion for football with their jobs in the Christmas village, the identifying colors of the FCSC are Red and whiteand they even have Santa Claus himself as honorary president.
FC Santa Claus players with Santa Claus, their honorary president, on a snowy field / FC SANTA CLAUS
Officially born in 1992 and currently competing in the Kolmonen, the sixth state divisionThe most important achievement in the history of this football club that gains more popularity every year thanks to social networks is an ‘almost’ promotion to the second division of its country in 2010, after losing a playoffs against the Helsinki.
The club germinated after the merger of two local teams from the Lapland Finnish, the Rovaniemen Reipas and Rovaniemen Lappito create the “Santa Claus team”, as they are known, and the most Christmassy football team in the world.
Despite not being in the maximum category, its marketing has crossed borders. FC Santa Claus has signed sponsorship contracts with brands such as EA Sports, Puma or the Chinese Bewin Sport, creator of ‘WeChat’, which saved the entity in 2015 from a major economic crisis. As a result of this sponsorship, the club carried out a tour in asia and among his most important achievements are having played friendlies against teams like West Ham or Crystal Palace.
In fact, the club, which plays in the Saarenkylän Tekonurmi Stadiuma small fiefdom with a capacity for about 2,000 spectators, has been on the verge of disappearing twice, due to both economic and environmental problems, since sometimes it can be reached “30 degrees below zero and even 40”, It is explained in an article in El Periódico de España of Prensa Ibérica.
Santa Claus, in a FC Santa Claus training session / FC SANTA CLAUS
“Our club motto is ‘Never stop believing’, something we have always done. It hasn’t been easy, because sometimes there hasn’t been money to compete.”says Juha Etelainen, spokesperson for the club, in the same article.
The entity is also known for its social and supportive nature. The club collaborates with different social causes, NGOs such as UNICEF and promotes the values of football, fair-play and life around the figure of the best-known Christmas character, Santa Claus.
