FC Santa Claus: The most festive football team in the world

Did you know that Santa lives in Finland and that he even has his very own football team? Too good to be true? Well, it’s not! We’re in Rovaniemi, Lapland, in the far north of Finland, where the temperatures have already plunged to minus 10 degrees. It has been known to get as cold as minus 38. 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.

FC Santa Claus was founded in 1993 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. But FC Santa Claus is not just popular in Lapland or Finland, the team that plays in red and white and whose badge is Santa checking his naughty list has supporters all over the world. The club is normally oscillating between Finland’s second and third divisions, however, two times they were almost promoted to the first division, most recently in 2010. “Don’t stop believing and take care of others” is the Club’s motto and something that makes them very special. They hope that every child and every adult who loves football and Christmas also loves FC Santa Claus. It 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.