A match between the reigning Champions League and Europa League winners, the UEFA Super Cup brought tens of thousands of football fans from Finland and abroad to Helsinki. In addition to the sold-out match event, the Super Cup fever gripped the whole city for several days and was particularly evident at the Fan Festival at Kansalaistori Square. It was the first UEFA club football competition final ever played in Finland. The match itself ended with Real Madrid’s 2–0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt.
Helsinki wants to continue organising major sporting events in the future
The City of Helsinki has drawn up a Tourism and Events Programme for 2022–2026. In accordance with the programme, the city’s attractiveness will be promoted by investing in attracting international tourists and strengthening its eventfulness. The city also has a good reputation for organising major sporting events.
- Events play an important role in Helsinki. They bring joy and life to Helsinki residents as well as work and livelihood to those working in the event industry. Major sporting events increase interest in Helsinki, both within the city and internationally. The UEFA Super Cup is exactly the kind of event that Helsinki is happy to host in the future, says Paavo Arhinmäki, Deputy Mayor of Helsinki.
The economic impact of the UEFA Super Cup was examined in a survey carried out by Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences. Conducted at the Fan Festival and by email to event participants, the survey received responses from more than 3,000 people, almost 40% of whom were international guests.
Football fans see Helsinki as a good host city for international sporting events
According to the survey, total spending by all visitors to the event was €28.1 million. Domestic and international event visitors who came to Helsinki for the UEFA Super Cup had an economic impact of €14.5 million on the host city. In addition, spending in the rest of Finland thanks to the event amounted to €1.3 million.
The majority of the spending was in accommodation and restaurant services and other purchases, for example, in grocery and other shops. According to the survey, Helsinki also made a positive impression on the event visitors: more than 90% of the respondents considered Helsinki a good host city for international sporting events.
- The UEFA Super Cup was a big showcase for Finland and Finnish football, and we managed to make the most of it. The results of the survey undeniably show that organising international sporting events in Finland is profitable according to many indicators. We hope to present Finland to the world of football the next time at the 2025 Women’s Euro, which we have made a bid to host together with the other Nordic countries, says Ari Lahti, President of the Finnish Football Association.
The survey on the impact of the UEFA Super Cup is part of a series of surveys, carried out in 2022 with a separate grant from the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture, to determine the economic impact of international sporting events organised in Finland. The survey was conducted in cooperation with the Finnish Football Association, UEFA and the City of Helsinki. The survey data will be used together with the other events surveyed to understand the economic impact of events and to estimate the average spending by consumers participating in sporting events.