In English

Briefly in English about The Sports Federation of North Karelia (Pokali)

The Sports Federation of North Karelia (Pokali) is one of the 15 non-governmantal regional sports organisations in Finland. Pokali is a member of the Finnish Sports Federation. Pokali's activities are funded by the Ministry of Education and Culture, versatile projects and our own fund-raising.

Pokali operates in the County of North Karelia. North Karelia is the easternmost region of Finland and the European Union. It shares a 296 km stretch of frontier with Russia. There are 13 municipalities and approximately 165000 inhabitants in the County of North Karelia. The office of Pokali is situated in Joensuu, which is the regional centre.

Pokali operates in four main sectors:

1. Health-enhancing physical activity for adults
2. Sports for children and youngsters
3. Support services for the sports clubs
4. Sports policy

The aim of Pokali is to encourage people of all ages to engage in health-enhancing physical activity, to organize events, and to produce sports services and campaings as well as education and development services.

Pokali is governed by board of directors which comprises a chairman, 2 vice chairmen and 5 board members. Pokali has about 120 member organisations. They are sports clubs and other local organisations.

Athletics, football, floorball, Finnish baseball, basketball, cross country skiing and ice hockey are all popular sports in North Karelia. Altogether there are 260 sports clubs and over 65 different sports that can be done in North Karelia. The most well-known North-Karelian athlete is at the moment biathlete Kaisa Mäkäräinen.

There are about 1100 physical education facilities in North Karelia. The biggest wooden building in Nordic Countries - Joensuu Areena - is located in Joensuu. It provides a venue for wide variety of indoor and outdoor disciplines.

More information

If you want more information about Pokali and our operations, please contact Tomi Pyylampi, the acting regional manager of Pokali.