Ernst Grönlund

Ernst Alexander Grönlund played football and bandy. His first club was Töölön Vesa. In 1931 he switched to IFK Helsinki, representing the club on the football pitch and ice. Later he competed for HJK, Vortex Kallio and Helsinki Jyry. As inside left, he scored one goal in the match against Peru at the 1936 Olympics. He also played at the Workers’ Olympiads in 1925 and 1928. In total he won 37 caps scoring 10 goals. As of 2013 he remains the oldest player to have played for the Finnish national team, having had his last international appearance at the age of 37 in September 1940. With HIFK he won the Finnish Championship in 1931, 1933 and 1937, scoring 59 goals in championship matches. He won the Finnish Workers’ Sports Federation championship with his native club Töölön Vesa three times in a row: 1927-29. Gronlund was inducted into the Finnish Football Hall of Fame in 2004.

As a bandy player Grönlund won seven A-caps and scored one goal. He won Finnish Championships with Helsinki IFK in 1934-35, 1938-39, and 1941. He played a total of 52 matches in the championship series between 1932 and 1941 and won the respective Workers’ Sports Federation championship earlier in 1927-28, wearing the colors of Töölön Vesa.