‘It’s tough mentally’ — Non-EU players struggle with residence permit rules in Finland

Many non-EU footballers in Finland face a recurring problem every autumn: their residence permits expire almost immediately after the last game of the season. This leaves players under pressure at a time when they should be focused on the final matches, recovery, and planning their next steps.

Torfiq Ali-Abubakar (Kuva: Jukka Laitinen)

To understand the issue from a player’s perspective, we spoke with Torfiq Ali-Abubakar, a striker who had a brilliant season at MP. He won the Ykkönen goal-scoring title with 22 goals, and MP’s season culminated in promotion to the Ykkösliiga.

“It’s tough mentally”

How does it feel to prepare for the last games of the season knowing that your residence permit will expire immediately after the season?
- Knowing that our residence permits will expire right after the season is tough mentally because it puts us non-EU players in a situation where we can’t focus on playing football. And usually at the end of the season, most games are really crucial.

“We need more time to sort our contracts”

How long would you need to stay in Finland after the season to take care of contract matters and other things in peace?
- I think 2–3 months would be a suitable time for anybody to get their contract matters sorted. It would help a lot if non-EU players were given a little bit more time to stay after the season.

“Some clubs take advantage of the situation”

Do you feel that clubs take advantage of the situation by offering players worse contracts because they know you are under time pressure?
- Yes definitely. Some clubs take advantage of that because it takes a long time and a lot of effort to get visas in our home countries. Because of that, most of us would rather stay here so we don’t have to go through visa stress again after we get our contracts. Some clubs use that as an advantage by offering worse contracts.

Life and costs in Finland

Were you surprised by the cost of living in Finland when you first came here to play?
- Yes, I was a little bit surprised by the cost of living, but I didn’t think too much about it because I know there’s nothing that can be done about it.

Do you feel that the current minimum wage for non-EU citizens is enough to live well in Finland?
- It depends on the player, the level they play, and the contract they have. But I think the minimum wage should be good enough for us to survive for a month and also support our families back home, because most of our families look up to us for financial support.