Welcome to Jyväskylä

On behalf of the City of Jyväskylä I have a great pleasure to heartily welcome all the participating teams to compete in our town which is known to be friendly to sports.

The University of Jyväskylä with its Faculty of Sports and Health Sciences, houses special expertise in the field of sports education and research, which has won high international renown. We have numerous Olympic and World Champions, European and national champions in the city. More important still, our inhabitants are sports-loving people. The sport and health sector in Jyväskylä is extremely comprehensive. In our city we have Likes, a trust that promotes public health through sport, and KIHU, the Finnish Research Institute for Olympic Sports. Jyväskylä is not only a town of sports, however. We take pride in being the cradle of the Finnish-speaking culture, a university town with strong cultural traditions. The name of Jyväskylä is also often mentioned in another context, namely in connection with architect Alvar Aalto, maybe the best-known Finn in the history, whose designs characterize our townscape.

For more than fifty years now, Jyväskylä has been the scene of action for the World Rally Championship, Neste Oil Rally Finland, which has been elected several times the best rally in the world.

The Jyväskylä region is one of the five growth centres in Finland: it is famous also for its excellent achievements in sciences and technology, high-quality cultural activities and beautiful natural environment.

Welcome to Jyväskylä also in the future

Markku Andersson
Mayor