Norwich City sell £45,000 of merchandise in Finland

The pop-up in Helsinki. Pic: NCFC

Retail bosses at Norwich City saw a chance to share the love for striker Teemu Pukki in his home nation – selling £45,000 worth of Canaries merchandise in two days.

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The winning moment for Pukki. Pic: Pink Un/Archant The winning moment for Pukki. Pic: Pink Un/Archant

After the 29-year-old player became a national hero for helping Finland qualify for its first major tournament, Carrow Road heads saw an ideal chance to spread the green and yellow word over in Helsinki.

A commercial team went to a major shopping centre in Kamppi and over the weekend sold more than £45,000 of City merchandise including 1,500 t-shirts, about 350 of the club's most expensive football shirts, socks, bags, keyrings and even Pukki-emblazoned Christmas jumpers.

The club have never done anything like this before but the pop-up initiative aimed to raise the City profile was deemed a huge success.

The pop-up in Helsinki. Pic: NCFC The pop-up in Helsinki. Pic: NCFC

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Sam Jeffery, head of commercial operations, who went over to Helsinki as part of the team, said: "Our retail team at Kamppi consisted of Kayleigh Coverdale, head of retail and Jessica Chapman, customer service and e-commerce coordinator. They did an amazing job over the two days of trading. We've never done an overseas pop-up retail store before and we've had several emails asking are we going to be back next week.

"We worked really hard and took more than 90 boxes of merchandise and we sold out of most items; the Christmas jumpers were particularly popular."

The pop-up in Helsinki. Pic: NCFC The pop-up in Helsinki. Pic: NCFC

The Christmas jumpers had included wording that was a pun on the striker, with 'joulupukki' being a Christmas figure in Finland, literally translated as meaning 'Christmas goat' which apparently the locals loved.

The pop-up came about through organisation with City's sleeve partner, Seriously Digital's Best Fiends, which operates in Helsinki.

"If you were a football fan in Helsinki, you'd definitely be aware of Norwich City," Mr Jeffery added.

The event sparked lots of media interest, with the pop-up making headline news in Ilta-Sanomat, one of Finland's prominent tabloid newspapers.

The pop-up in Helsinki. Pic: NCFC The pop-up in Helsinki. Pic: NCFC

After Pukki's brace helped to beat Liechtenstein 3-0 in Helsinki, it sparked a pitch invasion and celebrations in the streets of Finland.

The pop-up in Helsinki. Pic: NCFC The pop-up in Helsinki. Pic: NCFC

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