Welcome to Tampere, Finland’s city of judo!

The art of judo has ancestral traditions in medieval Japan where the samurai fought for life and death. Since then, the martial art has taken huge leaps to develop into a modern, progressive sport.

These days, judo is the most popular martial art in the world, measured by both the number of practitioners and how widely it’s practiced globally. In the Olympics, judo is the third most popular sport by the number of countries participating in the event, only behind athletics and swimming.

The first organised judo activities in Tampere started in 1958, the same year the Finnish Judo Association was established. From the very beginning, the people in Tampere have shown great interest in judo, which has only grown stronger throughout the years.

Today, Tampere Judo is one of the biggest and most successful clubs in Finland, with practitioners from toddlers to grandparents. Our youngest judokas train with their parents in family classes, while starting from the age of five without an upper age limit, judokas attend proper judo training, with classes for amateurs, competitive judokas and practitioners with special needs.

Pasi Lauren fighting in EMG

Tampere Judo is also very active in masters sports, represented by such talented masters athletes as Pasi Lauren, the 2022 World and European Judo Champion.

We are a highly-experienced and responsible sports events organiser and have previously been entrusted with the organising of European Judo Championships, European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF), SELL Student Games and several European Cup events. We also host numerous national events every year.

Welcome to Tampere, Finland’s city of judo!