LiigaPloki Women

Pihtipudas sits far enough from Finland's volleyball centres that its women's team built its own name for itself rather than borrowing a rival's shadow. That local pride carried the side up rather than sideways: the team reached the Mestaruusliiga, the Finnish top flight, in the 2003-2004 season.

The bronze from 2006 remains the marker most people in the town still bring up. The Finnish Cup followed in 2019, giving Ploki a second honour to put alongside the league medal.

Matches are played at Pihtipudas-Sali, where 1,000 seats are enough to make a full house feel like the whole town has turned out. The colours are yellow and maroon, though supporters' merchandise has mixed maroon with sky blue over the years.

None of this existed as one club before 1995. Ploki was formed that year by merging four local outfits — Alvajärven Ryhti, Muurasjärven Murro, Pihtiputaan Tuisku and Pihtiputaan Urheilijat — bringing Pihtipudas's scattered volleyball activity under a single name for the first time.