The 38 items in the book Sports Facilities in Finland provide the reader with a picture not only of the rich diversity in Finnish sports facility construction but also of its high quality. The book includes conversions and structurally repaired facilities from major complexes to minor grandstand constructions, from national monuments to sports halls intended only to meet the needs of local people. What they all have in common is the high level of design and unstinting implementation, which the reader will ascertain from the illustrations, drawings and verbal descriptions. The density of Finnish sports facilities is the highest in the world: one facility for 182 inhabitants. There are some 28,000 sports facilities in our country. Municipal sports services came under the law according to legislation passed in 1980. hree quarters of the sports facilities in this country are owned by the municipalities, who have devoted some 500 million FIM a year to their construction. In the period 1980 - 1999 central government has supported such construction to the extent of more than 1.3 billion FIM.