The England Manager has been honoured with a Knighthood from Finland

England Manager Roy Hodgson has been honoured with the Knight, First Class, of the Order of the Lion of Finland.

The award is thanks to his time living in Helsinki while he was boss of the Finland national team from January 2006 to November 2007.

Under Hodgson, Finland reached their highest ever FIFA ranking and were just one goal away from qualifying for Euro 2008. Victory over Portugal in their last qualifier, rather than a 0-0 draw, would have seen them reach a major tournament for the very first time.

Hodgson received his award from the Ambassador of Finland to the United Kingdom, H.E. Pekka Huhtaniemi, in London earlier this month.

His appointment to the Order of the Lion of Finland was granted by the President of the Republic of Finland, H.E. Sauli Niinistö, who is also the former Chairman of the Finnish Football Association.

“Roy’s time as the manager of Finland lifted the level of Finnish football culture and made Finland internationally better-known as a football nation,” Mr Huhtaniemi.

“Roy brought with him a higher degree of professionalism and more disciplined style of playing.”

Hodgson said: “I enjoyed my life [In Finland] very much. Not only in football, but outside of it as well."

"I hope that my relationship with Finland, which is already great, becomes even greater.”

Next up for England in their 2014 World Cup Qualifying campaign is San Marino at Wembley on 12 October. Tickets for the game are still available, click here to buy online.