Far-right combat clubs actively recruiting minors in Finland, researcher warns

Far-right extremist groups in Finland are increasingly targeting underage recruits through online campaigns that blend combat sports with nationalist and neo-Nazi ideology, according to a new study by Katri-Maaria Kyllönen, a doctoral researcher at the University of Jyväskylä.

The groups—including Active Club Finland, Club 8, and Veren Laki—use Telegram channels to spread messages that exploit frustration among young people, offering martial arts training and camaraderie as solutions to perceived societal threats, Kyllönen found after analyzing their communications between 2020 and 2024. “The recruitment of minors into far-right activity is a growing international phenomenon,” she told Yle.

Their propaganda relies on emotionally charged narratives that first amplify grievances—such as opposition to immigration or “modern society’s decadence”—before presenting combat clubs as a path to “restore honor,” the research shows. Open neo-Nazi symbolism, including Hitler quotes, white supremacist imagery, and Nazi salutes, frequently appears in their posts.

One group, White Youth 03, launched this year in Päijät-Häme with a focus on 15- to 18-year-olds. Its public Telegram channel, which gained over 250 subscribers by May, mixes nationalist folklore with far-right rhetoric, though Kyllönen notes its tone is “more solemn” than the overt neo-Nazi branding used by other factions. Stickers advertising the group have appeared across Lahti’s city center in recent months.

Finland’s Security Intelligence Service (Supo) told Yle it considers the threat from these organized far-right networks to national security “low,” though it has previously warned of rising individual extremists capable of terrorist acts. Kyllönen’s study underscores that combat training serves dual purposes for the groups: physical preparation for “future confrontations with enemies” and a visible pledge of allegiance to the movement.