Town striker Shefki Kuqi looks likely to avoid his career being interrupted by military service with the Finnish army introducing a new flexible policy towards professional athletes.

All Finnish men have to complete six months in the armed services by the time they are 30, something which a recent law extended to Finns born outside Finland but with Finnish citizenship. Kuqi was born in Kosovo but moved to Finland when 13 years old and holds a Finnish passport.

Reports in Finland earlier today indicate that the army is prepared to show greater flexibility and will introduce a three-year experimental reform which will see professional sportsmen start their six months service with an eight-week training period. The rest of their service will then be carried out at a time convenient to the athlete.

Previously, many Finnish sportsmen completed their service early on in their careers while still with Finnish clubs, but recently more and more footballers and ice hockey players have been moving abroad at younger ages having not yet done their time in the army.

This caused fears that the likes of Kuqi, his brother Njazi at Birmingham and Mikael Forssell, would see their football careers stalled by spells in the military.

Finnish national football coach Antti Muurinen is set to meet with army representatives on Wednesday to discuss the details of the military's new flexible policy which they plan to start in June.

Kuqi, 28, now looks likely to be spending much of his next few close seasons completing his six months in the army, without having to miss any games for the Blues.

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