Well the Finnish character is predisposed to individual sports, I think. The big heroes are people like Matti Nykänen, Mika Hakkinen, Kimi Raikkonen, Marcus Grönholm and the many 'flying Finns' in middle distance running:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Finn_(athlete)
Then there's orienteering, which is unfathomably popular, and Nordic walking. Although I don't think Wordic walking takes away too many potential Litmanens.
And then there's pesapallo, Finnish baseball. this is a semi-professional, televised sport, very popular in rural areas.
Despite this, football is still the biggest participation sport in the country, with 100,000 registered players compared to 52,000 for ice hockey. That it doesn't translate into top class professional clubs is something I've touched on in the blog-you might want to look at the 'Musan Salama' article about why football is still overwhelmingly amateur and local, rather than professional.
Regarding fan culture, it has improved markedly in recent years. Every team in Veikkausliiga has a group of active fans, and the more traditional clubs like KTP, Haka, VPS and HJK have a decent atmosphere at many games. The newer clubs have more of a struggle, but even Tampere United have a good group now. I know they were founded after a visit to Söderstadion impressed them.
The favourites this year will be HJK and Tampere United, last years top two, and TPS who have spent ridiculous amounts of money to secure Mixu Paatelainen and to sign the players he wants. They were rubbish in the indoor game they played in tampere in February, but they've signed a few players since and i don't think Mixu will take any crap.