Jari Litmanen

Jari Litmanen
Jari Litmanen in 2009
Personnel
Surname	Jari Olavi Litmanen
birthday	20th February 1971
place of birth	Lahti ,  Finland
size	182 cm
position	Attacking midfield , striker
Juniors
Years	station
1977-1987	Lahden Reipas
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1987-1990	Lahden Reipas	86 (28)
1991	HJK Helsinki	27 (16)
1992	MyPa	18 0(7)
1992-1999	Ajax Amsterdam	159 (91)
1999-2001	FC Barcelona	21 0(3)
2001-2002	Liverpool FC	26 0(5)
2002-2004	Ajax Amsterdam	20 0(5)
2004	FC Lahti	11 0(3)
2005	Hansa Rostock	13 0(1)
2005-2007	Malmö FF	10 0(3)
2008	Fulham FC	0 0(0)
2008-2010	FC Lahti	35 0(9)
2011–2012	HJK Helsinki	23 0(2)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
	Finland U-15	8 0(1)
	Finland U-16	2 0(0)
	Finland U17	10 0(3)
	Finland U-19	1 0(0)
	Finland U-21	6 0(2)
1989-2010	Finland	137 (32)
1 Only league games are given.

Jari Olavi Litmanen  [ ˈjɑri ˈlitmɑnɛn ] (born February 20, 1971 in Lahti ) is a former Finnish soccer player who was last under contract with HJK Helsinki . He is the record player and record scorer for the Finnish national soccer team and is considered one of the best Finnish soccer players of all time.

society

At the age of 16 he made his debut with the Finnish club Lahden Reipas . For the club he scored 28 goals in 86 league games. He then moved to Finland's capital, where he played for HJK Helsinki in 1991 . In 1992 he was under contract with Myllykosken Pallo and won the national cup competition. Between 1992 and 1999 Litmanen ran for the Dutch club Ajax Amsterdam and scored 126 goals in 224 games. He won the Champions League and became a world cup winner . Four times he was in the Netherlands champion and three times cup winners . After his time at Ajax, he moved to FC Barcelona , for whom he played from 1999 to 2001. With Liverpool FC , Jari Litmanen became a UEFA Cup winner and English league cup winner a year later .

Litmanen signed again with Ajax Amsterdam in the summer of 2002 before returning to his Finnish homeland in 2004. In February 2005 he moved from FC Lahti , which arose from the merger of his hometown club Lahden Reipas with FC Kuusysi , to Hansa Rostock , who was then threatened with relegation in the Bundesliga . After Hansa was relegated from the first Bundesliga, Litmanen rejected an offer from the North Germans for the second division and moved to Malmö FF in the highest Swedish league.

In 2007 Litmanen fell out for several months after surgery on his Achilles tendon. After his contract with Malmö expired on December 31, 2007, he moved to English first division club Fulham in January 2008 . There he met the former Finnish national coach Roy Hodgson .

Litmanen made his debut for Fulham on March 31, 2008, in a match between the club's reserve team and Tottenham Hotspur's reserves . He scored his first goal with a penalty five minutes before half-time. He was substituted in the 63rd minute and Fulham lost the game 3-1 in the end.

In May 2008 the contract with Litmanen was terminated. He didn't play a single game for the professional team.

Litmanen then played again from August 8, 2008 at FC Lahti and scored two goals in his first game and prepared two more goals. The contract ran until the end of 2010. In April 2011 Litmanen continued his active career at HJK Helsinki , where he signed a contract until the end of the calendar year. At the age of 40, he won the Finnish championship for the first time in 2011 with Helsinki.

National team

Jari Litmanen played his first of 137 international matches (32 goals) on October 22, 1989. The Finnish national football team won this game 1-0 against Trinidad and Tobago . He is the record national player and the most successful goalscorer in his country, but was not able to take part in any European or World Cup with the national team. After the 1-1 draw in Liechtenstein on September 9, 2009, when he scored his 31st international goal, qualifying for the World Cup in South Africa was no longer possible.

On October 22, 2010, the 21st anniversary of his international debut, he overtook Lothar Matthäus , who was national player for Germany for 20 years (1980-2000). He played his last international match on November 17, 2010 in an 8-0 win against San Marino, where he scored the 6-0 with a penalty. He then resigned from the national team. He is both the first and only football player in the world to have played full international matches in four different decades.

Awards

• Finland's Footballer of the Year (9 ×): 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 and 2000
• Finland's Sportsman of the Year : 1995
• Netherlands Footballer of the Year : 1993
• European Footballer of the Year : Third place in 1995
• Best Finnish player in 50 years: 2004

Season statistics

society	league	season	league		Nat. Cup		European Cup		Other		total
			Games	Gates	Games	Gates	Games	Gates	Games	Gates	Games	Gates
Lahden Reipas	Veikkausliiga	1987	9	0	1	0	-	-	-	-	10	0
		1988	26th	8th	4th	0	-	-	-	-	30th	8th
		1989	25th	6th	4th	2	-	-	-	-	29	8th
		1990	26th	14th	3	0	-	-	-	-	29	14th
total			86	28	12	2	-	-	-	-	98	30th
HJK Helsinki	Veikkausliiga	1991	27	16	-	-	2	0	-	-	29	16
total			27	16	-	-	2	0	-	-	29	16
MyPa	Veikkausliiga	1992	18th	7th	6th	4th	-	-	-	-	24	11
total			18th	7th	6th	4th	-	-	-	-	24	11
Ajax Amsterdam	Eredivisie	1992/93	12	1	1	0	1	0	-	-	14th	1
		1993/94	30th	26th	3	4th	5	4th	1	2	39	36
		1994/95	27	17th	4th	2	11	6th	1	1	43	26th
		1995/96	26th	14th	2	0	10	9	-	-	38	23
		1996/97	16	6th	1	0	7th	2	1	0	25th	8th
		1997/98	25th	16	3	4th	6th	2	-	-	34	22nd
		1998/99	23	11	5	1	4th	1	1	0	33	13
total			159	91	19th	11	44	24	4th	3	226	129
FC Barcelona	Primera División	1999/00	21st	3	3	1	8th	0	-	-	32	4th
total			21st	3	3	1	8th	0	-	-	32	4th
Liverpool FC	Premier League	2000/01	5	1	2	1	2	0	2	0	11	2
		2001/02	21st	4th	1	0	9	3	1	0	32	7th
total			26th	5	3	1	11	3	3	0	43	9
Ajax Amsterdam	Eredivisie	2002/03	14th	5	1	0	7th	2	-	-	22nd	7th
		2003/04	6th	0	-	-	3	0	-	-	9	0
total			20th	5	1	0	10	2	-	-	31	7th
FC Lahti	Veikkausliiga	2004	11	3	1	0	-	-	1	0	13	3
total			11	3	1	0	-	-	1	0	13	3
Hansa Rostock	Bundesliga	2004/05	13	1	1	0	-	-	-	-	14th	1
total			13	1	1	0	-	-	-	-	14th	1
Malmö FF	Allsvenskan	2005	2	1	-	-	1	0	-	-	3	1
		2006	8th	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	8th	2
		2007	0	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	0
total			10	3	-	-	1	0	-	-	11	3
Fulham FC	Premier League	2007/08	0	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	0
total			0	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	0
FC Lahti	Veikkausliiga	2008	6th	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	6th	3
		2009	13	2	2	0	6th	1	3	1	24	4th
		2010	21st	5	-	-	-	-	2	0	23	5
total			40	10	2	0	6th	1	5	1	53	12
HJK Helsinki	Veikkausliiga	2011	18th	1	1	1	2	0	1	0	22nd	2
total			18th	1	1	1	2	0	1	0	22nd	2
Career total			449	173	49	20th	84	30th	14th	4th	596	227

See also

• List of football players with at least 100 international matches

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Spiegel.de: Transfercoup-Rostock catches old star Litmanen. Retrieved July 29, 2018 . 
2. ↑ Litmanen pelaa tulvan kauden HJK hjk.fi (Finnish)
3. ↑ FIFA.com: Title decisions in Northern Europe

Web links

• Litmanens profile on the Finnish Football Association website
• Unofficial website fans Jari Litmanen
• Jari Litmanen in the database of weltfussball.de

predecessor	Office	successor
Dennis Bergkamp	Netherlands Footballer of the Year 1993	Ronald de Boer
Jari Europaeus Marko Myyry Sami Hyypiä	Footballer of the Year in Finland 1990 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 2000	Marko Myyry Sami Hyypiä Sami Hyypiä