Kasper Hämäläinen

Kasper Woldemar Hämäläinen (born 8 August 1986) is a Finnish professional football attacking midfielder who plays for Czech First League side FK Jablonec and the Finland national team.[1] Hämäläinen was born in Turku, Finland, where he started his senior career in TPS before moving to Djurgården. Hämäläinen made his international debut for Finland in November 2008 and has since had over 60 caps, including appearing in Finland´s UEFA Euro 2020 campaign in which Finland national team secured its first place in European Football Championship tournament´s group stage.

Kasper Hämäläinen
Personal information
Full name Kasper Woldemar Hämäläinen
Date of birth (1986-08-08) 8 August 1986
Place of birth Turku, Finland
Height 1.87 m (6 ft 1 1⁄2 in)
Position(s) Attacking midfielder
Club information
Current team
 FK Jablonec
Number 14
Youth career
1995–1997 MaPS
1998–2001 Inter Turku
2002–2003 TPS
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2003–2010 TPS 97 (12)
2010–2013 Djurgården 90 (8)
2013–2016 Lech Poznań 100 (33)
2016–2019 Legia Warsaw 90 (21)
2019– FK Jablonec 15 (2)
2019– →Jablonec B (reserve team) 8 (1)
National team‡
2002 Finland U16 17 (0)
2003 Finland U17 10 (0)
2006–2009 Finland U21 21 (1)
2008– Finland 63 (9)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 11:34, 16 January 2021 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 26 March 2019

Club career

TPS Turku

Born in Turku, Hämäläinen started his career in his hometown club TPS. In June 2008, Portuguese Primeira Liga club C.D. Nacional was keen to sign him, but he was said to be too expensive.[2] He visited Italian clubs Roma, Lazio, Udinese and Siena. NEC also showed interest. After the 2008 season, he was near a move to an unnamed Italian club but he chose to stay in Turku to secure play time in the first team.

Djurgårdens IF

In December 2009, it was announced that Swedish club Djurgården had acquired him.[3] "Kasper" as his shirt says became a star in the Djurgården-shirt and started all the 30 league games in Allsvenskan during both the 2010 and 2011 season. During his two first season he played as a central midfielder besides his fellow country man Daniel Sjölund. In the 2012 pre-season Djurgården manager Magnus Pehrsson tried Hämäläinen in a more offensive role as a trequartista. Hämäläinen did it so well that the move became permanent.

Lech Poznań

However, in January 2013, it was announced that Hämäläinen had signed a three-year contract with Polish top-flight side Lech Poznań. The transfer fee was never made public, but it was believed to be around €250.000 [4] On 24 February, he scored on his debut in a 4–0 away win over Ruch Chorzów. Hämäläinen gained 14 caps during the spring season of 2013 out of which he was in the starting eleven 12 times. In those 14 matches he scored three goals. Lech Poznań won silver medals and made it to UEFA Europa League qualifications for the next season.

Legia Warsaw

On 11 January 2016, he joined Lech's archrivals Legia Warsaw on a free transfer, signing a ​3 1⁄2-year deal.[5]

International career

Hämäläinen was part of the Finnish U17 team that represented in the 2003 U17 World Cup held in Finland. He was a regular member of the Finland U21 team that qualified to the 2009 U21 European Championship held in Sweden and played in all Finland's three matches.

He made his national team debut on 19 November 2008 against Switzerland when Stuart Baxter chose him to the starting line up for a match played in St. Gallen.[6][7] Hämäläinen scored his first international goal on 17 November 2010 against San Marino as he scored a brace in the 8–0 home victory.

Personal life

Hämäläinen's father Heikki Hämäläinen is a former track and field athlete.

Career statistics

Club
As of match played 29 May 2019[8][9]
Club Season League League Cup Europe Other1 Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
TPS 2018 Veikkausliiga ?300––?3
2009 25000––250
Total 253000000253
Djurgården 2010 Allsvenskan 30210––312
2011 30220––322
2012 30412––316
Total90842––9410
Lech Poznań 2012–13 Ekstraklasa 133–––133
2013–14 3692040–429
2014–15 36134141–4415
2015–16 1583012110319
Total10033912021013036
Legia Warsaw 2015–16 Ekstraklasa 11320––133
2016–17 317114000368
2017–18 3183062104110
2018–19 172204010242
Total9020811422011423
Career total 305642143443036372

1 Including Polish SuperCup.

International
As of 26 March 2019[10]
Finland
YearAppsGoals
200810
200930
201072
201193
201291
2013102
201440
201560
201661
201760
201800
201920
Total639

International goals
As of match played 1 June 2016. Finland score listed first, score column indicates score after each Hämäläinen goal.[11]
International goals by date, venue, cap, opponent, score, result and competition
No. Date Venue Cap Opponent Score Result Competition
1 17 November 2010Helsinki Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland11 San Marino2–08–0UEFA Euro 2012 qualification
2 5–0
3 10 August 2011Skonto Stadium, Riga, Latvia15 Latvia1–02–0Friendly
4 2 September 2011Helsinki Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland16 Moldova1–04–1UEFA Euro 2012 qualification
5 2–0
6 12 October 201228 Georgia1–11–12014 FIFA World Cup qualification
7 7 June 201333 Belarus1–01–0
8 14 August 2013Veritas Stadion, Turku, Finland35 Slovenia2–02–0Friendly
9 1 June 2016King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels, Belgium52 Belgium1–01–1

Honours

Lech Poznań

Legia Warsaw

References
  1. "Finský reprezentant Hämäläinen patří Jablonci!" (in Czech). FK Jablonec. 9 September 2019. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  2. Turun Sanomat
  3. "Kasper Hämäläinen till DIF" (in Swedish). dif.se. 30 December 2009. Archived from the original on 8 January 2010. Retrieved 30 December 2009.
  4. Kasper Hämäläinen pelaa jatkossa Puolan hulluimpien fanien edessä (Kasper Hämäläinen will be playing in front of the craziest fans of Poland) Archived 4 February 2013 at the Wayback Machine; 29 January 2013; Iltasanomat.fi (in Finnish)
  5. "Kasper Hamalainen piłkarzem Legii! – Legia Warszawa". legia.com.
  6. Finland vs Switzerland Archived 6 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine (in Finnish)
  7. "Sveitsi kaatoi Suomen St. Gallenissa" (in Finnish). YLE Urheilu. 19 November 2008. Archived from the original on 28 January 2015. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
  8. "Kasper Hämäläinen". Soccerway. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  9. "Kasper Hämäläinen". 90minut.pl. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  10. "Kasper Hämäläinen" (in Finnish). palloliitto.fi. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  11. Kasper Hämäläinen at Soccerway
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