Mika Kottila

Mika "Hirvi" Kottila (born 22 September 1974) is a Finnish former professional footballer. He played as a forward and spent the vast majority of his career playing in Nordic countries.

Mika Kottila
Personal information
Full name Mika Kottila
Date of birth (1974-09-22) 22 September 1974
Place of birth Vantaa, Finland
Height 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in)
Position(s) Forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1993 FinnPa 1 (0)
1994–1995 HJK 33 (6)
1996 RoPS 14 (2)
1996–1997 Hereford United 13 (1)
1997–1998 HJK 51 (8)
1999 Brann[1] 13 (1)
2000–2001 Trelleborg 45 (9)
2002–2004 HJK 74 (33)
2005–2006 FC Lahti 32 (6)
2006–2009 MPS
National team
1998–2004 Finland 31 (7)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Club career

Kottila was born in Vantaa, Finland. He joined RoPS in 1992. He had a spell on loan at Hereford United during the 1996–97 season. He made 13 league appearances, scoring 1 goal.

He then joined HJK Helsinki for the second of three spells, having previously played for the club during the 1994 season. He made 157 appearances and scored 56 goals for the club during his three spells. The top moment of his career came when he scored two goals in UEFA Champions League 1998.

He moved to Norway to play for SK Brann where he was in the 1999 season,[1] and then Sweden to play for Trelleborgs FF. A third spell at HJK followed between 2002 and 2004. He also featured in the 2004 UEFA Champions League playing against the likes of Linfield and Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. in the qualifying rounds.

Between 2005 and 2006 he played for FC Lahti in the Finnish Premier Division.

International career

He was capped 31 times for Finland, scoring 6 goals between 1998 and 2004.

References
  1. Nielsen, Atle (2008). Sportsklubben Brann: 100 år med tro, håp og kjærlighet (in Norwegian). Bergen: Schibsted. p. 252. ISBN 978-82-516-2658-3.


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