Niko Hämäläinen

Nicholas "Niko" Antero Hämäläinen (born 5 March 1997) is an American-born Finnish footballer who plays as a midfielder or a defender for Queens Park Rangers.

Niko Hämäläinen
Hämäläinen on the bench for the Finland under-21s against the Austria under-21s in 2015
Personal information
Full name Nicholas Antero Hämäläinen[1]
Date of birth (1997-03-05) 5 March 1997
Place of birth West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S.
Height 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s) Left back
Club information
Current team
 Queens Park Rangers
Number 25
Youth career
2010 Wellington Wave SC[2]
2010–2013 FC Florida
2013–2014 FC Dallas
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2014– Queens Park Rangers 19 (0)
2015 → Dagenham & Redbridge (loan) 1 (0)
2019 → Los Angeles FC (loan) 3 (0)
2019–2020 → Kilmarnock (loan) 28 (0)
National team‡
2015 Finland U18 12 (1)
2015 Finland U19 2 (0)
2017–2018 Finland U21 12 (0)
2019– Finland 4 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19 January 2021 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 12:02, 11 December 2020 (UTC)

Born and raised in the United States to a Finnish father and an American mother, Hämäläinen played for Finland at various youth levels, and made his debut at senior level in a friendly match against Estonia on 11 January 2019.[3]

Club career

Queens Park Rangers

On 18 September 2014, Hämäläinen signed for Queens Park Rangers from the FC Dallas Academy.[4] Former West Ham midfielder Ian Bishop, a family friend, arranged a trial for Hämäläinen, where he was spotted by QPR.[5]

He made his league debut for QPR as a substitute for Joel Lynch in a 2–1 win against West London rivals Fulham on 1 October 2016. He made his first appearance in the starting lineup on 22 October 2016 in a match against Sheffield Wednesday.[6]

2015–16: Dagenham & Redbridge loan

On 6 August 2015, Hämäläinen signed on an emergency loan deal at Dagenham & Redbridge until 5 September 2015.[7]

Hämäläinen made his professional debut on 12 August 2015, in Dagenham & Redbridge's 1–4 loss to Charlton Athletic in the League Cup. He was named in the starting eleven and was replaced by Ashley Hemmings in the 58th minute.[8] His loan was extended in September 2015 for an additional month.[9]

2018–19: Los Angeles FC loan

On 25 February 2019, Hämäläinen joined Major League Soccer side Los Angeles FC on a six-month loan deal. Prior to his signing, Jordan Harvey was the only recognised left-back at LAFC.[10] After the announcement of the signing, general manager John Thorrington said “Niko has a bright future ahead of him and we look forward to furthering his professional development at LAFC... I am confident he will prove to be a valuable addition to the group".[11] He made his debut when he came off the bench in the 81st minute and made an assist in the 90+2 minute for the winner in a 2-1 win over Real Salt Lake.[12]

2019–20: Kilmarnock loan

Hämäläinen was loaned to Scottish Premiership club Kilmarnock in August 2019.[13] His decision to move to Scotland was influenced by compatriot Glen Kamara, who plays for Rangers, and Lee Wallace, a teammate of Hämäläinen's at QPR, having joined from Rangers himself in June 2019.[14] So far in 2019–20, Hämäläinen has been named in the Scottish Premiership team of the week twice.[5]

International career

Hämäläinen was eligible for the United States and Finland, having been born and raised in the United States to a Finnish father. He originally played as a youth international for Finland.[15]

He made his senior debut for the Finland national football team on 11 January 2019 at Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, Qatar, in a friendly match against Estonia.[16] He played for 84 minutes until he was replaced by Juha Pirinen.[17]

On 30 August 2019, Hämäläinen accepted a call to the United States under-23s, his first call-up to the United States at any level.[18]

Hämäläinen made his competitive debut for Finland against the Republic of Ireland in the UEFA Nations League on 6 September 2020, thus tying him to the Finnish national team.[19]

Personal life

Hämäläinen was born and raised in the United States. He is of African-American[20] and Finnish descent. He is the son of Timo Hämäläinen, who played for the Finnish football club Koparit in 1978–1982 in the SM-sarja before moving to the United States to work.[21] [22]

Career statistics

Club
As of match played 8 December 2020
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Queen's Park Rangers 2015–16[23] Championship 000000—00
2016–17[24] Championship 300010—40
2017–18[25] Championship 000000—00
2018–19[26] Championship 000020—20
2019–20[27] Championship 000000—00
2020–21[27] Championship 1100000—110
Total 140003000170
Dagenham & Redbridge (loan) 2015–16[23] League Two 1000100020
Los Angeles FC (loan) 2019[28] MLS 3000——30
Kilmarnock (loan) 2019–20[27] Scottish Premiership 280301000320
Career total 460305000540

International
As of match played 18 November 2020[29]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Finland 201910
202030
Total40

Honours and achievements

Individual

References
  1. "Notification of shirt numbers: Queens Park Rangers" (PDF). English Football League. p. 58. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  2. Wagner, Jodie (14 April 2011). "RPB Strikers' Byrne, Hamalainen earn national soccer honors". The Palm Beach Post. Archived from the original on 28 September 2016. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
  3. Viro toiseksi vastustajaksi – Huuhkajat nimetty tammikuun leirille
  4. "NICHOLAS HAMALAINEN ARRIVES AT QPR". Queens Park Rangers. 18 September 2014. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  5. "ASN: Now a Kilmarnock starter, Hamalainen pondering international options". americansoccernow.com. Retrieved 2020-02-19.
  6. "Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 Queens Park Rangers". BBC Sport. 22 October 2016. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
  7. "NIKO HAMALAINEN JOINS DAGENHAM & REDBRIDGE ON LOAN". QPR. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  8. "Charlton 4–1 Dag & Red". BBC Sport. 11 August 2015. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  9. "Niko Hamalainen: Dagenham & Redbridge keep QPR youngster". BBC Sport. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
  10. "LAFC: Niko Hamalainen another dart to throw at left-back problem". MLS Multiplex. 27 February 2019. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  11. "LAFC Acquires Defender Niko Hämäläinen On Loan". LAFC.com. 25 February 2019. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  12. "LAFC Acquires Defender Niko Hämäläinen On Loan". LAFC.com. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
  13. "Kilmarnock: QPR defender Niko Hamalainen joins on season-long loan". BBC Sport. 20 August 2019. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  14. "Kilmarnock: QPR defender Niko Hamalainen joins on season-long loan". BBC Sport. 20 August 2019. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
  15. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2017-02-02. Retrieved 2017-01-29.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  16. "Finland v Estonia game report". ESPN. 11 January 2019.
  17. "International football MATCH: 11.01.2019 Estonia v Finland". eu-football.info. 11 January 2019. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
  18. "Kreis calls 24 players to u-23 training camp and match vs. japan in san diego". USSoccer.com. 30 August 2019. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
  19. Republic of Ireland 0-1 Finland
  20. "Huuhkajien Niko Hämäläinen on nähnyt karun todellisuuden USA:ssa – äiti kertoi jo lapsuudessa, kuinka toimia jos poliisit pysäyttävät" [Niko Hämäläinen has seen the harsh reality in the USA - My mother told me in childhood what to do if the police stops me] (in Finnish). I have seen how the police treat blacks in America. I was born and raised surrounded by these things. When I was 12, my mother had to talk to me for the first time about what to do if the police stops me. If not handled properly, it can have fatal consequences. I was 12 years old. It's crazy. It really shouldn’t be that at that age you have to discuss these things. It's just wrong
  21. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2017-02-02. Retrieved 2017-01-29.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  22. "Tässä on 18-vuotias suomalaisen futiksen uusi tähti – "Välillä ihmetyttää, lyökö sydän ollenkaan"". Ilta-Sanomat (in Finnish). Retrieved January 29, 2017.
  23. "Games played by Niko Hämäläinen in 2015/2016". Soccerbase. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  24. "Games played by Niko Hämäläinen in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
  25. "Games played by Niko Hämäläinen in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  26. "Games played by Niko Hämäläinen in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
  27. "Games played by Niko Hämäläinen in 2019/2020". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 24 August 2019.
  28. Niko Hämäläinen at Soccerway. Retrieved 24 August 2019.
  29. "Niko Hamalainen". National-Football-Teams.com. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
  30. "Tässä ovat Captain's Ball -futisgaalan kaikki palkitut tahot" [Here are all the awards of the Captain´s Ball Gala] (in Finnish). Suomifutis. 30 October 2015. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
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