Tuomas Haapala

Tuomas Haapala (born 20 April 1979) is a Finnish former footballer who ended his career after 2010.

Tuomas Haapala
Haapala (center) at the KuPS vs HJK at Magnum Areena, Kuopio. Finnish League Cup, 11 March 2008
Personal information
Date of birth (1979-04-20) 20 April 1979
Place of birth Lahti, Finland
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
0000–2000 Pallo-Lahti
Lahden Reipas
FC Kuusysi
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2000–2003 FC Lahti 108 (14)
2004–2005 MyPa 47 (3)
2005–2006 Manchester City 0 (0)
2006–2007 Sandefjord Fotball 13 (0)
2007–2009 HJK Helsinki 38 (0)
2010 Tampere United 21 (1)
National team
2005– Finland 4 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 8 October 2009
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 17 December 2009

Haapala has previously played for FC Lahti (2000–03) and MyPa (2004–05) in the Finnish Veikkausliiga. He won the Finnish Cup with MyPa in 2004, and captained the club to the Finnish championship in 2005. After an excellent 2005 season, Haapala was invited for a trial with Manchester City. After two weeks at the club, manager Stuart Pearce decided to offer him a contract to the end of the 2005–06 season. However, Haapala failed to break into the first team, and made only reserve team appearances. After his long try-out in Manchester he signed for Sandefjord Fotball. In August 2007 he joined HJK Helsinki. After three seasons with HJK, Haapala joined Tampere United for the season 2010, which was his last year as a professional football player.

Haapala played his first game for the Finnish national team on 12 October 2005 against Estonia.

Honours

  • Profile at HJK.fi
  • "Stats at Veikkausliiga.com". Archived from the original on 24 October 2007. Retrieved 29 August 2008.
  • Guardian Football
  • Tuomas Haapala at National-Football-Teams.com
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