keskiviikko 20. marraskuuta 2013
SOCCER/FOOTBALL - "THE FLYING FINN" and STAR FOOTBALL/SOCCER LEGENDY from FINLAND
Jari Litmanen
Litmanen playing for Finland in 2009 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Jari Olavi Litmanen | ||
| Date of birth | 20 February 1971 | ||
| Place of birth | Lahti, Finland | ||
| Height | 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in) | ||
| Playing position | Attacking midfielder Second striker |
||
| Youth career | |||
| 1977–1987 | Reipas | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1987–1990 | Reipas | 86 | (28) |
| 1991 | HJK | 27 | (16) |
| 1992 | MyPa | 18 | (7) |
| 1992–1999 | Ajax | 159 | (91) |
| 1999–2001 | Barcelona | 21 | (3) |
| 2001–2002 | Liverpool | 26 | (5) |
| 2002–2004 | Ajax | 20 | (5) |
| 2004 | Lahti | 11 | (3) |
| 2005 | Hansa Rostock | 13 | (1) |
| 2005–2007 | Malmö FF | 10 | (3) |
| 2008 | Fulham | 0 | (0) |
| 2008–2010 | Lahti | 40 | (10) |
| 2011 | HJK | 18 | (1) |
| Total | 449 | (173) | |
| National team | |||
| 1989–2010 | Finland | 137 | (32) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). |
|||
pronunciation (help·info)) (born 20 February 1971 in Lahti) is a Finnish former footballer. He was the first-choice captain of the Finland national football team
between 1996–2008 in an international career that ran from 1989 to
2010, making him the only male footballer to play an international in
four different decades.[1]He is widely considered to be Finland's greatest football player of all time.[2] He was chosen as the best Finnish player of the last 50 years by the Football Association of Finland in the UEFA Jubilee Awards in November 2003. Litmanen also finished 42nd in the 100 Greatest Finns voting in 2004. The Association of Football Statisticians' (The AFS) compendium of 'Greatest Ever Footballers' listed Litmanen as the 53rd best footballer ever.[3]
In Finland, he is often called 'Litti' (after Pierre Littbarski), which dates from his early years, and is also known as 'Kuningas' ('The King').
During his club career, he represented Reipas, HJK, MyPa and Lahti in Finland and Ajax, Barcelona, Liverpool, Hansa Rostock and Malmö abroad. Once considered one of the best attacking midfielders in the world,[4] he became the first Finnish footballing superstar while playing for Ajax in the mid-1990s, winning the Champions League in 1995, the peak year of his career.
His later career was marred by injuries, and he was unable to repeat the success of his Ajax years either at Barcelona or Liverpool, often finding himself on the bench, despite some impressive performances for the latter. Writing about Litmanen in 2009, Paul Simpson, former FourFourTwo editor, went as far as to assert that "his career has not been worthy of his talent".[5]
Contents
Club career
Early career
Litmanen made his first-team debut for Reipas in Finland’s then top division Mestaruussarja at the age of 16 in 1987. After four seasons with Reipas he moved to HJK, Finland's biggest club, in 1991. A year later he joined MyPa, where he was coached by Harri Kampman, who later introduced him to his agent, the late Heikki Marttinen. Litmanen did not win any medals in the Finnish league, but he did win the Finnish Cup with MyPa in July 1992 in a 2–0 win over FF Jaro in the final at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium. His performance in the cup final, including a goal, convinced a scout of Ajax that the club should sign him. "For me, he was the player," the scout later told Finnish television. His transfer took place during the same summer, and he did not complete the Finnish football season with MyPa.Ajax
Ajax team manager David Endt, who was the person responsible of the staff in Ajax around that time, described his first impression of Litmanen to the Finnish broadcasting corporation YLE in 2010:[7]
| “ | The press conference is over, and in comes Jari Litmanen, from behind the door. And I looked at his face and I looked at his eyes, and I recognised something in those eyes. And I thought, this is a man with a great willpower. Because he was not shy, not timid, but he was modest. He is not a man who will raise his voice, or bang with his fist on the table and say, 'We do it this way'. No, he was more of a diplomat, not wanting to be a leader, but being a leader. … He wanted to know everything about football, he was interested in every part of the game, and this gave him the nickname, within the team, we called him the 'Professor', because you could ask anything about football, and he would know the answer. | ” |
Litmanen was one of the star players of Louis van Gaal's team that won three consecutive Dutch championships and reached the UEFA Champions League final twice in a row. From the beginning of the 1994–95 season to the middle of the 1995–96 season, Ajax went undefeated in both the Eredivisie (a run of 52 games) and the UEFA Champions League (19 games). When Ajax beat Milan in the 1994–95 final, Litmanen became the first Finnish player to win the European Cup or the UEFA Champions League. In 1995–96, he was the Champions League top scorer with nine goals, including the equaliser in the final against Juventus, which Ajax lost on penalties. In 1995, he also won the Intercontinental Cup against Grêmio and came third in the voting for the Ballon d'Or (European Footballer of the Year), having finished eighth the previous year.
Litmanen spent seven years in Amsterdam, winning four Dutch championships and three Dutch Cups, and scored a total of 129 goals, 91 of them in the league. He is the club's top scorer in European competition with 26 goals in 54 matches (including two goals scored in the 2002–03 season). Litmanen has the honour of being one of just three players presented in a special video featurette at the Ajax Museum. The other two are Marco van Basten and Johan Cruyff. Frank Rijkaard, Litmanen's team-mate in the 1993–94 and 1994–95 seasons, once said: "Dennis Bergkamp was brilliant for Ajax but the best No.10 we ever had was Jari." In his time at Ajax, some fans called him 'Merlin' because of the magic he brought to the pitch.
But his proneness to injury also earned Litmanen the name 'The Man of Glass', and injuries hampered his later seasons at Ajax causing him to miss many games (in his six seasons as a regular first-team player, he missed 57 out of a total of 204 league games, and in his last three seasons, he missed seven out of 24 European matches, playing only part of five others). Unfortunately, his injury problems were to worsen as time passed, undermining his subsequent career.
Barcelona
In 1999, Litmanen was reunited with his old boss Van Gaal at Barcelona. He was one of several former Ajax players recruited by Van Gaal in his time as manager, but his stint with the club was largely plagued by injuries:[8]| “ | On board the
Barcelona plane on Tuesday will be six of the boys of Vienna: Kluivert,
Ronald and Frank de Boer, Reiziger, Litmanen and Winston Bogarde, who
sat on the bench in 1995. The Barcelona manager, that same Louis van
Gaal, is engaged in an exercise in trying to repeat history.
There are, admittedly, one or two differences between Ajax then and
Barca now. In 1995, Litmanen and the De Boer twins were kingpins of
Ajax. Now, the injury-prone Litmanen is going the way of the Pope,
making few appearances and looking more frail each time, while Ronald de
Boer has a bad knee. He still understands football, never loses the
ball, but covers much less ground. His brother, Frank, has matured from
left-back into sweeper but he too lacks pace. |
” |
| “ | Players count for nothing, the team is everything. I set more store by a player's character than by his on-field qualities, and particularly whether he is willing to give everything to the cause. There are some incredibly talented players who haven't got the character or the personality to suit my methods. Litmanen, for example, was a different player at Barca than he was at Ajax. You have to adapt to a new culture when you move to a different club, and not every player is able to do that. | ” |
Liverpool
"We have signed a world-class player. He comes with a massive reputation and I believe he's one of the most exciting signings we have made," said the Liverpool manager Gérard Houllier after the transfer had been completed.[10] Litmanen also expressed his pleasure with the move: "It has always been my dream to play for Liverpool. I have supported them since I was a child and there has been talk about me joining them before."[11] He wanted to wear the number seven shirt as worn by his boyhood hero Kenny Dalglish, but this had already been taken by Vladimir Smicer. As shirt numbers 17 and 27 were also in use, he settled for the number 37.Litmanen made a good start at Liverpool but broke his wrist playing for Finland against England at Anfield in late March 2001 and missed the rest of the season. Although he was part of the Liverpool team that won the "cup treble" of the Worthington Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup in 2001, he missed all three finals because of injury. The following season, he was used sparingly by Houllier but did score goals against Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, Aston Villa and Fulham in the Premier League and against Dynamo Kyiv, Roma and Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League.[12]
According to his profile on LFCHistory.net, "Litmanen had difficulties in training due to his ankle problems and was hardly able to play for ninety minutes week in and week out". Litmanen himself was frustrated by his lack of playing time at Liverpool:[13]
| “ | Litmanen was puzzled by Houllier's treatment of him. 'It's strange that he was so pleased when he signed me and then decided to not use me. I cannot explain it myself.' Houllier's explanations made his reasons even more puzzling. 'I let Jari go because I have always believed he had great potential which could benefit other teams. When we had some difficult moments, he was there for us, notably with goals against Fulham, Sunderland, AS Roma and in other crucial games. He had a lack of opportunities in the team but I really liked the reaction of the Ajax players towards Jari when I sold him!' | ” |
Return to Ajax
Litmanen decided to return to Ajax, and was given a hero's welcome with the crowd again singing his name. He was one of the key players as Ajax reached the quarter-finals of the 2002–03 Champions League, but he continued to be plagued by injuries, and much of the following season was once again spent on the sidelines. In the spring of 2004, the club released him from his contract.FC Lahti and Hansa Rostock
Litmanen's return to Finland, as he joined Lahti, was much hyped, and was hailed as "the return of the king".[14] However, Litmanen moved to German Bundesliga strugglers Hansa Rostock in January 2005 to help save them from relegation. In the end, though, Hansa were relegated, which ended Litmanen's stint at the club.Malmö FF
Litmanen joined the Swedish club Malmö FF in July 2005 in an attempt to help them qualify for the Champions League. This attempt, however, failed, and Litmanen himself was injured during the whole of the autumn, only making a few appearances. He decided to continue his career with Malmö in 2006 but was again sidelined with a number of injuries for much of the season. However, the matches he did play showed he remained a brilliant player when fit. After an operation to repair a damaged ankle during the winter break, Malmö decided to extend his contract over the 2007 season, but an ankle injury suffered in June 2007 forced Litmanen to cancel it.[15]Fulham
In January 2008, Litmanen received a 10-day trial invitation from Fulham FC, managed by former Finland manager Roy Hodgson, and was signed on 31 January 2008 together with fellow countryman Toni Kallio. Just weeks after signing with Fulham, Litmanen had to return to his native Finland to rest, after serious heart concerns.Litmanen eventually made his debut in a Fulham shirt in a reserve-team match against Tottenham on 31 March 2008 but was released in May of the same year without playing a single game for the first team.[16]
Return to Lahti
On 8 August 2008, it was announced that Litmanen would join his former club Lahti of the Finnish Premier Division for the remainder of the 2008 season. Although he only played 34 minutes in his first match, he scored twice and provided the passes for two other goals. He played an important role in helping Lahti to finish third in the league and qualify for Europe for the first time in the club's history. He signed a new one-year contract with Lahti on 16 April 2009. Litmanen scored his first European goal for Lahti in a 2–0 win against Gorica in the second qualifying round of the Europa League, with the final aggregate score being 2–1. This was his 30th goal in 83 European matches. On 18 September 2010, he scored a bicycle kick goal against AC Oulu in a 2–1 away victory.On 23 October 2010, he scored his 50th Veikkausliiga goal, but this happened in a 3–2 defeat against TPS and didn't stop the club from being relegated to Ykkönen.
Return to HJK
On 20 April 2011, Litmanen signed a one-year contract with the reigning Finnish champions, HJK, at the age of 40, making him one of the few footballers to play at professional level in four different decades (1980s – 2010s).[17] He usually started as a substitute and played for 10–30 minutes. The HJK coach Antti Muurinen described Litmanen is something akin to a "precision munition" for HJK. He played in this role on 24 September 2011 in the Finnish Cup final against KuPS, coming on in the 80th minute when the score was 0–0. During the second half of extra time, he scored a spectacular half volley to make it 1–0 to HJK in the 108th minute. They went on to win the match 2–1. This was Litmanen's first Finnish Cup final after winning it with MyPa in 1992. He commented that if he plays such a cup final every 19 years, he won't be playing many more in his career. On 2 October 2011, HJK secured their third consecutive Finnish championship, thus winning the Double. As of that day, Litmanen had played 18 matches for HJK that season, and they had won every single match in which he had been on the field. On 14 October 2011, this run ended when HJK drew 0–0 with JJK Jyväskylä.On 29 October 2011, Litmanen celebrated his 200th league match by giving three assists in HJK's 5–2 home win over FC Haka. It was also his last game of the season.
International career
Litmanen made his Finland debut on 22 October 1989 against Trinidad and Tobago, and scored his first goal on 16 May 1991 against Malta. Litmanen served as Finland's captain from 1996 to 2008, and was arguably their key player for more than a decade, helping the team to many unexpected victories against higher ranked opposition.[citation needed] However, Finland's failure to qualify for a major tournament prevented Litmanen from proving his talent at the highest level in international competition.
Litmanen earned his 100th cap on 25 January 2006 against South Korea, one of only four Finns to have reached such a milestone, the others being Ari Hjelm, Sami Hyypiä and Jonatan Johansson.
When he played for Finland against South Korea on 19 January 2010, he achieved the distinction of having represented Finland in four different decades.[18][dead link]
On 17 November 2010, Litmanen became the oldest player ever to score for Finland, and also the oldest player overall to score a goal in the qualifying stages for the European championships, when he netted a penalty in an 8–0 win over San Marino, which proved to be his last international match.[citation needed]
International goals
Win Draw Loss| [show]No. | Date | Home team | Visiting team | Goals | Score | Result | Venue | Competition |
|---|
Future career options
In February 2011, the sports news programme Urheiluruutu of the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE interviewed two of Litmanen's former teammates about the possibility of his working for Ajax when he decides to end his playing career. Former Ajax captain Danny Blind said the following:[19]| “ | Jari knows the door is always open for him as an assistant coach, as a youth coach, whatever in the club. We love Jari, and we know his qualities as a football player, but also as a coach, I think, so the door is always open for him. | ” |
| “ | It would be great if Jari would return here in Ajax. We played together, Jari came to Ajax when I played in the first team, and we saw him become a world player, so if that kind of player are willing to come back to Amsterdam, to Ajax, and put some of their experience into Ajax Academy, it’s only a great help for us. | ” |
Litmanen is still considering playing and hasn't publicly announced his retirement.
Personal life
Litmanen was born into a footballing family. His father, Olavi Litmanen, was also a Finnish international and a Reipas player. His mother also played for Reipas at the women's highest level. Litmanen became a father in November 2005, when his Estonian girlfriend Ly Jürgenson gave birth to a son named Caro. The couple's second son, Bruno, was born in September 2007. Although they avoid too much publicity, they are sometimes seen together in public.[20]On 10 October 2010, Litmanen became the first Finnish team sport player to be honoured with a statue: it stands at Kisapuisto (Lahti) where he started his career in the 1970s.[21]
Career statistics
- As of 29 October 2011, after HJK v FC Haka the same day; end of the Finnish football season.
| Club performance | League | Cup | League Cup | Continental | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Club | League | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Finland | League | Finnish Cup | League Cup | Europe | Total | |||||||
| 1987 | Reipas Lahti | Veikkausliiga | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 10 | 0 | ||
| 1988 | 26 | 8 | 4 | 0 | — | — | 30 | 8 | ||||
| 1989 | 25 | 6 | 4 | 2 | — | — | 29 | 8 | ||||
| 1990 | 26 | 14 | 3 | 0 | — | — | 29 | 14 | ||||
| 1991 | HJK Helsinki | Veikkausliiga | 27 | 16 | 0 | 0 | — | 2 | 0 | 29 | 16 | |
| 1992 | MyPa | Veikkausliiga | 18 | 7 | 6 | 4 | — | — | 24 | 11 | ||
| Netherlands | League | KNVB Cup | League Cup | Europe | Total | |||||||
| 1992–93 | Ajax | Eredivisie | 12 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 1 |
| 1993–94 | 30 | 26 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 39 | 36 | ||
| 1994–95 | 27 | 17 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 6 | 43 | 26 | ||
| 1995–96 | 26 | 14 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 9 | 38 | 23 | ||
| 1996–97 | 16 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 25 | 8 | ||
| 1997–98 | 25 | 16 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 34 | 22 | ||
| 1998–99 | 23 | 11 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 33 | 13 | ||
| Spain | League | Copa del Rey | Supercopa de España | Europe | Total | |||||||
| 1999–2000 | Barcelona | La Liga | 21 | 3 | 3 | 1 | — | 8 | 0 | 32 | 4 | |
| 2000–01 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| England | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Europe | Total | |||||||
| 2000–01 | Liverpool | Premier League | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 2 |
| 2001–02 | 21 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 3 | 32 | 7 | ||
| Netherlands | League | KNVB Cup | League Cup | Europe | Total | |||||||
| 2002–03 | Ajax | Eredivisie | 14 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 22 | 7 |
| 2003–04 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 0 | ||
| Finland | League | Finnish Cup | League Cup | Europe | Total | |||||||
| 2004 | Lahti | Veikkausliiga | 11 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 13 | 3 | |
| Germany | League | DFB-Pokal | Other | Europe | Total | |||||||
| 2004–05 | Hansa Rostock | Bundesliga | 13 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 1 |
| Sweden | League | Svenska Cupen | League Cup | Europe | Total | |||||||
| 2005 | Malmö FF | Allsvenskan | 2 | 1 | 0 | — | 2 | 0 | 4* | 1 | ||
| 2006 | 8 | 2 | 0 | — | — | 8* | 2 | |||||
| 2007 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 0* | 0* | ||||||
| England | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Europe | Total | |||||||
| 2007–08 | Fulham | Premier League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | |
| Finland | League | Finnish Cup | League Cup | Europe | Total | |||||||
| 2008 | Lahti | Veikkausliiga | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 6 | 3 | |
| 2009 | 13 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 24 | 4 | ||
| 2010 | 21 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 23 | 5 | |||
| 2011 | HJK Helsinki | 18 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 22 | 2 | |
| Total | Finland | 200 | 65 | 22 | 7 | 7 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 239 | 74 | |
| Netherlands | 179 | 96 | 20 | 11 | 4 | 3 | 54 | 26 | 257 | 136 | ||
| Spain | 21 | 3 | 3 | 1 | — | 8 | 0 | 32 | 4 | |||
| England | 26 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 11 | 3 | 43 | 9 | ||
| Germany | 13 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 14 | 1 | |||
| Sweden | 10 | 3 | — | 2 | 0 | 12* | 3* | |||||
| Finnish national team | 137 | 32 | — | 137 | 32 | |||||||
| Career total | 586 | 205 | 49* | 20* | 14 | 4 | 85 | 30 | 734* | 259* | ||
- Asterisk (*) indicates the least number of matches played and goals scored; further research may produce more matches and goals.
- Finnish League Cup held for the first time in 1994. In Sweden and in Spain, there is no league cup.
- The matches listed as the Dutch league cup are actually matches played in the Dutch Super Cup (season 1992–1993 to 1995–1996), continued as the Johan Cruijff Schaal (from season 1996–1997 on), traditionally played before the start of the season between the Dutch national champions and the KNVB Cup winners.
Honours
Reached 100 goals for AFC Ajax (total 136 goals in 257 matches)Club titles
MyPa- Finnish Cup: 1992
- Eredivisie: 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1997–98
- KNVB Cup: 1992–93, 1997–98, 1998–99
- Johan Cruijff Schaal: 1993, 1994, 1995
- UEFA Champions League: 1994–95; Runners-up: 1995–96
- European Super Cup: 1995
- Intercontinental Cup: 1995
- UEFA Cup: 2000–01
- European Super Cup: 2001
- FA Cup: 2000–01
- Football League Cup: 2000–01
- FA Community Shield: 2001
Personal awards and achievements
- Finnish Sports' Journalists Player of the Year (8): 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998
- Finnish Football Association Player of the Year (9): 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000
- Finnish Veikkausliiga Player of the Year: 1990
- Footballer of the Year in the Netherlands: 1993
- Dutch league top scorer: 1993–94 (26 goals)
- European Footballer of the Year (Ballon d'Or), 8th place: 1994
- European Footballer of the Year (Ballon d'Or), 3rd place: 1995
- Finnish Sports Personality of the Year: 1995
- European Sports Media Team of the Year: 1994–95, 1995–96
- UEFA Champions League top scorer: 1995–96 (9 goals)
- Most-capped player for the Finland national team: 137 caps
- All-time top scorer for the Finland national team: 32 goals
- All-time top scorer in Europe for Ajax: 26 goals
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