Sakari Mattila
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | July 14, 1989 | ||
| Place of birth | Tampere, Finland | ||
| Height | 1.87 m (6 ft 11⁄2 in) | ||
| Playing position | Midfielder, Centre-back | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Ascoli | ||
| Number | 89 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Malminkartanon Peto | |||
| PohU | |||
| HJK | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2007 | Klubi 04 | 13 | (4) |
| 2008 | HJK Helsinki | 19 | (4) |
| 2009– | Udinese Calcio | 0 | (0) |
| 2009– | → Ascoli (loan) | 2 | (0) |
| National team‡ | |||
| Finland U15 | 2 | (0) | |
| Finland U17 | 2 | (1) | |
| Finland U19 | 9 | (1) | |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of September 22, 2008. † Appearances (Goals). | |||
Sakari Mattila (born July 14, 1989 in Tampere) is a Finnish footballer, who represents Ascoli Calcio in Serie B. Mattila, who is 187 cm tall, plays as a midfielder. He made his debut at the senior level in 2008. He is well-known about his shooting skills. Mattila is the captain of the Finnish under-19 national team.
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Club career
Early career
Mattila started playing football in the age of five. His first club was Malminkartanon PETO in the Malminkartano suburb in the northern part of Helsinki municipality. Before joining HJK, he also played for Pohjois-Haagan Urheilijat (FC PoHU).
Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi
Mattila joined HJK's Kannelmäki youth section as a ten year old and was soon promoted to HJK's youth squad. In 2007, he played for HJK's reserve club Klubi 04 in Kakkonen (third highest level).
He made his first-team debut for HJK in Finland's top division Veikkausliiga at the age of 18 in April 2008, against IFK Mariehamn. He scored his first professional goal against FC Inter Turku in his third match. On the first half of the season, Mattila was used mainly as a sub, but played more and more and took the role of set-piece taker in the team. In a couple of matches, Mattila played also as a centre-back.
Before the season 2008, HJK was on a training camp in Marbella and Mattila was spotted by scouts of Sevilla FC and Málaga CF.[1] He was playing on schoolboy terms, but HJK managed to sign a three-year contract with him.[2] It was released that Málaga was also interested to sign a contract and had scouted him on several occasions.
In August 2008, Serie A club Palermo called him up for a week long trial after scouting him in Helsinki.[3] Just a week after his visit to Palermo, Udinese Calcio called him up for a week long trial.[4] Before leaving to Udine, Mattila stated that he is ready for a move to Italy.[5][6] After rumours about his move to Udinese, Mattila stated that he wants to make a career in Italy and was hoping for a move in the next transfer window. In October, Iltasanomat told that Udinese had made an offer, but HJK rejected the first bid. The asking price was said to be around 700.000 euros. [7]
Udinese Calcio
In November 2008, he signed a 4,5-year contract with Udinese and joined the club in January 2009.[8] He played with the Primavera team and in July 2009 left on loan for Ascoli.
