Kasper_Hämäläinen
Kasper Hämäläinen
Finnish footballer (born 1986)
Kasper Woldemar Hämäläinen (born 8 August 1986) is a Finnish former professional football attacking midfielder who last played for Ykkönen side TPS. Hämäläinen was born in Turku, Finland, where he started his senior career in TPS before moving to Djurgården. Hämäläinen made his international debut for Finland in November 2008 and has since had over 60 caps, including appearing in Finland´s UEFA Euro 2020 campaign in which Finland national team secured its first place in European Football Championship tournament´s group stage. He returned to his former club TPS in 2021, and ended his professional career with the club in the end of the 2023 season.
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Kasper Woldemar Hämäläinen | ||
| Date of birth | (1986-08-08) 8 August 1986 (age 37) | ||
| Place of birth | Turku, Finland | ||
| Height | 1.87 m (6 ft 1+1⁄2 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Attacking midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1995–1997 | MaPS | ||
| 1998–2001 | Inter Turku | ||
| 2002–2003 | TPS | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2003–2010 | TPS | 97 | (12) |
| 2010–2013 | Djurgården | 90 | (8) |
| 2013–2016 | Lech Poznań | 100 | (33) |
| 2016–2019 | Legia Warsaw | 90 | (21) |
| 2019–2020 | FK Jablonec | 15 | (2) |
| 2019–2020 | → Jablonec B | 8 | (1) |
| 2021–2023 | TPS | 70 | (19) |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2002 | Finland U16 | 17 | (0) |
| 2003 | Finland U17 | 10 | (0) |
| 2006–2009 | Finland U21 | 21 | (1) |
| 2008–2019 | Finland | 63 | (9) |
Medal record | |||
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*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 1 November 2023 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 26 March 2019 | |||
TPS Turku
Born in Turku, Hämäläinen started his career in his hometown club TPS. In June 2008, Portuguese Primeira Liga club C.D. Nacional was keen to sign him, but he was said to be too expensive.[1] He visited Italian clubs Roma, Lazio, Udinese and Siena. NEC also showed interest. After the 2008 season, he was near a move to an unnamed Italian club but he chose to stay in Turku to secure play time in the first team.
Djurgårdens IF
In December 2009, it was announced that Swedish club Djurgården had acquired him for a transfer fee of around €300.000.[2] "Kasper" as his shirt says became a star in the Djurgården-shirt and started all the 30 league games in Allsvenskan during both the 2010 and 2011 season. During his two first season he played as a central midfielder besides his fellow country man Daniel Sjölund. In the 2012 pre-season Djurgården manager Magnus Pehrsson tried Hämäläinen in a more offensive role as a trequartista. Hämäläinen did it so well that the move became permanent.
Lech Poznań
However, in January 2013, it was announced that Hämäläinen had signed a three-year contract with Polish top-flight side Lech Poznań. The transfer fee was never made public, but it was believed to be around €410.000 [3] On 24 February, he scored on his debut in a 4–0 away win over Ruch Chorzów. Hämäläinen gained 14 caps during the spring season of 2013 out of which he was in the starting eleven 12 times. In those 14 matches he scored three goals. Lech Poznań won silver medals and made it to UEFA Europa League qualifications for the next season.
Legia Warsaw
On 11 January 2016, he joined Lech's archrivals Legia Warsaw on a free transfer, signing a 3+1⁄2-year deal.[4]
Jablonec
On 6 September 2019, Hämäläinen joined Czech First League club FK Jablonec, signing a two-year deal.[5]
Return to TPS
On 7 May 2021, it was announced that Hämäläinen would return to TPS with a 2.5-year contract.[6] Hämäläinen announced that he will retire from professional football after the 2023 season.[7]
Hämäläinen was part of the Finnish U17 team that represented in the 2003 U17 World Cup held in Finland. He was a regular member of the Finland U21 team that qualified to the 2009 U21 European Championship held in Sweden and played in all Finland's three matches.
He made his national team debut on 19 November 2008 against Switzerland when Stuart Baxter chose him to the starting line up for a match played in St. Gallen.[8][9] During UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying he established himself as a regular in the national team.[10] Hämäläinen scored his first international goal on 17 November 2010 against San Marino as he scored a brace in the 8–0 home victory.
Hämäläinen's father Heikki Hämäläinen is a former track and field athlete.
Club
| Club | Season | League | League | Cup | Europe | Other1 | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |||
| TPS | 2003 | Veikkausliiga | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 2 | 0 | ||
| 2004 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 6 | 1 | ||||
| 2005 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 0 | 0 | ||||
| 2006 | 18 | 1 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 18 | 1 | ||||
| 2007 | 24 | 4 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 24 | 4 | ||||
| 2008 | 22 | 3 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 22 | 3 | ||||
| 2009 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 25 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 97 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 97 | 9 | ||
| Djurgården | 2010 | Allsvenskan | 30 | 2 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 31 | 2 | ||
| 2011 | 30 | 2 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 32 | 2 | ||||
| 2012 | 30 | 4 | 1 | 2 | – | – | 31 | 6 | ||||
| Total | 90 | 8 | 4 | 2 | – | – | 94 | 10 | ||||
| Lech Poznań | 2012–13 | Ekstraklasa | 13 | 3 | – | – | – | 13 | 3 | |||
| 2013–14 | 36 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 4[lower-alpha 1] | 0 | – | 42 | 9 | |||
| 2014–15 | 36 | 13 | 4 | 1 | 4[lower-alpha 1] | 1 | – | 44 | 15 | |||
| 2015–16 | 15 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 12[lower-alpha 2] | 1 | 1 | 0 | 31 | 9 | ||
| Total | 100 | 33 | 9 | 1 | 20 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 130 | 36 | ||
| Legia Warsaw | 2015–16 | Ekstraklasa | 11 | 3 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 13 | 3 | ||
| 2016–17 | 31 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 4[lower-alpha 3] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 8 | ||
| 2017–18 | 31 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 6[lower-alpha 4] | 2 | 1 | 0 | 41 | 10 | ||
| 2018–19 | 17 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4[lower-alpha 3] | 0 | 1 | 0 | 24 | 2 | ||
| Total | 90 | 20 | 8 | 1 | 14 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 114 | 23 | ||
| Jablonec | 2019–20 | Czech First League | 15 | 2 | 2 | 0 | — | — | 17 | 2 | ||
| Jablonec B | 2019–20 | Bohemian Football League | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 1 | 0 | ||
| 2020–21 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 7 | 1 | ||||
| Total | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 1 | ||
| TPS | 2021 | Ykkönen | 11 | 3 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 11 | 3 | ||
| Career total | 411 | 76 | 23 | 4 | 34 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 471 | 84 | ||
- Appearances in the UEFA Europa League
- Includes four appearances in the UEFA Champions League, and eight appearances in the UEFA Europa League
1 Including Polish SuperCup.
International
- As of 26 March 2019[13]
| National team | Year | Competitive | Friendly | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Finland | 2008 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2009 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| 2010 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 2 | |
| 2011 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 3 | |
| 2012 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 9 | 1 | |
| 2013 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 10 | 2 | |
| 2014 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | |
| 2015 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | |
| 2016 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 1 | |
| 2017 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | |
| 2018 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2019 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| Total | 38 | 6 | 25 | 3 | 63 | 9 | |
International goals
- As of match played 1 June 2016. Finland score listed first, score column indicates score after each Hämäläinen goal.[14]
| No. | Date | Venue | Cap | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 17 November 2010 | Helsinki Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland | 11 |  San Marino | 2–0 | 8–0 | UEFA Euro 2012 qualification |
| 2 | 5–0 | ||||||
| 3 | 10 August 2011 | Skonto Stadium, Riga, Latvia | 15 |  Latvia | 1–0 | 2–0 | Friendly |
| 4 | 2 September 2011 | Helsinki Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland | 16 |  Moldova | 1–0 | 4–1 | UEFA Euro 2012 qualification |
| 5 | 2–0 | ||||||
| 6 | 12 October 2012 | 28 |  Georgia | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification | |
| 7 | 7 June 2013 | 33 |  Belarus | 1–0 | 1–0 | ||
| 8 | 14 August 2013 | Veritas Stadion, Turku, Finland | 35 |  Slovenia | 2–0 | 2–0 | Friendly |
| 9 | 1 June 2016 | King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels, Belgium | 52 |  Belgium | 1–0 | 1–1 |
Lech Poznań
Legia Warsaw
- "Kasper Hämäläinen till DIF" (in Swedish). dif.se. 30 December 2009. Archived from the original on 8 January 2010. Retrieved 30 December 2009.
- Kasper Hämäläinen pelaa jatkossa Puolan hulluimpien fanien edessä (Kasper Hämäläinen will be playing in front of the craziest fans of Poland) Archived 4 February 2013 at the Wayback Machine; 29 January 2013; Iltasanomat.fi (in Finnish)
- "Kasper Hämäläisen sai uuden seuran Tšekistä ja mielii takaisin Suomen maajoukkueeseen" [Kasper Hämäläinen got a new club from the Czech Republic and wants to return to the Finnish national team] (in Finnish). Helsingin Sanomat. 6 September 2020. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
- "Kasper Hämäläinen palaa TPS-paitaan 2,5-vuotisella sopimuksella" [Kasper Hämäläinen returns to TPS shirt with a 2.5-year contract] (in Finnish). TPS. 7 May 2021. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
- Finland vs Switzerland Archived 6 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine (in Finnish)
- "Sveitsi kaatoi Suomen St. Gallenissa" (in Finnish). YLE Urheilu. 19 November 2008. Archived from the original on 28 January 2015. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
- "Kasper Hämäläisellä takana läpimurtokausi" [Kasper Hämäläinen has a breakthrough season behind him] (in Finnish). Ilta-Sanomat. 26 December 2010. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
- "Kasper Hämäläinen". Soccerway. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
- "Kasper Hämäläinen". 90minut.pl. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
- "Kasper Hämäläinen" (in Finnish). palloliitto.fi. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
- Kasper Hämäläinen at Soccerway
- FK Jablonec official profile (in Czech)
- Kasper Hämäläinen – SPL competition record
- Kasper Hämäläinen – UEFA competition record (archive)
- Kasper Hämäläinen – FIFA competition record (archived)
- Kasper Hämäläinen at National-Football-Teams.com
- Kasper Hämäläinen at Soccerbase
- Kasper Hämäläinen at fussballdaten.de (in German)
- Kasper Hämäläinen at 90minut.pl (in Polish)
