Kasper Hämäläinen

Kasper Hämäläinen
Personal information
Full name Kasper Woldemar Hämäläinen
Date of birth (1986-08-08) 8 August 1986
Place of birth Turku, Finland
Height 1.87 m (6 ft 1 1⁄2 in)
Playing position Attacking midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Legia Warsaw
Number 22
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
2003–2009 TPS 97 (12)
2010–2012 Djurgården 90 (8)
2013–2015 Lech Poznań 101 (33)
2016– Legia Warsaw 7 (1)
National team‡
2002–2003 Finland U17 3 (0)
2008–2009 Finland U21 16 (0)
2008– Finland 48 (8)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 23 April 2016.
† Appearances (goals)

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 23 September 2015

Kasper Woldemar Hämäläinen (born 8 August 1986), is a Finnish professional football attacking midfielder who plays for Legia Warsaw and represents Finland national team. Hämäläinen was born in Turku, Finland where he started his senior career in TPS before moving to Djurgården.

Club career

TPS Turku

Born in Turku, he 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 has visited Italian clubs Roma, Lazio, Udinese and Siena. NEC has also shown 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.[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 €250.000 [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 three-and-a-half year deal.[4]

International career

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.[5][6] Hämäläinen scored his first international goal on 17 November 2010 against San Marino as he scored a brace in the 8–0 home victory.

Personal life

Hämäläinen´s father Heikki Hämäläinen is a former track and field athlete.

Career statistics

Club

As of 26 December 2015.[7][8]
Club Season League League Cup Europe Other1 Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Djurgården 2010 Allsvenskan 30210––312
2011 30220––322
2012 30412––316
Total 90 8 4 2 – – 94 10
Lech Poznań 2012–13 Ekstraklasa 143–––143
2013–14 3692040–429
2014–15 36134141–4415
2015–16 1583012110319
Total 101 33 9 1 20 2 1 0 131 36

1 Including Polish SuperCup.

International

As of 24 March 2015[9]
Finland national team
YearAppsGoals
200810
200930
201072
201193
201291
2013101
201440
Total438

Honours

Club

Lech Poznań

References

  1. ↑ Turun Sanomat
  2. ↑ "Kasper Hämäläinen till DIF" (in Swedish). dif.se. 2009-12-30. Retrieved 2009-12-30.
  3. ↑ Kasper Hämäläinen pelaa jatkossa Puolan hulluimpien fanien edessä (Kasper Hämäläinen will be playing in front of the craziest fans of Poland); 29.1.2013; Iltasanomat.fi (Finnish)
  4. ↑ "Kasper Hamalainen piłkarzem Legii! - Legia Warszawa". legia.com.
  5. ↑ Finland vs Switzerland (Finnish)
  6. ↑ "Sveitsi kaatoi Suomen St. Gallenissa" (in Finnish). YLE Urheilu. 19 November 2008. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
  7. ↑ "Kasper Hämäläinen". Soccerway. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  8. ↑ "Kasper Hämäläinen". 90minut.pl. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  9. ↑ "Kasper Hämäläinen" (in Finnish). palloliitto.fi. Retrieved 26 March 2015.

External links


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