Jari Litmanen

Jari Olavi Litmanen (pronunciation (help·info)) (born February 20 1971 in Lahti) is a Finnish footballer, widely considered the country's greatest ever.^[1] 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 ^[2]. 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" or "The King" (or "King Litmanen"). Litmanen recently played for Malmö FF in the Swedish Allsvenskan, and is the captain of the Finnish national team. He has also represented Reipas, HJK, MyPa and FC Lahti in Finland as well as Ajax, Barcelona, Liverpool and Hansa Rostock abroad. Considered one of the best attacking midfielders ^[4], he became the first Finnish footballing superstar while playing for Ajax in the mid-1990s. Consistent injury troubles have plagued his career in later years. 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. In September 2007 the couple's second son was born.

Club career

Litmanen made his first-team debut for Reipas in Finland's top division Veikkausliiga at the age of 16 in 1987. After four seasons he moved to HJK Helsinki, Finland's biggest club, in 1991. A year later he joined MyPa, where he was coached by Harri Kampman, who later became his agent. Litmanen won the Finnish Cup with MyPa before moving abroad in the summer of 1992. Litmanen had been chased by a host of European clubs, but in the end it was Ajax Amsterdam who bought him. His first season in the Netherlands was spent in Dennis Bergkamp's shadow, but when Bergkamp moved to Inter it was Litmanen who was given the famous number 10 shirt. He scored 26 goals in the 1993-94 season, becoming the league's top scorer, and leading Ajax to the title. He was one of the star players of Louis van Gaal's team that reached the UEFA Champions League final twice in a row. Litmanen became the first ever Finnish player to have won the European Cup when Ajax beat AC Milan in the 1994-95 final. In 1995-96 Litmanen was the Champions League top scorer with nine goals, including the equaliser in the final against Juventus, which Ajax lost on penalties 4-2. He also won the Intercontinental Cup against Grêmio in 1995, and came third in the voting for the Ballon d'Or, having finished eighth the previous year. Litmanen spent seven years in Amsterdam, winning four Dutch championships and three Dutch Cups. He is the club's top scorer in European competition with 24 goals in 44 matches. Litmanen is one of the three players presented in a special video featurette at the Ajax Museum. The other two players are Marco van Basten and Johan Cruyff.^[5] In 1999 Litmanen was re-united with his old boss van Gaal at FC Barcelona. His stint with the club was, however, largely plagued by injuries, and when van Gaal was replaced by Llorenç Serra Ferrer, his chances of playing became even smaller. In the end, Litmanen moved to Liverpool on a free transfer in January 2001. Litmanen was hailed as "one of the most exciting signings Liverpool have ever made" by the manager Gérard Houllier upon signing for the club he had supported as a boy.^[6] But, once again, injuries meant that Litmanen was given little playing time. He did score goals against Tottenham Hotspur and Bayer Leverkusen and scored a penalty in Liverpool's victory over AS Roma in the Champions League. He was part of the Liverpool team that won the "cup treble" of the Worthington Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup in 2001, even though he missed all three finals because of injury. Litmanen was again given permission to move clubs for free after the 2001-02 season. Litmanen decided to return to Ajax, and was given a hero's welcome with the crowd once again singing his name. He was one of the key players as Ajax reached the quarter-finals of the 2002-03 Champions League. Much of the 2003-04 season, though, was once again spent on the sidelines, and once again, in the spring of 2004, Litmanen was released. Litmanen's return to Finland was much hyped, and was hailed as "the return of the king".^[7]. Litmanen moved to German Bundesliga strugglers Hansa Rostock in January 2005 to help save them from relegation. At Rostock he had the longest run of first-team football in recent memory. In the end, though, Hansa were relegated, which ended Litmanen's stint at the club. Litmanen joined Malmö FF in July 2005 in a bid to help the Swedes to qualify for the Champions league. This bid, 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 the 2006 season, which saw Litmanen continue to be sidelined with a number of injuries for much of the season. However, the matches he did play showed he remains a brilliant player when healthy. After an operation to repair a damaged ankle during the winter break, Malmö FF and Litmanen decided to extend his contract over the 2007 season. An ankle injury in June 2007 forced Litmanen to cancel his contract with Malmö.

International career

Litmanen made his Finland debut on October 22, 1989 against Trinidad and Tobago, and scored his first goal on May 16, 1991 against Malta. The fact that Finland have never qualified for a major tournament has also prevented Litmanen from proving his talent at the highest level in international competition. Litmanen has been Finland's captain since 1996, and he has been the heart and soul of the team for over a decade now. Litmanen received his 100th cap on January 25, 2006 against South Korea. He now holds the record for most caps for Finland, and is one of only two Finns to have reached a century of caps. Litmanen is also Finland's all-time leading scorer with 28 goals, the latest coming on October 11 2006 against Kazakhstan. It was thought that Litmanen would miss the rest of the UEFA EURO 2008 qualifying campaign due to a medical operation on his ankle in June 2007, and would have to be out for 6 months. His injury also forced him to cancel his contract with Malmö FF. [2]. However, Finland's national team coach Roy Hodgson announced Litmanen once again for the Finland squad on November the 8th, with two qualifying games of the utmost importance left. He was Finlands leading goalscorer in Finland's Euro 2008 qualifying campaign with three goals, one against Kazakhstan and two against Poland. His last game for Finland was the qualifier against Portugal on the 21.11.2007 were he was a starter, eventually been substituted on the 67th minute.

Honours

Club titles

• Finnish Cup: 1992
• Dutch championship: 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998
• Dutch Cup: 1993, 1998, 1999
• Dutch Super Cup: 1993, 1994, 1995
• English Super Cup: 2001
• UEFA Champions League: 1995
• UEFA Cup: 2001
• European Super Cup: 1995, 2001
• Intercontinental Cup: 1995

Personal awards and achievements

• Finnish Player of the Year: 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000
• Finnish Sportsperson of the Year: 1995
• Dutch Player of the Year: 1993
• European Footballer of the Year, 8th place: 1994
• European Footballer of the Year, 3rd place: 1995
• Dutch league top scorer: 1993-94
• UEFA Champions League top scorer: 1995-96
• All-time cap leader of the Finnish national team
• All-time top scorer of the Finnish national team

Awards
Preceded by Dennis Bergkamp	Dutch Footballer of the Year 1993	Succeeded by Ronald de Boer
Preceded by Jani Sievinen	Finnish Sportsman of the Year 1995	Succeeded by Mika Myllylä
Preceded by -	UEFA Jubilee Awards Finland	Succeeded by -
Sporting positions
Preceded by Dennis Bergkamp	Dutch Eredivisie Topscorer 1993 – 1994	Succeeded by Ronaldo
Preceded by Ari Hjelm	Finland football captain 1996–present	Succeeded by Incumbent

External links

• (Finnish) Profile at FA of Finland's official website
• FootballDatabase provides Jari Litmanen's profile and stats
• uefa.com article on Finland's Golden Player
• Litmanen almost in tears after his (possibly) last home game, against Azerbaijan
• Litmanen cycling during Malmö FF-trainings

References

1. ^ news.bbc.co.uk
2. ^ uefa.com
3. ^ [1]
4. ^ guardian.co.uk
5. ^ soccernet.espn.go.com
6. ^ news.bbc.co.uk
7. ^ hs.fi