Aapo Ilmari Halme (born 22 May 1998) is a Finnish professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for Veikkausliiga club HJK. He has also represented the Finland national under-21 football team from 2017 to 2020. Halme was born in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

, Finland. He began his senior club career playing for Honka, before signing with HJK Helsinki at age 17 in 2015. He would go on to win the

2017 Veikkausliiga The 2017 Veikkausliiga was the 87th season of top-tier football in Finland. IFK Mariehamn were the defending champions. Fixtures for the 2017 season were announced on 19 January 2017. The season started on 5 April 2017 and ended on 28 October 2017 ...

and

2016–17 Finnish Cup The 2016–17 Finnish Cup ''(Suomen Cup)'' was the 62nd season of the Finnish Cup. It was the first edition of the tournament to be played on a fall-spring schedule, running from July to September of the following year. The introduction of this ne ...

. Formerly an international at under-16, under-17, under-18, under-19,

under-20 Junior is a category of athletics in which athletes compete under the age of 20 years. Countries all around the world compete in athletics. World Junior Athletics Competitions are held every two years which contain the best junior competitors in ...

and under-21 level. Halme was nominated to Finland´s preliminary

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

team but he did not make it to the final squad.

Club career

Early career

Halme started his youth career at

FC Honka FC Honka is a Finnish football club based in Espoo. It was founded in 1957 as Tapion Honka, and changed its name to FC Honka in 1975. The club currently play in the Finnish premier division (''Veikkausliiga''), having been promoted for the fir ...

, making 1 senior appearance before joining

Klubi-04 Klubi 04 is a Finnish football club based in Helsinki. It is the reserve team of Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi for whom a number of the players are also registered. History Klubi 04 was founded in 2004 when HJK bought FC Jokerit. Initially Klubi 04 ...

, where he made 15 appearances and scored once.

HJK Helsinki

The winners of the 2015 Finnish League Cup HJK Helsinki brought in Halme from

on a three-year deal expiring at the end of the 2018 season as stated in his contractual obligation. He made 29 league appearances over three seasons with the club, scoring once.

Leeds United

On 3 January 2018, Halme signed for Leeds United on a four-year contract for an unknown fee, reported to be less than £500,000. He became the fourth Finnish player to sign for Leeds after

Sebastian Sorsa Sebastian "Seba" Sorsa (born 25 January 1984) is a Finnish former footballer. Career After a successful winter trial, Sorsa signed for Leeds United, joining on an 18-month contract in a Bosman transfer from Finnish side HJK Helsinki Helsi ...

Mika Väyrynen Mika Väyrynen (born 28 December 1981) is a Swedish-born Finnish former footballer. Club career Early career Väyrynen started his career with FC Lahti and joined FC Jokerit for the 2001 season. Heerenveen Midway through that year SC Heerenv ...

and

Mikael Forssell Mikael Kaj Forssell (born 15 March 1981) is a Finnish former football striker. Forssell began his professional career in 1997 for HJK, having progressed through the team's youth teams, but he only remained at the club for a single season, mak ...

. However, Halme picked up a serious foot injury during one of his first training sessions at Leeds in January, which was to rule him out for the remainder of the season. After nearly nine months out injured, on 27 August 2018, Halme made his first appearance for the club representing Leeds Under 23's against Queens Park Rangers' Development squad. On 23 November 2018, Leeds' first-team head coach Marcelo Bielsa gave Halme special praise after returning from his long injury layoff. He made his debut the next day in the

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

against

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

in a 2–0 win, after being named in the starting lineup after an injury to Pontus Jansson and long-term injuries to

Luke Ayling Luke David Ayling (born 25 August 1991) is an English professional footballer who plays as a defender and often captains club Leeds United. Although normally playing as a right-back, he can also function as a centre-back. Ayling began his car ...

and

Gaetano Berardi Gaetano Michel Berardi (born 21 August 1988) is a Swiss professional footballer who plays as a defender for Swiss club AC Bellinzona. He can also operate at left-back and centre-back. He has been capped at international level by Switzerland. Cl ...

. He scored his first goal for Leeds on 6 January 2019 during a 2–1 defeat to Queens Park Rangers in the third round of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

. Halme was regularly named as an unused substitute on the bench for the first team squad in the Championship, but still featured regularly for

Carlos Corberán Carlos Corberán Vallet (born 7 April 1983) is a Spanish football coach who is currently head coach of EFL Championship club West Bromwich Albion. Previously the head coach of Doxa and Ermis in the Cypriot First Division, Corberán was first ...

's under 23's side that won the 2018-19

Professional Development League The Professional Development League is a system of youth association football, football leagues that are managed, organised and controlled by the Premier League or by the Football League. It was introduced by the The Football Association, Footbal ...

Northern Section. They then became the national Professional Development League champions by beating

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

in the final.

Barnsley

On 3 July 2019, Halme joined Championship club

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

for an undisclosed fee. He made his debut for Barnsley on 13 August in a

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

match against

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They have played their home games at Brunton Par ...

. He scored his first goal for Barnsley in a 2–2 draw with Derby County on 2 October 2019.

Return to HJK

On 25 July 2022 it was announced that Halme had signed a contract with HJK until the end of 2024.

International career

Finland youth teams

Halme has represented Finland at U16, U17, U18 and U19 levels. He made his debut for Finland U21's on 8 June 2017 against Ukraine U21's. On 23 March 2019, Halme captained Finland U21 to an 8–3 victory against Norway U21.

Finland first team

Halme was called up for the

pre-tournament

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match against

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on 29 May 2021 but he remained as an unused substitute.

Career statistics

Honours

Club

HJK * Veikkausliiga:

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

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* Finnish Cup: 2016–17 * Finnish League Cup:

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

References

External links

Aapo Halme
–

SPL SPL may refer to: Association football * Saudi Professional League * Scottish Premier League * SportPesa Premier League, Kenya * Singapore Premier League * RoboCup Standard Platform League, matches between autonomous robots Computing Program ...

competition record {{DEFAULTSORT:Halme, Aapo 1998 births Living people Footballers from Helsinki Finnish men's footballers Finland men's youth international footballers Men's association football defenders Klubi 04 players Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi players Leeds United F.C. players Finnish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Finnish expatriate sportspeople in England Finland men's under-21 international footballers 21st-century Finnish people