Aleksei Kangaskolkka (born 29 October 1988) is a Finnish-Russian former 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 ...

who played as a forward.

Career

Kangaskolkka was born in

Vyborg Vyborg (; rus, Вы́борг, links=1, r=Výborg, p=ˈvɨbərk; fi, Viipuri ; sv, Viborg ; german: Wiborg ) is a town in, and the administrative center of, Vyborgsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Karelian Isthmus n ...

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

, where he grew up before moving to Finland with his mother and Ingrian Finnish stepfather at the age of eight. In 2004, he made his debut with MyPa in the Finnish top division

Veikkausliiga Veikkausliiga (; sv, Tipsligan) is the premier division of Finnish football, the highest tier of the Finnish football league structure, comprising the top 12 clubs of the country. Its main sponsor is the Finnish national betting agency Veikka ...

at the young age of sixteen. In that same year he also went on trial with English club Manchester United. In his second year with

IFK Mariehamn IFK Mariehamn is an Ålandic football club based in Mariehamn, the capital of the Åland Islands. It plays in the Finnish Premier Division (''Veikkausliiga''). The club is managed by Daniel Norrmén, and it plays its home matches at Wiklöf ...

he had his most successful season yet when he became the second best goalscorer of the

2012 Veikkausliiga The 2012 Veikkausliiga is the 82nd season of top-tier football in Finland. It began on 15 April 2012 and ended on 27 October 2012. HJK Helsinki were the defending champions and successfully defended their title. Teams RoPS were relegated to Ykk� ...

. After that Kangaskolkka felt that he wanted to try playing in another league and signed a one-year contract with Jönköpings Södra in the Swedish second tier. On 17 July 2013, he signed with Dutch side Heracles Almelo. In 2015, Kangaskolkka returned to Mariehamn. That year he won

Finnish Cup The Finnish Cup ( fi, Suomen cup; sv, Finlands cup) is Finland's main national cup competition in football. This yearly competition is open for all member clubs of the FA of Finland and has been played since 1955. The winner qualifies for the ...

. The next season he won Veikkausliiga, and in the 2017 season he became a top scorer of the league with 16 goals. At the end of the 2018 season, Kangaskolkka announced his retirement from professional football.

Personal life

Kangaskolkka has both Finnish and Russian

citizenship Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

and says that he feels equally Finnish and Russian. He speaks the Finnish language better and considers

Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population o ...

in Finland to be his home. But he also admits that he supports the Russia men's national ice hockey team when they play against the Finland men's national ice hockey team.

Career statistics

Honours

;MyPa *

: 2005 ;IFK Mariehamn * Veikkausliiga:

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

: 2015

Individual

Top score:

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 s ...

Team of the Year:

References

External links

Swedish FA Profile
*
Voetbal International profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kangaskolkka, Aleksei Living people 1988 births Men's association football forwards Finnish men's footballers Finland men's under-21 international footballers Russian men's footballers Russian people of Finnish descent Finnish expatriate men's footballers Veikkausliiga players Myllykosken Pallo −47 players Tampere United players IFK Mariehamn players Superettan players Jönköpings Södra IF players Eredivisie players Heracles Almelo players Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Russian-speaking Finns Russian emigrants to Finland Russian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Russian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Russian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Finnish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Sportspeople from Vyborg Sportspeople from Tampere