Anssi Valtteri Jaakkola (born 13 March 1987) 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

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for

EFL League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

club

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been c ...

and the Finland national team. Jaakkola was born in

Kemi Kemi (; sme, Giepma ; smn, Kiemâ; sms, Ǩeeʹmm; Swedish (historically): ''Kiemi'') is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located very near the city of Tornio and the Swedish border. The distance to Oulu is to the south and to Rovani ...

. He began his senior club

career The career is an individual's metaphorical "journey" through learning, work and other aspects of life. There are a number of ways to define career and the term is used in a variety of ways. Definitions The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' defin ...

playing for TP-47 at age of 17 in 2004, before signing with

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

side

Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centuri ...

in 2007. Jaakkola made his international debut for Finland in June 2011, at the age of 24. He was nominated for all 10 of Finland's

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 ...

qualification matches but did not gain any appearances when Finland national team secured its first ever place in European Football Championship tournament's group stage.

Club career

Early career

Jaakkola previously played for TP-47 and FC-88. In the January 2007 window, Jaakkola signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with

side

. He made his Serie A debut by substituting

Dimitrios Eleftheropoulos Dimitrios Eleftheropoulos (Greek: Δημήτριος Ελευθερόπουλος; born 7 August 1976) is a Greek professional football manager and former player, who is the current manager of Super League 2 club Niki Volos. Club career Greec ...

in the 2007–08 season final matchday, a 2–2 home draw with

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

. In 2009, he was loaned to V.F. Colligiana in

Lega Pro Seconda Divisione Lega Pro Seconda Divisione was the fourth highest football league in Italy, the lowest with a professional status. Usually it consisted of 36 teams, but in the 2011–12 season, there were 41 teams divided geographically into two divisions of 2 ...

. He moved to

Slavia Prague Sportovní klub Slavia Praha – fotbal (Sports Club Slavia Prague – Football, ), commonly known as Slavia Praha or Slavia Prague, is a Czech professional football club in Prague. Founded in 1892, they are the second most successful club in th ...

on free transfer in July 2010, signing a two-year contract with the option of a further year.

Kilmarnock

In January 2011, Jaakkola left Slavia for

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...

club

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

, under the management of fellow Finn

Mixu Paatelainen Mika-Matti Petteri Paatelainen (born 3 February 1967) is a Finnish former professional football player and the head coach of Veikkausliiga club HIFK. He scored 18 goals in 70 appearances for the Finnish national team, which makes him Finland's ...

. He made his debut as a substitute on 12 February against Hibernian. He then made his first start on 26 February against St Mirren. He left Kilmarnock when his contract expired in the summer of 2013.

Ajax Cape Town

Jaakkola joined South African Premier Soccer League club

Ajax Cape Town Cape Town Spurs F.C. (formerly known as Ajax Cape Town) is a South African professional football club based in Parow in the city of Cape Town that plays in the National First Division. Dutch Eredivisie club AFC Ajax was their parent club and m ...

in August 2013. On 22 September 2013 Jaakkola made his debut in the

Premier Soccer League Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

in a match against

Polokwane Polokwane (, meaning "Sanctuary" in Northern SothoPolokwane - The Heart of the Limpopo Province ...

when he came in as a substitute for

Brandon Peterson Brandon Peterson is an American comic book writer and artist, known for his work on Marvel Comics from Paterson New Jersey and Top Cow's '' Codename: Strykeforce'' in the 1990s. Career Peterson's early works for Marvel include a ''New Warriors'' ...

on 57th minute of the match.

Reading

On 11 July 2016, Jaakkola signed a two-year contract with

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

. Jaakkola made his competitive debut for Reading on 8 August 2016, playing the full 90 minutes of Reading's 2–0

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 ...

victory over

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

. On 7 November 2018 he was awarded as Reading supporters October player of the month. He was released by Reading at the end of the 2018–19 season.

Bristol Rovers

After his contract at Reading expired, Jaakkola joined

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

side

. Jaakola made over twenty appearances in his debut season for Rovers before his season was cut short by an injury on New Years Day against

Milton Keynes Dons Milton Keynes Dons Football Club (), usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The ...

. After the season was cut short, Jaakola signed a new contract on 3 July 2020 until the end of the 2021-22 season with an option for a further year. On 8 December 2020, Jaakkola was taken off with an Achilles injury in an

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

match against

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a professio ...

and was originally set to be out of contention for a few weeks, but he was still yet to return in February 2021 when new manager

Joey Barton Joseph Anthony Barton (born 2 September 1982) is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He made 269 appearances in the Premier League, including 130 for Manchester City. He is currently the man ...

gave an update stating that Jaakkola was 'about a week away' from being able to return to action. He made his return on 27 March 2021 in a 1–0 home defeat to

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

as Rovers continued to fight against relegation. Jaakkola featured in the first two

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

matches of the 2021–22 season before the return of his recurring Achilles injury forced him out of action. In early September, manager Barton estimated that he would be injured for another week, however Jaakkola needed injections in the Achilles and in October it was estimated that he would be out of action until November in order to allow the injury to fully heal with the hope to solve the problem for good. With

James Belshaw James Michael Belshaw (born 12 October 1990) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Harrogate Town. Career Youth & College Belshaw attended The Becket School in West Bridgford, where he captained the team to ...

having impressed in Jaakkola's absence, upon his return from injury Jaakkola found himself on the bench before a slight knock to Belshaw at the end of January allowed Jaakkola the opportunity to return to first-team football. Following Rovers' promotion back to League One at the end of the 2021–22 season, Jaakkola stepped up into the role of goalkeeping coach in pre-season following the departure of goalkeeping coach

Tony Warner Anthony Randolph Warner (born 11 May 1974) is a football coach and former professional footballer who is the goalkeeping coach at Reading. Warner notably played in the Premier League for Fulham, having also being contracted to Liverpool and Hul ...

to Jaakkola's former club Reading.

International career

On 30 August 2010 he was selected to represent

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

for European Championship qualification matches against

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The List of states ...

and

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

as a replacement for injured

Peter Enckelman Peter Mikael Enckelman (born 10 March 1977) is a Finnish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Enckelman represented Finland and previously played for TPS Turku, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Cardiff City, St Johnstone a ...

. However, he didn't earn any caps. He made his national team debut on 7 June 2011, conceding five goals against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

in a 5–0 away loss. He gained his second appearance in the national team on 7 June 2017 when

Markku Kanerva Markku Tapio Kanerva (born 24 May 1964) is a Finnish football manager, former player and elementary school teacher. He is the current manager of the Finnish national team. Playing career Kanerva, who is known by the nickname ''"Rive"'', was bo ...

announced that Jaakkola would replace Lukáš Hrádecký in a friendly match against

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constitutional monarchy ...

. In May 2021, Jaakkola was named in the provisional-26 man squad for the upcoming delayed

Championship. Jaakkola was a member of the Finnish squad at the

tournament but remained as an unused substitute for Lukáš Hrádecký. Finland was placed 3rd in

Group B Group B was a set of regulations for grand touring (GT) vehicles used in sports car racing and rallying introduced in 1982 by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Although permitted to enter a GT class of the World Sportscar ...

following a 2-0 defeat to

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

on 21 June 2021.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Club

;Kilmarnock *

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

: 2011–12 ;Ajax Cape Town *

MTN 8 MTN 8 is the current branding for a South African soccer cup competition launched in 1972 for teams who finished in the top 8 positions of the league table of the country's preceding top-flight league (currently the DStv Premiership) season. T ...

: 2015 Bristol Rovers *

third-place promotion: 2021–22

Personal life

Jaakkola has two daughters and one son. His wife is Scottish.

References

External links

Bristol Rovers official profile

Anssi Jaakkola
–

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 * * * *
Career profile (from La Gazzetta dello Sport)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jaakkola, Anssi 1987 births Living people People from Kemi Association football goalkeepers Finnish footballers Finland under-21 international footballers Finland international footballers TP-47 players A.C.N. Siena 1904 players A.S.D. Olimpia Colligiana players SK Slavia Prague players Kilmarnock F.C. players Cape Town Spurs F.C. players Reading F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. players Veikkausliiga players Ykkönen players Serie A players Czech First League players Scottish Premier League players South African Premier Division players English Football League players UEFA Euro 2020 players Finnish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Italy Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in the Czech Republic Finnish expatriate sportspeople in the Czech Republic Expatriate footballers in Scotland Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Expatriate soccer players in South Africa Finnish expatriate sportspeople in South Africa Expatriate footballers in England Finnish expatriate sportspeople in England Sportspeople from Lapland (Finland)