Antti Okkonen (born 6 June 1982) is a former

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 played in

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 ...

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 ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

and

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 ...

. In addition, he represented the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exam ...

. He was a

defensive midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Career

Okkonen started youth career in

Oulun Luistinseura Oulun Luistinseura (or OLS) is a Finnish multi-sports club, based in Oulu. The club has football, bandy, bowling and floorball sections. Football OLS football team was founded in 1941 by clubs bandy players. Throughout the years the club has pl ...

. He made his debut on the club's OPS representative team in the second season in 1998. He made his

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

debut at Myllykoski Pallo in the year

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

. In MyPa's shirt, Okkonen won one Finnish Championship silver and two Finnish Championship bronzes during three seasons (2000-2003). From

Myllykoski Myllykoski Corporation was a family owned international paper group with central offices in Helsinki and Anjalankoski, manufacturing in Germany, Finland and North America, and sales offices around the world. The roots of the company date back to ...

, Okkonen moved to Sweden in the team of

Landskrona Landskrona (old da, Landskrone) is a town in Scania, Sweden. Located on the shores of the Öresund, it occupies a natural port, which has lent the town at first military and subsequent commercial significance. Ferries operate from Landskrona t ...

for four (2004-2007) seasons. In the first half of 2007, he was on loan in

Silkeborg Silkeborg () is a Danish town with a population of 49,747 (1 January 2022).2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, Okkonen moved to the Belgian

RAEC Mons R.A.E.C. Mons may refer to one of two Belgian football clubs A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, ...

, where he played for one and a half seasons. In August

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

, he returned to MyPa with a contract for the rest of the season, which was extended for two years at the end of the period. For the

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

season, Okkonen joined the team of the reigning Finnish champion Helsinki Football Club, where he also won the only Finnish championship in his career. After the championship season, Okkonen moved to the Rovaniemi Football Club, where he would play his final years. He managed to play 6 seasons (2013-2018) in RoPS, during this period he won the

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 ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

and two Finnish Championship silver medals in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

and

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

. He also served as the team's

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. During his career in

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 Veikkau ...

, Okkonen played more than 300 matches and played 13 national matches in the Finnish national team. He has also played 18 youth and 56 boys national matches. Okkonen participated in the Finnish team at the

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

World Championships for under-20s. After the end of his player career, Antti Okkonen continued his cooperation with the RoPS and currently works as a junior manager and is responsible for the activities of 7-12 year olds.

Career statistics

Achievements

Veikkausliiga

* Promising player of the year

Champion A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and world championships, an ...

** Runner-up

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

** Third place

International

''Statistics accurate as of match played 25 January 2006''

Personal life

Antti is the younger brother of former footballer

Jarkko Okkonen Jarkko Okkonen is a Finnish professional football defender who currently plays in defence for the Veikkausliiga side JJK in Jyväskylä Jyväskylä () is a city and municipality in Finland in the western part of the Finnish Lakeland. It i ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Okkonen, Antti 1982 births Living people Finnish footballers Finland youth international footballers Finland international footballers Veikkausliiga players Belgian First Division A players Allsvenskan players AC Oulu players R.A.E.C. Mons players Silkeborg IF players Landskrona BoIS players Myllykosken Pallo −47 players Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi players Finnish expatriate footballers Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Denmark Expatriate footballers in Sweden Expatriate footballers in Belgium Rovaniemen Palloseura players Sportspeople from Oulu Association football midfielders