Eero Pekka Sakari Markkanen (born 3 July 1991) is a Finnish professional footballer who plays as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

for Gnistan. He is the son of former basketball player Pekka Markkanen and the older brother of basketball player

Lauri Markkanen Lauri Elias Markkanen (born 22 May 1997) is a Finnish professional basketball player for the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NBA). In the 2017 NBA draft, he was taken by the Minnesota Timberwolves with the seventh overall pi ...

. Markkanen made his international debut for Finland in May 2014, at the age of 22 and has since had over 15 caps, including 6 appearances in 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifications.

Club career

FC Jyväskylä Blackbird

Markkanen made his debut on senior level in Blackbird in season 2010.

Vihtavuoren Pamaus

For season 2011 he played for ViPa in the Finnish Kakkonen.

JJK Jyväskylä

In 2012 he returned to JJK and made his Veikkausliiga debut.

AIK Fotboll

In December 2013 it was announced that AIK had signed Markkanen on a 3 year contract.

Real Madrid

On 23 July 2014,

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

signed Markkanen from AIK on a four-year contract. In September 2014, he was chosen for

's 25-man squad for the UEFA Champions League, but did not make any appearances. On 21 August 2015, Real Madrid released Markkanen. There were rumours of him reporting back to preseason training overweight, but the club never released an official statement about the issue.

Real Madrid Castilla

Markkanen made his debut for Real Madrid's reserve team

Real Madrid Castilla Real Madrid Castilla Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team that plays in Primera Federación – Group 1 for the 2022–23 season. It is Real Madrid's reserve team. They play their home games at the Alfredo Di Stéfano Stadium with a cap ...

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, Second Division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish Foot ...

on 24 August 2014, playing the full 90 minutes as they lost 2–1 at Atlético Madrid B in Segunda División B Group 2. Six days later he scored his first goal for the club, in a 1–2 home loss to Getafe B. However, he missed most of the 2014-2015 season due to injury.

Rovaniemen Palloseura

On 3 September 2015, Markkanen was acquired by the Finnish side RoPS for the remainder of the season after failing to sign for AIK who were rejected a request for an exemption to sign him outside of the transfer window by the Swedish Football Association.

Return to AIK

On 5 November 2015, he signed a three-year contract with AIK. He told the club homepage that he was "Very happy to be back at AIK". On 4 August 2017, Markkanen joined

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

side Dynamo Dresden on loan for the season, while Dynamo Dresden secured an option to sign him permanently. On 15 January 2018, Markkanen broke his contract with Dynamo Dresden and went on to join Danish Superliga side Randers on loan from AIK for the rest of the 2017-18 season. He returned to AIK in late June 2018, but left the club by mutual consent on 10 August 2018.

Dalkurd FF

On 10 August 2018, Markkanen signed with Dalkurd in Allsvenskan.

PSM Makassar

On 14 January 2019 it was announced that Markkanen would join PSM Makassar in Liga 1.

FC Haka

On 7 February 2020 Veikkausliiga side Haka announced that Markkanen would be joining the club on a one-year contract.

Orange County SC

On 25 December 2020, it was announced that Markkanen would join USL Championship side Orange County ahead of their 2021 season.

HIFK Fotboll

On 28 February 2022, Markkanen signed with HIFK.

International career

Markkanen made his full international debut on 29 May 2014, replacing

Roman Eremenko Roman Alekseyevich Eremenko (russian: Роман Алексеевич Ерёменко; born 19 March 1987) is a professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder who plays for HIFK in the Veikkausliiga. Eremenko is best known for hi ...

at half time in a 1–0 defeat to

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

in Ventspils in the Baltic Cup. On 7 September 2014, he made his first competitive international appearance, replacing

Jere Uronen Jere Uronen (born 13 July 1994) is a Finnish professional footballer who plays as a full-back for Bundesliga club Schalke 04, on loan from Brest, and the Finland national team. He began his senior club career playing for TPS, before signing w ...

for the last 15 minutes of a 3–1 win over the Faroe Islands in Tórshavn for UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying. After losing his place in the Finland squad during his spell in Real Madrid Castilla he was once again selected by head coach

Hasse Backe Hans Roland "Hasse" Backe (; born 14 February 1952) is a Swedish football manager and former player who most recently led Finland's national team. Prior to this he managed the New York Red Bulls. He has coached clubs in Sweden, Norway, Greece, ...

in August 2016 for games again Germany and Kosovo. This was after a good summer form with five goals in the last two months for AIK. He made his FIFA World Cup qualification match debut on 6 October 2016 in a match against Iceland when he entered as a 56th minute substitute for

Kasper Hämäläinen Kasper Woldemar Hämäläinen (born 8 August 1986) is a Finnish professional football attacking midfielder who plays for Ykkönen side TPS and the Finland national team. Hämäläinen was born in Turku, Finland, where he started his senior c ...

Career statistics

International

International goals :''Scores and results list Finland's goal tally first.''

Honours

HJK Helsinki * Veikkausliiga:

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 ...

PSM Makassar * Piala Indonesia: 2018–19 Orange County SC * USL Championship:

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

References

External links

Dynamo Dresden official profile

Eero Markkanen
– SPL competition record * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Markkanen, Eero 1991 births Sportspeople from Jyväskylä Living people Finnish footballers Finland men's international footballers Men's association football forwards JJK Jyväskylä players Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi players AIK Fotboll players Real Madrid Castilla footballers Rovaniemen Palloseura players Dynamo Dresden players Randers FC players Dalkurd FF players PSM Makassar players FC Haka players Orange County SC players HIFK Fotboll players Kakkonen players Veikkausliiga players Allsvenskan players Segunda División B players 2. Bundesliga players Danish Superliga players Indonesian Super League players USL Championship players Finnish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Sweden Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Expatriate footballers in Indonesia Expatriate soccer players in the United States Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Spain Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Indonesia Finnish expatriate sportspeople in the United States