Hannu Patronen (born 23 May 1984) is a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

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 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 ...

. He has previously played as 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 ...

, and spent time with the Finnish side

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 ...

, Swedish side

Helsingborgs IF Helsingborgs IF (full name Helsingborgs Idrottsförening), commonly referred to as HIF (), is a Swedish professional football club located in Helsingborg. They play in the Swedish first tier, Allsvenskan, following promotion in the 2021 Superet ...

and Norwegian side

Sogndal Fotball Sogndal Fotball is the association football department of Norwegian sports club Sogndal IL from Sogndal in Vestland. The club was founded in 1926. The men's team currently plays in 1. divisjon, the second tier of the Norwegian football league sy ...

. Patronen has been capped at international level for

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 ...

Career

He made 47 caps for his Finnish club side

before agreeing on a move to

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football lea ...

outfit

on 12 July 2008. Patronen signed a 3,5 years long contract with the Swedes. Patronen made his debut with Helsingborg on 15 July 2008 at home against

AIK AIK Fotboll (), more commonly known simply as AIK (), an abbreviation for Allmänna Idrottsklubben (meaning ''the public'' or ''general sports club''), is a Swedish football club competing in Allsvenskan, the top flight of Swedish football. The ...

and played for 90 minutes, when his new club won 2–1. After playing 44 matches and scoring two goals in Allsvenskan with Helsingborg, Patronen was signed on a two-year contract by the Norwegian

Tippeligaen Eliteserien () is a Norwegian professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Norwegian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion ...

side

Sogndal Sogndal is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located on the northern shore of the Sognefjorden in the traditional district of Sogn. The village of Hermansverk is the administrative center of Sogndal municipality. Other villages i ...

ahead of the 2012 season as the replacement for

Even Hovland Even Hovland (born 14 February 1989) is a Norwegian professional footballer who plays as a centre back for Allsvenskan club BK Häcken and the Norway national team. Club career In his youth, Hovland played for the local clubs Vadheim IL and IL ...

, who had transferred to the reigning Tippeligaen champions

Molde Molde () is a town and municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Romsdal. It is located on the Romsdal Peninsula, surrounding the Fannefjord and Moldefjord. The administrative centre of the m ...

. Patronen soon became an integral part of Sogndal's central defence, and he played 54 matches and scored two goals in Tippeligaen during his two first seasons with the club. After his two-year contract expired he signed a one-year extension with Sogndal, which kept him to the club to the end of the 2014 season. Patronen signed for

Helsinki IFK HIFK, the Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna, Helsingfors (IFK, Helsingfors) rf (officially abbreviated IFK Helsingfors, colloquially often Helsingfors IFK or Helsingin IFK ) is a multi-sport association based in Helsinki, Finland. Formed in 1897 on ...

27 December 2018.Hannu Patronen ja HIFK sopimukseen
hifkfotboll.fi, 27 December 2018

Career statistics

References

External links

* * * * 1984 births Living people People from Järvenpää Finnish men's footballers Finland men's international footballers FC Honka players Helsingborgs IF players Sogndal Fotball players Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi players HIFK Fotboll players Allsvenskan players Norwegian First Division players Eliteserien players Finnish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate men's footballers in Norway Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Norway Men's association football defenders Footballers from Uusimaa {{Finland-footy-defender-stub