Kalevi Valdemar Lehtovirta (20 February 1928 – 10 January 2016) was a Finnish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

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 ...

who competed in the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad ( fi, XV olympiadin kisat; sv, Den XV olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952 ( sv, Helsin ...

Personal life

While in Paris he married a local woman who gave birth to their twin sons. They lived in

Montmartre Montmartre ( , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Right Bank. The historic district established by the City of Paris in 1995 is bordered by Rue Ca ...

neighbourhood. His children and grandchildren reside in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Career

Club

Lehtovirta started playing football in Maarian Kisa-Veikot. In 1947 he was promoted to senior squad of Turun Weikot. After 1950 season he transferred to Turun Pyrkivä where he spent 3 seasons. In 1953 he became second finnish footballer to play professionally when he moved to

Red Star F.C. Red Star Football Club, also known simply as Red Star (), is a French association football club founded in Paris in 1897, and is the fourth oldest French football club, after Standard AC of Paris, Le Havre AC and Girondins de Bordeaux. In t ...

French Division 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de ...

. In his second season for the club they nearly gained promotion to

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

but were not promoted due to bribery scandal between their manager and opposition goalkeeper. After 4 seasons in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

he returned to

Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...

where he played for Turun Palloseura and

Turun Toverit Turun Toverit (TuTo) is a sports club based in Turku, Finland. It was established in 1929. Today it is best known of its ice hockey section TuTo Hockey. Other sections include sports like football, basketball, volleyball, wrestling and athletics. ...

before ending his career at Turun Pyrkivä.

International

Lehtovirta earned 44 caps 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 ...

and scored 13 goals. He made his first appearance in 1947 in a defeat 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 ...

played in

Borås Borås ( , , ) is a city (officially, a locality) and the seat of Borås Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 66,273 inhabitants in 2010. Geography Borås is located at the point of two crossing railways, among them the ...

. His first goal was scored against

in 1948. One of his most memorable moments was a winner in a friendly match against

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

in 1950.

References

External links

* * 1928 births 2016 deaths Men's association football forwards Finnish men's footballers Finnish expatriate men's footballers Finland men's international footballers Olympic footballers for Finland Footballers at the 1952 Summer Olympics Footballers from Turku Red Star F.C. players Ligue 2 players Expatriate men's footballers in France Turun Palloseura footballers Finnish football managers Turun Palloseura managers Mestaruussarja players {{Finland-footy-forward-stub