Kari Ukkonen (born 19 February 1961) is a Finnish former

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 ...

player and current football manager. As player, Ukkonen was fielded as defender as well as

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 ...

. Ukkonen represented Finland at the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commo ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. Three years later, he earned his first cap 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 ...

in a 1–1 draw against Poland. The same year, Ukkonen was voted Finnish Footballer of the Year by sports journalists and the Football Association of Finland. In between, in 1982, Ukkonen had moved from Finland to Belgium, when he was bought by Cercle Brugge K.S.V., Cercle Brugge. Ukkonen made his Belgian début on 13 November, when Cercle defeated K.S.V. Waregem, SV Waregem with 2–1. Ukkonen would go on to win the Belgian Cup with Cercle in 1985. Ukkonen would spend most of his career in Belgium, also playing for other Belgian League, First division teams as K.S.C. Lokeren Oost-Vlaanderen, Lokeren, R.S.C. Anderlecht, Anderlecht and Royal Antwerp F.C., Royal Antwerp. Ukkonen ended his playing career with France, French side LB Châteauroux. He stayed in football as coach (sport), manager. First he was coach of Finland's national youth team. He was head coach of Finland at the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship, 2001 World Youth Championship in Argentina. His next job was manager of Turun Palloseura.

Honours

*Belgian Cup: **Winner (4): 1985, 1988, 1989, 1992 **Runner-up (1): 1986 *Belgian First Division: **Winner (1): 1990–91 **Runner-up (2): 1988–89, 1989–90

References

Cerclemuseum.be

Kari Ukkonen player profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ukkonen, Kari 1961 births Living people Finnish footballers Finland men's international footballers Men's association football defenders Men's association football midfielders Finnish football managers Sportspeople from Kuopio Olympic footballers for Finland Footballers at the 1980 Summer Olympics Cercle Brugge K.S.V. players K.S.C. Lokeren Oost-Vlaanderen players R.S.C. Anderlecht players Royal Antwerp F.C. players LB Châteauroux players Belgian Pro League players Expatriate footballers in Belgium Expatriate footballers in France Men's association football utility players Turun Palloseura managers Mestaruussarja players Sportspeople from North Savo