Marcus Forss (born 18 June 1999) is a Finnish professional

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 plays as a

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for club

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

and the Finland national team. Forss is a graduate of the

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

academy An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...

and after transferring to Brentford B in 2017, he was promoted into the

first team First team may refer to: Sports * First team (association football), the colloquial name given to the most senior team fielded by a football club * The First Team, the first players known to have played the sport of basketball * First Team All-A ...

squad in 2018. Following four seasons with Brentford, Forss transferred to Middlesbrough in 2022. Forss made his international debut for Finland in November 2020, at the age of 20.

Club career

Early years

, Forss began his career in his native

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 ...

with spells at FC Ruskon Pallo,

TuWe Turun Weikot (TuWe for short) is a sports club from Turku, Finland. It was established in 1912. TuWe is organized in seven sections; Association football, football, athletics (sport), athletics, bowling, boxing, gymnastics, volleyball and weight t ...

and the FDS-Suomi football school. At age 13, he moved to

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to join the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club

and progressed to sign a two-year scholarship deal in 2015. He was called into the U21 squad for two

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matches in the first half of the 2016–17 season and made one appearance, with a start in a 2–0 group stage defeat to Gillingham on 8 November 2016. Forss was released when his scholarship ended in May 2017.

Brentford

2017–2019

On 22 June 2017, Forss joined the

B team B, or b, is the second letter of the Latin-script alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is '' bee'' (pronounced ), plural ''bees''. It r ...

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club

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

on a two-year contract. After scoring 11 goals in his first 23 B team appearances, he signed a new -year contract in February 2018. He finished the 2017–18 season as the B team's top scorer with 21 goals and won the team's Player of the Year award. Forss was promoted into the first team squad for the 2018–19 season and despite missing five months of the campaign with a back injury, he was a regular inclusion in matchday squads when fit and finished the season with 9 appearances and two goals.

2019–20

After one goal in three early- 2019–20 season appearances, Forss signed a new four-year contract and joined

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

club

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional Association football, football club, based in London Borough of Merton, Merton, London, that plays in the EFL League Two, after being relegated from the EFL League One following the 2021–22 EFL Leagu ...

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until the end of the 2019–20 season. He scored seven goals in his first seven appearances for the club and scored the first senior

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

of his career in a 4–1 victory over

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

on 12 October. Four goals in five appearances in October 2019 won Forss the

EFL Young Player of the Month The EFL Young Player of the Month is an award for young players in all three divisions of the English Football League. To be eligible players must be under-21 or turn 21 during the current season. It was first awarded in December 2009. Victor Mose ...

award. Four further goals in December 2019 saw him nominated for the League One Player of the Month award. By the time his spell was ended early by a season-ending torn hamstring on 14 January 2020, he had scored 11 goals in 19 appearances. Forss' performances during the season were recognised with the AFC Wimbledon Young Player of the Year award.

2020–21

Following surgery on his torn hamstring, Forss returned fit for the

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

season and the departures of

Ollie Watkins Oliver George Arthur Watkins (born 30 December 1995) is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Aston Villa and the England national team. Watkins is a product of the Exeter City academy and made his breakthrough ...

and Saïd Benrahma elevated him to second-choice behind new signing Ivan Toney. For two-thirds of the season he served predominantly as a substitute, playing forward and

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expres ...

roles. Off the back of a spell of seven goals in 13 appearances, Forss signed a new -year contract in December 2020. In April 2021, a change in formation allowed Forss to break into the starting lineup, as one of two forwards alongside Ivan Toney. His first appearance as part of the new formation saw him score his first goal for over five months, in a 5–0 win over

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

. Brentford qualified for the

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and playing as a substitute in the semi-final second leg versus

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, Forss scored the 81st-minute goal which secured a 3–2 aggregate victory and sent the Bees to a second consecutive playoff

Final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

. Forss' 2020–21 season ended with 50 appearances, 10 goals and promotion to the Premier League after a 2–0 victory over

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club (; cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Cymdeithas Dinas Abertawe) is a professional football club based in Swansea, Wales that plays in the Championship, the second tier of English football. Swansea have played their ho ...

in the playoff Final.

2021–2022

Forss began the 2021–22 season principally involved in Brentford's

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

campaign, with his starting performances in second and third round matches versus

Forest Green Rovers Forest Green Rovers Football Club are a professional football club based in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, England. The team compete in , the third tier of the English football league system, and have played their home games at The New Lawn since ...

and

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic ...

yielding five goals. His four-goal haul in the latter match was recognised with a place in the EFL Cup Team of the Round and a nomination for Player of the Round. Forss' 2021–22 EFL Cup performances were later recognised with a place in the Team of the Tournament and his five goals scored in the tournament tied him with

Eddie Nketiah Edward Keddar Nketiah (born 30 May 1999) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Arsenal. Nketiah started his career with Arsenal and made his debut in 2017. He played on loan at Leeds United in their 2019–20 ...

as top-scorer. By the final day of the winter

transfer window A transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club can transfer players from other playing staff into their playing staff. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player into the new club through FIFA. "Transfer win ...

, Forss had scored six goals in 12 appearances, but with no goals in seven Premier League appearances. In need of "more consistent game time", Forss joined Championship club

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving ...

on loan until the end of the 2021–22 season. Deployed in a mix of starting and substitute roles, Forss made 11 appearances during his spell and scored one goal, in a 1–1 draw with

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

on 19 February 2022. Ahead of the

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

season, Forss was not called into Brentford's

pre-season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of Se ...

training camp A training camp is an organized period in which military personnel or athletes participate in a rigorous and focused schedule of training in order to learn or improve skills. Athletes typically utilise training camps to prepare for upcoming events, ...

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and transferred out of the club in July 2022. He scored 19 goals in 74 appearances during four seasons as a first team player with the club. His 9 EFL Cup goals tied the club record.

Middlesbrough

On 28 July 2022, Forss transferred to Championship club

and signed a four-year contract for an undisclosed fee. He scored his first goal for the club on his second appearance, in a 3–2 defeat to Queens Park Rangers on 6 August 2022. Following the sacking of manager

Chris Wilder Christopher John Wilder (born 23 September 1967) is an English professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who played as a right-back. He was most recently the manager of club Middlesbrough ...

and the appointment of

Michael Carrick Michael Carrick (born 28 July 1981) is an English professional football manager and former player who is currently head coach of Middlesbrough. He is one of the most decorated English footballers of all time and is best known for his 12-year p ...

on 24 October 2022, Forss ended a three-month goal drought. After being deployed on the

right wing Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, authori ...

in late December 2022, he scored five goals in 9 appearances.

International career

Forss was capped by Finland at U17, U18, U19 and U21 level. He captained the U19 team, but was not included in the squad for the 2018 European U19 Championship on home soil due to club commitments. Good goalscoring form at club level saw Forss receive his maiden call up to the senior team for a series of three matches in November 2020. He made his debut with a start in a friendly versus

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and scored the opening goal in the 2–0 victory. Forss was named in Finland's

Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

squad and made two substitute appearances prior to the team's group stage exit. He made two appearances during Finland's failed 2022 World Cup qualification campaign, scoring one goal, which came in a 3–1 victory over

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

in the penultimate group stage match.

Personal life

Forss hails from a football family. His father

Tero Forss Tero Forss (born 12 July 1968) is a retired Finnish professional footballer, best remembered for his eight years as a forward and midfielder with Inter Turku, for whom he is the record scorer and a member of the club's Hall of Fame. After retiri ...

and brother Niclas are both involved in football, and his grandfather is former Finland international

Rainer Forss Rainer Forss (20 October 1930 – 2 August 2005) was a Finnish professional football forward, manager and coach. He won full, Olympic and B caps for Finland at international level and was a member of Finland's 1952 Summer Olympics squad. In addi ...

. Growing up he was a

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supporter.

Career statistics

Club

International

:: ''Scores and results list Finland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Forss goal.''

Honours

Brentford *

EFL Championship play-offs The English Football League Championship play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from third to sixth in the EFL Championship table and are part of the English Football League play-offs. , t ...

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 ...

Individual * Brentford B Player of the Year: 2017–18 *

Young Player of the Year: 2019–20 *

: October 2019 *

Top Goalscorer: 2021–22 *

Team of the Tournament: 2021–22

References

External links

Marcus Forss
at mfc.co.uk
Marcus Forss
–

SPL SPL may refer to: Association football * Saudi Professional League * Scottish Premier League * SportPesa Premier League, Kenya * Singapore Premier League * RoboCup Standard Platform League, matches between autonomous robots Computing Program ...

competition record * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Forss, Marcus 1999 births Living people Footballers from Turku Finnish footballers Finland youth international footballers Finland under-21 international footballers Finland international footballers Association football forwards Brentford F.C. players AFC Wimbledon players English Football League players UEFA Euro 2020 players Finnish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Finnish expatriate sportspeople in England Premier League players Hull City A.F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players