Mika Ojala (; born 21 June 1988) 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 ...

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 ...

who plays as a

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 ...

. He began his senior club

career The career is an individual's metaphorical "journey" through learning, work and other aspects of life. There are a number of ways to define career and the term is used in a variety of ways. Definitions The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' defin ...

playing for VG-62, before signing with

Inter Turku Football Club International Turku, commonly referred to as Inter Turku and colloquially known as Inter, is a professional football club based in Turku, Finland, that competes in the Veikkausliiga, the top flight of Finnish Football. Founded in 1 ...

at age 18 in 2006. Ojala made his international debut for Finland in January 2010, at the age of 21.

Club career

VG-62

Ojala started his football career in Paimion Haka and later moved to Inter Turku's junior system. He made his debut on senior level at the age of 16 in Inter Turku's reserve team VG-62.

Inter Turku

He gained his first appearance in

Veikkausliiga Veikkausliiga (; sv, Tipsligan) is the premier division of Finnish football, the highest tier of the Finnish football league structure, comprising the top 12 clubs of the country. Its main sponsor is the Finnish national betting agency Veikkau ...

during season

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

. On 17 November 2008 Ojala joined the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

club

Heerenveen Heerenveen (, fry, It Hearrenfean ) is a town and municipality in the province of Friesland (Fryslân), in the Northern Netherlands. In 2021, the town had a population of 29,790 (1 January) while the municipality had a population 50,859 (1 July). ...

for a one-week-trial together with Wilhelm Ingves from

IFK Mariehamn IFK Mariehamn is an Ålandic football club based in Mariehamn, the capital of the Åland Islands. It plays in the Finnish Premier Division (''Veikkausliiga''). The club is managed by Daniel Norrmén, and it plays its home matches at Wiklö ...

. He visited

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a Swiss football club based in Zürich. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League 13 times and the Swiss Cup 10 times. The most recent titles a ...

in 2006.

Häcken

On 9 November 2012, after his contract with Inter had expired, it was announced that Ojala had signed a three-year contract with

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

topflight club

BK Häcken Bollklubben Häcken, more commonly known as BK Häcken or simply Häcken (), is a Swedish professional football club based in Gothenburg. It currently plays in Allsvenskan, the top tier of Swedish football. Formed on 2 August 1940, Häcken has p ...

, joining with compatriot Kari Arkivuo.

Return to Inter Turku

He returned to Inter Turku in February 2014 when he signed a contract for season

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Aalen

In the beginning of July 2015 Ojala transferred to

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3. Liga side

VfR Aalen Verein für Rasenspiele 1921 Aalen e.V., known simply as VfR Aalen, is a German football club based in Aalen, Baden-Württemberg. The football team is part of a larger sports club which also offers its members gymnastics, table tennis, and cheer ...

International career

Ojala was selected in the Finnish national squad by Stuart Baxter in August 2008. He was also a member of the U21 squad that reached the

2009 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship The 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship began on 15 June 2009, and was the 17th UEFA European Under-21 Championship. This was the first tournament after the competition reverted to a two-year format, following the single-year 2006–07 compe ...

. Ojala made his national team debut on 18 January 2010 as he came from the bench to replace

Roni Porokara Roni Porokara (born 12 December 1983) is a Finnish former international footballer. Club career FC Hämeenlinna On 15 May 2003, at age 19, Roni Porokara made his league debut in a match between FC Hämeenlinna and KuPS. During his two-ye ...

in friendly match against

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Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

where Finland had winter training camp. Ojala gained his second appearance for the national team on 10 August 2011 at

Skonto Stadium Skonto Stadium ( lv, Skonto stadions) is a football stadium in Riga, Latvia. The stadium was built in 2000 and currently has 8,087 seats in total (open for spectators & VIP guests on matchdays). It is the 2nd-largest stadium in Latvia, behind Dau ...

in a friendly match against

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

when he and

Timo Furuholm Timo Furuholm (born 11 October 1987) is a Finland, Finnish politician and a former professional Association football, football Forward (association football), forward. He is currently a member of the Parliament of Finland, for the Left Alliance ( ...

replaced

Teemu Pukki Teemu Eino Antero Pukki (born 29 March 1990) is a Finnish professional footballer who plays as a striker for EFL Championship club Norwich City and the Finland national team. Pukki began his career with KTP and made his debut on senior leve ...

and

Mika Ääritalo Mika Ääritalo (born 25 July 1985) is a Finnish retired international footballer who played as a striker. Career Club career After beginning his senior career in 2002 with hometown club TPS Turku, English Premiership side Aston Villa beat ...

as forwards.

Career statistics

Club

International

''Statistics accurate as of matches played on 24 January 2014''Palloliitto
/ref>

Honours and achievements

Club

;

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Finnish League Cup The Finnish League Cup was a knock-out association football, football competition contested annually during the pre-season in winter by teams from Veikkausliiga. The league cup was abolished after the 2016 tournament and replaced with the Finnish C ...

Finnish Cup The Finnish Cup ( fi, Suomen cup; sv, Finlands cup) is Finland's main national cup competition in football. This yearly competition is open for all member clubs of the FA of Finland and has been played since 1955. The winner qualifies for the ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

Individual

Player of the Month: August 2008, June 2011, July 2011 *

Midfielder of the Year: 2008, 2011, 2012

References

External links

*
VfR Aalen official profile
* * * * * 1988 births Living people Finnish footballers Finnish expatriate footballers Finland international footballers Finland under-21 international footballers People from Paimio FC Inter Turku players BK Häcken players VfR Aalen players Veikkausliiga players Allsvenskan players 3. Liga players Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Sweden Expatriate footballers in Germany Association football wingers Sportspeople from Southwest Finland {{Finland-footy-forward-stub