Mikko Esko (born 3 September 1978) 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 ...

volleyball player This is a list of top international volleyball players. A * Foluke Akinradewo * Carolina Albuquerque * Todor Aleksiev * Ana Ida Alvares * Thiago Soares Alves * Dante Amaral * Andrea Anastasi * Matt Anderson * Stéphane Antiga * Halina Aszki ...

, a member of

Finland men's national volleyball team The Finland men's national volleyball team is the national volleyball team of Finland. It is governed by the Finland Volleyball Association and takes part in international volleyball competitions. The team's best results to date are fourth place a ...

and Finnish club

Vammalan Lentopallo Vammalan Lentopallo — Valepa is a volleyball team in southwest Finland founded in 1978. It is based in the Vammala district of the town of Sastamala, in the Pirkanmaa, Pirkanmaa Region. Valepa plays in the highest level in Finland. History Va ...

Personal life

Esko was born in

Vammala Vammala is a former town and municipality of southwestern Finland, chartered in 1907. On 1 January 2009, Vammala was consolidated with the municipalities of Mouhijärvi and Äetsä, to form a new city named Sastamala. Geography Vammala was locate ...

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 ...

. He is married to

Saara Saara may refer to: Places * Saara, Estonia, a village in Lääne-Viru County, Estonia * Saara, Greiz, a municipality in Thuringia, Germany * Saara, Altenburger Land, a municipality in Thuringia, Germany Other * ''Saara'' (lizard), a genus of l ...

(née Loikkanen), who is a former

Career

Clubs

Esko started his career in Vammala. There he played his first season in professional level in Finland with Vammalan Lentopallo. He played in Vammalan Lentopallo seasons 1995–1997. After that he changed to Keski-Savon Pateri. His first season in Pateri he won Finland league bronze. After the season the media chose him as best rookie player in the league. Second season was also success to Esko in Pateri. He won Finland league Champion and also Finland Cup Champion. Season 1999 Esko won with Pateri Finland league bronze. After that he became professional volleyball player. He made contract with Unterhachingin who played in German Bundesliga. He won German league bronze season 2000 and next season that he won German Cup Champion. After two season he made contract with Noliko Maaseik in Belgium. First season was success in Maaseik to Esko. He win Belgium league Champion and also Belgium Cup Champion. Season 2005 he won with Maaseik Belgium Cup Champion and league silver medals. After two years in Belgium Esko made a three-year contract with Sempre Volley Padova. The media chose his season 2006–2008 Italy league All-Stars game. Season 2008–2009 Esko play in Acqua Paradiso Gabeca Montichiari. After the season Trenkwalder Modena bought Esko to their team from Monticari. In 2012 he changed the club and moved to Russian league (Guberniya Nizhny Novgorod).

National team

Esko played his first national team game against Estonian year 2000. Then Esko was 22 years old. He made his breakthrough in national team year 2004, when he got one setter place in the team. Today Esko is reserve captain in national team. Tuomas Sammelvuo is team captain usually. Year 2006 Esko played with national team his first World league season. Finland placed 11. place in World League and also survive to European Championships to Moscow. Summer 2007 Esko played again in World League with Finland. They played good competition and place seven place final. After that team started five weeks longer preparing to European Championships. In European Championships Finland made country ballgames history when team get fourth place.

Sporting achievements

Clubs

National championships

* 2014/2015 Simple gold cup

Turkish SuperCup2014, with

Halkbank Ankara Halkbank Ankara is a professional men's volleyball team based in Ankara, Turkey and sponsored by the state-owned Halkbank. It was founded on 21 July 1983 as Halkbank Spor Kulübü with blue, white and red colors ...

* 2014/2015 Simple gold cup

Turkish Cup, with

* 2014/2015 Silver medal with cup

Turkish Championship, with

Personals: * Italy league All-Star player 2006, 2007, 2008 * Best Finnish maleplayer of the year 2006, 2008 * Best newcomer in Finland league 1998 Team: * 4. place in European Championships 2007 * Belgium Champion 2004 * Belgium Cup-Champion 2004, 2005 * German Cup-Champion 2003 * German league bronze 2002 * Finland Champion 1999 * Finland league bronze 1998, 2000 In beach-volley: * Finland Champion 2001, 2003

References

External links

FIVB Profile

LegaVolley Serie A player profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Esko, Mikko 1978 births Living people Finnish men's volleyball players Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Russia Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Sportspeople from Pirkanmaa Expatriate volleyball players in Germany Expatriate volleyball players in Italy Expatriate volleyball players in Belgium Expatriate volleyball players in Russia Expatriate volleyball players in Turkey