Mikko Sumusalo (born 12 March 1990), is a Finnish professional

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 ...

defender who plays for

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 ...

and the Finnish national team. Sumusalo was born in

Porvoo Porvoo (; sv, Borgå ; la, Borgoa) is a city and a municipality in the Uusimaa region of Finland, situated on the southern coast about east of the city border of Helsinki and about from the city centre. Porvoo was one of the six medieval to ...

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 ...

. Sumusalo 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

Klubi-04 Klubi 04 is a Finnish football club based in Helsinki. It is the reserve team of Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi for whom a number of the players are also registered. History Klubi 04 was founded in 2004 when HJK bought FC Jokerit. Initially Klubi 04 ...

, before making his league debut for HJK at age 19 in 2009. He can play either

leftback In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

or wingback. Sumusalo made his international debut for Finland in January 2012, at the age of 21.

Club career

HJK Helsinki

After starting his footballing career at his local

FC Futura FC Futura (abbreviated Futura) is a football club from Porvoo in Finland. The club was formed in 1992 and their home ground is at the Porvoon keskuskenttä. The other venue used by the club is the Porvoon Pallokenttä. The men's first team cu ...

, the nine-year-old defender moved to HJK in 1999. After coming through the junior levels and the reserves, Sumusalo made his first division debut on 25 May 2009 against

FC Lahti FC Lahti is a Finnish football club based in the city of Lahti. It currently plays in the Finnish Premier League (''Veikkausliiga'') after placing first in the Finnish First Division (''Ykkönen'') during season 2011. The homeground of FC Lah ...

. Since then he made a total of 25 league appearances and some appearances in both Champions League qualifiers and Europa League qualifiers for HJK.

RB Leipzig

In January 2014, after the expiration of his contract with HJK, Sumusalo moved to Germany and joined 3. Liga side

RB Leipzig RasenBallsport Leipzig e.V. (), commonly known as RB Leipzig, and colloquially referred to as Red Bull Leipzig, is a German professional football club based in Leipzig, Saxony. The club was founded in 2009 by the initiative of the company Red Bu ...

signing until 2016. However, also due injuries, Sumusalo wasn't able to establish himself, earning only two caps until the end of the 2013−14 season. This situation lasted also for the first leg of the following campaign, especially since Leipzig had been promoted to the 2. Bundesliga and signed several high acclaimed players. To gain match practice, he was therefore loaned to 3. Liga club

Hansa Rostock FC Hansa Rostock () is a German association football club based in the city of Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The club is also called as "the cog" because of its club crest. They have emerged as one of the most successful clubs from the forme ...

until the end of the 2014−15 season.

Rot-Weiß Erfurt and Chemnitzer FC

In June 2016 Sumusalo transferred from RB Leipzig to Rot-Weiß Erfurt. After only one year with 21 deployments in the league, the contract was dissolved. After a longer-term of Unemployment, the Chemnitzer FC took hin on January 17, 2018 until June 30 with an option to renewal under contract. However, he was discharged at the end of the season.

Back to Helsinki

For the season 2018/2019 Mikko Sumusalo returned to back to HJK Helsinki to play in the highest Finnish football league.

FC Honka

On 15 January 2019, Sumusalo signed for

FC Honka FC Honka is a Finnish football club based in Espoo. It was founded in 1957 as Tapion Honka, and changed its name to FC Honka in 1975. The club currently play in the Finnish premier division (''Veikkausliiga''), having been promoted for the fir ...

International career

Sumusalo made his debut for Finland U21 in 2009 and was a regular member ever since. He made his

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

debut on 22 January 2012 in a friendly against

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

. In January 2013 he scored his first goal for the national team on the 5th minute in a match against

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

Career statistics

International

''Statistics accurate as of matches played on 13 January 2017''

International goals

Honours and achievements

Klubi-04 * Finnish League Division 2 Group A:

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; ...

HJK Helsinki *

Finnish championship 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 ...

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 ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

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 ...

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sumusalo, Mikko 1990 births Living people Sportspeople from Porvoo Footballers from Uusimaa Finnish men's footballers Finland men's international footballers Men's association football forwards Klubi 04 players Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi players RB Leipzig players FC Hansa Rostock players FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt players FC Honka players IFK Mariehamn players Veikkausliiga players 3. Liga players Finland men's youth international footballers Finland men's under-21 international footballers Finnish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Germany