Naatan Mikael Skyttä (born 7 May 2002) 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 lea ...

who plays as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship reasons, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Prof ...

club

Dunkerque Dunkirk ( ; ; ; Picard language, Picard: ''Dunkèke''; ; or ) is a major port city in the Departments of France, department of Nord (French department), Nord in northern France. It lies from the Belgium, Belgian border. It has the third-larg ...

and the Finland U21 national team.

Club career

Ilves

A product of the

Ilves Tampereen Ilves, commonly known as Ilves, (; Finnish language, Finnish for "Eurasian lynx, Lynx") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team based in Tampere. They play in the Liiga at the Nokia Arena (Tampere), Nokia Arena. The colors of Ilves, ...

youth academy, Skyttä signed his first professional contract with Ilves first team in 2018. He debuted in Finnish top-tier

Veikkausliiga Veikkausliiga () is a professional association football league in Finland and the highest level of the Finnish football league system. The league comprises the top 12 clubs of the country. Its main sponsor is the Finnish national betting agenc ...

with Ilves first team in the 2018 season.

Toulouse

Skyttä signed with

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

club

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

on 1 February 2021 on a deal until 30 June 2025. The transfer fee was reported to be €500,000. Skyttä made his debut for Toulouse on 20 April 2021, in a

Coupe de France The Coupe de France (), also known in English language, English as the French Cup or less commonly as the France Cup, is the premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in French football organised by the French Football Fed ...

quarter final match against Rumilly-Vallières. On 24 July 2021, Skyttä debuted in

in a match against

Ajaccio Ajaccio (, , ; French language, French: ; or ; , locally: ; ) is the capital and largest city of Corsica, France. It forms a communes of France, French commune, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Corse-du-Sud, and head o ...

. He scored his first goal for Toulouse on 8 January 2023, in a Coupe de France win over

Lannion Lannion ( ; ) is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Brittany in northwestern France. It is a subprefecture of Côtes-d'Armor, the capital of Trégor and the center of an urban area of almost 60,000 inhabitants. Climate Lannion h ...

Viking FK (loan)

On 26 August 2022, he joined Norwegian

Eliteserien Eliteserien () is a professional association football league in Norway and the highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Norwegian First Division ...

club

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

on loan for the remainder of the 2022 season, without an option to buy.

Odense Boldklub (loan)

On 31 January 2023, after a brief return to Toulouse, Skyttä signed a loan deal with Danish club OB for the rest of the season, without an option to buy. He scored his first goal for OB in

Superliga Superliga (''super league'') may refer to: Sports Superliga can refer to different sports leagues: Association football *Albanian Superliga, the Albanian top-flight men's division * Argentine Superliga, the Argentine top-flight men's division *D ...

on 16 April 2023, in a 2–0 victory over

Silkeborg Silkeborg () is a Denmark, Danish town with a population of 52,571 (1 January 2025).UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

group stage match against

LASK Linzer Athletik-Sport-Klub, commonly known as LASK (), or Linzer ASK, is an Austrian professional football club based in Upper-Austrian state capital Linz. It is the oldest football club in that region, and plays in the Austrian Football Bundes ...

on 5 October 2023, but remained an unused substitute. He made his first appearance after the injury on 29 October 2023, in a

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

match against

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...

, coming in from the bench on the 70th minute. On 7 January 2024, he scored the first goals after his injury, a brace in a Coupe de France win against

Chambéry Chambéry (, , ; Franco-Provençal, Arpitan: ''Chambèri'') is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Savoie Departments of France, department in the southeastern ...

Dunkerque

Skyttä signed with French

club

USL Dunkerque Union Sportive du Littoral de Dunkerque () is a Association football, football club based in Dunkirk, France. It competes in Ligue 2, having achieved promotion from the Championnat National in the 2022–23 Championnat National, 2022–23 seas ...

on 28 August 2024 on a deal until 30 June 2026 for an undisclosed fee. Two days later, he debuted with his new club in Ligue 2, as a late substitute in a 1–0 home win against

Rodez Rodez (, , ; , ) is a small city and commune in the South of France, about 150 km northeast of Toulouse. It is the prefecture of the department of Aveyron, region of Occitania (formerly Midi-Pyrénées). Rodez is the seat of the communau ...

. He was named the player of the month of his team in September. He repeated as his team's player of the month in October, after starting the season scoring four goals and providing three assists in the Ligue 2, an also in March 2025. During his first season with Dunkerque, Skyttä made 30 appearances in Ligue 2, scoring seven goals and providing four assists, as the team finished 4th in the table and reached the promotion play-offs, as a lower-budget team. They also advanced to the 2024–25 Coupe de France

semi-finals A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, ...

against PSG.

International career

Skyttä is a regular Finnish youth international. In the 2023 UEFA Euro Under-21 Championship qualification campaign, Skyttä scored 6 goals in 10 matches. On 15 October 2024, in the last match of the

2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification The 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification was a men's under-21 national football team competition that determined the 15 teams that joined the automatically qualified hosts Slovakia in the 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship ...

against

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

, Skyttä scored a brace and helped Finland to 2–1 victory and thus securing the spot to the qualification play-offs, after Finland finished 2nd in the

Group E Group E may refer to: * E-Group: E-Groups are unique architectural complexes found among a number of ancient Maya settlements * Group E (vase painting), a group of Attic vase painters of the black-figure style, active between 560 and 540 BC. * On ...

. Finland eventually qualified for the

final tournament Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

after defeating

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

in the play-offs. Skyttä also scored a goal for Finland in the tournament's last group stage match against

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

, helping his side to get a 2–2 draw.

Career statistics

Honours

Ilves *

Finnish Cup The Finnish 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 UEFA Europa Conference League ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Toulouse *

: 2021–22 *

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 ...

Trophée des Champions The Trophée des Champions (, ) is a French association football trophy contested in an annual match between the champions of Ligue 1 and the winners of the Coupe de France. It is equivalent to the Super cup, super cups found in many other count ...

runner-up:

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

Individual *

Team of the Year:

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

Player of the Month: September 2024, October 2024, March 2025Naatan Skyttä sai kunnianosoituksen Ranskassa
suomifutis.com, 3 April 2025

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Skytta, Naatan 2002 births Living people Finnish men's footballers 21st-century Finnish sportsmen Finnish expatriate men's footballers Finland men's under-21 international footballers Finland men's youth international footballers Men's association football midfielders Footballers from Pirkanmaa Sportspeople from Ylöjärvi Ilves (football) players Toulouse FC players Viking FK players Odense Boldklub players Veikkausliiga players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Eliteserien players Danish Superliga players Finnish expatriate sportspeople in France Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Norway Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Norway Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Championnat National 3 players Kakkonen players USL Dunkerque players HJS Akatemia players