Niko Markkula (born 27 June 1990) is a
Finnish football player who currently plays for
Gilla FC.
Career
Club
Markkula came up through the youth system at
JJK. In November 2012, Markkula entered talks 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 ...
club
Eskilstuna City. In January 2013, Markkula completed his move to the club. He made his competitive debut for Eskilstuna City on 14 April 2013 in a 7–0 away defeat to
IK Sirius, playing all ninety minutes of the match. After seven months in Sweden, Markkula moved back to JJK.
In January 2014, Markkula moved to
Ykkönen side
FC Haka
FC Haka is a Finnish football club based in the industry town of Valkeakoski. It is currently competing in Finland's premier division of football, Veikkausliiga. It is one of the most successful clubs in Finland, with nine Finnish championships a ...
, joining on a one-year contract with an option for a second. He made his competitive debut for the club on 17 April 2014 in a 4–1 away victory over
Atlantis FC
Atlantis FC is a Finnish football club, based in Helsinki. It currently plays in the third tier of Finnish football (''Kakkonen'').
History
The club was founded in late 1995 when Johanneksen Dynamo (founded 1980) and FC Norssi (founded 1985) me ...
in the
Finnish Cup. He scored his first competitive goal for his new club in this match, converting in the 15th minute to open the scoring. After a year at the club, he returned once again to JJK.
In January 2017, Markkula signed for
FC Inter Turku. He made his league debut for the club on 12 April 2017 in a 6–2 home victory over
RoPS, playing 74 minutes before being replaced by
Kevin Mombilo. He scored his first competitive goal for the club on 8 July 2017 in a 4–0 home victory over his former team, JJK. His goal, scored in the 91st minute, made the score 4–0 to Inter Turku. In July 2017, Markkula suffered a serious heel injury, which sidelined him for over a year and had doctors questioning if he would ever play again. He made his first appearance back from his injury on 26 September 2018, coming on as a 64th minute substitute for
Tatu Varmanen in a 2–0 home victory over
FC Lahti.
On 20 December 2019, Markkula joined Finnish club
SJK on a deal until the end of 2021.
International
Markkula made his first competitive appearance for
Finland U21s on 10 October 2011 in a 1–0 defeat to
Sweden U21s at the
2011 U21 Euros, coming on as an 83rd minute substitute for
Juho Lähde.
Markkula was called up to the
men's national team in September 2019.
He was an unused substitute in a home match against
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
.
Honours
Individual
*
Veikkausliiga Team of the Year:
2019
File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
References
External links
Guardian FootballVeikkausliiga.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Markkula, Niko
1990 births
Living people
Finnish men's footballers
Finnish expatriate men's footballers
JJK Jyväskylä players
Eskilstuna City FK players
FC Haka players
FC Inter Turku players
Seinäjoen Jalkapallokerho players
Veikkausliiga players
Ykkönen players
Ettan Fotboll players
Men's association football midfielders
Men's association football fullbacks
Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Sweden
Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden
Sportspeople from Jyväskylä
21st-century Finnish people