Onni Valakari (born 18 August 1999) 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 le ...

who plays as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, 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 #Cent ...

for

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus officially ...

club

Pafos Paphos ( el, Πάφος ; tr, Baf) is a coastal city in southwest Cyprus and the capital of Paphos District. In classical antiquity, two locations were called Paphos: Old Paphos, today known as Kouklia, and New Paphos. The current city of Pap ...

and the Finnish national team.

Career

Valakari started to play football in the youth sector of

Käpylän Pallo Käpylän Pallo or KäPa for short, is a football (soccer) club from the Käpylä district of Helsinki. The club currently plays in the Kakkonen, the third tier of the Finnish league system. KäPa play their home matches at the Max Westerberg A ...

(KäPa) in 2007. In 2013, he moved to

Seinäjoki Seinäjoki (; "Wall River"; la, Wegelia, formerly sv, Östermyra) is a city located in South Ostrobothnia, Finland; east of Vaasa, north of Tampere, west of Jyväskylä and southwest of Oulu. Seinäjoki originated around the Östermyra bru ...

with his family and joined local club

Seinäjoen Jalkapallokerho Seinäjoen Jalkapallokerho (or SJK Seinäjoki or SJK) is a Finnish professional football club from the city of Seinäjoki. The club plays in the Veikkausliiga, the highest tier of the Finnish league system. Their home ground is OmaSP Stadion, wh ...

(SJK). After making his senior debut with the club's reserve team SJK II in a then third-tier level

Kakkonen Kakkonen or II divisioona is the third level in the league system of Finnish football and comprises 36 Finnish football teams. The II divisioona was introduced in 1973 and in the mid-1990s became known as the Kakkonen (Finnish for 'Number Two' ...

in 2015, Valakari continued his career with

Turun Palloseura Turun Palloseura, commonly known as TPS, is a professional football club based in Turku, Finland. During the 2022 season, the men's first team of the club competes in Ykkönen, the second highest tier of men's football, and the women's repr ...

(TPS). He played with TPS first in the second-tier

Ykkönen ''Ykkönen'' (Finnish for 'Number One'; sv, Ettan) is the second highest level of the Finnish football league system (after the Veikkausliiga), although it is the highest league managed by the Football Association of Finland. The teams also play ...

in 2017, and in the next

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 ...

season he debuted in the premier division

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 the first half of the season, he scored four goals in the league. On 5 August 2018, Valakari signed with the Norwegian club

Tromsø Tromsø (, , ; se, Romsa ; fkv, Tromssa; sv, Tromsö) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Tromsø (city), city of Tromsø. Tromsø lies ...

, after his father was named the manager of the club's first team. In January 2020 he moved to

, competing in

. On 25 November 2022, Valakari extended his contract with Pafos until June 2026.

International career

He played for Finland at under-19 and under-21 levels. Valakari made his senior international debut for

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 ...

on 11 November 2020, scoring on his debut in a 2–0 victory over

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. The other goalscorer was fellow debutant

Marcus Forss Marcus Forss (born 18 June 1999) is a Finnish professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Middlesbrough and the Finland national team. Forss is a graduate of the West Bromwich Albion academy and after transferring to Brentford B i ...

. Valakari was called up for the

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

pre-tournament friendly match against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

on 29 May 2021.

Personal life

Valakari's father Simo is a former professional player and a Finnish international, and is currently working as a manager of

Riga FC Riga Football Club, commonly referred to as Riga FC, is a Latvian football club, founded in 2014. The club is based at the Skonto Stadium in Riga. Since 2016 the club has been playing in the Virslīga. History The club was officially registered i ...

. His brother

Paavo Paavo is an Estonian and Finnish masculine given name, cognate to "Paul". The Finnish patronymic surname Paavolainen is derived from it. It may refer to: *Paavo Aaltonen (1919–1962), Finnish gymnast and a three-time Olympic champion *Paavo ...

has also played football professionally. Onni was born in Scotland when his father had a stint as a player at

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''As of match played on 7 June 2022. Scores and results list Finland's goal tally first.''

References

1999 births Living people Finnish men's footballers Finland men's youth international footballers Finland men's under-21 international footballers Finland men's international footballers SJK Akatemia players Turun Palloseura footballers Salon Palloilijat players Veikkausliiga players Ykkönen players Kakkonen players Eliteserien players Cypriot First Division players Men's association football midfielders Pafos FC players Tromsø IL players UEFA Euro 2020 players Finnish expatriate men's footballers Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Norway Expatriate men's footballers in Norway Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Käpylän Pallo players {{Finland-footy-midfielder-stub