Pyry Kärkkäinen (born 10 November 1986) 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

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for

Kakkonen Kakkonen or II divisioona is the fourth level in the league system of Finnish football and comprises 36 Finnish football teams. Until the end of 2023, ''Kakkonen'' was the third-highest level in Finland, but after the creation of new second-t ...

club PPJ.

Club career

Kärkkäinen started his career with Kiuruveden Palloilijat where he played, until joining

PK-37 Pallo-Kerho 37, also known as PK-37, is a Finnish football club from the city of Iisalmi. The club was founded on 10 October 1937 as a bandy and football club, but later on it also became known for its pesäpallo and ice hockey sections. Nowad ...

for the season 2003. In 2003, he went on trial at

Molde FK Molde Fotballklubb () is a association football, football club based in Molde Municipality, Molde, Norway, that competes in Eliteserien, the top flight of Norwegian football league system, Norwegian football. Founded on 19 June 1911, the club w ...

. For the season 2004, he moved to

Kuopio Kuopio ( , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of North Savo. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Kuopio is approximately , while the Kuopio sub-region, sub-region has a population of approximately . It is the mos ...

and

KuPS Kuopion Palloseura, commonly referred to as KuPS, is a Finnish professional football club based in Kuopio. KuPS competes in Veikkausliiga, the top flight of Finnish football. The team plays its home matches at Kuopio Football Stadium. KuPS ha ...

. He signed for three years. KuPS was relegated in 2006 and Kärkkäinen left the club and signed with

FC Lahti FC Lahti is a Finnish professional football club based in the city of Lahti. It currently plays in the Finnish second tier Ykkösliiga, after relegating from Veikkausliiga after the 2024 season. The homeground of Lahti is Toolpoint Arena. La ...

. At that time he was already a regular in the Finnish under-19 national team.

FC Honka FC Honka is a Finland, Finnish Association football, football club based in Espoo. It was founded in 1957 as Tapion Honka, and changed its name to FC Honka in 1975. The club will play in Kakkonen in the 2024 season, after Esport Honka filed for ...

had Kärkkäinen at trial in 2006, but chose not to offer a contract and FC Lahti's coach

Antti Muurinen Antti Muurinen (born 4 March 1954) is a Finnish football coach. Muurinen has been the head coach of the Finland national team. He led Finland in qualifying campaigns for the 2002 World Cup, Euro 2004 and the 2006 World Cup, failing to reach th ...

signed him for the first time. In November 2008, Kärkkäinen signed a two-year contract with the capital city club HJK. Also in this time Muurinen wanted to have the talented centre-back. He made his first appearance for HJK in the 5–1 home win against his former club KuPS on 18 April 2009. He also scored his first goal for HJK in the same match. After having played for

Lahti Lahti (; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Päijät-Häme. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Lahti is approximately , while the Lahti sub-region, sub-region has a population of approximately . It is the mo ...

between 2013 and 2017, Kärkkäinen took a career break. He returned to football in 2021, signing with recently promoted third-tier

club PPJ.

International career

He was a part of the Finland U21s, that qualified for the

UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the comp ...

in 2009. He has also played for U17's and U19's.

Honours

KuPS *

Finnish League Cup The Finnish League Cup (in Finnish: ''Liigacup''), is a knock-out football competition contested annually during the pre-season in winter by teams from Veikkausliiga. The competition is notably the only football competition in Europe which is most ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

Lahti *

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

HJK Helsinki *

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 ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

Club career

International career

Honours

References

External links