Petri Pasanen (born 24 September 1980) is a Finnish former 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 played as a defender. He was most comfortable as

centre-back 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 ...

, but also played

right-back 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 ...

and

left-back 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 ...

as well. Pasanen began his senior career in his native Finland before moving to

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Greek ...

. He spent most of his career at

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

club

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen (), Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen, Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, they are be ...

which he represented in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

in multiple seasons, and in the 2009 UEFA Cup Final.

Club career

FC Lahti

Born in

Lahti Lahti (; sv, Lahtis) is a city and municipality in Finland. It is the capital of the region of Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme) and its growing region is one of the main economic hubs of Finland. Lahti is situated on a bay at the southern e ...

, Finland, Pasanen became a regular for local club

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 ...

during the club's promotion season in 1998. During the next two seasons he made 42 appearances for the club in Finland's

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 ...

Ajax

Many of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

's top clubs had become interested in the promising Pasanen, and in the summer of 2000 he joined Dutch club

. He became a regular in the Ajax defense in his first season, but his progress was halted when he broke his foot in August 2001, and had to miss most of the 2001–02 season. Next season he was a regular again as Ajax reached the quarter-finals of the

. He fell out of favour at Ajax in 2003–04, and spent the second half of the season on loan at English club

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

. Portsmouth manager

Harry Redknapp Henry James Redknapp (born 2 March 1947) is an English former football manager and player. He has previously managed AFC Bournemouth, West Ham United, Portsmouth, Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, Queens Park Rangers and Birmingham City. In his ...

was interested in purchasing Pasanen at the end of the season, but claimed Ajax's asking price was too high.

Werder Bremen

Pasanen was then signed by reigning German champions

in the summer of 2004. He became a key player for the club, helping them to a top three finish in the

and the second round of the Champions League in each of his first two seasons at the club. Whilst at Bremen he played in the 2009 UEFA Cup Final.

Red Bull Salzburg

On 30 June 2011, after the end of his contract, he left Werder Bremen, and signed for Red Bull Salzburg. On 12 May 2012, Salzburg announced that they would not renew Pasanen's contract and he would be free to look for a new club during the summer.

AGF Aarhus

On 28 July 2012, Pasanen signed a two-year contract with Danish topflight side AGF. He scored his first goal for AGF on 10 December 2012, in a 3−3 home draw against

Silkeborg Silkeborg () is a Danish town with a population of 49,747 (1 January 2022).Finland national team. He made his international debut on 15 November 2000 against the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

. Pasanen has mostly played at right back for Finland, and has also served as the national team's captain, when

Sami Hyypiä Sami Tuomas Hyypiä (; born 7 October 1973) is a Finnish football manager and former defender. Hyypiä began his playing career with Ykkönen side Kumu and soon moved to Veikkausliiga outfit MyPa. He spent four years at the club, helping t ...

and

Jari Litmanen Jari Olavi Litmanen (; born 20 February 1971) is a Finnish former footballer. He was the first-choice captain of the Finland national team between 1996 and 2008 in an international career that ran from 1989 to 2010. Litmanen is widely consider ...

have not played. He scored his only goal on 22 May 2002 in a home friendly at the

Helsinki Olympic Stadium The Helsinki Olympic Stadium ( fi, Helsingin Olympiastadion; sv, Helsingfors Olympiastadion), located in the Töölö district about from the centre of the Finnish capital Helsinki, is the largest stadium in the country, nowadays mainly used ...

against

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

, which Finland won 2–1. Pasanen has also played in

Finland national futsal team The Finnish national futsal team represents Finland in international futsal competitions. The team is run under supervision of the Football Association of Finland. It has never qualified for the FIFA Futsal World Cup, World Cup or the UEFA Futsal ...

, where he has six caps and two goals.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Finland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after Pasanen goal''.

Honours

Ajax *

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

: 2001–02 *

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; en, KNVB Cup), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Ou ...

: 2001–02 *

Johan Cruijff Shield The Johan Cruyff Shield (, ) is a football trophy in the Netherlands named after Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff, also often referred to as the Dutch Super Cup. The winner is decided in one match only, played by the winner of the national footbal ...

: 2002 Werder Bremen *

DFB Ligapokal The DFL-Ligapokal (, officially Premiere Ligapokal , previously DFB-Ligapokal ) or the ''German League Cup'' was a German football competition that took place before the start of the Bundesliga season, featuring the top five teams of the previous ...

: 2006 *

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considere ...

: 2008–09 *

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

Runner-up: 2008–09 Red Bull Salzburg *

Austrian Bundesliga The Austrian Football Bundesliga (german: Österreichische Fußball-Bundesliga, italic=no , "Austrian Football Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Austrian football league system. Th ...

: 2011–12 *

Austrian Cup The Austrian Cup (german: ÖFB-Cup), known as UNIQA ÖFB Cup for sponsorship purposes, is an annual football competition held by the Austrian Football Association, the ÖFB. During the 2008–09 season, Austria Wien won the tournament for 27th t ...

: 2011–12 Individual *2008: Finnish Sports Journalists footballer of the year

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pasanen, Petri 1980 births Living people Sportspeople from Lahti Finnish footballers Association football central defenders Association football fullbacks FC Lahti players FC Hämeenlinna players AFC Ajax players Portsmouth F.C. players SV Werder Bremen players FC Red Bull Salzburg players Aarhus Gymnastikforening players Veikkausliiga players Eredivisie players Premier League players Bundesliga players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Danish Superliga players Finland international footballers Finnish expatriate footballers Finnish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Austria Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark