Simo Johannes Valakari (born 28 April 1973) is a Finnish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

coach and former player. He is currently the head coach of

FK Auda Futbola klubs Auda is a Latvian football club, playing in the highest division of Latvian football (Latvian Higher League). They are based in Ķekava, near the capital, Riga. Auda won their first ever major trophy in 2022, beating RFS 1–0 in ...

Career

Valakari began his career with KontU in the Finnish lower divisions, before first moving to

FinnPa Finnairin Palloilijat, or FinnPa as the club is more commonly known as, was a Finnish association football club established in 1965. The club was based in Helsinki and it operated from 1965 to 1998. FinnPa was founded by staff of the Finnish natio ...

in 1995 and then to Scottish club

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 ...

in 1996. After four seasons in Scotland, he was off to

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

in the

English Premiership 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 ...

. Valakari failed to become a first team regular at

Pride Park Stadium Pride Park Stadium is an all-seater football stadium in Derby, England, that is the home ground of English Football League club Derby County. With a capacity of 33,597, it is the 16th-largest football ground in England and the 20th-largest stad ...

and decided to join

Dallas Burn Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County wi ...

for the 2004

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

season and finished the year with a goal and four assists. Following the 2006 season, his contract was not renewed with the team, known by that time as

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference in Major League Soccer (MLS). The franchise be ...

. Valakari decided to return to Finland for the 2007

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 ...

season, where he signed for TPS managed by

Mixu Paatelainen Mika-Matti Petteri Paatelainen (born 3 February 1967) is a Finnish former professional football player and the head coach of Veikkausliiga club HIFK. He scored 18 goals in 70 appearances for the Finnish national team, which makes him Finland's ...

. He retired from playing in 2009 after several injuries.

International career

Valakari was a regular with the Finnish national team during his stay in Europe. He made a total of 32 caps for his country.

Coaching career

Valakari was named manager of

Åbo IFK Åbo IFK (or ÅIFK for short) is a sports club from Turku, Finland. The club was founded in 1908, and originally represented the Swedish-speaking minority of Turku/Åbo. Background The greatest successes of ÅIFK have come in football where ...

in January 2010 and subsequently ended his playing career. He however returned "home" as he announced his return to

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 ...

as a youth coach after the 2010 season. In 2012, Valakari joined SJK as the head coach. In 2013, he managed the team to gain promotion to the

and they went on to win the Finnish championship in 2015. The team also won the

Finnish League Cup The Finnish League Cup was a knock-out association football, football competition contested annually during the pre-season in winter by teams from Veikkausliiga. The league cup was abolished after the 2016 tournament and replaced with the Finnish C ...

in 2014. After working as assistant manager for the Finnish national team after being fired from the SJK job, he was appointed head coach of Norwegian side

Tromsø IL Tromsø Idrettslag is a Norwegian professional football club founded in 1920, based in the city of Tromsø. They play their home games at Alfheim Stadion. Tromsø play in the Eliteserien. Tromsø have won the Norwegian Cup twice, in 1986 and 19 ...

in June 2017. In 2018, his contract was extended until 2022, but he was fired after a relegation in

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 ...

. In November 2020, Valakari was appointed as the head coach of

KuPS Kuopion Palloseura (or KuPS) is a Finnish football club, based in the ninth most populated city of Finland, Kuopio. KuPS plays in Finland's Premier League, Veikkausliiga. KuPS has won the Finnish championship six times, the Finnish Cup 4 times ...

until he lost his motivation for the job after the season of 2022 and was released cause he did not work as required.

Personal life

Valakari's sons

Onni Onni is a male name of Finnish origin meaning "happiness, luck." It was the sixth most popular name for boys in Finland in 2007. People with the given name Onni *Onni Hiltunen Onni Alfred Hiltunen (26 November 1895 – 8 June 1971) was a Fi ...

and

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 ...

are also footballers.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valakari, Simo 1973 births Living people Footballers from Helsinki Finnish footballers Finland international footballers Motherwell F.C. players Derby County F.C. players FC Dallas players Premier League players Scottish Football League players Scottish Premier League players Turun Palloseura footballers Finnish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England FC Kontu players Expatriate soccer players in the United States Expatriate footballers in Scotland FinnPa players Major League Soccer players Major League Soccer All-Stars Association football midfielders Käpylän Pallo players English Football League players Finnish football managers Finnish expatriate football managers Seinäjoen Jalkapallokerho managers Tromsø IL managers Expatriate football managers in Norway Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Norway Eliteserien managers