Teemu Eino Antero Pukki (born 29 March 1990) 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 ...

who plays as a striker for EFL Championship club

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

and the Finland national team. Pukki began his career with KTP and made his debut on senior level on 23 June 2005 at the age of 15 in a fifth round match of the

Finnish Cup The Finnish Cup ( fi, Suomen cup; sv, Finlands cup) is Finland's main national cup competition in football. This yearly competition is open for all member clubs of the FA of Finland and has been played since 1955. The winner qualifies for the ...

. He then moved to

Sevilla Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

in 2008, where he played only one

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

game for the first team before returning to Finland with HJK. In HJK he won the

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 Veikka ...

championship and the

. He then played in the top divisions of Germany for

Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine ...

, Scotland for Celtic and Denmark for Brøndby. In 2018 he signed for Norwich City on a free transfer and was named player of the season in the

2018–19 EFL Championship The 2018–19 EFL Championship (referred to as the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the third season of the EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the ...

. Pukki made his international debut for Finland in 2009 and has earned over 100 caps, scoring 37 goals. He is the all-time leading Finnish goalscorer. Pukki scored ten goals in ten matches in Finland's

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 ...

qualification campaign, helping the side reach their first ever international tournament.

Club career

KTP

Pukki began his football career in childhood in HOPS (Hovinsaaren Palloseura) while living in Hovinsaari,

Kotka Kotka (; ; la, Aquilopolis) is a city in the southern part of the Kymenlaakso province on the Gulf of Finland. Kotka is a major port and industrial city and also a diverse school and cultural city, which was formerly part of the old Kymi parish ...

. As a youth he joined his official hometown club, KTP, playing for their under-19 side. He made his debut for the first team at 16 years old and his performances saw him called up to play for Finland's youth international sides. In two seasons of first-team football, Pukki made 29 appearances in the Finnish Premier League (

) and scored three goals.

Sevilla

Pukki moved to

from KTP for a transfer fee of 180.000€. He was called up for the Sevilla first team for the away match against Real Madrid on 7 December 2008, but was an unused substitute. He received his

debut at home against

Racing In sport, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specific go ...

on 25 January 2009. He found himself unused in Sevilla playing mostly for the reserve side

Sevilla Atlético Sevilla Atlético is a Spanish football team based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1950, it is the reserve team of Sevilla FC. It plays in Segunda Federación, and holds home games at '' Estadio Jesús Navas'', w ...

and he decided to return to Finland.

HJK

On 28 August 2010, Pukki signed a three-and-half-year contract with the Finnish Veikkausliiga club HJK. Pukki made his debut 30 August a match against

IFK Mariehamn IFK Mariehamn is an Ålandic football club based in Mariehamn, the capital of the Åland Islands. It plays in the Finnish Premier Division (''Veikkausliiga''). The club is managed by Daniel Norrmén, and it plays its home matches at Wiklöf ...

. He managed to score his first goal for HJK in the next match against

FF Jaro FF Jaro is a Finnish football club, based in the bilingual town of Jakobstad. It currently plays in ''Ykkönen''. Home matches are played at the Jakobstads Centralplan. Current squad ''Updated 7 March, 2022.'' Manageme ...

which was his first goal in a league match for nearly two years. During season 2010 he managed to play in seven games and score two goals for HJK in the 2010 season. At the end of the season HJK and Pukki won the Finnish Veikkausliiga and silver in the Finnish Cup. During season 2011 he scored 11 goals and notched eight assists in 18 league matches out of which he was in the starting line up in 13. He was chosen to 2011 Veikkausliiga All Stars -team. Pukki was also a key figure in HJK's

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 competi ...

and

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

qualifications. He scored two goals against Bangor City and HJK's both goals in a 2–0 home win against FC Schalke 04. Pukki also scored HJK's only goal in the 6–1 away defeat against Schalke.

Schalke 04

On 31 August 2011, Pukki joined Schalke on a three-year contract. He made his debut on 18 September, when he came in as a substitute for

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar Dirk Jan Klaas "Klaas-Jan" Huntelaar (; born 12 August 1983) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a striker. Huntelaar played for PSV, De Graafschap, AGOVV Apeldoorn, Heerenveen, Ajax, Real Madrid and Milan, before joining ...

on 66th minute in a 0–2 defeat against Bayern Munich. On 6 November, he scored two goals for Schalke as he debuted in the starting 11 against Hannover 96. By doing so, he became the third Finn to score a brace in the German Bundesliga, after Ari Hjelm and

Pasi Rautiainen Pasi Pentti Rautiainen (born 18 July 1961) is Finnish football manager and former player. He has coached PK-35, FC Jokerit and FC KooTeePee in Finland and FC Levadia Tallinn and FC Flora Tallinn in Estonia. His last club was TPS. Rautiainen ...

Celtic

Pukki signed a four-year deal with Celtic from FC Schalke 04 for an undisclosed fee on 31 August 2013. He scored on his debut in a 3–1 win against Hearts on 14 September 2013 and again on his home debut against St Johnstone on 21 September. On 26 January 2014 he scored against Hibernian. Overall though, Pukki's first season at Celtic was considered something of a disappointment as he struggled with form and failed to fill the void left by

Gary Hooper Gary Hooper (born 26 January 1988) is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for Cypriot club Omonia. Hooper started his career at League Grays Athletic in 2003. While there he won the 2004–05 Conference South, as wel ...

who had left at the start of the season. Pukki himself later acknowledged the lack of impact he had made, admitting he initially felt playing in Scotland would be "easier" than in Germany. He found the speed and physical nature of the game in Scotland difficult to adjust to, and stated "Scottish football is not easy. It’s not a bad league at all". On 8 July 2014, Pukki scored his first Celtic hat trick in a pre-season friendly against

LASK Linz Linzer Athletik-Sport-Klub, commonly known as Linzer ASK () or simply LASK, is an Austrian professional football club, from the Upper-Austrian state capital Linz. It is the oldest football club in that region, and plays in the Austrian Footbal ...

in a 5–2 victory for Celtic. Pukki scored twice in Celtic's victory against

KR Reykjavik KR is the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 and WMO country code for South Korea. KR or Kr may also refer to: Sports * KR (basketball club), associated with Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur * Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur, an Icelandic football club * Kickoff ...

at Murrayfield Stadium in Celtic's

qualifying match, the match ended 4–0 with Celtic winning 5–0 on aggregate. However, he struggled to make any impact in the next qualifying round matches against Legia Warsaw and was substituted at half-time in the league defeat to

Inverness Caledonian Thistle Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, commonly known as Caley Thistle, is a professional football club based in Inverness, Scotland. The team currently competes in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional ...

on 6 August 2014.

Brøndby

On 1 September 2014, Pukki signed a one-year loan deal with option to buy with Danish side Brøndby IF. He made his debut 13 days later in a league match at home against

Randers Randers () is a city in Randers Municipality, Central Denmark Region on the Jutland peninsula. It is Denmark's sixth-largest city, with a population of 62,802 (as of 1 January 2022). and scored his first goal two weeks later in a 2–2 draw away against

Esbjerg Esbjerg (, ) is a seaport town and seat of Esbjerg Municipality on the west coast of the Jutland peninsula in southwest Denmark. By road, it is west of Kolding and southwest of Aarhus. With an urban population of 71,698 (1 January 2022)

. He went on to score another four goals in his next four games, and was rewarded for his form by being voted the Superliga Player of the Month for October, finishing the season as the club's top scorer, with nine goals. On 19 June 2015, Pukki signed a three-year contract with Brøndby for an undisclosed fee. On 4 August 2016, Pukki scored three goals when Brøndby knocked out Hertha BSC in the third round of the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League qualifiers, winning 3–1, thereby overcoming a 0–1 deficit from the first leg in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

. On 13 July 2017, he scored one goal against VPS in the first leg of the second qualifying round for the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League, Brøndby would go on to win the match 2–0. On 10 May 2018 he played as Brøndby beat

Silkeborg IF Silkeborg Idrætsforening, (; commonly known as Silkeborg IF or SIF in short) is a professional football club based in Silkeborg, Denmark. The club was founded in 1917, reached the highest level of Danish football in 1987, and afterwards became ...

3–1 in the

2017–18 Danish Cup The 2017–18 Danish Cup was the 64th season of the Danish Cup competition. Brøndby won the tournament, earning qualification into the third qualifying round of the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League. Structure In the first round, there will be 87 ...

final. He was released at the end of the 2017–18 season after failing to agree a new deal with the club.

Norwich City

2018–19 season

On 30 June 2018, Pukki joined EFL Championship club

on a free transfer, signing a three-year deal. He made his debut on 4 August, playing the full 90 minutes of a 2–2 draw at

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Sin ...

, and a week later he scored his first goal in a 4–3 home loss to

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...

. From January to February 2019, Pukki scored eight goals across six consecutive matches, ending with two goals in a 4–0 win at Bolton Wanderers. This run included two goals on 10 February in a 3–0 win over

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

in the

East Anglian Derby The East Anglian derby is a sobriquet used to describe football matches held between Norwich City and Ipswich Town, the only fully professional football clubs in the neighbouring East Anglian counties of Norfolk and Suffolk respectively. In rec ...

, with which he became the Finn with the most goals in a Championship season, overtaking former Ipswich player

Shefki Kuqi Shefki Kuqi (pronounced ; born 10 November 1976) is a Finnish former professional footballer who played predominantly as a striker. He spent most of his career in the English football league system, for clubs including Newcastle United, Shef ...

's 20 in 2004–05. In April 2019, Pukki was named EFL Championship Player of the Season and was included in the 2018–19 Championship Team of the Season. He was also named Norwich City F.C. Player of the Season by Norwich City's supporters for 2018–19 and received the Barry Butler Memorial Trophy.

2019–20 season

On 3 July 2019, Pukki signed a new three-year contract with the Premier League newcomers. On 9 August, he scored his first Premier League goal in a 4–1 away loss to

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

on the opening day of the new season. Eight days later, he scored a hat-trick against Newcastle United in a 3–1 victory, Norwich's first hat-trick in the Premier League since

Efan Ekoku Efangwu Goziem Ekoku (born 8 June 1967) is a former Nigerian professional footballer, and sports commentator. As a player, he was a striker who notably played in the Premier League for Norwich City and Wimbledon and in Switzerland for Grassh ...

against Everton in September 1993. For the month of August he was named the

Premier League Player of the Month The Premier League Player of the Month is an association football award that recognises the best adjudged Premier League player each month of the season. The winner is chosen by a combination of an online public vote, which contributes to 10 ...

, and the PFA Premier League Player of the Month. Pukki scored eleven Premier League goals in total for Norwich but was unable to prevent the Canaries from being relegated to the Championship.

2020–21 season

Pukki remained at Norwich following their relegation to the Championship and scored his first goal of the season in a 2–2 draw with Preston North End at Carrow Road. Pukki continued his prolific form in the Championship and hit his fiftieth goal for the Canaries with a brace in a 2–1 win at

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

. Pukki was named Championship Player of the Month for February 2021, scoring seven goals in seven games. On 6 April 2021, he scored his first ever Championship hat-trick and his twenty-fifth goal of the season in a 7–0 thrashing of

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. Th ...

. In April 2021, he was named on the EFL Team of the Season and nominated for the EFL Championship Player of the Season. The award was however won by his team mate Emiliano Buendía. 2021-22 season Pukki scored his first goal of the season against Leicester from the penalty spot, in a 2-1 defeat. Pukki would also net his first goal of the season from open play against Watford. He scored in back to back wins for Norwich against Brentford and

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, the latter of which was the clubs first game under the management of

Dean Smith Dean Edwards Smith (February 28, 1931 – February 7, 2015) was an American men's college basketball head coach. Called a "coaching legend" by the Basketball Hall of Fame, he coached for 36 years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel H ...

. Over the course of the season, Pukki would net 11 goals and finish the season as Norwich's top goalscorer for 4th consecutive season. He would also be voted Norwich City's player of the season, however once again Norwich City were relegated to the championship.

2022-23 season

Despite being linked with moves away, Pukki remained at Norwich for the 2022/23 season. He netted his first goal of the season in a 3-0 win against

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...

International career

Youth

Pukki made his debut in international football on 10 August 2005 at the age 15 scoring both goals of the match for Finland U15 in a 0–2 away victory in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

against Wales U15.

Senior

Pukki debuted in the Finland national team on 4 February 2009 when Stuart Baxter used him as a substitute against Japan in a friendly match played in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

. He scored his fifth goal for his country on 22 March 2013, scoring the equaliser as Finland recorded a 1–1 draw at reigning world and European champions

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

in World Cup qualifying. In the

2018–19 UEFA Nations League The 2018–19 UEFA Nations League was the inaugural season of the UEFA Nations League, an international association football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associations of UEFA. The league phase of the competiti ...

, Finland won promotion from

League C League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

. Pukki scored the only goal of each of the Finns' first three matches, at home against

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

and home and away to

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

. Pukki scored ten goals in the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifiers to help Finland to qualify for the first major tournament,

, in their history. Pukki was called up for the

pre-tournament friendly match against Sweden on 29 May 2021. Pukki played in all 3 international games at the

tournament. He failed to score in any of these matches however, and Finland was placed 3rd in

Group B Group B was a set of regulations for grand touring (GT) vehicles used in sports car racing and rallying introduced in 1982 by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Although permitted to enter a GT class of the World Sportscar ...

following a 2–0 defeat to

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

on 21 June 2021. They were subsequently knocked out of the tournament. On 12 October 2021, Pukki scored twice in a 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier against

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

to overtake

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 ...

as the Finnish national team’s all-time top goalscorer.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

Sevilla Youth *

Copa del Rey Juvenil de Fútbol Copa del Rey Juvenil de Fútbol is a youth football tournament in Spain, which is contested by sixteen teams from the División de Honor Juvenil. It is organised by the RFEF. History The Copa del Rey Juvenil de Fútbol was founded in 1951 with ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

HJK *

: 2010, 2011 *

: 2011 Celtic *

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottis ...

: 2013–14 Brøndby IF *

Danish Cup The Danish Cup ( da, Landspokalturneringen; often referred to as Pokalen) is the official "knockout" cup competition in Danish football, run by the Danish Football Association. The cup has been contested annually since 1955. The winner will quali ...

: 2017–18 Norwich City * EFL Championship: 2018–19, 2020–21 Individual *Veikkausliiga All Stars: 2011 *

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga ( da, Superligaen, ) is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each ye ...

Player of the Month: November 2014, August 2016 * EFL Championship Player of the Season: 2018–19 *EFL Team of the Season: 2018–19 2020–21 * PFA Team of the Year: 2018–19 Championship, 2020–21 Championship * Norwich City Player of the Season: 2019, 2022 * EFL Championship Golden Boot: 2018–19 *

: August 2019 *

Finnish Sports Personality of the Year The Finnish Sportspersonality of the Year is chosen annually since 1947 by the national sports journalists. In addition, the best female athlete was nominated each year until 2009. Winners Men Women See also * Finnish Footballer of the ...

: 2019 *

Finnish Footballer of the Year There are three different Finnish Player of the Year Awards in Finland. The sports journalists have elected their male "Player of the Year" since 1947, the Football Association of Finland theirs since 1953. In 1976 the FA began selecting a female "P ...

: 2019, 2020 * EFL Championship Player of the Month: February 2021

References

External links

Norwich City FC official profile

Teemu Pukki
–

SPL SPL may refer to: Association football * Saudi Professional League * Scottish Premier League * SportPesa Premier League, Kenya * Singapore Premier League * RoboCup Standard Platform League, matches between autonomous robots Computing Program ...

competition record * * * *
Career statistics
at Football Finns {{DEFAULTSORT:Pukki, Teemu 1990 births Living people People from Kotka Finnish footballers Association football forwards FC KooTeePee players Sevilla Atlético players Sevilla FC players Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi players FC Schalke 04 players Celtic F.C. players Brøndby IF players Norwich City F.C. players Veikkausliiga players Segunda División players La Liga players Bundesliga players Scottish Professional Football League players Danish Superliga players English Football League players Premier League players Finland youth international footballers Finland under-21 international footballers Finland international footballers UEFA Euro 2020 players Finnish expatriate footballers Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Spain Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Finnish expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in Scotland Expatriate footballers in Denmark Expatriate footballers in England FIFA Century Club Sportspeople from Kymenlaakso