Tomi Maanoja (born 12 September 1986) is a Finnish former professional

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. Maanoja has been capped twice 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 ...

Career

Maanoja made his first appearance in 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 Veikkau ...

with

AC Allianssi AC Vantaan Allianssi (or AC Allianssi) was a Finnish football club, based in the town of Vantaa. History Allianssi were a club in decline, following an 8–0 defeat at fellow Finnish club FC Haka. The match was believed to have been fixed by a B ...

from

Vantaa Vantaa (; sv, Vanda, ) is a city and Municipalities of Finland, municipality in Finland. It is part of the inner core of the Greater Helsinki, Finnish Capital Region along with Helsinki, Espoo, and Kauniainen. With a population of (), Vantaa i ...

in 2005. He completed a move to the neighbouring city's (

Espoo Espoo (, ; sv, Esbo) is a city and municipality in the region of Uusimaa in the Republic of Finland. It is located on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland, bordering the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, Kirkkonummi, Vihti and Nurmijärvi ...

) most notable football club,

FC Honka FC Honka is a Finnish football club based in Espoo. It was founded in 1957 as Tapion Honka, and changed its name to FC Honka in 1975. The club currently play in the Finnish premier division (''Veikkausliiga''), having been promoted for the fir ...

, the following season. Maanoja was regarded as one of the best Finnish young goalkeepers and attracted interest from several foreign clubs before his move to

AIK AIK Fotboll (), more commonly known simply as AIK (), an abbreviation for Allmänna Idrottsklubben (meaning ''the public'' or ''general sports club''), is a Swedish football club competing in Allsvenskan, the top flight of Swedish football. The ...

on 29 July 2008. On 28 February 2009, Maanoja became seriously injured in a pre-season game against

Assyriska Föreningen Assyriska Fotbollsföreningen, also known simply as Assyriska FF, is a Swedish football club based in Södertälje, Stockholm County. The club, formed in 1974 by Assyrian immigrants, has advanced through the league system and is currently playin ...

. He broke his leg in two places, rushing out to stop an Assyriska attack. The injury made him miss the

2009 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship The 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship began on 15 June 2009, and was the 17th UEFA European Under-21 Championship. This was the first tournament after the competition reverted to a two-year format, following the single-year 2006–07 compe ...

, hosted in Sweden, in the summer. He also missed the whole

2009 Allsvenskan Allsvenskan 2009, part of the 2009 Swedish football season, was the 85th Allsvenskan season played. AIK AIK Fotboll (), more commonly known simply as AIK (), an abbreviation for Allmänna Idrottsklubben (meaning ''the public'' or ''general sp ...

season, when AIK won the double. He moved back to Honka in 2011, and on 21 February 2012 he signed a contract with the

Norwegian First Division The Norwegian First Division, also called 1. divisjon and OBOS-ligaen (named sponsor is property developer OBOS), is the second-highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Each year, the top finishing teams in the 1. divisjon are p ...

club

Sandefjord Fotball Sandefjord Fotball, commonly known simply as Sandefjord, is a Norwegian professional football club, founded on 10 September 1998. The club currently competes in Eliteserien, the top tier of the Norwegian football league system. Their home ground ...

as a free agent. Sandefjord's head coach

Arne Sandstø Arne Sandstø (born 21 October 1966) is a Norwegian football manager and former player. Sandstø made seven appearances in Germany's 2. Bundesliga for Tennis Borussia Berlin during his playing career. Managerial career Under Sandstø's lea ...

let Maanoja play the match against

Alta Alta or ALTA may refer to: Acronyms * Alt-A, short for Alternative A-paper, is a type of U.S. mortgage * American Land Title Association, a national trade association representing the land title industry * American Literary Translators Associatio ...

in May 2012 instead of Iven Austbø, but Maanoja spent the rest of the season as the reserve goalkeeper. After one season in Norway, he moved back to Finland and signed for

RoPS Rops may refer to: People * Daniel-Rops (1901–1965), French writer and historian * Félicien Rops (1833–1898), Belgian artist Places * Rops (peak), a mountain in Kosovo Sports * Rovaniemen Palloseura (RoPS), a Finnish football club Tech ...

. During the season spent with RoPS, he was selected as the player of the month in Veikkausliiga (July) after showing impressive form and going through the whole month without conceding a goal. 2014 He moved to KuPS (Kuopion Palloseura) signing a two-year contract. During the 2014 season Maanoja made a new club record by keeping 13 clean sheets in the league while featuring in all of the competitive matches playing every minute during that season. In 2020, he joined

IF Gnistan IF Gnistan (''The Spark'' in English) is a Finnish football club from the city of Helsinki, founded in 1924. The club is currently playing in the Ykkönen, the second tier of the Finnish league system. IF Gnistan play their home matches at Must ...

.Urheilutoimenjohtaja lähti HIFK:sta – ”Ei dramatiikkaa”
�� iltasanomat.fi, 3 January 2017

Honours

AC Allianssi

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 ...

: 2004, 2005

AIK

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football lea ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

Svenska Cupen Svenska Cupen (, ''The Swedish Cup'') is a knockout cup competition in Swedish football and the main Swedish football cup. Svenska Cupen usually refers to the men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also held. Each year 96 teams compe ...

Supercupen Svenska Supercupen, ''Swedish Super Cup'', was a one-off fixture in Swedish football played between the Allsvenskan champions and the winners of Svenska Cupen. The fixture was played in November, after the Allsvenskan season. In the event of ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

FC Honka

: 2011

RoPS

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 ...

: 2013

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Maanoja, Tomi 1987 births Living people Footballers from Espoo Finnish footballers Finland international footballers Association football goalkeepers FC Honka players AIK Fotboll players Sandefjord Fotball players Rovaniemen Palloseura players FC Lahti players HIFK Fotboll players IF Gnistan players Veikkausliiga players Allsvenskan players Ykkönen players Norwegian First Division players Finnish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Sweden Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate footballers in Norway Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Norway