Toni Kuivasto (born 31 December 1975) is a retired

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

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 last played for

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 ...

side

FC Haka FC Haka is a Finnish football club based in the industry town of Valkeakoski. It is currently competing in Finland's premier division of football, Veikkausliiga. It is one of the most successful clubs in Finland, with nine Finnish championships a ...

Club career

Kuivasto started his career at home-town club

FC Ilves Tampereen Ilves (; Finnish for "Lynx") is a Finnish football club, based in Tampere. They currently play in the Veikkausliiga, the highest level of professional football in Finland. They were formed in 1975 as a merger between Ilves-Kissat Tam ...

, making his

debut in 1992. He also played for MyPa and

HJK Helsinki Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi (), commonly known as HJK Helsinki, or simply as HJK, is a professional football club based in Helsinki, Finland. The club competes in the Finnish Veikkausliiga. Founded in 1907, the club has spent most of its history ...

in Finland, before moving abroad to play for

Viking FK Viking Fotballklubb, commonly known as Viking or Viking Stavanger internationally, is a Norwegian football club from the city of Stavanger. The club was founded in 1899. It is one of the most successful clubs in Norwegian football, having won 8 ...

of the

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

Tippeligaen Eliteserien () is a Norwegian professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Norwegian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion ...

in 2001. After a few years in Norway he wanted new challenges, and he was bought by Djurgården in the summer of 2003. Kuivasto has helped Djurgården to two Swedish championships and two Swedish Cups. Kuivasto returned to Finland for the 2010 season after spending 10 years abroad. He signed a one-year contract with

. He managed to score a vital goal for his team in his second game for Haka, in a

league cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

match against VPS. After his contract with Haka expired after the 2010 season, he became a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

. On 4 November 2011 it was announced that the 35-year-old Kuivasto would retire due his knee problems. He is currently studying to become a youth coach.

International career

Kuivasto made his debut for the Finnish national team on 21 February 1997 against

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. He made his last national appearance on 1 April 2009 as he played 23 minutes in a friendly against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. He made in total of 75 national caps and scored one goal.

Honours

Club

; Djurgårdens IF: *

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 ...

(2):http://www.difarkivet.se/dif_sm_guld_seniorer.pdf 2003, 2005

References

External links

*
Official FC Haka profile
*
Profile at FA of Finland's official website
* National Football Teams {{DEFAULTSORT:Kuivasto, Toni 1975 births Living people Finnish footballers Finland international footballers Finland under-21 international footballers Association football central defenders Veikkausliiga players Eliteserien players Myllykosken Pallo −47 players Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi players Viking FK players Djurgårdens IF Fotboll players Allsvenskan players FC Ilves players Finnish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Sweden Expatriate footballers in Norway Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Norway Footballers from Tampere