Tiina Saario (born 15 January 1982) is a

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 ...

football midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. She plays club football for MPS in the Finnish second tier

Naisten Ykkönen Naisten Ykkönen ( sv, Damettan, Women's First/One) is the second highest division of women's football in Finland. It is overseen by the Suomen Palloliitto (Football Association of Finland). Teams in Naisten Ykkönen can gain promotion to the t ...

Club career

In 2002 Saario went to

Barry University Barry University is a private Catholic university in Miami Shores, Florida. Founded in 1940 by the Adrian Dominican Sisters, it is one of the largest Catholic universities in the Southeast and is within the territory of the Archdiocese of Miami ...

to study

criminology Criminology (from Latin , "accusation", and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'' meaning: "word, reason") is the study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is an interdisciplinary field in both the behavioural and so ...

and play for the varsity soccer team. She turned out for Springfield Sirens in the 2001 W-League season. After university Saario drifted away from football, but eventually started playing again for smaller clubs KontU and Veto. She agreed to join

Naisten Liiga The Kansallinen Liiga ('National League') is the premier division of women's football in Finland. It was previously called the Jalkapallon naisten SM-sarja ('Women's Football Finnish Championship Series') during 1974 to 2006 and the Naisten Lii ...

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 2010. In the 2010

Finnish Women's Cup The Finnish Women's Cup ( fi, Naisten Suomen Cup, sv, Finlands cup för damer) is the national women's football cup competition in Finland and was first played in 1981. List of finals The list of finals: Helsingin Sanomat archives 1981 See ...

final, Saario suffered a serious head injury in which her jaw was broken and she lost several teeth. Åland United signed her ahead of the 2013 season. In June 2014 it was announced that Saario will rejoin Åland for the qualifying round of the 2014–15 UEFA Women's Champions League.

International career

Saario made her debut for the

Finland women's national football team The Finland women's national football team, also known as nickname The Boreal Owls ( fi, Helmarit), represents Finland in international women's football. The team, controlled by the Football Association of Finland (SPL/FBF), reached the semi- ...

in February 1999, having turned 17 the previous month. She played 90 minutes of a 3–1 defeat to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

. At the 1999

Algarve Cup The Algarve Cup is an invitational tournament for national teams in women's association football hosted by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF). Held annually in the Algarve region of Portugal since 1994, it is one of the most prestigious and ...

Saario made two further appearances, but did not play for her country again until April 2002; a 3–0 defeat to the United States in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...

. Saario remained on four national team

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

until February 2012, when she returned to the team for a friendly with

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

after an absence of almost 10 years. In June 2013 Saario was named in national

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

Andrée Jeglertz Andrée Alexander Jeglertz (born 14 February 1972) is a Swedish football manager and former professional player. He was an assistant coach for the Canadian women's national team before he joined Linköpings FC for the 2021 Damallsvenskan seaso ...

's Finland squad for

UEFA Women's Euro 2013 The 2013 UEFA Women's Championship, commonly referred to as Women's Euro 2013, was the 11th European Championship for List of women's national association football teams#UEFA, women's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament ...

Honours

Club

; Åland United * Finnish League: 2013 ;

Winner *

: 2010 * Liiga Cup Naiset: 2011, 2012

References

External links

*
Profile
at fussballtransfers.com * * 1982 births Living people Finnish women's footballers Finnish expatriate women's footballers Finnish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Finland women's international footballers Kansallinen Liiga players Åland United players Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi (women) players Barry Buccaneers women's soccer players Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States USL W-League (1995–2015) players FC Viikingit players FC Kontu players Women's association football midfielders Footballers from Helsinki {{Finland-footy-midfielder-stub