Urho Nissilä (born 4 April 1996) 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 le ...

who plays as a

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 ...

for Hungarian club Puskás Akadémia.

Early life

Nissilä was born in

Kuopio Kuopio (, ) is a Finnish city and municipality located in the region of Northern Savonia. It has a population of , which makes it the most populous municipality in Finland. Along with Joensuu, Kuopio is one of the major urban, economic, and cult ...

to a Conservative Laestadian family. Nissilä and his six siblings were raised by their single-parent mother. In Laestadianism, competitive club sports are prohibited, and Nissilä only played football with his brother and friends until aged 10, when his mother reluctantly allowed him to join a youth team 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 ...

for the first time. He later resigned from the Laestadian movement.Vapaa säännöistä

Helsingin Sanomat ''Helsingin Sanomat'', abbreviated ''HS'' and colloquially known as , is the largest subscription newspaper in Finland and the Nordic countries, owned by Sanoma. Except after certain holidays, it is published daily. Its name derives from that of ...

, Ari Virtanen, 13 November 2021

Club career

Nissilä played football with his brother and friends until aged 10, when he joined the youth team of

. He signed with

Zulte Waregem Sportvereniging Zulte Waregem (), commonly known as Zulte Waregem or by their nickname Essevee (), is a Belgian professional football club based in Waregem, West Flanders. Zulte Waregem plays in the Belgian First Division A. Their highest finish a ...

in 2018. According to media, the transfer fee was the highest in the history of KuPS at the time. He made his debut on 10 November, playing the first 58 minutes of a 2–0 win against

Lokeren Lokeren () is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality located in the Belgian Provinces of Belgium, province of East Flanders, and belongs to the Waasland, also called ''Land van Waas'', of which it is the second ...

. He returned to KuPS on loan in February 2020, and subsequently signed a permanent contract for the

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

season. At the end of the season, Nissilä was named the Veikkausliiga Player of the Year. Nissilä joined

K League 1 The K League 1 (Hangul: K리그1) is the men's top professional football division of the South Korean football league system. The league is contested by twelve clubs. History The South Korean professional football league was founded in 1 ...

side

Suwon FC Suwon FC ( ko, 수원 FC; Hanja: 水原 FC) is a South Korean professional football club based Suwon that competes in the K League 1, the top division of South Korea. They play their home games at Suwon Stadium. History Early years: semi-profe ...

in January 2022. In the early 2023 he returned to KuPS again on a short contract, and left the club in July. On 29 January 2024, Nissilä signed with Puskás Akadémia in Hungarian

Nemzeti Bajnokság I The Nemzeti Bajnokság (, "National Championship"), also known as NB I, is the top level of the Hungarian football league system. The league is officially named OTP Bank Liga after its title sponsor OTP Bank. UEFA currently ranks the league 28th ...

(NB I), on a deal until the end of the 2024–25 season. On 20 April 2024, Nissilä scored his first goal in NB I, in a 5–0 home win over Paksi.

International career

He has represented the

Finland national under-21 football team The Finnish national under-21 football team is the national under-21 football team of Finland. The team qualified for the UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship final tournament in 2009. UEFA U-21 Championship Record 2023 UEFA Euro Under ...

. He made his debut for the

Finland national football team The Finland national football team ( fi, Suomen jalkapallomaajoukkue, sv, Finlands fotbollslandslag) represents Finland in men's international football competitions and is controlled by the Football Association of Finland, the governing body ...

on 1 September 2021 in a friendly against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. He substituted Jasin-Amin Assehnoun at half-time of a 0–0 home draw. Three days later he gained his first cap in FIFA World Cup qualifications when he replaced Onni Valakari as a substitute on 78th minute in

Helsinki Olympic Stadium The Helsinki Olympic Stadium ( fi, Helsingin Olympiastadion; sv, Helsingfors Olympiastadion), located in the Töölö district about from the centre of the Finnish capital Helsinki, is the largest stadium in the country, nowadays mainly used f ...

in a match 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 ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

KuPS *

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 ...

runner-up:

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

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 ...

Individual *

Player of the Year:

Midfielder of the Year:

Team of the Year:

*Veikkausliiga Player of the Month: August 2021Urho Nissilä Veikkausliigan kuukauden pelaaja
JPY, 5 September 2021

References

External links

MVV Maastricht official profile

Urho Nissilä
–

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 {{DEFAULTSORT:Nissila, Urho 1996 births Living people Finnish men's footballers Footballers from Kuopio Finnish expatriate men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Finland men's youth international footballers Finland men's under-21 international footballers Finland men's international footballers Kuopion Palloseura players S.V. Zulte Waregem players MVV Maastricht players Suwon FC players Puskás Akadémia FC players Veikkausliiga players Belgian Pro League players Eerste Divisie players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Finnish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Finnish expatriate sportspeople in South Korea Expatriate men's footballers in South Korea Expatriate men's footballers in Hungary Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Hungary Laestadians