Ville Lehtinen (born 17 December 1978) 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 ...

former

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 ...

. As a junior Lehtinen played for Jyväskylän Jalkapalloklubi. He made his first-team debut in Finland's top division Veikkausliiga for

Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi 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 i ...

in 1997. He played only two games before moving to

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

. He played only in youth and reserve team matches for Sheffield United . In December 1998 Lehtinen returned to Finland and practised with

FC Inter Turku Football Club International Turku, commonly referred to as Inter Turku and colloquially known as Inter, is a professional football club based in Turku, Finland, that competes in the Veikkausliiga, the top flight of Finnish Football. Founded in 1 ...

. Inter and Lehtinen had some controversy regarding the contract between them. Inter claimed that Lehtinen was only for trial in the team, but Lehtinen claimed he had signed a one-year contract with Inter. Inter won the court battle, and in 1999 Lehtinen played for

FC Jazz FC Jazz is a football club from Pori, Finland. It plays in the Finnish third tier Kakkonen. It was invented in 1934. FC Jazz has won two Finnish championships ( 1993 & 1996 ). History PPT 1934–1991 FC Jazz was established in 1934 as ...

from

Pori ) , website www.pori.fi Pori (; sv, Björneborg ) is a city and municipality on the west coast of Finland. The city is located some from the Gulf of Bothnia, on the estuary of the Kokemäki River, west of Tampere, north of Turku and north-w ...

. In 2000, he played with

Pallo-Iirot Pallo-Iirot (abbreviated P-Iirot) is a football club from Rauma in Finland. The club was formed in 1930 and their home ground is at the Äijänsuon stadion. The men's first team currently plays in the Kakkonen. The Chairman of Pallo-Iirot is ...

from Rauma. In 2001 Lehtinen joined

Tampere United Tampere United is a Finnish football club from the city of Tampere. The club plays in Kakkonen, the third highest level of football in Finland. The club had a team in Veikkausliiga, the premier football league in Finland, until the end of the ...

. He made seven goals and won the Finnish championship. During the season 2002 he moved to

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 ...

F.K. Bodø/Glimt. He spent three years in Norway before returning to Finland and

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 ...

. With Allianssi he won the

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 ...

in 2005. After Allianssi was drifted to match fixing scandal, Lehtinen returned to Tampere United during the season. In 2006, he was the best goalscorer for the team and again won the Finnish championship. After the season, he traveled to England doing trials for many clubs like

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

and also tried to sign contract with

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 ...

from

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 ...

. However no contract was made and Lehtinen decided to end his football career and concentrate on his job as an investment manager. In July 2007 Lehtinen decided come back to football fields. He played two games in

Atlantis FC Atlantis FC is a Finnish football club, based in Helsinki. It currently plays in the third tier of Finnish football (''Kakkonen''). History The club was founded in late 1995 when Johanneksen Dynamo (founded 1980) and FC Norssi (founded 1985) m ...

Ykkönen ''Ykkönen'' (Finnish for 'Number One'; sv, Ettan) is the second highest level of the Finnish football league system (after the Veikkausliiga), although it is the highest league managed by the Football Association of Finland. The teams also play ...

(the second tier) before the contract with Veikkausliiga team

AC Oulu AC Oulu (ACO) is a Finnish football club based in Oulu. Formed in 2002, the club have played two seasons in Finland's highest football league Veikkausliiga and seven seasons in the second highest league Ykkönen. The club are currently playing ...

was announced. He is also a

musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

and his first single ''Naapurintyttö'' was released in 2006. Many Finnish radio stations have played his music.

External links

Official homepage of Ville Lehtinen

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lehtinen, Ville 1978 births Living people Finnish footballers Association football forwards JJK Jyväskylä players Sheffield United F.C. players FC Jazz players Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi players Tampere United players Atlantis FC players AC Oulu players Veikkausliiga players Eliteserien players Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Norway Finnish expatriate footballers FK Bodø/Glimt players Sportspeople from Pirkanmaa