Walter Viitala (born 9 January 1992) is a Finnish

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

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 ...

for Inter Turku.

Club career

On 15 December 2016, Viitala signed a 2.5-year contract with

Viborg FF Viborg Fodsports Forening ("Viborg Footsport Association"), or Viborg F.F. and VFF for short, is a Danish professional football club based in Viborg. The club was founded in 1896 and waited more than a century before winning its only national ...

on a free transfer from

IFK Mariehamn IFK Mariehamn is an Ålandic football club based in Mariehamn, the capital of the Åland Islands. It plays in the Finnish Premier Division (''Veikkausliiga''). The club is managed by Daniel Norrmén, and it plays its home matches at Wiklö ...

. He made his debut in a 1–0 victory against AaB on 8 April 2017. On 11 August 2018 Viitala signed for Swedish champions

Malmö FF Malmö Fotbollförening, commonly known as Malmö FF, Malmö, or MFF, is a professional football club and the most successful football club in Sweden in terms of trophies won. Formed in 1910 and affiliated with the Scania Football Association, ...

. He signed a short-term contract for the rest of the year to replace injured back-up goalkeeper Fredrik Andersson. He made his first appearance for Malmö FF on 23 September 2018, when he replaced an injured

Johan Dahlin Johan Dahlin (born 8 September 1986) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Malmö FF. Club career FC Lyn Dahlin was born in Trollhättan. He began his senior career at Åsebro IF in 2004. After one season with the ...

at halftime in a 4–0 victory over Kalmar FF. He made his first start a week later in a 0–0 draw against

GIF Sundsvall Gymnastik- och Idrottsföreningen Sundsvall, more commonly known as GIF Sundsvall (), Giffarna or simply Sundsvall, is a Swedish professional football club based in Sundsvall. The club is affiliated with Medelpads Fotbollförbund and plays its h ...

. On 2 December 2021, he joined Inter Turku on a two-year contract.

International career

In November 2016, Viitala received his first call-up to the senior Finland squad for the match against

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

. He made a debut on 9 January 2017 in a 1–0 win against

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

Al Ain Al Ain ( ar, ٱلْعَيْن, , ) is a city in the western side of Tawam (region), Tuwwam region and the seat of the administrative division of its namesake, Al-Ain Region, Abu Dhabi, Al Ain in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. ...

Career statistics

Club

Honours

;IFK Mariehamn * Veikkausliiga (1):

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

Individual * Veikkausliiga Player of the Month: April 2016 * Veikkausliiga Goalkeeper of the Year:

* Veikkausliiga Team of the Year:

References

External links

* 1992 births Living people Finnish men's footballers Finnish expatriate men's footballers FC Honka players IFK Mariehamn players Viborg FF players Malmö FF players Sandefjord Fotball players HIFK Fotboll players Pallohonka players Seinäjoen Jalkapallokerho players FC Inter Turku players Allsvenskan players Norwegian First Division players Danish Superliga players Danish 1st Division players Veikkausliiga players Finland men's youth international footballers Finland men's under-21 international footballers Finland men's international footballers Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Norway Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Expatriate men's footballers in Norway Men's association football goalkeepers Footballers from Helsinki {{Finland-footy-goalkeeper-stub