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Jari Olavi Litmanen (; born 20 February 1971) is a Finnish 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 ...
. He was the first-choice
captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
of the Finland national team between 1996 and 2008 in an international career that ran from 1989 to 2010. Litmanen is widely considered to be Finland's greatest football player of all time. He was chosen as the best Finnish player of the last 50 years by the
Football Association of Finland The Football Association of Finland ( fi, Suomen Palloliitto, abbr. SPL; sv, Finlands Bollförbund) is the governing body of football in Finland. It was founded in Helsinki on 19 May 1907. The SPL organises the men's and women's national footb ...
in the UEFA Jubilee Awards in November 2003. He also finished 42nd in the 100 Greatest Finns voting in 2004. The Association of Football Statisticians' (The AFS) compendium of 'Greatest Ever Footballers' listed Litmanen as the 53rd best footballer ever. In Finland, he is often called "Litti" (after his own surname), which dates from his early years, and is also known as "''Kuningas''" ("The King"). During his club career, Litmanen represented Reipas, HJK, MyPa and Lahti in Finland, and Ajax, Barcelona, Liverpool, Hansa Rostock and Malmö FF abroad. Once considered one of the best attacking midfielders in the world, he became the first Finnish footballing superstar while playing for Ajax in the mid-1990s, winning the Champions League in 1995, the peak year of his career. His later career was marred by injuries, and he was unable to repeat the success of his Ajax years either at Barcelona or Liverpool, often finding himself on the bench, despite some impressive performances for the latter. Writing about Litmanen in 2009, Paul Simpson, former '' FourFourTwo'' editor, went as far as to assert that "his career has not been worthy of his talent".


Club career


Early career in Finland

Litmanen made his first-team debut for Reipas in Finland's then top division Mestaruussarja at the age of 16 in 1987. After four seasons with Reipas he moved to HJK, Finland's biggest club, in 1991. A year later, he joined MyPa, where he was coached by
Harri Kampman Harri Kampman (born 13 May 1954 in Oulu) is a Finland, Finnish Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former footballer, who has managed among others Motherwell F.C., Motherwell, MYPA, MyPa, FC Lahti, and AC Ou ...
, who later introduced him to his agent, the late Heikki Marttinen. Litmanen did not win any medals in the Finnish league, but he did win the Finnish Cup with MyPa in July 1992 in a 2–0 win over
FF Jaro FF Jaro is a Finnish football club, based in the bilingual town of Jakobstad. It currently plays in ''Ykkönen''. Home matches are played at the Jakobstads Centralplan. Current squad ''Updated 7 March, 2022.'' Managem ...
in the final at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium. His performance in the cup final, including a goal, convinced a scout of Ajax that the club should sign him. "For me, he was the player," the scout later told Finnish television. His transfer took place during the same summer, and he did not complete the Finnish football season with MyPa.


Ajax

Before his move to Ajax, Litmanen had failed to earn a contract with the Romanian club
Dinamo București A dynamo is a magnetic device originally used as an electric generator. Dynamo or Dinamo may also refer to: Places * Dinamo (Moscow Metro), a station of the Moscow Metro, Moscow, Russia * Dinamo (Yekaterinburg Metro), a station of the Yekaterinbu ...
. A number of European clubs, including Barcelona, Leeds United and PSV, had shown an interest in him, but in the end it was Ajax that bought him. David Endt, who was the Ajax team manager in the 1990s, described his first impression of Litmanen to the Finnish broadcasting corporation YLE in 2010:David Endt in an interview to YLE TV2, 28 September 2010, during a Champions League match half time. During 1992–93, his first season at Ajax, he played mostly in the reserves. The Ajax manager Louis van Gaal was apparently not overly impressed with him, but the team physiotherapist suggested using him as a stand-in for
Dennis Bergkamp Dennis Nicolaas Maria Bergkamp (; born 10 May 1969) is a Dutch professional football coach and former player. Originally a wide midfielder, Bergkamp was moved to main striker and then to second striker, where he remained throughout his playing ...
, who was injured at the time. Van Gaal liked what he saw, and knowing that Bergkamp was about to leave for Internazionale, he announced that Litmanen would be Bergkamp's successor, something that people in Litmanen's native Finland found difficult to believe. This turned out to be true, however, and he inherited from Bergkamp the famous
number 10 shirt Squad numbers are used in association football to identify and distinguish players that are on the field. Numbers very soon became a way to also indicate position, with starting players being assigned numbers 1–11, although in the modern ga ...
, which is often given to
playmaker In association football, a playmaker is a player who controls the flow of the team's play, and is often involved in offensively and defensively playing passing moves which lead to goals, through their vision, technique, ball control, creativit ...
s. He went on to score 26 goals in the 1993–94 season, becoming the league's top scorer, and leading Ajax to the title. He was also voted Footballer of the Year in the Netherlands in 1993. Litmanen was one of the star players of Van Gaal's team that won three consecutive Dutch championships and reached the UEFA Champions League final twice in a row. From the beginning of the 1994–95 season to the middle of the 1995–96 season, Ajax went undefeated in both the Eredivisie (a run of 52 games) and the Champions League (19 games). When Ajax beat Milan in the 1995 Champions League final, Litmanen became the first Finnish player to win the European Cup/Champions League. In 1995–96, he was the Champions League top scorer with nine goals, including the equaliser in the final against
Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...
, which Ajax lost on penalties. In 1995, he also won the Intercontinental Cup against Grêmio and came third in the voting for the Ballon d'Or (European Footballer of the Year), having finished eighth the previous year. Litmanen spent seven years in Amsterdam, winning four Dutch championships and three
KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; en, KNVB Cup), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Ou ...
s, and scored a total of 129 goals, 91 of them in the league. He is the club's top scorer in European competition with 26 goals in 54 matches (including two goals scored in the 2002–03 season). Litmanen has the honour of being one of just three players presented in a special video featurette at the Ajax Museum. The other two are
Marco van Basten Marcel "Marco" van Basten (; born 31 October 1964) is a Dutch football manager and retired professional player, who played for Ajax and AC Milan, as well as the Netherlands national team, as a striker. Widely regarded as one of the greatest pl ...
and Johan Cruyff. Frank Rijkaard, Litmanen's teammate in the 1993–94 and 1994–95 seasons, once said, "Dennis Bergkamp was brilliant for Ajax but the best No.10 we ever had was Jari." In his time at Ajax, some fans called him "
Merlin Merlin ( cy, Myrddin, kw, Marzhin, br, Merzhin) is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a mage, with several other main roles. His usual depiction, based on an amalgamation of historic and le ...
" because of the magic he brought to the pitch. But his proneness to injury also earned Litmanen the name "The Man of Glass", and injuries hampered his later seasons at Ajax causing him to miss many games (in his six seasons as a regular first-team player, he missed 57 out of a total of 204 league games, and in his last three seasons, he missed seven out of 24 European matches, playing only part of five others). His injury problems were to worsen as time passed, undermining his subsequent career.


Barcelona

In 1999, Litmanen was reunited with Louis van Gaal at Barcelona, one of several former Ajax players recruited by Van Gaal in his time as manager. Litmanen's stint with the club was largely plagued by injuries. An article in '' The Observer'' in April 2000 likened him to Pope John Paul II, in that he was " making few appearances and looking more frail each time". Litmanen also failed to adapt to his new conditions, and he was one of the players dropped by Van Gaal that winter. Van Gaal later expressed his disappointment with Litmanen at Barcelona: After an unsuccessful season, Van Gaal was replaced by Lorenzo Serra Ferrer, and Litmanen was frozen out of the team, losing the number 10 shirt to Rivaldo, although he remained at the club until January 2001, when he moved to Liverpool on a free transfer.


Liverpool

"We have signed a world-class player. He comes with a massive reputation and I believe he's one of the most exciting signings we have made," said Liverpool manager Gérard Houllier after the transfer had been completed. Litmanen also expressed his pleasure with the move: "It has always been my dream to play for Liverpool. I have supported them since I was a child and there has been talk about me joining them before." He wanted to wear the number seven shirt as worn by his boyhood hero
Kenny Dalglish Sir Kenneth Mathieson Dalglish (born 4 March 1951) is a Scottish former association football, football player and manager (association football), manager. During his career, he made 338 appearances for Celtic F.C., Celtic and 515 for Liverpoo ...
, but this had already been taken by
Vladimír Šmicer Vladimír Šmicer (, born 24 May 1973) is a Czech former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He started his senior career at Slavia Prague, the only Czech club he ever played for. In 1999, Šmicer moved to England where he played ...
. As shirt numbers 17 and 27 were also in use, he settled for the number 37. Litmanen made a good start at Liverpool but broke his wrist playing for Finland against England at Anfield in late March 2001 and missed the rest of the season. Although he was part of the Liverpool team that won the treble of the League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup in 2001, he missed all three finals because of injury. The following season, he was used sparingly by Houllier but did score goals against Tottenham Hotspur,
Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
,
Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...
and
Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...
in the Premier League and against Dynamo Kyiv,
Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...
and Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League. According to his profile on LFCHistory.net, "Litmanen had difficulties in training due to his ankle problems and was hardly able to play for ninety minutes week in and week out." Litmanen himself was frustrated by his lack of playing time at Liverpool: Litmanen was again given permission to move clubs for free after the 2001–02 season, having scored a total of 9 goals in 43 official matches during his one and a half seasons at the club.


Return to Ajax

Litmanen decided to return to Ajax, and was given a hero's welcome with the crowd again singing his name. He was one of the key players as Ajax reached the quarter-finals of the 2002–03 Champions League, but he continued to be plagued by injuries, and much of the following season was once again spent on the sidelines. In the spring of 2004, the club released him from his contract.


Lahti and Hansa Rostock

Litmanen's return to Finland, where he joined Lahti, was much hyped and was hailed as " the return of the king". Litmanen, however, moved to German Bundesliga strugglers Hansa Rostock in January 2005, but he was unable to prevent them being relegated, which ended his stint at the club.


Malmö FF

Litmanen joined the Swedish club Malmö FF in July 2005 in an attempt to help them qualify for the Champions League. This attempt, however, failed, and Litmanen himself was injured during the whole of the autumn, only making a few appearances. He decided to continue his career with Malmö in 2006 but was again sidelined with a number of injuries for much of the season. However, the matches he did play showed he remained a brilliant player when fit. After an operation to repair a damaged ankle during the winter break, Malmö decided to extend his contract over the 2007 season, but an ankle injury suffered in June 2007 forced Litmanen to cancel it.


Fulham

In January 2008, Litmanen received a ten-day trial invitation from Fulham under former Finland manager
Roy Hodgson Roy Hodgson (born 9 August 1947) is a former English football manager and player. He managed 22 different teams in eight countries, beginning in Sweden with Halmstads BK in the 1976 season. He later guided the Switzerland national team to th ...
, and was signed on 31 January 2008 together with fellow countryman
Toni Kallio Toni Kari Mikael Kallio (born 9 August 1978) is a Finnish association football, football coach and a former player. He is the manager of Ilves (football), Ilves in Veikkausliiga. His preferred position as a player was left back, but he also oper ...
. Just weeks after signing with Fulham, Litmanen had to return to his native Finland to rest, after serious heart concerns. Litmanen eventually made his debut for Fulham in a reserve-team match against Tottenham on 31 March 2008, but he was released in May of the same year without playing a single game for the first team.


Return to Lahti

On 8 August 2008, it was announced that Litmanen would join his former club Lahti of the Finnish Premier Division for the remainder of the 2008 season. Although he only played 34 minutes in his first match, he scored twice and provided the passes for two other goals. He played an important role in helping Lahti to finish third in the league and qualify for Europe for the first time in the club's history. He signed a new one-year contract with Lahti on 16 April 2009. Litmanen scored his first European goal for Lahti in a 2–0 win against Gorica in the second qualifying round of the
Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...
, with the final aggregate score being 2–1. This was his 30th goal in 83 European matches. On 18 September 2010, he scored a bicycle kick goal against
Oulu Oulu ( , ; sv, Uleåborg ) is a city, municipality and a seaside resort of about 210,000 inhabitants in the region of North Ostrobothnia, Finland. It is the most populous city in northern Finland and the fifth most populous in the country after: ...
in a 2–1 away victory. On 23 October 2010, he scored his 50th Veikkausliiga goal, but this happened in a 3–2 defeat against
TPS TPS or Tps may refer to: In arts and entertainment *Télévision Par Satellite, a French satellite television company *Third-person shooter, a game genre * Torsonic Polarity Syndrome, in ''South Park'' animation * Trailer Park Sex, a band from ...
and didn't stop the club from being relegated to Ykkönen.


Return to HJK

On 20 April 2011, Litmanen signed a one-year contract with the reigning Finnish champions HJK at age 40, making him one of the few footballers to play at professional level in four different decades (1980s–2010s). He usually started as a substitute and played for 10–30 minutes. The HJK coach
Antti Muurinen Antti Muurinen (born March 4, 1954) is a Finnish football coach. Muurinen is probably best known as the head coach of the Finnish national team. He led Finland in qualifying campaigns for the 2002 World Cup, Euro 2004 and the 2006 World Cup, fai ...
described Litmanen as something akin to a "precision munition" for HJK. He played in this role on 24 September 2011 in the Finnish Cup final against
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 ...
, coming on in the 80th minute when the score was 0–0. During the second half of
extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...
, he scored a spectacular half volley to make it 1–0 to HJK in the 108th minute. They went on to win the match 2–1. This was Litmanen's first Finnish Cup final after winning it with MyPa in 1992. On 2 October 2011, HJK secured their third consecutive Finnish championship, thus winning the
Double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * Th ...
. As of that day, Litmanen had played 18 matches for HJK that season, and they had won every single match in which he had been on the field. On 14 October 2011, this run ended when HJK drew 0–0 with
JJK Jyväskylä JJK Jyväskylä (JJK; full name Jyväskylän Jalkapalloklubi) is a Finnish football club, based in Jyväskylä. JJK plays its home matches at Harjun Stadion. History Early years 1923–1992 Jyväskylän Palloilijat (abbreviated JyP), the p ...
. On 29 October 2011, Litmanen celebrated his 200th league match by giving three assists in HJK's 5–2 home win over Haka. It was also his last game of the season and would prove to be the last of his professional career.


International career

Litmanen is Finland's most capped player and was Finland's leading goalscorer until 12 October 2021, when
Teemu Pukki Teemu Eino Antero Pukki (born 29 March 1990) is a Finnish professional footballer who plays as a striker for EFL Championship club Norwich City and the Finland national team. Pukki began his career with KTP and made his debut on senior leve ...
broke the record with two goals against Kazakhstan in a World Cup qualifier. His international career ran for 21 years from 1989 to 2010. Litmanen made his Finland debut on 22 October 1989 against Trinidad and Tobago, and scored his first goal on 16 May 1991 against Malta. Litmanen served as Finland's captain from 1996 to 2008, and was arguably their key player for more than a decade, helping the team to many unexpected victories against higher
ranked A ranking is a relationship between a set of items such that, for any two items, the first is either "ranked higher than", "ranked lower than" or "ranked equal to" the second. In mathematics, this is known as a weak order or total preorder of o ...
opposition. Litmanen earned his 100th cap on 25 January 2006 against South Korea, one of only four Finns to have reached such a milestone, the others being
Ari Hjelm Ari-Juhani Hjelm (born 24 February 1962) is a Finnish football coach and former player. He was the head coach of home-town club Tampere United in Finland's Veikkausliiga. A forward, Hjelm played in the Bundesliga for Stuttgarter Kickers in th ...
,
Sami Hyypiä Sami Tuomas Hyypiä (; born 7 October 1973) is a Finnish football manager and former defender. Hyypiä began his playing career with Ykkönen side Kumu and soon moved to Veikkausliiga outfit MyPa. He spent four years at the club, helping the ...
and Jonatan Johansson. When he played for Finland against South Korea on 19 January 2010, Litmanen became one of a handful of male players to represent a national team in four different decades, a feat matched by Andorra's
Ildefons Lima Ildefons Lima Solà (born 10 December 1979) is a professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for FC Andorra B and the Andorra national team. He has played club football in Spain, Greece, Mexico, Italy, Switzerland and Andorra. At inter ...
in June 2021. On 17 November 2010, Litmanen became the oldest player ever to score for Finland – and also the oldest player overall to score a goal in the qualifying stages for the UEFA European Championship – when he netted a penalty in an 8–0 win over San Marino, which proved to be his last international match.


Later career

In February 2011, the sports news programme
Urheiluruutu {{Unreferenced, date=June 2019, bot=noref (GreenC bot) Urheiluruutu is a daily sports magazine produced and broadcast by Finnish Broadcasting Company Yle. The programme originally launched on August 18, 1962. The sportsreader was Anssi Kukkonen a ...
of the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE interviewed two of Litmanen's former teammates about the possibility of his working for Ajax when he decides to end his playing career. Former Ajax captain Danny Blind said the following:
Michel Kreek Michel Kreek (born 16 January 1971) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a defender. He made one international appearance for the Netherlands national team: on 22 February 1995, in a 1–0 friendly loss against Portugal. He ...
of the
Ajax Academy The Ajax Youth Academy (Dutch: ''Ajax Jeugdopleiding'') is a football youth academy based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, from where the organization manages a total of 13 youth teams (ages 7–18). The academy is the primary youth clinic of Dutch fo ...
was equally positive about this possibility: He served as a TV pundit for YLE during
Euro 1992 The 1992 UEFA European Football Championship was hosted by Sweden between 10 and 26 June 1992. It was the ninth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. Denmark won the 1992 championship, having qualifi ...
,
Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th European Championship for men's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament, held between 8 June and 1 ...
,
World Cup 2014 The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...
and
Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...
, and, during the latter, also wrote comment and analysis for the newspaper
Ilta-Sanomat ''Ilta-Sanomat'' () is one of Finland's two prominent tabloid size evening newspaper and the second largest paper in the country. Its counterpart and biggest rival is ''Iltalehti''. According to the National Media Research done in 2019 ''Ilta- ...
. Jari Litmanen has confirmed in his autobiography that his professional career is over. He played his last professional game in 2011.


Personal life

Litmanen was born into a footballing family. His father,
Olavi Litmanen Olavi Litmanen (born 17 April 1945) is a Finnish former international footballer who played as a forward. He spent his career with Reipas Lahti in Mestaruussarja Mestaruussarja (Championship series) was the top division of Finland, Finnish asso ...
, was also a Finnish international and a Reipas player. His mother also played for Reipas at the women's highest level. Litmanen became a father in November 2005 when his Estonian girlfriend Ly Jürgenson gave birth to a son named Caro. The couple's second son, Bruno, was born in September 2007. Although they avoid too much publicity, they are sometimes seen together in public. On 10 October 2010, Litmanen became the first Finnish team sport player to be honoured with a statue: it stands at Kisapuisto (Lahti) where he started his career in the 1970s. ''
The King – Jari Litmanen ''The King – Jari Litmanen'' (also known as ''King Litmanen'', fi, Kuningas Litmanen) is a 2012 Finnish documentary film about the football player Jari Litmanen. He is considered to be Finland's greatest footballer of all time. The film was sh ...
'' is a 2012 documentary film about Litmanen's career. On 11 May 2020, Litmanen said to Unibet that his
coronavirus Coronaviruses are a group of related RNA viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. In humans and birds, they cause respiratory tract infections that can range from mild to lethal. Mild illnesses in humans include some cases of the com ...
test was positive, and he had been recovering for four weeks. He said of this time that "I've probably never been in such bad shape".


Career statistics


Club

*Finnish League Cup held for the first time in 1994.


International goals


Honours

MyPa * Finnish Cup: 1992 Ajax * Eredivisie: 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1997–98, 2003–04 *
KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; en, KNVB Cup), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Ou ...
:
1992–93 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since th ...
, 1997–98, 1998–99 *
Dutch Supercup The Johan Cruyff Shield (, ) is a football trophy in the Netherlands named after Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff, also often referred to as the Dutch Super Cup. The winner is decided in one match only, played by the winner of the national footbal ...
:
1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...
,
1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...
,
1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...
* UEFA Champions League: 1994–95 * UEFA Super Cup:
1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...
* Intercontinental Cup:
1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...
Liverpool * FA Cup: 2000–01 *
Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...
: 2000–01 *
FA Community Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier Le ...
:
2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...
* UEFA Cup: 2000–01 *UEFA Super Cup:
2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...
HJK * Veikkausliiga:
2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...
*Finnish Cup:
2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...
Finland *
Nordic Football Championship The Nordic Football Championship ( da, Nordisk Mesterskab, no, Nordisk Mesterskap, sv, Nordiska Mästerskapet, fi, Pohjoismaiden-mestaruusturnaus, commonly abbreviated NM or PM) was an international football competition contested by the men's ...
: 2000–01 Individual * Finnish Sports Journalists Player of the Year (8): 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 * Finnish Football Association Player of the Year (9): 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000 * Veikkausliiga Player of the Year: 1990 * Dutch Footballer of the Year: 1993 * Dutch league top scorer: 1993–94 (26 goals) * UNICEF European Footballer of the Season: 1994–95 * Ballon d'Or:
1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...
(8th),
1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...
(3rd) * Finnish Sports Personality of the Year: 1995 * ''ESM'' Team of the Year: 1994–95, 1995–96 *
UEFA Champions League top scorer The UEFA Champions League, known until 1992 as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or colloquially as the European Cup, is an annual association football cup competition organised by UEFA since 1955. Originally a straight knockout competition open o ...
: 1995–96 (9 goals) *Captain's Ball: 2002 * UEFA Jubilee AwardsGreatest Finnish Footballer of the last 50 Years: 2003 *Most-capped player for the Finland national team: 137 caps *2nd all-time top scorer for the Finland national team: 32 goals *All-time top scorer in Europe for Ajax: 26 goals *Oldest Player to Score in UEFA European Championship qualifying: 39 years and 270 days *FC Lahti Hall of Fame: 2016


See also

* List of men's footballers with 100 or more international caps


References


External links


Profile at FA of Finland's official website




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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 ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Litmanen, Jari 1971 births Living people Sportspeople from Lahti Finnish footballers Association football midfielders Association football forwards Reipas Lahti players Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi players Myllykosken Pallo −47 players AFC Ajax players FC Barcelona players Liverpool F.C. players FC Lahti players FC Hansa Rostock players Malmö FF players Fulham F.C. players Mestaruussarja players Veikkausliiga players Eredivisie players La Liga players Premier League players Bundesliga players Allsvenskan players UEFA Champions League winning players UEFA Cup winning players UEFA Champions League top scorers Finland international footballers FIFA Century Club UEFA Golden Players Finnish expatriate footballers Finnish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Spain Finnish expatriate sportspeople in England Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in Sweden