Mika-Matti Petteri Paatelainen (born 3 February 1967) is a Finnish former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and the head coach of

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 ...

club

HIFK HIFK, the Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna, Helsingfors (IFK, Helsingfors) rf (officially abbreviated IFK Helsingfors, colloquially often Helsingfors IFK or Helsingin IFK ) is a multi-sport association based in Helsinki, Finland. Formed in 1897 on ...

. He scored 18 goals in 70 appearances for the Finnish national team, which makes him Finland's all time thirteenth most capped player and fifth top goalscorer. He is the eldest of three brothers, all of whom have played professional football. Their father Matti was also a Finnish international. Paatelainen had a 20-year playing career, playing for nine clubs in four countries. Most of his career was spent in the Scottish leagues, with

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

, Hibernian, St Johnstone and St Mirren. He also played for Valkeakosken Haka in Finland, Bolton Wanderers and

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

in England and

RC Strasbourg Racing Club de Strasbourg Alsace (commonly known as RC Strasbourg, Racing Straßburg, RCSA, RCS, or simply Strasbourg; Alsatian: ''Füeßbàllmànnschàft Vu Stroßburri'') is a French association football club founded in 1906, based in the c ...

in France. While at Bolton, Paatelainen became the first Finn to play in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

. After retiring as a player in 2005, Paatelainen became

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

of Scottish club

Cowdenbeath Cowdenbeath (; sco, Coudenbeith) is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is north-east of Dunfermline and north of the capital, Edinburgh. The town grew up around the extensive coalfields of the area and became a police burgh in 189 ...

, where he helped the club win the championship of

Scottish Football League Third Division The Scottish Football League Third Division was the fourth tier of the Scottish football league system between 1994 and 2013. History The Scottish football league system had operated with three divisions in the Scottish Football League (SFL) fr ...

and earn a promotion. After a season coaching in his native Finland with TPS, Paatelainen returned to Scotland as manager of Hibernian. He left that position by mutual consent after 18 months. After a year out of the game, Paatelainen was appointed manager of

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

. He was Kilmarnock manager for less than one season, but enjoyed personal success during that time. He was appointed manager of the Finland national team in March 2011, a position he held until June 2015. He was appointed as Dundee United manager in October 2015, parting company with the club in May 2016 after their relegation to the

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship, known as the cinch Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish Champio ...

. He has subsequently managed Ubon United in Thailand, and the national teams of

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

and Hong Kong.

Club career

Paatelainen made his debut for Valkeakosken Haka in 1985. He played 48 league matches for Haka, scoring 18 goals. During his debut season, Haka won the

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 ...

, the only honour of the club during his time there. In October 1987,

Scottish Premier Division The Scottish Football League Premier Division was, from 1975 until 1998, the top division of the Scottish Football League and the entire Scottish football league system. It lay above the Scottish Football League First, Second and (from 1994) ...

club

signed him for a £100,000 transfer fee. He scored on his debut a day later and quickly established himself as a first team regular, scoring 11 goals in his first season, including four goals in a 7–0 rout of

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in April 1988. Paatelainen also helped Dundee United reach the

Scottish Cup Final The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the Scottish Cup, is a knockout cup competition in Scottish football. Organised by the Scottish Football Association, it is the third oldest existing football competition in the w ...

in May 1988, although had to settle for a runners-up medal as United lost 2–1 to

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

. He was the club's top scorer for the following two seasons, and in total scored 47 times in 173 matches for United. In March 1992, he transferred to

for £400,000. During the three seasons he stayed there, he scored 23 goals in 75 matches. Paatelainen played in two cup finals during his time at Pittodrie, but lost to Rangers in October 1992 in the League Cup Final and in May 1993 lost to the same opposition in the

. Paatelainen transferred in 1994 to English club Bolton Wanderers. The team was promoted to the

in his first season with the club, which then meant that Paatelainen became the first Finnish footballer to play in the Premier League (as the old First Division had been rebranded in 1992). He played a crucial part in the promotion triumph, putting Bolton 3–2 ahead in their playoff final clash with

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in extra time on their way to a 4–3 victory which ended a 15-year exile from the top flight. Paatelainen also played in the 1995 League Cup Final, in which Wanderers were beaten 2–1 by

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

. He was unable to keep Bolton in the Premier League in 1995–96, although they did return the next season by winning the Division One title with 100 goals and 98 points. He then played for

during the 1997–98 season. He failed to score for Wolves in the league but scored four times in their

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

run, with goals against

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

(two),

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in ...

and

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. He also scored once in the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

, against

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

. After his spell in Wolverhampton, Paatelainen decided to return to Scotland in the summer of 1998; this time signing for

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

club Hibernian. Hibs had been relegated the previous season, and Paatelainen's twelve goals in his first season helped his side get promotion back to the top division in Scotland. He is fondly remembered by Hibernian supporters for his

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in a 6–2 victory over Edinburgh derby rivals Heart of Midlothian on 22 October 2000. Paatelainien's appearance for Hibs in their 2001 Scottish Cup Final defeat by

meant that he became the first player to play in the Scottish Cup final with three clubs. Despite this, Paatelainien never collected a winners medal in the competition. Paatelainen left Hibs in 2001 to sign for French club

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

. He then returned to Hibs for one season, where he combined his playing duties with coaching the youths. In 2003, he transferred to St Johnstone, when Hibs no longer wished to extend his contract, also acting as an assistant manager. Paatelainen only stayed with St Johnstone for one season. Paatelainen then transferred to St Mirren, where he also served as an assistant manager. This was his last club. During his playing career Paatelainen scored 143 league goals.

International career

Paatelainen played 70 matches for

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, scoring 18 goals. He played his first international match on 9 September 1986, against

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

. One of his feats in the national team was scoring four goals in a single match against

San Marino San Marino (, ), officially the Republic of San Marino ( it, Repubblica di San Marino; ), also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino ( it, Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino, links=no), is the fifth-smallest country in the world an ...

, which stands as a record number of goals in one match for Finland. He retired from international football in 2000. In addition to his appearances for the senior national team, Paatelainen also played eight matches each for the Finland under-21s and the under-19s.

Coaching career

Cowdenbeath

Having previously worked as a coach while still playing for St Johnstone and St Mirren, Paatelainen was appointed

full-time Full-time or Full Time may refer to: * Full-time job, employment in which a person works a minimum number of hours defined as such by their employer * Full-time mother, a woman whose work is running or managing her family's home * Full-time fat ...

manager of

Scottish Third Division The Scottish Football League Third Division was the fourth tier of the Scottish football league system between 1994 and 2013. History The Scottish football league system had operated with three divisions in the Scottish Football League (SFL) fro ...

part-time Part-time can refer to: * Part-time job, a job that has fewer hours a week than a full-time job * Part-time student, a student, usually in higher education, who takes fewer course credits than a full-time student * Part Time Part Time (styliz ...

football team

in August 2005. In his first season, he guided ''the Blue Brazil'' to their first league title in 67 years. He signed his brothers

Markus Marcus, Markus, Márkus or Mărcuș may refer to: * Marcus (name), a masculine given name * Marcus (praenomen), a Roman personal name Places * Marcus, a main belt asteroid, also known as (369088) Marcus 2008 GG44 * Mărcuş, a village in Dobârl� ...

and Mikko for the club.

TPS

On 21 October 2006, Paatelainen resigned as manager of Cowdenbeath to join Finnish club TPS. He guided TPS to third place and UEFA Intertoto Cup qualification in what was to be his only season in charge.

Hibernian

Paatelainen was linked with the managerial vacancy at former club Hibernian in December 2007, and he was appointed on 10 January 2008. He commented upon taking the job that he wanted to make Hibs play a bit more direct, which he later claimed was misinterpreted as him wanting to play a

long ball In association football, a long ball is an attempt to move the ball a long distance down the field via one long aerial kick from either a goalkeeper or a defender directly to an attacking player, with the ball generally bypassing the midfield. R ...

game. Paatelainen took the Hibs job at a time when they had only won one of their previous ten games and had slipped into the bottom half of the

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...

. Hibs’ results initially improved under Paatelainen and the club secured a place in the top half of the league. During the 2008–09 season, Paatelainen came under increasing pressure from Hibs fans due to poor results and his favouring of a 4–3–3 system. Paatelainen eventually abandoned 4–3–3 in favour of a more orthodox 4–4–2 system. He was criticised by

Abdessalam Benjelloun Abdessalam Benjelloun (born 28 January 1985) is a Moroccan professional footballer who plays as a forward for Raja Beni Mellal. Benjelloun started his career in his native Morocco, before moving to Scottish Premier League club Hibernian in 200 ...

, who accused Paatelainen of favouring outdated

tactics. Paatelainen responded by saying that Benjelloun was "frustrated" at not being a regular pick for club or country. A poor run of results early in 2009 led to many Hibs supporters calling for Paatelainen to be sacked, but he did manage to lead the team into the top half of the league again. Paatelainen was also praised by the media for his tactical approach in winning the last Edinburgh derby of the season, but he left the job by mutual consent at the end of May after a disappointing season.

Kilmarnock

After a year out of the game, Paatelainen was appointed manager of

on 23 June 2010. Paatelainen has earned plaudits from the Scottish media for his early work with Kilmarnock. In November 2010, he was linked with the

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

position of 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 ...

. Paatelainen won the manager of the month award for December 2010, as Kilmarnock continued their good start with two league wins, against Hibernian and Inverness CT, and a draw at

Celtic Park Celtic Park is the home stadium of Celtic Football Club, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest football stadium in Scotland, and the eighth-largest stadium in the United Kingdom. It is al ...

. Kilmarnock offered him a long-term contract in March 2011, in an attempt to frustrate interest in Paatelainen from Scunthorpe United. The approach from Scunthorpe was rejected by Paatelainen, but soon afterwards he accepted an offer from

. Despite having left Kilmarnock in March, Paatelainen won the SFWA Manager of the Year award for the 2010–11 season.

Finland national team

Following a bad start by

UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying The qualifying competition for UEFA Euro 2012 was a series of parallel association football competitions held over 2010 and 2011 to decide the qualifiers for UEFA Euro 2012, held in Poland and Ukraine. The draw for the qualifying rounds was hel ...

and their decline in the

FIFA World Rankings The FIFA Men's World Ranking is a ranking system for men's national teams in association football, led by Brazil . The teams of the men's member nations of FIFA, football's world governing body, are ranked based on their game results with the ...

from 33 to 86, head coach Stuart Baxter was sacked. Paatelainen was appointed as the new Finland head coach on 31 March 2011. His first match as a head coach was a 1–0 away win against

on 3 June, but Finland then suffered a 5–0 defeat by

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

in his second game. Both matches were part of the

process. Paatelainen's deal with the

Finnish Football Association 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 footba ...

extended to 2016, covering not only the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifiers but also the

FIFA 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 the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifiers. As Finland was already eliminated from

UEFA 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 ...

, Paatelainen's task was to renew the national team and try to qualify for one or more of the tournaments during his projected tenure as Finland's head coach. On 14 June 2015 Paatelainen was sacked following his fourth defeat in a row during the

UEFA 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 ...

qualifying campaign.

Dundee United

Paatelainen was announced as the new head coach of Dundee United in October 2015, having signed a contract until 2018. His first match in charge of the club was a 1–0 defeat to Hearts at Tannadice. He was unable to prevent the side from relegation, which was confirmed by a

Dundee derby The Dundee derby is a football match between Dundee and Dundee United. The clubs are based yards apart in the city of Dundee, the fourth-largest city in Scotland. History Dundee is the older of the two, having been founded in 1893, compared ...

defeat on 2 May 2016, and he left United two days later.

Latvia national team

Paatelainen was appointed head coach of the

national team in May 2018. On 4 December, he announced that he won't continue as the head coach of the team after his contract expires at the end of the month.

Hong Kong national team

Paatelainen was appointed as the head coach of the

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

representative team in April 2019 on a two-year contract, succeeding Gary White. After a dismal campaign having only achieved a win from twelve games in charge, Mixu's contract was not renewed.

In popular culture

Paatelainen's time at Bolton Wanderers led to him being mentioned in the comedy show ''

Phoenix Nights ''Phoenix Nights'' is a British sitcom about The Phoenix Club, a working men's club in the northern English town of Bolton, Greater Manchester. The show is a spin-off from the "In the Club" episode of the spoof documentary series '' That Pet ...

'', which was set in the Bolton area. This happened when the doormen Max & Paddy drunkenly made a

prank call A prank call (also known as a crank call) is a telephone call intended by the caller as a practical joke played on the person answering. It is often a type of nuisance call. It can be illegal under certain circumstances. Recordings of prank ph ...

to their boss Brian Potter, claiming that Paatelainen worked at the Coroner's office in

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area i ...

and that the

club Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a '' Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises ...

was on fire.

Career statistics

Club

*Asterisk (*) indicates that more matches and goals may yet emerge as cup records are investigated.

International goals

Yrjö Lautela & Göran Wallén (eds.): ''Rakas jalkapallo. Sata vuotta suomalaista jalkapalloa.'' Teos, Helsinki, 2007.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Valkeakosken Haka *

: 1985 Bolton Wanderers *

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

play-offs: 1994–95 *

: 1996–97 Hibernian *

Scottish First Division The Scottish Football League First Division was the second tier in the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. History The First Division was introduced in 1975–76 to replace the old Scottish Football League Division Two, as ...

: 1998–99

Manager

Cowdenbeath *

: 2005–06 Latvia * Baltic Cup: 2018 Individual * Scottish Premier League Player of the Month: October 2000 *Scottish Premier League Manager of the Month: February 2008,

March 2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

December 2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A ...

*Scottish Premier League Manager of the Season: 2010–11

References

External links

*
Playing Stats at Hibernian
a
FitbaStatsManagerial Record at Hibernian
a
FitbaStats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paatelainen, Mixu 1967 births Living people Footballers from Helsinki Finnish footballers Association football forwards FC Haka players Dundee United F.C. players Aberdeen F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Hibernian F.C. players RC Strasbourg Alsace players Cowdenbeath F.C. players St Johnstone F.C. players St Mirren F.C. players Mestaruussarja players Scottish Football League players English Football League players Premier League players Scottish Premier League players Ligue 2 players Finland international footballers Finnish expatriate footballers Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Finnish expatriate sportspeople in England Finnish expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate footballers in Scotland Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in France Finnish football managers Hibernian F.C. non-playing staff St Johnstone F.C. non-playing staff St Mirren F.C. non-playing staff Cowdenbeath F.C. managers TPS Turku football managers Hibernian F.C. managers Kilmarnock F.C. managers Finland national football team managers Dundee United F.C. managers

Mixu Paatelainen Mika-Matti Petteri Paatelainen (born 3 February 1967) is a Finnish former professional football player and the head coach of Veikkausliiga club HIFK. He scored 18 goals in 70 appearances for the Finnish national team, which makes him Finland's ...

Latvia national football team managers Hong Kong national football team managers Scottish Football League managers Veikkausliiga managers Scottish Premier League managers Scottish Professional Football League managers

Finnish expatriate football managers Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Thailand Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Latvia Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Hong Kong Expatriate football managers in Scotland Expatriate football managers in Thailand Expatriate football managers in Latvia Expatriate football managers in Hong Kong