Antti Okkonen (born 6 June 1982) is a former footballer who played in

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

and

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. In addition, he played for the national team. He was a defensive midfielder.

Career

Okkonen started youth career in Oulun Luistinseura. He made his debut on the club's OPS representative team in the second season in 1998. He made his league debut at Myllykoski Pallo in the year 2000. In MyPa's shirt, Okkonen won one Finnish Championship silver and two Finnish Championship bronzes during three seasons (2000-2003). From Myllykoski, Okkonen moved to Sweden in the team of Landskrona for four (2004-2007) seasons. In the first half of 2007, he was on loan in Silkeborg, Denmark. In January 2008, Okkonen moved to the Belgian RAEC Mons, where he played for one and a half seasons. In August

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, he returned to MyPa with a contract for the rest of the season, which was extended for two years at the end of the period. For the 2012 season, Okkonen joined the team of the reigning Finnish champion Helsinki Football Club, where he also won the only Finnish championship in his career. After the championship season, Okkonen moved to the Rovaniemi Football Club, where he would play his final years. He managed to play 6 seasons (2013-2018) in RoPS, during this period he won the Finnish Cup

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

and two Finnish Championship silver medals in 2015 and 2018. He also served as the team's captain. During his career in Veikkausliiga, Okkonen played more than 300 matches and played 13 national matches in the Finnish national team. He has also played 18 youth and 56 boys national matches. Okkonen participated in the Finnish team at the 2001 World Championships for under-20s. After the end of his player career, Antti Okkonen continued his cooperation with the RoPS and currently works as a junior manager and is responsible for the activities of 7-12 year olds.

Career statistics

International

''Statistics accurate as of match played 25 January 2006''

Personal life

Antti is the younger brother of former footballer Jarkko Okkonen.

Honours

Veikkausliiga

* Promising player of the year 2001 * Champion 2012 ** Runner-up 2002, 2015, 2018 ** Third place 2000, 2001 * Finnish Cup

Individual * Veikkausliiga Player of the Month: September 2015

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Okkonen, Antti 1982 births Living people Finnish men's footballers 21st-century Finnish sportsmen Finland men's youth international footballers Finland men's international footballers Veikkausliiga players Belgian Pro League players Allsvenskan players Danish Superliga players AC Oulu players R.A.E.C. Mons (1910) players Silkeborg IF players Landskrona BoIS players Myllykosken Pallo −47 players Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi players Finnish expatriate men's footballers Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Rovaniemen Palloseura players Footballers from Oulu Men's association football midfielders Superettan players Kakkonen players