Brian Tømming Hämäläinen (born 29 May 1989) is a former Danish professional

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 lea ...

who played as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

. He last played for

Lyngby Boldklub Lyngby Boldklub () is a professional Football (soccer), football club based in Kongens Lyngby, Lyngby, Denmark, founded in 1921. It is based at Lyngby Stadion. The club play in the Danish Superliga. From 1994 to 2001 the club was known as Lyngby ...

. A former Denmark youth international, Hämäläinen made his breakthrough as part of

before moving to

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023 ...

club Zulte Waregem in 2011. After one season, he moved to

Genk Genk () is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city located in the Belgian Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg near Hasselt. The municipality comprises only the town of Genk itself. It ...

where he failed to establish himself as a starter. After four years, he returned to Zulte Waregem, before playing two years for

Dynamo Dresden Sportgemeinschaft Dynamo Dresden e.V., commonly known as SG Dynamo Dresden or Dynamo Dresden, is a German association football club based in Dresden, Saxony.Grüne, Hardy (2001). Enzyklopädie des deutschen Ligafußballs 7. Vereinslexikon. Kasse ...

in the German 2. Bundesliga. He returned to Lyngby in 2020.

Career

Lyngby

Hämäläinen began playing in the youth department of

Allerød FK Allerød Fodbold Klub is an association football club based in Lillerød, Denmark, that competes in the Denmark Series, the fifth tier of the Danish football league system. Founded in 1922, it is affiliated to the regional DBU Zealand football a ...

from 1994. In 2003, he moved to the youth academy of

Lyngby Kongens Lyngby (, Danish language, Danish for "the King's Heather Town"; short form Lyngby) is the seat and commercial centre of Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality in the northern suburbs of Copenhagen, Denmark. Lyngby Hovedgade is a busy shopping stre ...

. On 20 August 2007, he made his debut in a 1–6 loss to

Esbjerg fB Esbjerg forenede Boldklubber (; commonly known as Esbjerg fB or EfB in short) is a Danish professional Association football, football club based in Esbjerg, West Jutland, Jylland, that plays in the Danish 1st Division, 1st division, the sec ...

, coming on as a substitute for

Andreas Bjelland Andreas Bjelland (born 11 July 1988) is a retired Danish-Norwegian professional association football, footballer who played as a centre-back for a number of clubs in Denmark, the Netherlands and England. He is currently assistant head coach at Ly ...

in the 82nd minute. He impressed and grew into a starter at the club, reaching almost 100 matches in the top two Danish leagues. In May 2009, he went on trial with

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

but later declined an offer to sign with the French side.

Zulte Waregem

In July 2011, Hämäläinen was signed by

club Zulte Waregem. He started all matches in his first season at Zulte, and made five more appearances for the club the following season.

Genk

In August 2012, Hämäläinen moved to

. In the 2013–14 season, he made four appearances in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

– where Genk were eliminated in the round of 32 against

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V. (), commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German professional sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's Association football, football team is currently part of Germany's f ...

– and ten games in the league, in which his club finished third. Thereby, the club took part in the championship play-offs and finished fifth. There, Hämäläinen was used in four games. He made three appearances in the

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (; ; ) is the main knockout football competition in Belgium, run by the Royal Belgian FA. The competition started in 1908 with provincial selections as the "Belgian Provinces Cup". Starting from 1912 only actual clubs were allowed ...

, which Genk won. In the following season, Hämäläinen played in two games in the Belgian Cup and was eliminated with Genk in the quarter-finals, while in the

the club reached the last sixteen. At Genk, Hämäläinen appeared in only 31 league matches during his four-year spell there.

Return to Zulte Waregem

In June 2016, Hämäläinen returned to Zulte Waregem on a two-year contract. He made three appearances in the Belgian cup competition, in which the club were eliminated by

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège ( ; ; ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most successful clubs in Belgium, having won t ...

, and 16 total appearances in the league. In the 2016–17 season, Hämäläinen won his second Belgian Cup as part of Zulte Waregem, beating Oostende in the final.

Dynamo Dresden

Between 2018 and 2020 he played for German 2. Bundesliga club

Return to Lyngby

In September 2020, Hämäläinen returned to

Lyngby BK Lyngby Boldklub () is a professional football club based in Lyngby, Denmark, founded in 1921. It is based at Lyngby Stadion. The club play in the Danish Superliga. From 1994 to 2001 the club was known as Lyngby FC. The club has won the Danish c ...

on a deal until the summer 2022. In January 2021, he suffered a knee injury in practice; tests later confirmed that he had sustained ligament damage which would sideline him for an extended period of time. At the end of the season, Lyngby suffered relegation to the

Danish 1st Division The 1st Division (''1. Division'') is the second-highest football league in Denmark, also known as NordicBet Liga for sponsorship reasons. From 1945 to 1991, the 1. Division was the name of the highest level of football in Denmark. With the for ...

after a loss to last placed

AC Horsens Alliance Club Horsens (), commonly referred to as AC Horsens () or simply Horsens, is a Danish professional football club based in Horsens, Central Denmark Region. Founded in 1994, as a superstructure on Horsens fS (founded 1915), Stensballe ...

. On 4 March 2022, Hämäläinen made his first appearance for Lyngby since returning from injury, coming off the bench in injury time for Adam Sørensen in a 3–0 away win over

Fremad Amager Boldklubben Fremad Amager (meaning in English: The Ball Club Forward Amager; abbreviated Fremad A) is a Danish professional football club based in the district of Amager Vest, Copenhagen. As of the 2024–25 season, the club's senior men's team ...

. After the club had won promotion back to the Superliga, Hämäläinen signed a one-year contract extension, keeping him in Lyngby until 2023. On 12 May 2025, Hämäläinen announced that he would retire after the season.

Personal life

Hämäläinen is of Finnish descent through his maternal great-grandfather. He was approached by Hasse Backe, coach of the Finland national team in 2016, but expressed that he did not consider himself Finnish.

Career statistics

Honours

Genk *

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

Zulte Waregem *

: 2016–17

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hamalainen, Brian 1989 births Living people People from Allerød Municipality Men's association football defenders Danish men's footballers Danish expatriate men's footballers Denmark men's under-21 international footballers Denmark men's youth international footballers Danish people of Finnish descent Allerød FK players Lyngby Boldklub players SV Zulte Waregem players KRC Genk players Dynamo Dresden players Danish Superliga players Danish 1st Division players Belgian Pro League players 2. Bundesliga players Danish expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Danish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Footballers from the Capital Region of Denmark 21st-century Danish sportsmen