Jani Sarajärvi (born 9 September 1979 in

Pudasjärvi Pudasjärvi () is a town and a municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Oulu and is part of the Northern Ostrobothnia region, northeast of the city of Oulu and southwest of the town of Kuusamo. The town has a population of () ...

) is a Finnish professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

who is currently working as the head coach of the Estonia national under-21 football team and the Head of Youth National Teams. Sarajärvi, a former pro player, has previously held head or assistant coaching positions in three continents, both in premier club level and national team settings. He’s also a researcher PhD student at the University of Lisbon, one of the best academic football institutions in Europe.

Club career

Sarajärvi's professional playing career lasted 11 years and during this time he played in

Veikkausliiga Veikkausliiga () is a professional association football league in Finland and the highest level of the Finnish football league system. The league comprises the top 12 clubs of the country. Its main sponsor is the Finnish national betting agenc ...

and

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system. Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...

, earning one senior

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

for Finland national team and eight for under-21 national team. He won silver and bronze in Veikkausliiga, silver in

Finnish cup The Finnish 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 UEFA Europa Conference League ...

, and three Finnish League cups. Upon retiring in 2010, Sarajärvi began his coaching career as a player-assistant coach at FC YPA in Finnish third tier 2011, later returning to the club as a head coach for years 2013–14. After that, Sarajärvi has worked for VPS and HJK in Finland,

Independiente del Valle Club de Alto Rendimiento Especializado Independiente del Valle, known simply as Independiente del Valle, is a professional football club based in Sangolquí Ecuador that currently plays in the Ecuadorian Serie A. Founded in 1958, the club plays ...

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

, and The Gambia national team.

Coaching career

FC YPA

After a pro playing career, Sarajärvi started his professional coaching career in FC YPA at Finnish third tier, working as a head coach in 2013-14 (after first playing and assistant coaching in the same team season 2011). Sarajärvi is FC YPA's most successful coach ever. The team gained +90% and +107% more points during respective two years in reign compared to the season before his employment. These records have still not been broken. Sarajärvi also coached the club's futsal team Sievi Futsal in Finnish futsal league, leading the team to its first ever league medal (bronze). Sarajärvi has later commented on the benefits of futsal for football coaching.

VPS

Years 2016–17, Sarajärvi worked as an assistant coach for VPS in Veikkausliiga. In their 1st season, in a staff led by Head Coach Petri Vuorinen, Sarajärvi helped the team to establish a new more active playing style and gain 61% more points compared to season 2015, when the club almost relegated. The team went through total rejuvenation and won a

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 ...

qualification place, finishing 4th in the league, with 2nd least goals allowed. Also season 2017 got a successful start, as VPS held on the 2nd place still in the middle of the season. The team also went on to surprise the favorites of

NK Olimpija Ljubljana Nogometni klub Olimpija Ljubljana (; ), commonly referred to as Olimpija Ljubljana or simply Olimpija, is a Slovenian professional football club based in Ljubljana that competes in the Slovenian PrvaLiga, the top division of the Slovenian foot ...

in the UEFA Europa League qualification, winning 1-0 both home and away. In the 2nd qualification round, VPS met the Danish giant Bröndby IF, VPS lost away 0-2 but held on to surprise at home, finally winning only 2–1, and was knocked out of the competition. In the middle of the season 2017, Sarajärvi announced that he would pursue a PhD degree in football coaching at University of Lisbon and was leaving the club after the season.

HJK

Late 2018,

Mika Lehkosuo Mika Lehkosuo, nicknamed "Bana", (born 8 January 1970) is a Finnish football manager and former player who works as the head coach for the Finland U21 national team. Playing career A midfielder, Lehkosuo played most of his career at HJK Helsin ...

, one of the most renowned football coaches ever 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, ...

, persuaded Sarajärvi to Finland and assist him in Finnish giant club HJK for the season 2019. As the most successful club in Finland, the goal was to win a double and to qualify either to UEFA Champions or

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 ...

. Lehkosuo and Sarajärvi set to develop the team and playing style to reach the targets. Pre-season started well with a good performance against the Scottish giant

Glasgow Rangers Rangers Football Club is a professional football club in Glasgow, Scotland. The team competes in the Scottish Premiership, the top division of Scottish football. The club is often referred to as Glasgow Rangers, though this has never been it ...

(loss 2–3) and a 3–1 win against top Swedish club

Hammarby IF Hammarby Idrottsförening ("Hammarby Sports Club"), commonly known as Hammarby IF or simply Hammarby ( or, especially locally, ), is a Swedish sports club located in Stockholm, with a number of member organizations active in a variety of differ ...

. The regular season started also well with two wins but underperformance in the next eight games (6 draws and two losses) lead to sacking of the head coach Mika Lehkosuo. Sarajärvi's contract would have run until the end of season, but he decided to step out as a mark of loyalty for his head coach.

Independiente del Valle

For the year 2020, Sarajärvi was contracted by

, for an assistant coach role in the club's 2nd team full of Ecuadorian youth national team players. Led by the head coach Yuri Solano, the goal was to develop the young players into 1st team and help them towards international careers. The team went on to win Copa Libertadores U20 as a first ever Ecuadorian team, beating clubs such as

CR Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; ), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian multi sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea. It was founded and named after the Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro, Flamengo n ...

in the semi-final and River Plate in the final. Three of the players from that team, namely

Moisés Caicedo Moisés Isaac Caicedo Corozo (born 2 November 2001) is an Ecuadorian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Chelsea and the Ecuador national team. Early life Born in Santo Domingo, Ecuador, the youngest of 10 siblings, ...

Piero Hincapié Piero Martín Hincapié Reyna (born 9 January 2002) is an Ecuadorian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back or left-back for Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen and the Ecuador national team. Club career Hincapié began playing footb ...

, and

Willian Pacho Willian Joel Pacho Tenorio (born 16 October 2001) is an Ecuadorian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain and the Ecuador national team. Club career Independiente del Valle From Quinindé in the ...

, later played in the senior national team of Ecuador at World Cup of Qatar 2022. The team also competed in the

Ecuadorian Serie B The Primera Categoría Serie B, shortened to Serie B or Primera B, is a professional football league in Ecuador. It is in the second tier of the Ecuadorian football league system. Currently contested by ten clubs, it operates a system of promotio ...

, but the season was ended because of COVID-19 outbreak. After spending a few months in heavy isolation, Sarajärvi returned to

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

, for his PhD studies.

The Gambia national team

After an invitation from head coach

Tom Saintfiet Tom Saintfiet (born 29 March 1973) is a Belgian football coach and former player. He is the current head coach of the Mali national team. He managed the Gambian national team from 2018 to 2024, earning a place in the top five list of best coa ...

, in November 2021 Sarajärvi agreed for a coach-analyst role in The Gambia national team. Sarajärvi started to work with the team during preparation for

AFCON 2021 The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (also referred to as AFCON 2021 or CAN 2021), known as the TotalEnergies 2021 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 33rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's foo ...

tournament, where the team had qualified for the first time ever in the country's history. In the AFCON group phase, The Gambia surprised everyone by wins over

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

and

Mauritania Mauritania, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a sovereign country in Maghreb, Northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Western Sahara to Mauritania–Western Sahara border, the north and northwest, ...

and a draw against

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

. The surprises continued in the round of 16 with a 1–0 win over

Guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...

, but the tournament came to an end in a quarter-final match against

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

(0-2). After AFCON 2021, Sarajärvi continues as a coach-analyst for The Gambia national team. The team is currently in the qualification stage for the AFCON 2023 in group G with Mali, Congo and

South Sudan South Sudan (), officially the Republic of South Sudan, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the north by Sudan; on the east by Ethiopia; on the south by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Kenya; and on the ...

FC Nõmme United

On 30 December 2023, newly promoted Estonian club

FC Nõmme United FC Nõmme United is an Estonian professional football club based in Nõmme, a district in Tallinn. The club was founded in 2000 and currently competes in Esiliiga, the second-highest division in the Estonian football. Their home ground is Män ...

announced that they had named Sarajärvi the new head coach on a two-year deal. Sarajärvi also announced that he will continue his work with the Gambia national team as an analyst from distance, until the delayed AFCON 2023 tournament, according to his previous contract.

Education

Sarajärvi has completed High-Performance Football Coaching course at

University of Lisbon The University of Lisbon (ULisboa; ) is a public university, public research university in Lisbon, and Portugal's largest university. It was founded in 1911, but the university's present structure dates to the 2013 merger of the former Universit ...

with teachers such as

José Mourinho José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix (; born 26 January 1963) is a Portuguese professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player, who is currently the head coach of Süper Lig club Fenerba ...

and

Pedro Caixinha Pedro Miguel Faria Caixinha (; born 15 November 1970) is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player who played as a goalkeeper. He started coaching in his late twenties, acting an assistant with Sporting CP, Al-Hilal, Panath ...

. He holds UEFA A coaching license from the Finnish FA. Sarajärvi is also a researcher PhD student at University of Lisbon, a school that has educated coaches as Mourinho, Caixinha, and

Ruben Amorim Ruben Filipe Marques Amorim (; born 27 January 1985) is a Portuguese Professional association football, professional football Manager (association football), manager, a former player and the current manager of Premier League club Manchester Unit ...

. His main research areas are high-performance coaching, game analysis, and football skill.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sarajarvi, Jani 1979 births People from Pudasjärvi Finnish men's footballers Finnish expatriate men's footballers Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Finland men's international footballers Veikkausliiga players Allsvenskan players IFK Norrköping players Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Living people FC YPA players Men's association football defenders Footballers from North Ostrobothnia Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Estonia Finnish football managers Finnish expatriate football managers Finnish football coaches Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi non-playing staff Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Ecuador Finnish expatriate sportspeople in the Philippines Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Mali Finnish expatriate sportspeople in the Gambia Vaasan Palloseura non-playing staff Expatriate football managers in Estonia