Kasper Woldemar Hämäläinen (born 8 August 1986) is a Finnish

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 ...

executive and former professional

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who i ...

who played as an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

. He is currently the

sporting director A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The ...

Ykkösliiga ''Ykkösliiga'' (English language, English: ''"League One"''; ) is the second highest level of the Finnish football league system (after the Veikkausliiga), managed by the Football Association of Finland. The teams in Ykkösliiga also play a pre-s ...

club

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 ...

. Hämäläinen was born in

Turku Turku ( ; ; , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Aura River (Finland), River Aura. The population of Turku is approximately , while t ...

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, ...

, where he started his senior career in

before moving to

Djurgården Djurgården ( or ) or, more officially, , is an island in central Stockholm, Sweden. Djurgården is home to historical buildings and monuments, museums, galleries, the amusement park Gröna Lund, the open-air museum Skansen, the small resident ...

. Hämäläinen earned 63

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for the Finland national team, having made his debut in November 2008. He returned to his former club

in 2021, and ended his professional career with the club at the end of the 2023 season.

Club career

TPS Turku

Born in

, Hämäläinen started his career in his hometown club

. In June 2008, Portuguese

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

club

C.D. Nacional Clube Desportivo Nacional (), commonly known as Nacional da Madeira and sometimes just Nacional, is a Portuguese football club based in Funchal, on the island of Madeira. Founded on 8 December 1910, it currently plays in the Liga Portugal , P ...

was keen to sign him, but he was said to be too expensive. He visited Italian clubs

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

Udinese Udinese Calcio (; "Udinese Football") is a professional football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. The team currently competes in the Serie A, the first tier of Italian football. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sport ...

and

Siena Siena ( , ; traditionally spelled Sienna in English; ) is a city in Tuscany, in central Italy, and the capital of the province of Siena. It is the twelfth most populated city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 52,991 ...

NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered at the NEC Supertower in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It provides IT and network solutions, including cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), Inte ...

also showed interest. After the 2008 season, he was near a move to an unnamed Italian club but he chose to stay in Turku to secure play time in the

first team First team may refer to: Sports * First team (association football), the colloquial name given to the most senior team fielded by a football club * The First Team, the first players known to have played the sport of basketball * First Team All-A ...

Djurgårdens IF

In December 2009, it was announced that Swedish club

had acquired him for a transfer fee of around €300,000. "Kasper" as his shirt says became a star in the Djurgården-shirt and started all the 30 league games in

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 ...

during both the 2010 and 2011 season. During his two first season he played as a central midfielder besides his fellow country man

Daniel Sjölund Henrik Daniel "Daja" Sjölund (born 22 April 1983) is a Finnish football coach and a former footballer who played as a midfielder. Sjölund is currently working as an assistant coach of Veikkausliiga club IFK Mariehamn. He is best remembered fo ...

. In the 2012 pre-season

manager

Magnus Pehrsson Karl Magnus Pehrsson (born 25 May 1976) is a Swedish Association football, football manager and former professional player who is the Director of Football at Spanish club Vélez CF. Club career Pehrsson started his career in IFK Lidingö. He p ...

tried Hämäläinen in a more offensive role as a trequartista. Hämäläinen did it so well that the move became permanent.

Lech Poznań

However, in January 2013, it was announced that Hämäläinen had signed a three-year contract with Polish top-flight side

Lech Poznań Kolejowy Klub Sportowy Lech Poznań S.A., commonly referred to as KKS Lech Poznań or simply Lech Poznań (), is a Polish professional football club based in Poznań and currently competing in the Ekstraklasa, the nation's highest division. ...

. The transfer fee was never made public, but it was believed to be around €410.000. On 24 February, he scored on his debut in a 4–0 away win over

Ruch Chorzów Ruch Chorzów () is a Polish professional association football, football club based in Chorzów, Upper Silesia. It is one of the most successful football teams in Poland, having won fourteen List of Polish football champions, Polish Championship ...

. Hämäläinen gained 14 caps during the spring season of 2013 out of which he was in the starting eleven 12 times. In those 14 matches, he scored three goals. In December 2015, Hämäläinen decided to not extend his contract with Lech, citing personal reasons and wishing to move elsewhere with his family. He made a total of 131 appearances for Lech, scoring 36 goals and helping the club win the

2014–15 Ekstraklasa The 2014–15 Ekstraklasa (also known as T-Mobile Ekstraklasa due to its Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by T-Mobile Polska) was the 81st season of Sports league, the highest level of football leagues in the Polish football league system since ...

and

2015 Polish Super Cup The 2015 Polish Super Cup was held on 10 July 2015 between the 2014–15 Ekstraklasa winners Lech Poznań and the 2014–15 Polish Cup winners Legia Warsaw. Lech won the match 3–1 and won the trophy for the fifth time. Match details See ...

titles.

Legia Warsaw

On 11 January 2016, he joined Lech's archrivals

Legia Warsaw Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning a record 15 champions titles, a record 2 ...

on a free transfer, signing a -year deal.

Jablonec

On 6 September 2019, Hämäläinen joined

Czech First League The Czech First League () also known as the Chance Liga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in the Czech Republic and the highest level of the Czech Republic football league system. Seasons typically run from A ...

club

FK Jablonec FK Jablonec () is a Czech Republic, Czech professional association football, football club based in Jablonec nad Nisou. The club has played in the top league of Czech football, Czech First League, since 1994. History Jablonec played its first se ...

, signing a two-year deal.

Return to TPS

On 7 May 2021, it was announced that Hämäläinen would return to TPS with a 2.5-year contract. Hämäläinen announced that he will retire from professional football after the 2023 season.

International career

Hämäläinen was part of the Finnish U17 team that represented in the 2003 U17 World Cup held in Finland. He was a regular member of the Finland U21 team that qualified to the 2009 U21 European Championship held in Sweden and played in all Finland's three matches. He made his national team debut on 19 November 2008 against

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

when Stuart Baxter chose him to the starting line up for a match played in St. Gallen. During

UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying The qualifying competition for UEFA Euro 2012 was a series of parallel association football competitions held across Europe between 2010 and 2011 to decide the qualifiers for UEFA Euro 2012. The draw for the qualifying rounds was held on 7 Febru ...

he established himself as a regular in the national team. Hämäläinen scored his first international goal on 17 November 2010 against

San Marino San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino, is a landlocked country in Southern Europe, completely surrounded by Italy. Located on the northeastern slopes of the Apennine Mountains, it is the larger of two European microstates, microsta ...

as he scored a brace in the 8–0 home victory.

Later career

On 29 August 2024, it was announced that Hämäläinen would start as a sporting director of his former club Turun Palloseura.KASPER HÄMÄLÄINEN ON TPS:N UUSI URHEILUTOIMENJOHTAJA
fc.tps.fi, 29 August 2024

Personal life

Hämäläinen's father Heikki Hämäläinen is a former track and field athlete.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Finland score listed first, score column indicates score after each Hämäläinen goal.''

Honours

Lech Poznań *

Ekstraklasa (; meaning "Extra Class" in Polish), officially known as PKO Bank Polski Ekstraklasa due to its Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is a professional association football league in Poland and the highest level of the Polish foo ...

: 2014–15 *

Polish Super Cup The Polish Super Cup (, ) is an annually held match between the champions of the Ekstraklasa and the Polish Cup winners or, if the Ekstraklasa champions also win the Polish Cup, the Cup's runners-up. As of 2024, the Polish Super Cup has been ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Legia Warsaw *Ekstraklasa: 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18 *

Polish Cup The Polish Cup in Association football, football ( ) is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout football competition for Polish football club (association football), football clubs, held continuously since 1950, and is the second most i ...

: 2015–16, 2017–18

References

External links

FK Jablonec official profile

Kasper Hämäläinen
– SPL competition record * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hamalainen, Kasper 1986 births Living people Footballers from Turku Men's association football midfielders Finnish men's footballers 21st-century Finnish sportsmen Finland men's international footballers Finland men's under-21 international footballers Finland men's youth international footballers Turun Palloseura footballers Djurgårdens IF Fotboll players Lech Poznań players Legia Warsaw players FK Jablonec players Veikkausliiga players Ykkönen players Allsvenskan players Ekstraklasa players Czech First League players Bohemian Football League players Swedish-speaking Finns Finnish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate men's footballers in Poland Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Poland Expatriate men's footballers in the Czech Republic Finnish expatriate sportspeople in the Czech Republic Finnish sporting directors Turun Palloseura non-playing staff Maskun Palloseura players