Matti Lähitie (born 13 February 1985) 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 ...

coach and a former player. He played as a defender or defensive

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

Playing career

Lähitie started his

career at Finnish club

FC Jazz Football Club Jazz, commonly known as just Jazz, is a Finnish Association football, football club based in Pori, which plays in the Finnish third tier, Ykkönen. The club was founded in 1934 as Porin Pallo-Toverit. PPT changed its name to FC Jazz ...

, where he made his league debut at the age of just seventeen years old. In total he made forty appearances at FC Jazz between 2002 and 2004, scoring twice. In 2005, he signed with

FC Lahti FC Lahti is a Finnish professional football club based in the city of Lahti. It currently plays in the Finnish second tier Ykkösliiga, after relegating from Veikkausliiga after the 2024 season. The homeground of Lahti is Toolpoint Arena. La ...

who were playing 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 ...

at the time. Lähitie saw this as a step-up in his career, with Finland internationals such as

Jari Litmanen Jari Olavi Litmanen (; born 20 February 1971) is a Finnish former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or a second striker. He was the first-choice captain of the Finland national team between 1996 and 2008 in an inter ...

Pekka Lagerblom Pekka Sakari Lagerblom (born 19 October 1982) is a Finnish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Notably, he won the German double of Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal with Werder Bremen in 2004. Club career FC Lahti Born in Lahti, ...

and Mika Väyrynen also playing for Lahti. In 2006 Lähitie moved to his third Finnish club, JJK playing in the

Ykkönen ''Ykkönen'' (Finnish language, Finnish for 'Number One'; , previously I divisioona) is the third highest level of the Finnish football league system (after the Veikkausliiga and Ykkösliiga), managed by the Football Association of Finland. Until ...

External links

FC JJK official website

Guardian Football
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lahitie, Matti 1985 births Living people Finnish men's footballers 21st-century Finnish sportsmen Men's association football midfielders FC Lahti players Seinäjoen Jalkapallokerho players JJK Jyväskylä players Veikkausliiga players Footballers from Pori Porin Palloilijat players