Nicholas Antero "Niko" Hämäläinen (born 5 March 1997) is a Finnish 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 plays 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 ...

for

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 ...

club

KuPS Kuopion Palloseura, commonly referred to as KuPS, is a Finnish professional football club based in Kuopio. KuPS competes in Veikkausliiga, the top flight of Finnish football. The team plays its home matches at Kuopio Football Stadium. KuPS ha ...

. Born and raised in the United States, he plays for the Finland national team thanks to his eligibility through his Finnish father. He represented Finland at various youth levels before making his senior debut against

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

on 11 January 2019.

Club career

Queens Park Rangers

On 18 September 2014, Hämäläinen signed for

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English f ...

from the FC Dallas Academy. Former

West Ham West Ham is a district in East London, England and is in the London Borough of Newham. It is an inner-city suburb located east of Charing Cross. The area was originally an ancient parish formed to serve parts of the older Manor of Ham, a ...

midfielder Ian Bishop, a family friend, arranged a trial for Hämäläinen, where he was spotted by QPR.

2015–16: Dagenham & Redbridge loan

On 6 August 2015, Hämäläinen signed on an emergency loan deal at Dagenham & Redbridge until 5 September 2015. Hämäläinen made his professional debut on 12 August 2015, in Dagenham & Redbridge's 1–4 loss to

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

in the League Cup. He was named in the starting eleven and was replaced by Ashley Hemmings in the 58th minute. His loan was extended in September 2015 for an additional month.

Return to QPR

He made his league debut for QPR as a substitute for Joel Lynch in a 2–1 win against West London rivals

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

on 1 October 2016. He made his first appearance in the starting lineup on 22 October 2016 in a match against

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

2018–19: Los Angeles FC loan

On 25 February 2019, Hämäläinen joined

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

side

Los Angeles FC Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Los Angeles. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. It was establi ...

on a six-month loan deal. Prior to his signing,

Jordan Harvey Jordan Harvey (born January 28, 1984) is an American former professional soccer player, currently serving as Assistant Technical at Major League Soccer club Los Angeles FC, with whom he finished his career as a player. Career Youth and college ...

was the only recognised left-back at

LAFC Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) is an American professional soccer club based in Los Angeles. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. It was established on October 30, 2014, and began play in the ...

. After the announcement of the signing, general manager John Thorrington said “Niko has a bright future ahead of him and we look forward to furthering his professional development at LAFC... I am confident he will prove to be a valuable addition to the group". He made his debut when he came off the bench in the 81st minute and made an assist in the 90+2 minute for the winner in a 2–1 win over

Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake (RSL) is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Fou ...

2019–20: Kilmarnock loan

Hämäläinen was loaned to

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, also known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Scotland and the highest level of the Scottish football league system. Th ...

club

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...

in August 2019. His decision to move to Scotland was influenced by compatriot

Glen Kamara Glen Adjei Kamara (born 28 October 1995) is a Finnish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Saudi Pro League club Al Shabab, on loan from Ligue 1 club Rennes, and the Finland national team. He began his senior career at Arsena ...

, who plays for

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

, and

Lee Wallace Lee Wallace (born 1 August 1987) is a Scottish former professional footballer. He represented the Scotland national team with 10 caps. Wallace started his career Heart of Midlothian, making his debut in 2005 at age seventeen, and joined Ran ...

, a teammate of Hämäläinen's at QPR, having joined from Rangers himself in June 2019. So far in 2019–20, Hämäläinen has been named in the Scottish Premiership team of the week twice.

2021: LA Galaxy (loan)

On 6 August 2021, Hämäläinen returned to

and joined

LA Galaxy The Los Angeles Galaxy are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The Gal ...

on loan through the end of the

2021 season 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 ...

2022: Botafogo FR (loan)

On 12 April 2022, Hämäläinen signed a loan contract for

Botafogo FR Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas (; ''Botafogo Football and Rowing'') is a Brazilian sports club based in the neighborhood of Botafogo, in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Although it competes in a number of different sports, Botafogo is mostly known ...

until July.

2023: RWDM (loan)

On 31 January 2023, Hämäläinen was loaned to RWDM in the Belgian second-tier

Challenger Pro League The Challenger Pro League, previously known as 1B Pro League is the second-highest division in the Football in Belgium, Belgian football Belgian football league system, league system, one level below the Belgian Pro League. It was created by the ...

. On 29 June 2023, Hämäläinen departed Queens Park Rangers following the mutual termination of his contract.

2023: HJK

On 24 July 2023, Hämäläinen signed a deal with HJK for the rest of the

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

season.

International career

Hämäläinen was eligible for the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

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, ...

, having been born and raised in the United States to a Finnish father. He originally played as a youth international for Finland. He made his senior debut for the

Finland national football team The Finland national football team (, ) represents Finland in men's international football competitions and is controlled by the Football Association of Finland, the governing body for football in Finland, which was founded in 1907. The team ...

on 11 January 2019 at

Khalifa International Stadium Khalifa International Stadium (, , ) is a multi-purpose stadium located in Doha, Qatar, around west from the centre of Doha. Its ground comprises a running track and a Pitch (sports field), grass pitch. Opened in 1976, the stadium was named af ...

Doha, Qatar Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It is also Qatar's ...

, in a friendly match against

. He played for 84 minutes until he was replaced by Juha Pirinen. On 30 August 2019, Hämäläinen accepted a call to the United States under-23s, his first call-up to the United States at any level. Hämäläinen made his competitive debut for Finland against the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

in the

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is an international European football competition played by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The competition was devised to minimise friendlies a ...

on 6 September 2020, thus tying him to the Finland national team. Hämäläinen was called up for the

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international men's association footb ...

pre-tournament friendly match against

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 ...

on 29 May 2021, and later for the tournament itself

Personal life

Hämäläinen was born and raised in the United States. He is of

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

and Finnish descent. He is the son of Timo Hämäläinen, who played for the Finnish football club Koparit in 1978–1982 in the

SM-sarja SM-Sarja was the top level of ice hockey in Finland from 1928 to 1975. SM-sarja is a common abbreviation for ''Suomen mestaruussarja'', "Finnish Championship Series". There was variable number of teams playing for the Finnish championship dur ...

before moving to the United States to work.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours and achievements

Individual

Football Association of Finland The Football Association of Finland (, SPL; ) is the governing body of football (soccer), football and futsal in Finland. It was founded in Helsinki on 19 May 1907. The SPL organises the Finland national football team, men's and Finland women's ...

Promising player of the year: 2015

Club

HJK *

References

External links

Queens Park Rangers F.C. official profile

Niko Hämäläinen
– SPL competition record * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hamalainen, Niko 1997 births Sportspeople from West Palm Beach, Florida Soccer players from Florida African-American soccer players American people of Finnish descent Finnish people of African-American descent 21st-century African-American sportsmen Living people Men's association football midfielders Finnish men's footballers 21st-century Finnish sportsmen Finland men's youth international footballers Finland men's under-21 international footballers Finland men's international footballers American men's soccer players FC Dallas players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Dagenham & Redbridge F.C. players Los Angeles FC players Kilmarnock F.C. players LA Galaxy players Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas players R.W.D. Molenbeek (2015) players Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi players Kuopion Palloseura players English Football League players Major League Soccer players Scottish Professional Football League players Veikkausliiga players UEFA Euro 2020 players Finnish expatriate men's footballers American expatriate men's soccer players Expatriate men's footballers in England Finnish expatriate sportspeople in England American expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Scotland American expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Expatriate men's footballers in Brazil American expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium American expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Belgium 21st-century American sportsmen