Sauli Väisänen (born 5 June 1994) is a Finnish professional footballer who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for Veikkausliiga club Ilves. He began his senior club career playing for Honka, before signing with AIK at age 20 in 2014. Väisänen made his international debut for Finland in October 2016, at the age of 22. He appeared in 5 out of 10 of Finland's UEFA Euro 2020 qualification matches and helped Finland national team for the first time to reach the European Football Championship tournament's group stage.

Club career

Honka

Väisänen made his first team debut during season 2013, in a match against KuPS. He was known as a crucial part of the Honka reserve team Pallohonka.

AIK

In summer 2014 Väisänen joined AIK. He spent 4 seasons in the club. During season 2015 he was loaned to HIFK.

SPAL and loan to Crotone

Väisänen made his Seria A debut on 20 August 2017 in a match against

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 ...

. He was loaned to Crotone for season 2018–19.

Chievo

On 24 August 2019, Väisänen signed a deal with

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

club Chievo. He made his debut in Chievo in a 1–1 home tie with Empoli on 30 August 2019.

Cosenza

On 16 August 2021, he joined

Cosenza Cosenza (; Languages of Calabria#Northern Calabrian (Cosentian), Cosentian: ''Cusenza'', ) is a city located in Calabria, Italy. The city centre has a population of approximately 70,000, while the urban area counts more than 200,000 inhabitants. ...

. He made his debut on 22 August 2021 playing full 90 minutes in a match against Ascoli.

Odense Boldklub

On 20 June 2023, Väisänen joined

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga (, ) is a professional association football league in Denmark and the highest level of the Danish football league system. The league is currently contested by 12 teams each year, with 2 teams relegated. It is the current ...

club OB, signing a deal until June 2026.

Ascoli (loan)

On 18 January 2024, Väisänen returned to Italy when he was loaned out to

side Ascoli. On August 29, 2024, after his loan spell in Ascoli, OB confirmed that they had terminated Väisänen's contract by mutual agreement, despite the fact that he originally had a contract until June 2026.

Ilves

In late December 2024, Väisänen returned to Finland and signed a two-year deal with Veikkausliiga club Ilves.

International career

Finland youth teams

Väisänen made his debut in international football on 5 March 2014 at the age of 19 when he was called to represent Finland U21 in a match against San Marino U21. During the years 2014-2016 Väisänen was a part of the Finnish national youth squad, which he also captained on occasion.

Finland first team

Väisänen made his

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

qualification match debut on 6 October 2016 on Laugardalsvöllur when Hans Backe chose him to the starting eleven for a match against

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

. Väisänen was called up for the UEFA Euro 2020 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. He was nominated to the Finland national team for the UEFA Euro 2020 tournament but had to withdraw due to an injury and was replaced by Niko Hämäläinen.

Personal life

Väisänen's mother Anna-Liisa Tilus-Väisänen is a prominent television presenter for Yle TV1 and Miss World 1984 semi-finalist. His younger brother Leo Väisänen is also a footballer.

Career statistics

Club

International

Notes

References

Profile at veikkausliiga.com

External links

Cosenza Calcio official profile

Sauli Väisänen
– SPL competition record * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vaisanen, Sauli 1994 births Living people Footballers from Helsinki Men's association football defenders 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 FC Jokerit players AC Allianssi players PK-35 (men) players Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi players FC Honka players Pallohonka players AIK Fotboll players HIFK Fotboll players SPAL players FC Crotone players AC ChievoVerona players Cosenza Calcio players Odense Boldklub players Ascoli Calcio 1898 FC players Ilves (football) players Veikkausliiga players Kakkonen players Allsvenskan players Serie A players Serie B players Finnish expatriate men's footballers Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Danish Superliga players