Tero Penttilä (born 9 March 1975) is a former professional football player who played 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 ...

in defence.

Club career

Penttilä began football career at Reipas Lahti, before moving to arch rivals FC Kuusysi in 1994. By 1997, the two sides had merged and become

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 ...

. Penttilä continued to play for the side until 1999, when he moved to

Haka Valkeakoski FC Haka, originally ''Valkeakosken Haka'', commonly known as Haka, is a Finnish professional football club based in the industrial town of Valkeakoski. The club was founded in 1934 and competes in Finland's premier division, the Veikkausliiga. ...

, where he won his first

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 ...

title. It was at Haka that the then

manager

Dick Advocaat Dirk Nicolaas "Dick" Advocaat (; born 27 September 1947) is a Dutch former association football, football player and coach. He is currently the manager of the Curaçao national football team. Advocaat was successful as a football player and as a ...

noticed him during a

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

qualifier. Penttilä joined the Gers in November 1999, he cost £300,000. He made a total of five top team appearances (four in the league) over three seasons and left

on 16 May 2002. He made 4 of his 5 appearances in the 1999/2000 season, but didn't make his 5th and final appearance until the 2001/02 season when he came on as a substitute against Kilmarnock. He returned to

, with

HJK Helsinki Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi (), commonly known as HJK Helsinki (), or simply as HJK (), is a Finnish football club based in Helsinki. The club competes in Veikkausliiga, the top division of the Finnish football league system. Founded in 1907, the ...

a month later. Penttilä was named team captain and won 2002 & 2003 league titles with the club. He retired in 2005 due to a knee injury and went on to study medicine.

International career

Penttila won five caps for

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, ...

Post-playing career

As of 2022, Penttilä is a cardiologist at

Tampere University Hospital Tampere University Hospital (, ) is a teaching hospital of Tampere University along Teiskontie at the Kauppi (district), Kauppi district in Tampere, Finland. It serves as one of the main hospitals in the country and operates in the facilities of C ...

Career statistics

Honours

Haka *

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

HJK *Veikkausliiga:

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Penttila, Tero 1975 births Living people People from Suomussalmi Footballers from Oulu Finnish men's footballers Finland men's international footballers Men's association football defenders FC Haka players Rangers F.C. players Scottish Premier League players Finnish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Veikkausliiga players Ykkönen players