William Albert Jääskeläinen (born 25 July 1998) is a 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

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

for club

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in north-west Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'', and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settleme ...

. Born in England, he has represented

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, ...

at youth international level.

Club career

Bolton Wanderers

Prior to joining the Bolton Wanderers academy, Jääskeläinen started out at Bromley Cross Sharks. He turned professional with

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

at the start of the 2015–16 season. Shortly after, Jääskeläinen was given a number fifty shirt. After being released by the club, he had a trial in August 2017 at VPS in his father's native Finland. On 24 July he signed for Leek Town

Crewe Alexandra

A month later, he signed for

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, England. Its first team competes in League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' ...

. During the 2017–18 season, Jääskeläinen went on loan to

Loughborough Dynamo Loughborough Dynamo Football Club is a community interest football club based in Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Nanpantan Sports Ground. History The club was established in 1955 by pup ...

, Nantwich Town,

Buxton Buxton is a spa town in the High Peak, Derbyshire, Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, in the East Midlands region of England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level.Alston, Cumbria also claims this, but lacks a regu ...

, and

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

. Jääskeläinen signed a new three-year contract with Crewe in May 2018, but spent much of the 2018–19 season on loan again at Nantwich Town, though a loan extension to the end of the season was cut short when Crewe recalled him on 20 March 2019. He made his first team debut for Crewe Alexandra on 19 April 2019, keeping a clean sheet, in a 2–0 win over

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil, a town in Somerset, England, with a council named Yeovil Town * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town W.F.C., an English women's football team affiliated with Yeovil T ...

at Gresty Road. In June 2020, Jääskeläinen signed a new two-year deal with Crewe. Following relegation to League Two, Jääskeläinen was released by the club at the end of the 2021–22 season. Both the club and Jääskeläinen felt that he needed a "fresh challenge".

AFC Wimbledon

He signed for

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional association football club based in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton, London. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in ...

in September 2022, on a one-month contract, as cover for the injured

Nathan Broome Nathan Lee Broome (born 3 January 2002) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Bolton Wanderers. Broome spent time in the academies of Manchester City and Stoke City. He played on loan at Mickleover Sports and was c ...

. He made his debut for the club in the

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Motors, Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English association football, football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and ...

victory over

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1896 as Crawley Foo ...

and then extended his contract until January 2023. He was released upon the expiry of his contract on 13 January 2023.

Woking

On 4 February 2023, Jääskeläinen signed for

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

club

. After 14 appearances for the Cardinals, he was offered a new contract in May 2023, signing a one-year deal.

International career

Jääskeläinen is eligible to play for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, his birthplace, and

, through his parents. Jääskeläinen made his debut in international football on 25 August 2015 at the age 17 when he was called to represent Finland under-18s in a match against Montenegro under-18s. Jääskeläinen has also represented Finland at under-19 youth level. In August 2019, he was called up by Finland Under-21s for two UEFA Euro U21 qualifiers. He was called up again by the under-21s in November 2019.

Personal life

Jääskeläinen is the son of former

and

goalkeeper

Jussi Jääskeläinen Jussi Albert Jääskeläinen (; born 19 April 1975) is a Finnish professional football coach and a former Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. He is currently working as a goalkeeping c ...

, the oldest of three brothers. His younger brother Emil signed his first professional contract with

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

in 2019. Jääskeläinen was educated at Bolton School Boys' Division. Growing up, Jaaskelainen and his brothers were raised bilingually, speaking Finnish at home and English with their friends.

Career statistics

Honours

Crewe Alexandra *

EFL League Two The English Football League Two, simply known as League Two and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Betting & Gaming, Sky Bet League Two, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League Two is the fourth division of the English ...

runner-up: 2019–20 Individual *

Breakthrough Player of the Year: 2019–20

External links

* *
Crewe Alexandra official profile

William Jääskeläinen
– SPL competition record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jaaskelainen, Will 1998 births Living people Finnish men's footballers 21st-century Finnish sportsmen Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Leek Town F.C. players Crewe Alexandra F.C. players Loughborough Dynamo F.C. players Nantwich Town F.C. players Buxton F.C. players Chester F.C. players AFC Wimbledon players Woking F.C. players Northern Premier League players English Football League players National League (English football) players Men's association football goalkeepers Finland men's youth international footballers Footballers from Bolton People educated at Bolton School English men's footballers English people of Finnish descent