Sakari_Mattila

Sakari Mattila

Sakari Mattila

Finnish footballer (born 1989)

Sakari Mattila (born 14 July 1989) is a Finnish former professional footballer who played as a defender. Mattila was born in Tampere, but began his senior club career in Helsinki playing for Klubi-04, before making his league debut for HJK at age 18 in 2008.

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Mattila was the captain of the Finnish under-19 national team and made his international senior level debut for Finland in March 2014, at the age of 24 and has since appeared in 2016 UEFA European Championship qualifications and 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifications.

Early life

Mattila was born in Tampere, Finland, to a Finnish mother and Algerian father.[1]

Club career

HJK Helsinki

Before the season 2008, HJK was on a training camp in Marbella and Mattila was spotted by scouts of Sevilla FC and Málaga CF.[2] He was playing on schoolboy terms, but HJK managed to sign a three-year contract with him.[3]

In August 2008, Serie A club Palermo called him up for a week-long trial after scouting him in Helsinki.[4] Just a week after his visit to Palermo, Udinese Calcio called him up for a week-long trial.[5] Before leaving to Udine, Mattila stated that he is ready for a move to Italy.[6] In October, Iltasanomat told that Udinese had made an offer, but HJK rejected the first bid. The asking price was said to be around 700.000 euros.[7] After rumours about his move to Udinese, Mattila stated that he wants to make a career in Italy and was hoping for a move in the next transfer window.[8]

Udinese Calcio

In November 2008, he signed a 4.5-year contract with Udinese and joined the club in January 2009.[9] He played with the Primavera team and in July 2009 left on loan for Ascoli.

On 10 August 2010 he was loaned again. This time to AC Bellinzona, playing in the Swiss top level.[10]

On 29 July 2012, it was announced that Mattila had joined his former club, HJK, on loan until end of December 2013.[11]

Aalesunds FK

On 3 November 2013, it was announced that Mattila has signed a three-year contract with Aalesunds FK in Norway's Tippeligaen.[12]

Fulham FC

On 4 August 2015 Mattila signed for Fulham FC for an undisclosed fee.[13][14] On 8 August 2016 his contract was terminated by mutual consent.[15]

Sønderjyske Elitesport

Two days after he terminated his contract with Fulham FC, Matilla signed for SønderjyskE. He signed a three-year contract.[16] Mattila made his Superliga debut on 14 August 2016 in a match against Brøndby when on 64th minute he replaced Adama Guira as a substitute.[17]

Fredrikstad

On 29 July 2018, Mattila signed a contract with Fredrikstad.[18]

International career

He made his debut for the Finnish national team on 30 October 2013 in a friendly match in Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego against Mexico.[19] Mattila earned his second cap for Finland on 5 March 2014, in the 2:1 away win over Hungary in a friendly match after coming on as a last minute substitute for Roman Eremenko.[20] Mattila made his UEFA European Championship qualification match debut on 29 March 2015 on Windsor Park when Mixu Paatelainen chose him to the starting eleven for a match against Northern Ireland.[21]

Career statistics

Club

As of 7 July 2019[22][23]
More information Club, Season ...
  1. Appearances in the Europa League
  2. Appearances in the Champions League

International

As of 28 March 2017[24]
More information National team, Year ...

Honours and achievements

Club

HJK Helsinki

References

  1. [1]
    Virtanen, Ari (27 October 2018). "Veli huolehti karkailevasta pikkusiskostaan, joka saattoi löytyä pyjama päällä Rautatieasemalta – Maija Mattilasta tuli Suomen ensimmäinen Down-malli ja veli-Sakarista ammattijalkapalloilija". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). Retrieved 3 September 2023.
  2. [2]
    HJK-lupaus Sakari Mattila kiinnostaa espanjalaisseuroja – Urheilu – Ilta-Sanomat
  3. [3]
    HJK Helsinki – Uutisarkisto – Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi Archived 5 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  4. [4]
    Mattila Palermon testileirillä – Urheilu – Ilta-Sanomat
  5. [5]
    HJK Helsinki – Uutisarkisto – Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi
  6. [6]
    Urheilulehti – Uutisarkisto
  7. [7]
    Udinese teki tarjouksen HJK:n Sakari Mattilasta – Urheilu – Ilta-Sanomat
  8. [8]
    HJK:n Mattila toivoo uraa Italiassa – Futis – MTV3.fi
  9. [9]
    [dead link]
  10. [10]
    Sakari Mikael Mattila, comunicato stampa (in Italian)
  11. [11]
    HJK lainasi oman kasvattinsa pitkällä sopimuksella (HJK loans their own academy product); - Urheilu - Iltasanomat (in Finnish)
  12. [12]
    Finsk landslagsspiller klar for AaFK (Finnish National Team Player joins AaFK); - AaFK.no Archived 16 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine (in Norwegian)
  13. [13]
    "Fulham Sign Mattila". fulhamfc.com. Fulham F.C. 4 August 2015. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
  14. [14]
    "Mattila til Fulham FC". aafk.no (in Norwegian). Aalesunds FK. 4 August 2015. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
  15. [15]
    "Mattila departs". fulhamfc.com. Fulham F.C. 8 August 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  16. [16]
    "SønderjyskE henter stærk finne i England - SønderjyskE Elitesport A/S" (in Danish). 10 August 2016. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
  17. [17]
    "Brøndby IF – SønderjyskE" (in Danish). bold.dk. 14 August 2016. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
  18. [18]
    "Uuden seuran Norjasta löytänyt Sakari Mattila palaa viimein pelikentille – iloitsee kiinnostavasta ja kunnianhimoisesta projektista" [Sakari Mattila, who has found a new club in Norway, finally returns to the playing field - delighted with an interesting and ambitious project] (in Finnish). Helsingin Sanomat. 30 July 2018. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
  19. [19]
    "Mexico beats Finns, but not convincingly". The San Diego Union-Tribune. 30 October 2013. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
  20. [20]
    "Hungary vs. Finland 1:2". flashscore.com. Retrieved 12 March 2014.
  21. [21]
    "Huuhkajat jäi jalkoihin maalien edessä – "Karhuja vastassa"" [The Eagle Owls were run over in front of the goal - "We were facing bears"] (in Finnish). Yle. 29 March 2015. Retrieved 27 April 2019.
  22. [22]
    "Sakari Mattila". National Football Teams. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  23. [23]
    "S.Mattila". Soccerway. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  24. [24]
    Sakari Mattila at National-Football-Teams.com
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