Otso Virtanen

Otso Virtanen (born 3 April 1994) is a Finnish footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Ilves.

Otso Virtanen
Virtanen playing for Finland U-21s in November 2015
Personal information
Date of birth (1994-04-03) 3 April 1994
Place of birth Turku, Finland
Height 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in)
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team
 Ilves
Number 1
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2011 ÅIFK 2 (0)
2011 TPS 1 (0)
2012 ÅIFK 18 (0)
2013–2016 IFK Mariehamn 65 (0)
2016–2017 Hibernian 0 (0)
2017–2022 KuPS 115 (0)
2023– Ilves 23 (0)
International career‡
2014–2016 Finland U21 13 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 15 September 2023 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 14:33, 5 April 2016 (UTC)

Virtanen started his professional career in 2011 at TPS, appearing primarily for their reserve team ÅIFK. Before the 2013 season, he moved to IFK Mariehamn and appeared in 22 matches. In 2014, he served primarily as the backup for Swedish goalkeeper Simon Nurme.[1]

Virtanen signed a three-and-a-half year contract with Scottish club Hibernian on 24 January 2016.[2] Virtanen was an unused substitute as Hibs lost the 2015–16 Scottish League Cup final to Ross County.[3] He made his first appearance for Hibs in a 2015–16 Scottish Cup tie against Inverness, coming on as a substitute after regular goalkeeper Mark Oxley lost a contact lens.[4][5] Oxley was shown a yellow card by the referee during this incident, which caused him to be suspended for the Scottish Cup semi-final.[5] Hibs manager Alan Stubbs then signed Conrad Logan as an alternative goalkeeper,[6] and chose to play Logan in the semi-final ahead of Virtanen.[7]

Virtanen made one starting appearance for Hibs, playing in a 2016–17 UEFA Europa League qualifying first leg match against Brondby.[4] He was at fault for the Brondby goal in that match and was replaced for the second leg by Ross Laidlaw.[8] Virtanen left Hibs in January 2017 and signed for Finnish club KuPS.[4]

In May 2014, Virtanen was selected for the Finland national under-21 team for the match against Moldova.[9]

Honours
Hibernian
Kuopion Palloseura
Ilves Tampere
IFK Mariehamn

References
  1. "VIRTANEN Otso" (in Finnish). Veikkausliiga.com. Archived from the original on 21 May 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
  2. "Hibernian: Finnish goalkeeper Otso Virtanen signed". BBC Sport. BBC. 24 January 2016. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
  3. Wilson, Richard (13 March 2016). "Scottish League Cup Final: Hibernian 1 Ross County 2". BBC Sport. BBC. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
  4. "Goalkeeper Otso Virtanen leaves Hibs to return to Finland". Edinburgh Evening News. 15 January 2017. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
  5. "Inverness 1-2 Hibs: Stubbs frustrated by Oxley suspension". BBC Sport. BBC. 16 March 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
  6. "Hibernian sign former Leicester City goalkeeper Conrad Logan". BBC Sport. BBC. 31 March 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
  7. "Conrad Logan: Hibs keeper 'buzzing' after 'perfect' debut". BBC Sport. BBC. 16 April 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
  8. Lamont, Alasdair (24 July 2016). "Ross Laidlaw surprise at Hibs bow against Brondby in Europa League". BBC Sport. BBC. Retrieved 15 January 2017.
  9. "Pikkuhuuhkajat nimetty Moldova-otteluun" (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 12 May 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2014.


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