Sakari Mattila

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.

Sakari Mattila
Sakari Mattila in 2007
Personal information
Full name Sakari Mikael Mattila
Date of birth (1989-07-14) 14 July 1989
Place of birth Tampere, Finland
Height 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)
Position(s) Centre back, Defensive midfielder
Youth career
Malminkartanon Peto
POHU
2001–2008 HJK Helsinki
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2007 Klubi 04 20 (1)
2008 HJK Helsinki 19 (4)
2009–2011 Udinese 0 (0)
2009–2010 → Ascoli (loan) 11 (0)
2010–2011 → Bellinzona (loan) 25 (1)
2011–2012 Bellinzona 17 (2)
2012 → HJK Helsinki (loan) 11 (0)
2013 HJK Helsinki 20 (5)
2014–2015 Aalesund 37 (8)
2015–2016 Fulham 6 (0)
2016–2018 SønderjyskE 18 (1)
2018–2019 Fredrikstad 5 (0)
2020–2022 HIFK 59 (6)
International career
2004 Finland U15 2 (0)
2005 Finland U16 1 (0)
2006 Finland U17 2 (1)
2007 Finland U18 14 (2)
2008 Finland U19 3 (0)
2008 Finland U20 2 (0)
2009–2010 Finland U21 9 (0)
2014–2017 Finland 16 (0)
Medal record
HJK Helsinki
First placeFinnish Cup2008
First placeVeikkausliiga2012
First placeVeikkausliiga2013
Bellinzona
Third placeSwiss Challenge League2012
Fredrikstad
Second place2. divisjon2018
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

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]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cups Europe Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Klubi 04 2007 Ykkönen 20100—201
HJK 2009 Veikkausliiga 19400—194
Udinese 2008–09 Serie A 0000—00
Ascoli 2009–10 Serie B 11010—120
Bellinzona 2010–11 Super League 25120—271
2011–12 Challenge League 17210—182
Total 42330—453
HJK 2012 Veikkausliiga 100001[lower-alpha 1]0110
2013 205002[lower-alpha 2]0225
Total 3050030335
Aalesund 2014 Eliteserien 25620—276
2015 12210—132
Total 37830—408
Fulham 2015–16 Championship 6030—90
SønderjyskE 2016–17 Superliga 181101[lower-alpha 1]0201
Fredrikstad 2018 2. divisjon 5000—50
2019 0000—00
Total 5000—50
Career total 188221104020322
  1. Appearances in the Europa League
  2. Appearances in the Champions League

International
As of 28 March 2017[24]
National teamYearCompetitive Friendly Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Finland 201300 1 0 1 0
201400 3 0 3 0
201550 1 0 6 0
201610 1 0 2 0
201710 3 0 4 0
Total 7 0 9 0 16 0

Honours and achievements

Club
HJK Helsinki

References
  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. HJK-lupaus Sakari Mattila kiinnostaa espanjalaisseuroja – Urheilu – Ilta-Sanomat
  3. HJK Helsinki – Uutisarkisto – Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi Archived 5 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Mattila Palermon testileirillä – Urheilu – Ilta-Sanomat
  5. HJK Helsinki – Uutisarkisto – Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi
  6. Urheilulehti – Uutisarkisto
  7. Udinese teki tarjouksen HJK:n Sakari Mattilasta – Urheilu – Ilta-Sanomat
  8. HJK:n Mattila toivoo uraa Italiassa – Futis – MTV3.fi
  9. http://www.iltasanomat.fi/urheilu/t/jalkapallo/1618164
  10. Sakari Mikael Mattila, comunicato stampa (in Italian)
  11. HJK lainasi oman kasvattinsa pitkällä sopimuksella (HJK loans their own academy product); - Urheilu - Iltasanomat (in Finnish)
  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. "Fulham Sign Mattila". fulhamfc.com. Fulham F.C. 4 August 2015. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
  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. "Mattila departs". fulhamfc.com. Fulham F.C. 8 August 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  16. "SønderjyskE henter stærk finne i England - SønderjyskE Elitesport A/S" (in Danish). 10 August 2016. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
  17. "Brøndby IF – SønderjyskE" (in Danish). bold.dk. 14 August 2016. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
  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. "Mexico beats Finns, but not convincingly". The San Diego Union-Tribune. 30 October 2013. Retrieved 13 November 2016.
  20. "Hungary vs. Finland 1:2". flashscore.com. Retrieved 12 March 2014.
  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. "Sakari Mattila". National Football Teams. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  23. "S.Mattila". Soccerway. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  24. Sakari Mattila at National-Football-Teams.com
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