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Mika Lehkosuo

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Mika Lehkosuo
Lehkosuo as HJK coach in 2017
Personal information
Date of birth (1970-01-08) 8 January 1970 (age 54)
Place of birth Helsinki, Finland
Height 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1990–1993 Vantaan Pallo-70 48 (9)
1993–2002 HJK 189 (26)
1994 → Jaro (loan) 1 (0)
1998–1999 → Perugia (loan) 11 (0)
2004 Klubi 04 1 (0)
Total 250 (35)
International career
1997–2000 Finland 17 (1)
Managerial career
HJK (youth)
2005 Honka (assistant)
2005–2014 Honka
2013–2015 Finland (assistant)
2014–2019 HJK
2019–2020 Kongsvinger
2023– Finland U21
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Mika Lehkosuo, nicknamed "Bana", (born 8 January 1970) is a Finnish football manager and former player who works as a coach for Finland U21 national team.

Playing career

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A midfielder, Lehkosuo played most of his career at HJK Helsinki. He was not a very prominent youth player and made his top division debut in 1993 after spending three years with lower division club Vantaan Pallo. He did not make his breakthrough into the HJK senior squad until 1995, when he made 24 league appearances and scored one goal. In the previous season he had even played one league match for FF Jaro.

In the following seasons Lehkosuo received more and more responsibilities and became one of the best midfielders in the Veikkausliiga. In the end of the 1990s he formed the successful midfield trio with Aki Riihilahti and Jarkko Wiss with whom he won the league title in 1997 and worked their way to the group stage of UEFA Champions League in the next season.

A sponsorship deal with a local radio station meant that Lehkuosuo wore the unusual shirt number 96.2 for a period at HJK Helsinki. This deal ended when he was forbidden to wear the number in UEFA Champions League matches.[1] Lehkuosuo captained HJK in the group stage of the Champions League that season, helping HJK become the first ever Finnish team to earn that distinction.[2]

In the winter of 1998 Lehkosuo was signed on loan by Italian Serie A side Perugia.[2] He only played eleven games in Italy and returned to HJK for the next Veikkausliiga season.[2] In 1999 and 2000 Lehkosuo was made the captain of the HJK squad and he played in a more attacking role. However, in August 2000 Lehkosuo injured his knee ligament. The knee didn't fully recover and Lehkosuo was forced to end his playing career in 2002 after playing 190 matches in Veikkausliiga, of which he played 189 for HJK.

International career

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Lehkosuo played 17 matches for the Finnish national team and scored one goal.

Managerial career

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Lehkosuo started his managerial career with HJK youth teams quickly after retiring as a player. In 2005, he was appointed as assistant manager of Ville Lyytikäinen of Ykkönen (the second tier) side FC Honka. After Lyytikäinen was sacked, Lehkosuo became head coach. He guided the team to the top place of Ykkönen. In the first season in the Veikkausliiga Lehkosuo guided his team to a fourth-place finish. In 2007 Honka was again fourth. In 2008 Lehkosuo guided Honka to second place and to the UEFA Cup qualifications for the next season. In 2009 Honka was again second in the league table. Lehkosuo managed Honka until February 2014.

On 29 April 2014, Lehkosuo was appointed as the manager of HJK after Sixten Boström was sacked. He led HJK into the Europa League group stages in 2014 with a 5–4 aggregate victory over Rapid Wien in the play-off round. After winning three Veikkausliiga titles and two Finnish Cups, he left the club in May 2019.[3]

Lehkosuo was appointed head coach of Norwegian 1. divisjon club Kongsvinger in December 2019. [4] He was dismissed in September 2020 after Kongsvinger picked up only 13 points from 18 games.[5] However, he continued with the club as a scout and the development director.

In January 2023, Lehkosuo started as a head coach of the Finland under-21 national team. He led the team to qualify for the 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship final tournament, for the second time in the nation's history, after finishing 2nd in the Group E and defeating Norway in the play-offs 6–3 on aggregate.

Personal life

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Lehkosuo graduated as a Master of Science in Technology from Helsinki University of Technology in 2003.

Career statistics

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Club

[edit]
As of 1 September 2024[6]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Cup Europe Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Vantaan Pallo 1990 Ykkönen 3 0 – – 3 0
1991 Kakkonen 1 0 – – 1 0
1992 Ykkönen 19 4 – – 19 4
Total 23 4 0 0 0 0 23 4
HJK 1993 Veikkausliiga 17 1 – 2[a] 0 19 1
1994 Veikkausliiga 7 0 – 3[b] 0 10 0
1995 Veikkausliiga 24 1 – – 24 1
1996 Veikkausliiga 26 3 1 0 4[c] 1 31 4
1997 Veikkausliiga 22 3 – 2[b] 0 24 3
1998 Veikkausliiga 22 5 1 1 10[a] 4 33 10
1999 Veikkausliiga 22 2 – 4[c] 1 26 3
2000 Veikkausliiga 21 6 – 1[c] 0 22 6
2001 Veikkausliiga 10 3 – 2[c] 0 12 3
2002 Veikkausliiga 18 2 – 1[c] 0 19 2
Total 189 26 2 1 29 6 220 33
Jaro (loan) 1994 Veikkausliiga 1 0 – – 1 0
Perugia (loan) 1998–99 Serie A 11 0 – – 11 0
Career total 224 30 2 1 29 6 255 37
  1. ^ a b Appearances in UEFA Champions League
  2. ^ a b Appearances in UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
  3. ^ a b c d e Appearances in UEFA Cup

International

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As of match played 26 April 2000
Finland
Year Apps Goals
1997 3 0
1998 0 0
1999 6 1
2000 8 0
Total 17 1


Managerial statistics

[edit]
As of match played 19 November 2024
Managerial record by team and tenure
Team Nat From To Record
P W D L GF GA GD W%
Honka Finland 30 May 2005 14 February 2014 360 182 93 85 659 407 +252 050.56
HJK Finland 29 April 2014 22 May 2019 249 143 64 42 460 228 +232 057.43
Kongsvinger Norway 1 January 2020 29 September 2020 18 3 4 11 19 36 −17 016.67
Finland U21 national team Finland 1 January 2023 present 20 9 4 7 35 21 +14 045.00
Total 641 332 164 145 1,167 702 +465 051.79

Honours

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As a player

[edit]

HJK[7]

Individual

  • HJK Hall of Fame Inductee[7]

As a manager

[edit]

FC Honka[7]

HJK[7]

Individual

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "When footballers on loan score against their own clubs". The Guardian. 14 December 2016. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
  2. ^ a b c "Lehkosuo taking HJK back to the brink". UEFA. 5 August 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
  3. ^ Nyt HJK:n erotettu päävalmentaja Mika Lehkosuo kommentoi potkujaan – tunteikas viesti faneille, iltalehti.fi, 22 May 2019
  4. ^ [1], is.fi, 18 December 2019
  5. ^ [2], yle.fi, 30 September 2020
  6. ^ Mika Lehkosuo, National-Football-Teams
  7. ^ a b c d "HJK Hall of Fame: Mika Lehkosuo". HJK (in Finnish). 13 December 2015. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
  8. ^ HJK:n Akseli Pelvas lokakuun pelaaja Archived 14 September 2012 at archive.today (in Finnish)
  9. ^ Toukokuun parhaat julkistettu Archived 1 November 2013 at the Wayback Machine (in Finnish)
  10. ^ Tim Väyrynen kesäkuun kuukauden pelaaja Archived 29 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine (in Finnish)
  11. ^ Rasmus Schüller Veikkausliigan toukokuun pelaaja Archived 4 June 2014 at the Wayback Machine (in Finnish)
  12. ^ HJK:n Erfan Zeneli Veikkausliigan syyskuun kuukauden pelaaja Archived 4 October 2014 at archive.today (in Finnish)
  13. ^ Taye Taiwo valittiin kuukauden pelaajaksi (in Finnish)
  14. ^ Veikkausliigan kuukauden parhaat valittu (in Finnish)
  15. ^ [3] (in Finnish)
  16. ^ Is, Stt- (3 November 2017). "Filip Valencic on Veikkausliigan kauden paras pelaaja". Ilta-Sanomat (in Finnish). Retrieved 2 January 2023.
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