Mika Lehkosuo
![]() Lehkosua as HJK coach | |||
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Date of birth | 8 January 1970 | ||
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 | → FF 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 | FC Honka (Assistant) | ||
2005–2014 | FC 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
[edit]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
[edit]Lehkosuo played 17 matches for the Finnish national team and scored one goal.
Managerial career
[edit]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 club Kongsvinger in December 2019. [4] He was sacked in September 2020 after Kongsvinger picked up only 13 points from 18 games.[5]
Personal life
[edit]Lehkosuo graduated as a Master of Science in Technology from Helsinki University of Technology in 2003.
Honours
[edit]As a player
[edit]HJK[6]
- Veikkausliiga: 1997, 2002
- Finnish Cup: 1996, 1998, 2000
- Finnish League Cup: 1996, 1997, 1998
Individual
- HJK Hall of Fame Inductee[6]
As a manager
[edit]FC Honka[6]
HJK[6]
Individual
- Veikkausliiga Coach of the Month: October 2011,[7] May 2013,[8] June 2013,[9] May 2014,[10] September 2014,[11] May 2016,[12] April 2017,[13] June 2017[14]
- Veikkausliiga Coach of the Year: 2014, 2017[15]
References
[edit]- ^ "When footballers on loan score against their own clubs". The Guardian. 14 December 2016. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
- ^ a b c "Lehkosuo taking HJK back to the brink". UEFA. 5 August 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
- ^ Nyt HJK:n erotettu päävalmentaja Mika Lehkosuo kommentoi potkujaan – tunteikas viesti faneille, iltalehti.fi, 22 May 2019
- ^ [1], is.fi, 18 December 2019
- ^ [2], yle.fi, 30 September 2020
- ^ a b c d "HJK Hall of Fame: Mika Lehkosuo". HJK (in Finnish). 13 December 2015. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
- ^ HJK:n Akseli Pelvas lokakuun pelaaja Archived 14 September 2012 at archive.today (in Finnish)
- ^ Toukokuun parhaat julkistettu Archived 1 November 2013 at the Wayback Machine (in Finnish)
- ^ Tim Väyrynen kesäkuun kuukauden pelaaja Archived 29 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine (in Finnish)
- ^ Rasmus Schüller Veikkausliigan toukokuun pelaaja Archived 4 June 2014 at the Wayback Machine (in Finnish)
- ^ HJK:n Erfan Zeneli Veikkausliigan syyskuun kuukauden pelaaja Archived 4 October 2014 at archive.today (in Finnish)
- ^ Taye Taiwo valittiin kuukauden pelaajaksi (in Finnish)
- ^ Veikkausliigan kuukauden parhaat valittu (in Finnish)
- ^ [3] (in Finnish)
- ^ Is, Stt- (3 November 2017). "Filip Valencic on Veikkausliigan kauden paras pelaaja". Ilta-Sanomat (in Finnish). Retrieved 2 January 2023.
- https://web.archive.org/web/20110720194121/http://www.urheiluarkisto.fi/portals/44/veikkausliiga20v/pelaajat/lehkosuo.htm
- https://archive.today/20100514124031/http://www.fchonka.fi/joukkue/group/10b6b4d8fec511dba79a4d356af4849a849a/4d09c21e15ad11dc9ab4f92f934831e431e4/
- 1970 births
- Living people
- Finnish men's footballers
- Finnish expatriate men's footballers
- Finland men's international footballers
- Finnish football managers
- Men's association football midfielders
- Veikkausliiga players
- Serie A players
- Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi players
- FC Honka managers
- Klubi 04 players
- AC Perugia Calcio players
- Expatriate men's footballers in Italy
- Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Italy
- Veikkausliiga managers
- Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi managers
- Finnish expatriate football managers
- Expatriate football managers in Norway
- Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Norway
- Kongsvinger IL Toppfotball managers
- Footballers from Helsinki