The Best Footballers

Jari Olavi Litmanen (born February 20, 1971 in Lahti) is a Finnish footballer, widely considered the country’s greatest ever. He was chosen as the best Finnish player of the last 50 years by the Football Association of Finland in the UEFA Jubilee Awards in November 2003 . Litmanen also finished 42nd in the 100 Greatest Finns voting in 2004. In Finland he is called “Litti”, or sometimes even as “The King”.


Litmanen recently played for Malmö FF in the Swedish Allsvenskan, and is the captain of the Finnish national team. He has also represented Reipas, HJK, MyPa and FC Lahti in Finland as well as Ajax, Barcelona, Liverpool and Hansa Rostock abroad. Considered one of the best attacking midfielders, he became the first Finnish footballing superstar while playing for Ajax in the mid-1990s. Consistent injury troubles have plagued his career in later years.

Litmanen was born into a footballing family. His father, Olavi Litmanen, was also a Finnish international and a Reipas player. His mother also played for Reipas at the women’s highest level. Litmanen became a father in November 2005, when his girlfriend Ly Jürgenson gave birth to a son.

Litmanen made his first-team debut for Reipas in Finland’s top division Mestaruussarja at the age of 16 in 1987. After four seasons he moved to HJK Helsinki, Finland’s biggest club, in 1991. A year later he joined MyPa, where he was coached by Harri Kampman, who later became his agent. Litmanen won the Finnish Cup with MyPa before moving abroad in the summer of 1992.

Litmanen had been chased by a host of European clubs, but in the end it was Ajax Amsterdam who bought him. His first season in the Netherlands was spent in Dennis Bergkamp’s shadow, but when Bergkamp moved to Inter it was Litmanen who was given the famous number 10 shirt. He scored 26 goals in the 1993-94 season, becoming the league’s top scorer, and leading Ajax to the title.

He was one of the star players of Louis van Gaal’s team that reached the UEFA Champions League final twice in a row. Litmanen became the first ever Finnish player to have won the European Cup when Ajax beat AC Milan in the 1994-95 final. In 1995-96 Litmanen was the Champions League top scorer with nine goals, including the equaliser in the final against Juventus, which Ajax lost on penalties 4-2. He also won the Intercontinental Cup against Grêmio in 1995, and came third in the voting for the Ballon d’Or, having finished eighth the previous year.

Litmanen spent seven years in Amsterdam, winning four Dutch championships and three Dutch Cups. He is the club’s top scorer in European competition with 24 goals in 44 matches. Litmanen is one of the three players presented in a special video featurette at the Ajax Museum. The other two players are Marco van Basten and Johan Cruyff.

In 1999 Litmanen was re-united with his old boss van Gaal at FC Barcelona. His stint with the club was, however, largely plagued by injuries, and when van Gaal was replaced by Llorenç Serra Ferrer, his chances of playing became even smaller. In the end, Litmanen moved to Liverpool on a free transfer in January 2001.

Litmanen was hailed as “one of the most exciting signings Liverpool have ever made” by the manager Gérard Houllier upon signing for the club he had supported as a boy. But, once again, injuries meant that Litmanen was given little playing time. He did score goals against Tottenham Hotspur and Bayer Leverkusen and scored a penalty in Liverpool’s victory over AS Roma in the Champions League. He was part of the Liverpool team that won the “cup treble” of the Worthington Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup in 2001, even though he missed all three finals because of injury. Litmanen was again given permission to move clubs for free after the 2001-02 season.

Litmanen decided to return to Ajax, and was given a hero’s welcome with the crowd once again singing his name. He was one of the key players as Ajax reached the quarter-finals of the 2002-03 Champions League. Much of the 2003-04 season, though, was once again spent on the sidelines, and once again, in the spring of 2004, Litmanen was released.

Litmanen’s return to Finland was much hyped, and was hailed as “the return of the king”. Litmanen moved to German Bundesliga strugglers Hansa Rostock in January 2005 to help save them from relegation. At Rostock he had the longest run of first-team football in recent memory. In the end, though, Hansa were relegated, which ended Litmanen’s stint at the club.

Litmanen joined Malmö FF in July 2005 in a bid to help the Swedes to qualify for the Champions league. This bid, however, failed, and Litmanen himself was injured during the whole of the autumn, only making a few appearances. He decided to continue his career with Malmö in the 2006 season, which saw Litmanen continue to be sidelined with a number of injuries for much of the season. However, the matches he did play showed he remains a brilliant player when healthy. After an operation to repair a damaged ankle during the winter break, Malmö FF and Litmanen decided to extend his contract over the 2007 season.

<p style=”overflow: hidden; width: 1px; height: 1px”>jari iltmanen, jjari litmanen, jari litnanen, jari lifmanen, jari litmann, jari litmanej, jari litmanem, jari litmqnen, jari litmane, jari litanen, jari litmaneb, jari litamnen, jari oitmanen, jari litmaneh, jadi litmanen, jari litmajen, jari litmaben, jari litmwnen, jari litmznen, jari litmamen, jafi litmanen, jari lotmanen, jari llitmanen, kari litmanen, jari kitmanen, jwri litmanen, jari litmaneen, jari litmnaen, jarilitmanen, ari litmanen, jar ilitmanen, jari litmahen, jari pitmanen, jaari litmanen, ajri litmanen, jai litmanen, jari litjanen, jari lktmanen, jari itmanen, jari litmandn, jari ltmanen, jari ligmanen, mari litmanen, jari litmansn, jair litmanen, jari litkanen, jri litmanen, nari litmanen, jar litmanen, jari litmannen, jari littmanen, jari litmanwn, jari litmnen, jari lirmanen, jarii litmanen, jaril itmanen, jari litmanrn, jaru litmanen, jari limanen, hari litmanen, jzri litmanen, jari ltimanen, jsri litmanen, jari litmaen, jari litmsnen, jari lutmanen, jari ljtmanen, jari litmaenn, jaei litmanen, jarri litmanen, iari litmanen, jarj litmanen, jari litmmanen, jati litmanen, jrai litmanen, jark litmanen, jari liitmanen, jqri litmanen, uari litmanen, jari litmanenn, jari litmaanen, jari  litmanen, jari litmanne, jaro litmanen, jari liymanen, jari limtanen</p>

Popularity: 14% [?]

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 10th, 2007 at 8:45 am and is filed under Finland. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.