 Litmanen in 2015 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Jari Olavi Litmanen | ||
| Date of birth | (1971-02-20)20 February 1971 (age 54)[1] | ||
| Place of birth | Lahti, Finland | ||
| Height | 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)[2] | ||
| Position(s) | Attacking midfielder Second striker | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1977–1987 | Reipas | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1987–1990 | Reipas | 86 | (28) |
| 1991 | HJK | 27 | (16) |
| 1992 | MyPa | 18 | (7) |
| 1992–1999 | Ajax | 159 | (91) |
| 1999–2001 | Barcelona | 21 | (3) |
| 2001–2002 | Liverpool | 26 | (5) |
| 2002–2004 | Ajax | 20 | (5) |
| 2004 | Lahti | 11 | (3) |
| 2005 | Hansa Rostock | 13 | (1) |
| 2005–2007 | Malmö FF | 10 | (3) |
| 2008 | Fulham | 0 | (0) |
| 2008–2010 | Lahti | 40 | (10) |
| 2011 | HJK | 18 | (1) |
| Total | 449 | (173) | |
| International career | |||
| 1989–2010 | Finland | 137 | (32) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Jari Olavi Litmanen (pronounced[ˈjɑriˈlitmɑnen]ⓘ; born 20 February 1971) is a Finnish former professionalfootballer who played as anattacking midfielder or asecond striker. He was the first-choicecaptain of theFinland national team between 1996 and 2008 in an international career that ran from 1989 to 2010. Litmanen is widely considered to be Finland's greatest football player of all time.[3] He was chosen as the best Finnish player of the last 50 years by theFootball Association of Finland in theUEFA Jubilee Awards in November 2003. He also finished 42nd in the100 Greatest Finns voting in 2004. The Association of Football Statisticians' (The AFS) compendium of 'Greatest Ever Footballers' listed Litmanen as the 53rd best footballer ever.[4]
In Finland, he is often called "Litti" (after his own surname), which dates from his early years, and is also known as "Kuningas" ("The King").
During his club career, Litmanen representedReipas,HJK,MyPa andLahti in Finland, andAjax,Barcelona,Liverpool,Hansa Rostock andMalmö FF abroad. Once considered one of the bestattacking midfielders in the world,[5] he became the first Finnish footballing superstar while playing for Ajax in the mid-1990s, winning theChampions League in 1995, the peak year of his career.
His later career was marred by injuries, and he was unable to repeat the success of his Ajax years either at Barcelona or Liverpool, often finding himself on the bench, despite some impressive performances for the latter. Writing about Litmanen in 2009, Paul Simpson, formerFourFourTwo editor, went as far as to assert that "his career has not been worthy of his talent".[6]
In 2025, when Ajax was celebrating its 125th anniversary, the fans of the club voted Litmanen among the best 11 players in the club's entire history. He was also named the best midfielder of Ajax, per voting.[7]
Litmanen made his first-team debut forReipas in Finland's then top divisionMestaruussarja at the age of 16 in 1987. After four seasons with Reipas, he moved toHJK, Finland's biggest club, in 1991. A year later, he joinedMyPa, where he was coached byHarri Kampman, who later introduced him to his agent, the late Heikki Marttinen. Litmanen did not win any medals in the Finnish league, but he did win theFinnish Cup with MyPa in July 1992 in a 2–0 win overFF Jaro in the final at theHelsinki Olympic Stadium. His performance in the cup final, including a goal, convinced a scout ofAjax that the club should sign him. "For me, he was the player," the scout later told Finnish television. His transfer took place during the same summer, and he did not complete the Finnish football season with MyPa.
Louis Van Gaal, the manager of Ajax at the time, later stated that Ajax paid a transfer fee of only £10,000 for Litmanen.[8] However, the original fax document was later revealed in Finnish media, according to which the transfer fee was 100,000 + 800,000Dutch guilder, which corresponds roughly to €550,000.[9]
Before his move to Ajax, Litmanen had failed to earn a contract with the Romanian clubDinamo București. A number of European clubs, includingBarcelona,Leeds United andPSV,[10] had shown an interest in him, but in the end it was Ajax that bought him.
David Endt, who was Ajax team manager in the 1990s, described his first impression of Litmanen to the Finnish broadcasting corporationYLE in 2010:[11]
The press conference is over, and in comes Jari Litmanen, from behind the door. And I looked at his face and I looked at his eyes, and I recognised something in those eyes. And I thought, this is a man with a great willpower. Because he was not shy, not timid, but he was modest. He is not a man who will raise his voice, or bang with his fist on the table and say, 'We do it this way'. No, he was more of a diplomat, not wanting to be a leader, but being a leader. … He wanted to know everything about football, he was interested in every part of the game, and this gave him the nickname, within the team, we called him the 'Professor', because you could ask anything about football, and he would know the answer.
During 1992–93, his first season at Ajax, he played mostly in the reserves. Then Ajax managerLouis van Gaal was apparently not overly impressed with him, but the team physiotherapist suggested using him as a stand-in forDennis Bergkamp, who was injured at the time. Van Gaal liked what he saw, and knowing that Bergkamp was about to leave forInter, he announced that Litmanen would be Bergkamp's successor, something that people in Litmanen's native Finland found difficult to believe.[11] This turned out to be true, however, and he inherited from Bergkamp the famousnumber 10 shirt, which is often given toplaymakers. He went on to score 26 goals in the 1993–94 season, becoming the league's top scorer, and leading Ajax to the title. He was also votedFootballer of the Year in the Netherlands in 1993.
Litmanen was one of the star players of Van Gaal's team that won three consecutiveDutch championships and reached theUEFA Champions League final twice in a row. From the beginning of the 1994–95 season to the middle of the 1995–96 season, Ajax went undefeated in both theEredivisie (a run of 52 games) and the Champions League (19 games). When Ajax beatMilan in the1995 Champions League final, Litmanen became the first Finnish player to win the Champions League. In the1995–96 edition of the Champions League, he was the Champions League top scorer with nine goals, including the equaliser in the final againstJuventus, which Ajax lost on penalties. In 1995, he also won theIntercontinental Cup againstGrêmio and came third in the voting for theBallon d'Or (European Footballer of the Year), having finished eighth the previous year.
Litmanen spent seven years inAmsterdam, winning four Dutch championships and threeKNVB Cups, and scored a total of 129 goals, 91 of them in the league. He is the club's top scorer in European competition with 26 goals in 54 matches (including two goals scored in the 2002–03 season). Litmanen has the honour of being one of just three players presented in a special video featurette at the Ajax Museum. The other two areMarco van Basten andJohan Cruyff.Frank Rijkaard, Litmanen's teammate in the 1993–94 and 1994–95 seasons, once said, "Dennis Bergkamp was brilliant for Ajax but the best No.10 we ever had was Jari." In his time at Ajax, some fans called him "Merlin" because of the magic he brought to the pitch.
But his proneness to injury also earned Litmanen the name "The Man of Glass", and injuries hampered his later seasons at Ajax causing him to miss many games (in his six seasons as a regular first-team player, he missed 57 out of a total of 204 league games, and in his last three seasons, he missed seven out of 24 European matches, playing only part of five others). His injury problems were to worsen as time passed, undermining his subsequent career.
In 1999, Litmanen was reunited with Louis van Gaal atBarcelona, one of several former Ajax players recruited by Van Gaal in his time as manager. Litmanen's stint with the club was largely plagued by injuries. An article inThe Observer in April 2000 likened him toPope John Paul II, in that he was "making few appearances and looking more frail each time".[12]
Litmanen also failed to adapt to his new conditions, and he was one of the players dropped by Van Gaal that winter. Van Gaal later expressed his disappointment with Litmanen at Barcelona:[13]
Players count for nothing, the team is everything. I set more store by a player's character than by his on-field qualities, and particularly whether he is willing to give everything to the cause. There are some incredibly talented players who haven't got the character or the personality to suit my methods. Litmanen, for example, was a different player at Barca than he was at Ajax. You have to adapt to a new culture when you move to a different club, and not every player is able to do that.
After an unsuccessful season, Van Gaal was replaced byLorenzo Serra Ferrer, and Litmanen was frozen out of the team, losing the number 10 shirt toRivaldo, although he remained at the club until January 2001, when he moved toLiverpool on a free transfer.
"We have signed a world-class player. He comes with a massive reputation and I believe he's one of the most exciting signings we have made," said Liverpool managerGérard Houllier after the transfer had been completed.[14] Litmanen also expressed his pleasure with the move: "It has always been my dream to play for Liverpool. I have supported them since I was a child and there has been talk about me joining them before."[15] He wanted to wear the number seven shirt as worn by his boyhood heroKenny Dalglish, but this had already been taken byVladimír Šmicer. As shirt numbers 17 and 27 were also in use, he settled for the number 37.
Litmanen made a good start at Liverpool but broke his wrist playing forFinland againstEngland atAnfield in late March 2001 and missed the rest of the season. Although he was part of the Liverpool team that won the treble of theLeague Cup,FA Cup andUEFA Cup in 2001, he missed all three finals because of injury. The following season, he was used sparingly by Houllier but did score goals againstTottenham Hotspur,Arsenal,Aston Villa andFulham in thePremier League and againstDynamo Kyiv,Roma andBayer Leverkusen in the Champions League.[16]
According to his profile on LFCHistory.net, "Litmanen had difficulties in training due to hisankle problems and was hardly able to play for ninety minutes week in and week out." Litmanen himself was frustrated by his lack of playing time at Liverpool:[14]
Litmanen was puzzled by Houllier's treatment of him. 'It's strange that he was so pleased when he signed me and then decided to not use me. I cannot explain it myself.' Houllier's explanations made his reasons even more puzzling. 'I let Jari go because I have always believed he had great potential which could benefit other teams. When we had some difficult moments, he was there for us, notably with goals against Fulham, Sunderland, AS Roma and in other crucial games. He had a lack of opportunities in the team but I really liked the reaction of the Ajax players towards Jari when I sold him!'
Litmanen was again given permission to move clubs for free after the 2001–02 season, having scored a total of 9 goals in 43 official matches during his one and a half seasons at the club.
Litmanen decided to return to Ajax, and was given a hero's welcome with the crowd again singing his name. He was one of the key players as Ajax reached the quarter-finals of the2002–03 Champions League, but he continued to be plagued by injuries, and much of the following season was once again spent on the sidelines. In the spring of 2004, the club released him from his contract.
Litmanen's return to Finland, where he joinedLahti, was much hyped and was hailed as "the return of the king".[17] Litmanen, however, moved to GermanBundesliga strugglersHansa Rostock in January 2005, but he was unable to prevent them being relegated, which ended his stint at the club.
Litmanen joined the Swedish clubMalmö FF in July 2005 in an attempt to help them qualify for the Champions League. This attempt, 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 2006 but was again sidelined with a number of injuries for much of the season. However, the matches he did play showed he remained a brilliant player when fit. After an operation to repair a damaged ankle during the winter break, Malmö decided to extend his contract over the 2007 season, but an ankle injury suffered in June 2007 forced Litmanen to cancel it.[18]
In January 2008, Litmanen received a ten-day trial invitation from Fulham under former Finland managerRoy Hodgson,[19] and was signed on 31 January 2008 together with fellow countrymanToni Kallio.[20] Just weeks after signing with Fulham, Litmanen had to return to his native Finland to rest, after serious heart concerns.[21]
Litmanen eventually made his debut for Fulham in a reserve-team match against Tottenham on 31 March 2008, but he was released in May of the same year without playing a single game for the first team.[22]
On 8 August 2008, it was announced that Litmanen would join his former club Lahti of theFinnish Premier Division for the remainder of the 2008 season. Although he only played 34 minutes in his first match, he scored twice and provided the passes for two other goals. He played an important role in helping Lahti to finish third in the league and qualify for Europe for the first time in the club's history. He signed a new one-year contract with Lahti on 16 April 2009. Litmanen scored his first European goal for Lahti in a 2–0 win againstGorica in the second qualifying round of theEuropa League, with the final aggregate score being 2–1. This was his 30th goal in 83 European matches. On 18 September 2010, he scored abicycle kick goal againstOulu in a 2–1 away victory.
On 23 October 2010, he scored his 50thVeikkausliiga goal, but this happened in a 3–2 defeat againstTPS and didn't stop the club from being relegated toYkkönen.
On 20 April 2011, Litmanen signed a one-year contract with the reigning Finnish champions HJK at age 40, making him one of the few footballers to play at professional level in four different decades (1980s–2010s).[23] He usually started as a substitute and played for 10–30 minutes. The HJK coachAntti Muurinen described Litmanen as something akin to a "precision munition" for HJK. He played in this role on 24 September 2011 in theFinnish Cup final againstKuPS, coming on in the 80th minute when the score was 0–0. During the second half ofextra time, he scored a spectacular half volley to make it 1–0 to HJK in the 108th minute. They went on to win the match 2–1. This was Litmanen's firstFinnish Cup final after winning it withMyPa in 1992.
On 2 October 2011, HJK secured their third consecutiveFinnish championship, thus winning theDouble. As of that day, Litmanen had played 18 matches for HJK that season, and they had won every single match in which he had been on the field. On 14 October 2011, this run ended when HJK drew 0–0 withJJK Jyväskylä.
On 29 October 2011, Litmanen celebrated his 200th league match by giving three assists in HJK's 5–2 home win overHaka. It was also his last game of the season and would prove to be the last of his professional career.
Litmanen is Finland's most capped player and was Finland's leading goalscorer until 12 October 2021, whenTeemu Pukki broke the record with two goals againstKazakhstan in a World Cup qualifier.[24] His international career ran for 21 years from 1989 to 2010.
Litmanen made his Finland debut on 22 October 1989 againstTrinidad and Tobago, and scored his first goal on 16 May 1991 againstMalta. Litmanen served as Finland's captain from 1996 to 2008, and was arguably their key player for more than a decade, helping the team to many unexpected victories against higherranked opposition.[citation needed]
Litmanen earned his 100thcap on 25 January 2006 againstSouth Korea, one of only four Finns to have reached such a milestone, the others beingAri Hjelm,Sami Hyypiä andJonatan Johansson.
When he played for Finland against South Korea on 19 January 2010, Litmanen became one of a handful of male players to represent a national team in four different decades,[25] a feat matched byAndorra'sIldefons Lima in June 2021.[26]
On 17 November 2010, Litmanen became the oldest player ever to score for Finland – and also the oldest player overall to score a goal in thequalifying stages for theUEFA European Championship – when he netted a penalty in an 8–0 win overSan Marino, which proved to be his last international match.
In February 2011, the sports news programmeUrheiluruutu of the Finnish Broadcasting CompanyYLE interviewed two of Litmanen's former teammates about the possibility of his working for Ajax when he decides to end his playing career. Former Ajax captainDanny Blind said the following:[27]
Jari knows the door is always open for him as an assistant coach, as a youth coach, whatever in the club. We love Jari, and we know his qualities as a football player, but also as a coach, I think, so the door is always open for him.
Michel Kreek of theAjax Academy was equally positive about this possibility:
It would be great if Jari would return here in Ajax. We played together, Jari came to Ajax when I played in the first team, and we saw him become a world player, so if that kind of player are willing to come back to Amsterdam, to Ajax, and put some of their experience into Ajax Academy, it’s only a great help for us.
He served as a TV pundit for YLE duringEuro 1992,Euro 2012,World Cup 2014 andEuro 2016, and, during the latter, also wrote comment and analysis for the newspaperIlta-Sanomat.
Jari Litmanen has confirmed in his autobiography that his professional career is over.[28] He played his last professional game in 2011.
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 Estonian girlfriend Ly Jürgenson gave birth to a son named Caro. The couple's second son, Bruno, was born in September 2007. Although they avoid too much publicity, they are sometimes seen together in public.[29]
On 10 October 2010, Litmanen became the first Finnishteam sport player to be honoured with a statue: it stands at Kisapuisto (Lahti) where he started his career in the 1970s.[30]The King – Jari Litmanen is a 2012 documentary film about Litmanen's career.[31]
On 11 May 2020, Litmanen said toUnibet that hiscoronavirus test was positive, and he had been recovering for four weeks. He said of this time that "I've probably never been in such bad shape".[32]
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Continental | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Reipas Lahti | 1987 | Mestaruussarja | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 10 | 0 | ||
| 1988 | Mestaruussarja | 26 | 8 | 4 | 0 | — | — | 30 | 8 | |||
| 1989 | Mestaruussarja | 25 | 6 | 4 | 2 | — | — | 29 | 8 | |||
| 1990 | Mestaruussarja | 26 | 14 | 3 | 0 | — | — | 29 | 14 | |||
| Total | 86 | 28 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 98 | 30 | ||
| HJK Helsinki | 1991 | Veikkausliiga | 27 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 29 | 16 | |
| MyPa | 1992 | Veikkausliiga | 18 | 7 | 6 | 4 | — | — | 24 | 11 | ||
| Ajax | 1992–93 | Eredivisie | 12 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 1 |
| 1993–94 | Eredivisie | 30 | 26 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 39 | 36 | |
| 1994–95 | Eredivisie | 27 | 17 | 4 | 2 | 11 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 43 | 26 | |
| 1995–96 | Eredivisie | 26 | 14 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 23 | |
| 1996–97 | Eredivisie | 16 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 25 | 8 | |
| 1997–98 | Eredivisie | 25 | 16 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 34 | 22 | |
| 1998–99 | Eredivisie | 23 | 11 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 33 | 13 | |
| Total | 159 | 91 | 19 | 11 | 46 | 24 | 4 | 3 | 228 | 129 | ||
| Barcelona | 1999–2000 | La Liga | 21 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 32 | 4 |
| 2000–01 | La Liga | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | ||
| Total | 21 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 32 | 4 | ||
| Liverpool | 2000–01 | Premier League | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 2 |
| 2001–02 | Premier League | 21 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 32 | 7 | |
| Total | 26 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 43 | 9 | ||
| Ajax | 2002–03 | Eredivisie | 14 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 7 |
| 2003–04 | Eredivisie | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | |
| Total | 20 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 7 | ||
| Lahti | 2004 | Veikkausliiga | 11 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 13 | 3 | |
| Hansa Rostock | 2004–05 | Bundesliga | 13 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 1 |
| Malmö FF | 2005 | Allsvenskan | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 4 | 1 | ||
| 2006 | Allsvenskan | 8 | 2 | 0 | — | — | 8 | 2 | ||||
| 2007 | Allsvenskan | 0 | 0 | — | — | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Total | 10 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 3 | ||||
| Fulham | 2007–08 | Premier League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Lahti | 2008 | Veikkausliiga | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3 | |
| 2009 | Veikkausliiga | 13 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 24 | 4 | |
| 2010 | Veikkausliiga | 21 | 5 | 0 | 0 | — | 2 | 0 | 23 | 5 | ||
| Total | 40 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 53 | 12 | ||
| HJK Helsinki | 2011 | Veikkausliiga | 18 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 22 | 2 |
| Career total | 449 | 173 | 48 | 20 | 15 | 4 | 87 | 30 | 599 | 227 | ||
Win Draw Loss
MyPa
Ajax[33]
HJK
Finland
Individual
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Finland football captain 1996–2008 | Succeeded by |
Awards | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
