- Markus Heikkinen
-
Markus Heikkinen Personal information Full name Markus Heikkinen Date of birth 13 October 1978 Place of birth Katrineholm, Sweden Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) Playing position Centre back, Defensive midfielder Club information Current club Rapid Wien Number 8 Senior career* Years Team Apps† (Gls)† 1996–1997 Oulun Palloseura 24 (5) 1997–1999 TPS 22 (0) 1999–2001 MyPa 43 (1) 2001–2003 HJK 85 (1) 2003 → Portsmouth (loan) 2 (0) 2003–2005 Aberdeen 68 (2) 2005–2007 Luton 76 (2) 2007– Rapid Wien 118 (4) National team‡ Finland U18 2 (0) Finland U21 3 (0) 2002–2011 Finland 61 (0) * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 25 May 2011.
† Appearances (Goals).
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 26 September 2011Markus "Mako" Heikkinen (born 13 October 1978 in Katrineholm) is a Swedish born, Finnish footballer, who currently plays for SK Rapid Wien in the Austrian Bundesliga. Heikkinen can play either as a defensive midfielder or central defender.
Contents
Club career
An integral part of the Luton side that finished 10th in The Championship in the 2005-2006 season, Heikkinen collected four awards – the Player of the Year trophy, Players’ Player of the Season, Internet Player of the Season and the Luton News Player of the Season.[1]
His previous clubs include OPS, TPS Turku, MyPa, HJK, Portsmouth, Aberdeen and Luton Town.
During his two years with Aberdeen, Heikkinen was popular and important player, who usually featured in central midfield, where he had a reputation as a tough tackling and dependable player. Despite repeated attempts by Aberdeen manager Jimmy Calderwood to get the player to sign a new deal, he indicated that he was unsettled at Aberdeen and wanted to move on.
On 29 December 2006, in a game for Luton against Birmingham City he was feared to have a compound fracture of the fibula, however it was in fact a nasty gash down his leg, after a late challenge by midfielder Fabrice Muamba.[2][3] He returned to action against Stoke City on 17 February 2007.
International career
Heikkinen made his national team debut on 4 January 2002 against Bahrain. He immediately became an important defensive player to his native team. He often played as defensive midfielder. However he returned to his old position as centre back in 2010, after Hannu Tihinen retired in professional football. He announced his retirement from international football on 26 September 2011 [4].
Career statistics
International
- As of 18 August 2011[5]
Finland national team Year Apps Goals 2002 4 0 2003 7 0 2004 2 0 2005 7 0 2006 6 0 2007 7 0 2008 8 0 2009 9 0 2010 7 0 2011 4 0 Total 61 0 External links
- Markus Heikkinen – UEFA competition record
- Profile at skrapid.at
- Profile at FA of Finland's official website (Finnish)
- Profile at ESPNsoccernet
References
- ^ Loyal Luton Supporters Club - Luton Town FC - Player of the Year
- ^ HEIKKINEN BLOW FOR HATTERS | Luton Town | News | News | News
- ^ HEIKKINEN UPDATE | Luton Town | News | News | News
- ^ Heikkinen retires from international duties (Finnish)
- ^ http://www.national-football-teams.com/v2/player.php?id=2463
SK Rapid Wien – current squad 1 Novota · 3 Patocka · 4 Schrammel · 6 Sonnleitner · 7 Kulovits · 8 Heikkinen · 9 Salihi · 11 Hofmann · 14 Katzer · 15 Nuhiu · 16 Prokopič · 17 Thonhofer · 19 Drazan · 20 Gartler · 21 Saurer · 22 Soma · 23 Prager · 24 Payer · 27 Pichler · 28 Trimmel · 30 Burgstaller · 31 Königshofer · 33 Alar · 36 Schimpelsberger · Manager: Schöttel
Categories:- 1978 births
- Living people
- People from Katrineholm Municipality
- Aberdeen F.C. players
- Finland international footballers
- Finnish footballers
- Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi players
- Luton Town F.C. players
- MyPa players
- Portsmouth F.C. players
- SK Rapid Wien players
- TPS Turku footballers
- Veikkausliiga players
- The Football League players
- Scottish Premier League players
- Austrian Football Bundesliga players
- Finnish expatriate footballers
- Expatriate footballers in England
- Expatriate footballers in Scotland
- Expatriate footballers in Austria
- Finnish expatriates in the United Kingdom
- Finnish expatriates in Austria
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.