Mart Poom

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Mart Poom
Personal information
Date of birth February 3, 1972 (age 34)
Place of birth Tallinn, Estonia
Height 1.94m (6 ft 4⅓ in)
Position Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club Arsenal
Number 21
Professional clubs*
Years Club Apps (goals)
1992-1993
1993-1994
1994-1997
1995-1996
1996-1997
1997-2003
2002-2003
2003-2006
2005-2006
2006-		 Flora Tallinn
FC Wil
Portsmouth
→ Flora Tallinn (loan)
→ Flora Tallinn (loan)
Derby County
→ Sunderland (loan)
Sunderland
→ Arsenal (loan)
Arsenal		 22 (0)
0 (0)
4 (0)
7 (0)
7 (0)
146 (0)
0 (0)
58 (1)
0 (0)
0 (0)
National team**
1992- Estonia 105 (0)

* Professional club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 2006-08-24.
** National team caps and goals correct
as of 2006-09-04.

Mart Poom (born February 3, 1972 in Tallinn; pronunciation: [mɑrt poːm]) is an Estonian football goalkeeper. He currently plays for Arsenal, whom he joined on January 23, 2006 following a loan spell from Sunderland.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Club career

Poom started his football career in the clubs "Lõvid" in the former Soviet Union and Flora Tallinn in his home country, before a brief stint at Swiss club FC Wil. In 1994 he moved to English club Portsmouth, but only played seven games and was loaned back to his former club Flora. In 1997 he moved to Derby County, making his Premiership debut against Manchester United at Old Trafford.

After Derby's relegation to the First Division in the summer of 2002, Poom moved to Sunderland in November of that year. On September 20 2003, he headed a 90th minute equaliser for Sunderland against his former club at Pride Park.[1] It was described on BBC Radio Five Live as "The best headed equaliser by a goalkeeper against his former club in the last minute. Ever!".

Poom's career at Sunderland was beset by several injuries, and he spent much of 2003-04 recovering. He was signed by Arsenal in August 2005 as temporary cover for Jens Lehmann and Manuel Almunia, before the deal was made permanent in January 2006. He is currently Arsenal's third-choice keeper, and did not play a single match in the 2005-06 season, although he became the first Estonian to receive a Champions League medal (albeit a runners-up medal) after Arsenal lost to FC Barcelona. Poom did not play nor did he make the substitutes' bench for the final, but was a member of Arsenal's 25-man European squad, each of whom won a silver medal.[2]

He finally made his debut for Arsenal on 8 November 2006 in a Carling Cup match against Everton, replacing an injured Manuel Almunia at half-time; Arsenal 1-0 with an Emmanuel Adebayor goal. In the post-match interview, Poom declared he would be playing at Arsenal FC for at least 'another 3 to 4 years', which will span his amazing career to over 16 years.

[edit] International career

Poom has represented Estonia on 105 occasions, making his debut in a 1992 (while playing for KuPS in Finland) international friendly against Slovenia. In November 2003, he was selected by the Estonian Football Association as the country's greatest player of the last 50 years.[3]

[edit] Personal

He is married to Lissel (b. 1975), with whom he has two sons named Markus (b. 1998) and Andreas (b. 2003).

[edit] External links

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Mart Poom goal. YouTube].
  2. ^ Photograph of Poom with his medal. Postimees.
  3. ^ Golden Players take centre stage. UEFA.com.


Arsenal F.C. - Current Squad

1 Lehmann | 2 Diaby | 4 Fàbregas | 5 Touré | 6 Senderos | 7 Rosický | 8 Ljungberg | 9 Baptista | 10 Gallas | 11 van Persie | 12 Lauren | 13 Hleb | 14 Henry | 15 Denílson | 16 Flamini | 17 Song | 19 Gilberto | 20 Djourou | 21 Poom | 22 Clichy | 24 Almunia | 25 Adebayor | 27 Eboué | 30 Aliadière | 31 Hoyte | 32 Walcott | Manager: Wenger
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../m/a/r/Mart_Poom_ef1c.html"