Joel Pohjanpalo
 Pohjanpalo with Düsseldorf in 2014. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Joel Pohjanpalo | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 13 September 1994 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Helsinki, Finland | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.82 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Playing position | Striker | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Club information | |||||||||||||||||||||
Current team | Fortuna Düsseldorf | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Number | 20 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 2008–2010 | HJK Helsinki | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† | ||||||||||||||||||
| 2010–2011 | Klubi-04 | 24 | (33) | ||||||||||||||||||
| 2011– | HJK Helsinki | 50 | (16) | ||||||||||||||||||
| 2013 | → Bayer 04 Leverkusen (loan) | 0 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||
| 2013–2014 | → VfR Aalen (loan) | 22 | (5) | ||||||||||||||||||
| 2014– | → Fortuna Düsseldorf (loan) | 25 | (11) | ||||||||||||||||||
| National team‡ | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Finland U17 | 3 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2011– | Finland U19 | 3 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||
| 2012– | Finland U21 | 10 | (2) | ||||||||||||||||||
| 2012– | Finland | 11 | (1) | ||||||||||||||||||
Honours
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| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17 April 2015. † Appearances (Goals). | |||||||||||||||||||||
Joel Pohjanpalo (born 13 September 1994), is a Finnish professional football striker who plays for German 2. Bundesliga side Fortuna Düsseldorf and represents Finland national team. Pohjanpalo was born in Helsinki, Finland where he played for HJK before he was loaned to Bayer 04 Leverkusen in 2013.
Club career
A product of local HJK Helsinki, Pohjanpalo emerged through the youth ranks, first appearing with the reserves in 2011 at the age of 16. During his first season at the third level, he went on making 21 appearances and scoring a record-breaking 33 league goals.[1] Due to his excellent performances with the reserves, Pohjanpalo signed a new contract with HJK on 7 December 2011, keeping him at the Finnish capital until 2015. On August 24, 2012 he rejected a 3-year contract from Liverpool F.C. after a three-day trial unless the guarantee playing time in the Liverpool F.C. reserves.[2]
Pohjanpalo made his Veikkausliiga debut in 26 October 2011, appearing as a starter against RoPS.
On 26 March 2012 Pohjanpalo spent one week on trial at Liverpool. He has been on trial earlier at Monaco.[3]
He later returned to HJK Helsinki and started in the club's first league match of the 2012 Veikkausliiga season on 15 April 2012, scoring a perfect hat-trick within the space of three minutes (162 seconds) against IFK Mariehamn.[4]
He finished his 2012 season with 19 goals in 42 games in all competitions.
In the end of season 2013 he was loaned to German Bundesliga team Bayer Leverkusen. Leverkusen then loaned him to 2. Bundesliga team VfR Aalen.[5] In Aalen Pohjanpalo played 22 matches out of which he was in the starting line up in 13. He scored 5 goals. In April 2014 he renew his contract with HJK Helsinki until 2018. At the same time HJK extended Pohjanpalo´s loan contract with Bayer Leverkusen with two years which Pohjanpalo will spend on loan in Fortuna Düsseldorf.[6]
He was voted for the 2. Bundesliga Player of the month in October 2014, following his hat-trick against Darmstadt 98.
International career
Pohjanpalo made his senior national team debut on 14 November 2012 in a 3−0 victory against Cyprus when he replaced Teemu Pukki as a substitute on the 70th minute.[7] He was close to score in a friendly against Slovenia when his shot hit the post and was then finished by Hämäläinen. In the next friendly game against Hungary he finished his first international goal coming to field as a substitute and equalising the game.
International goals
- Score and Result lists Finland's goals first
- As of 5 March 2014
| # | Date | Location | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 5 March 2014 | ETO Park, Győr, Hungary |  Hungary | 1–1 | 2–1 | friendly |
Honours
Club
- Klubi-04
- HJK Helsinki
Statistics
Club
- As of 10 August 2013 [8]
| Club performance | League | Cup | Continental | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Club | League | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Finland | League | Finnish Cup | Europe | Total | ||||||
| Veikkausliiga 2011 | HJK Helsinki | Veikkausliiga | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Veikkausliiga 2012 | 28 | 11 | 10 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 42 | 19 | ||
| 2013 Veikkausliiga | 21 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 25 | 5 | ||
| Career Total | 50 | 16 | 12 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 68 | 24 | ||
1Finnish Cup statistics include app & goals in Finnish League Cup.
International
- As of 2 April 2015[9]
| Finland national team | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Apps | Goals |
| 2012 | 1 | 0 |
| 2013 | 1 | 0 |
| 2014 | 9 | 1 |
| 2015 | 1 | 0 |
| Total | 12 | 1 |
References
- (Finnish) Profile at hjk.fi
- ↑ Pohjanpalo awarded as "Player of the Year" (Finnish)
- ↑ Pohjanpalo signs until 2015 (Finnish)
- ↑ Joel Pohjanpalo on trial at Liverpool (Finnish)
- ↑ "HJK vs. Mariehamn". Soccerway. 2012-04-15. Retrieved 2012-04-15.
- ↑ http://www.palloliitto.fi/uutiset/maajoukkueet/joel-pohjanpalo-siirtyy-saksaan
- ↑ http://www.iltasanomat.fi/jalkapallo/art-1288682468088.html
- ↑ "Huuhkajat selkeään voittoon" (in Finnish). Palloliitto. 14 November 2012. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
- ↑ Palloverkko
- ↑ "Joel Pohjanpalo" (in Finnish). palloliitto.fi. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
External links
- Joel Pohjanpalo at VfR Aalen (German)
- Joel Pohjanpalo – UEFA competition record
- Joel Pohjanpalo career statistics at Soccerbase
- Joel Pohjanpalo at fussballdaten.de (German)
- Joel Pohjanpalo at National-Football-Teams.com
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