Roope Riski

Roope Riski
Personal information
Date of birth16 August 1991
Place of birthAskainen, Finland
Height1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Playing positionForward
Club information
Current team
Haugesund
Number21
Youth career
MaPS
TPS Turku
VG-62
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
2010–2011TPS Turku18(12)
2010FC Viikingit (loan)6(5)
2010→ ÅIFK (loan)9(12)
2011–2014Cesena1(0)
2011TPS Turku (loan)11(4)
2012Hønefoss BK (loan)1(0)
2012–2014TPS Turku (loan)30(7)
2014–2015Hønefoss23(12)
2015–Haugesund4(0)
National team
2009–Finland U-19[1]9(5)
2010–Finland U-219(6)
2015–Finland2(1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 26 April 2015.

† Appearances (Goals).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 15 February 2015

Roope Riski (born 16 August 1991) is a Finnish footballer currently playing for Norwegian Tippeligaen club Haugesund. He is known as a clinical, well positioned forward who can get into the right place at the right time. In the middle of the 2010 season, Riski was selected to the opening squad for the first time of his career. Since then he has enjoyed a phenomenal season, starting 12 games and scoring 11 goals. He has the best game/goal ratio in the Veikkausliiga.[2] He has often been compared to Manchester United F.C. forward Javier Hernández.

On 22 September 2010, Riski scored a hat-trick against AC Oulu. By doing this, he became the first ever player in Finland to score a hat-trick in all the highest three levels of Finnish football system during one season.[3]

From 27 January 2011 he is an official Cesena player. [4] He made his Serie A debut on 19 March 2011 against Lazio on Stadio Olimpico (1−0 away loss) as a 69th minute substitute for Fabio Caserta, he has had loan spell in Finland for TPS Turku in 2012 and Hønefoss BK in Norway. In August 2012, Riski joined English side Derby County on trial ahead of their pre-season against Chesterfield, where he started in a 3–1 loss,[5] he scored in a reserve friendly against Matlock Town.[6]

International career

On 19 January 2015, Riski made his senior debut for Finland in a 1–0 friendly against Sweden, where he scored the only goal of the match.[7]

International goal

Score and result list Finland's goal tally first.
# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition Ref
1. 19 January 2015 Zayed Sports City Stadium, Abu Dhabi  Sweden 1–0 1–0 Friendly [7]

Personal life

He is the younger brother of Riku Riski, who currently plays for Rosenborg BK and the Finland national football team.

Career statistics

Season Club Division League Cup Total
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
2010 TPS Turku Veikkausliiga 1812101912
2010 Viikingit Ykkönen 650065
2010 Åbo Kakkonen 91200912
2010–11 Cesena Serie A 100010
2011 TPS Turku Veikkausliiga 11400114
2012 Hønefoss Tippeligaen 100010
2012 TPS Turku Veikkausliiga 710071
2013 23600236
2014 Hønefoss 1. Divisjon 2312002312
2015 Haugesund Tippeligaen 401050
Career Total 103522010552

References