Joonas Kolkka

Joonas Kolkka

Personal information
Full name	Joonas Einari Kolkka
Date of birth	(1974-09-28) 28 September 1974 (age 49)
Place of birth	Lahti, Finland
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s)	Winger
Youth career
	Reipas Lahti
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1991–1993	Reipas Lahti	34	(19)
1993–1995	MyPa	43	(17)
1996–1998	Willem II	68	(16)
1998–2001	PSV	78	(10)
2001–2003	Panathinaikos	45	(3)
2003–2004	Borussia M'gladbach	28	(2)
2004–2005	Crystal Palace	26	(3)
2005–2006	ADO Den Haag	31	(8)
2006–2007	Feyenoord	22	(3)
2007–2011	NAC Breda	113	(8)
2011–2012	Willem II	13	(1)
2012	Texas Dutch Lions	15	(2)
Total		516	(92)
International career
1994–2010 [1]	Finland	98	(11)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Joonas Einari Kolkka (born 28 September 1974) is a Finnish retired professional footballer who played as a left winger most of his career, but could also play on the right wing. Having started his career in his native Finland, he went on to play for several clubs in the Netherlands, Greece, Germany, England, and the USA.

Club career

Born in Lahti, Kolkka started his career with Reipas Lahti and MyPa in Finland's Veikkausliiga. He won the Finnish Cup with MyPa in 1995 before joining Netherlands' Willem II the same year. In 1998 Kolkka joined Dutch club PSV Eindhoven on a four-year contract. ^[2] At PSV he won two league championships and got to play in the UEFA Champions League. Kolkka then moved to Greek side Panathinaikos in 2001 for a transfer fee of €2.3 million, ^[3] and he spent two seasons there. After leaving Greece, Kolkka played a season each for Borussia Mönchengladbach of the German Bundesliga, and in Crystal Palace of the English Premier League, to which he transferred for a fee of €750.000 ^[4] . He scored at both Anfield ^[5] and Old Trafford ^[6] during his stay at the club, and also scored in the thrilling 3–3 draw with Norwich. ^[7] He was released by Palace, and returned to the Netherlands in 2005, signing a one-year deal with ADO Den Haag. After an impressive season with ADO, he was signed by Dutch side Feyenoord in the summer of 2006, and played until summer 2011 for NAC Breda. In 2011, he was signed by his former club, Willem II, being employed as a player and a sales manager of the club.

On 4 May 2012, it was announced that Kolkka had signed a three-month-contract with Texas Dutch Lions, in the third level of American football (not Dayton Dutch Lions).^{[ citation needed ]} After his contract with the Dutch Lions expired, Kolkka returned to the Netherlands, working as a youth coach for his former club PSV.

International career

Kolkka made his debut for the Finland national team on 26 October 1994 against Estonia, and was a regular in the Finland lineup until 2010.

Career statistics

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year ^[8]

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Finland	1994	2	1
	1995	2	1
	1996	5	1
	1997	2	0
	1998	7	1
	1999	7	2
	2000	6	0
	2001	6	2
	2002	7	1
	2003	9	2
	2004	9	0
	2005	4	0
	2006	8	0
	2007	9	0
	2008	7	0
	2009	7	0
	2010	1	0
Total		98	11

Scores and results list Finland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Kolkka goal. ^[9]

List of international goals scored by Joonas Kolkka

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	26 October 1994	Tallinn, Estonia	Estonia		7–0	Friendly
2	16 February 1995	Trinidad, Trinidad and Tobago.	Trinidad and Tobago		2–2	Friendly
3	6 October 1996	Helsinki, Finland	Switzerland		2–3	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
4	5 September 1998	Helsinki, Finland	Moldova		3–2	UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying
5	9 October 1999	Helsinki, Finland	Northern Ireland		4–1	UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying
6
7	15 August 2001	Helsinki, Finland	Belgium		4–1	Friendly
8	5 September 2001	Helsinki, Finland	Greece		5–1	2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
9	27 March 2002	Porto, Portugal	Portugal		4–1	Friendly
10	7 June 2003	Helsinki, Finland	Serbia and Montenegro		3–0	UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying
11	11 October 2003	Tampere, Finland	Canada		3–2	Friendly

Honours

MyPa

• Finnish Cup: 1995

PSV

• Eredivisie: 1999–2000, 2000–01

Finland

• Nordic Football Championship: 2000–01 ^{[10] [11]}

References

1. "Joonas Kolkka - International Appearances". The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
2. Damström, Annika (16 February 1998). "Joonas Kolkan uudeksi seuraksi PSV Eindhoven" [The new company of Joonas Kolka is PSV Eindhoven]. Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). Retrieved 19 May 2022.
3. Panathinaikos Most Expensive Transfers
4. Bundesliga Transfers 2004 - Summer, tribuna.com
5. "Liverpool 3–2 Crystal Palace". BBC. 13 November 2004. Retrieved 5 November 2009.
6. "Man Utd 5–2 Crystal Palace". BBC. 18 December 2004. Retrieved 5 November 2009.
7. "Crystal Palace 3–3 Norwich". BBC. 16 April 2005. Retrieved 5 November 2009.
8. "Kolkka Joonas" (in Finnish). palloliitto.fi. Archived from the original on 20 March 2012. Retrieved 16 March 2012.
9. "Kolkka Joonas" (in Finnish). Suomen Palloliitto (Football Association of Finland). Archived from the original on 14 August 2011. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
10. "Finland-Norway|Line-ups|" . Retrieved 6 December 2020.
11. "Tournament table" . Retrieved 6 December 2020.

External links

• Joonas Kolkka – UEFA competition record ( archive )
• Profile at FA of Finland's official website at the Wayback Machine (archived 2011-08-14)(in Finnish)
• Joonas Kolkka at ESPN FC