Markus Heikkinen

Markus Heikkinen

Heikkinen with Rapid Wien in 2012
Personal information
Date of birth	(1978-10-13) 13 October 1978 (age 46)
Place of birth	Katrineholm, Sweden
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s)	Centre back, defensive midfielder
Team information
Current team	AC Oulu (sporting director)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1996–1997	OPS	24	(5)
1997–1998	TPS	22	(0)
1998–2001	MyPa	43	(1)
2001–2003	HJK	85	(1)
2003	→ Portsmouth (loan)	2	(0)
2003–2005	Aberdeen	68	(2)
2005–2007	Luton Town	77	(3)
2007–2013	Rapid Wien	173	(4)
2013	Start	10	(2)
2014–2015	HJK	40	(0)
2016–2018	AC Oulu	57	(0)
International career
	Finland U18	2	(0)
	Finland U21	3	(0)
2002–2011	Finland	61	(0)
Managerial career
2016–	AC Oulu (sporting director)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Markus Heikkinen (born 13 October 1978), nicknamed Mako, is a Finnish former professional footballer who played as a centre back or defensive midfielder. He is currently working as a sporting director of Veikkausliiga side AC Oulu. ^[1]

He previously played for Oulun Palloseura (OPS), Turun Palloseura (TPS), MyPa, HJK Helsinki, Portsmouth, Aberdeen, Luton Town, Rapid Wien and Start, before returning to his hometown and ending his professional playing career in AC Oulu.

Playing career

Heikkinen started his senior career in OPS, when the club played in Ykkönen in 1996 season. Heikkinen scored five goals, most in his team, but ultimately OPS were relegated back to Kakkonen, and Heikkinen left the club. ^[2] He spent three seasons in Veikkausliiga with TPS and MyPa, before joining HJK Helsinki.

Whilst at Portsmouth on loan, he contributed two appearances as they won the First Division Championship and promotion to the Premier League. ^[3]

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.

An integral part of the Luton side that finished 10th in the 2005–06 Championship 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. ^[4]

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. ^{[5] [6]} He returned to action against Stoke City on 17 February 2007.

After his years in England Heikkinen played six seasons for Rapid Wien. He was a key player of the team, making over 170 appearances for the Austrian Bundesliga side.

Heikkinen with Rapid Wien in 2009

Heikkinen playing for Rapid Wien against Porto in the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League

On 10 August 2013, he signed for Norwegian Tippeligaen club Start. ^[7] Heikkinen helped Start avoid relegation with solid performances.

After years abroad, "Mako" returned to Finland and HJK in December 2013. After two seasons with the Helsinki-based side, on 2 September 2015 it was reported that the 36-year-old Heikkinen had signed a three-year player-coach contract with his hometown team AC Oulu. ^[8]

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. ^[9]

Later career

During the last years of his playing career, Heikkinen worked also as a sporting director of AC Oulu in second-tier Ykkönen. ^[10] Since the end of 2018, he has served as the club's sole sporting director, and helped AC Oulu to promote to Veikkausliiga after the 2020.

Career statistics

Club

As of 12 January 2024

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National cup [lower-alpha 1]		Other		Continental		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
OPS	1996	Ykkönen	24	5	0	0	—		—		24	5
TPS	1997	Veikkausliiga	22	0	0	0	—		4 [lower-alpha 2]	0	26	0
MyPa	1998	Veikkausliiga	14	0	0	0	—		—		14	0
	1999	Veikkausliiga	29	1	0	0	—		—		29	1
	Total		43	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	43	1
HJK	2000	Veikkausliiga	32	0	1	0	—		4 [lower-alpha 3]	0	37	0
	2001	Veikkausliiga	33	1	0	0	—		4 [lower-alpha 3]	0	37	1
	2002	Veikkausliiga	20	0	0	0	—		2 [lower-alpha 3]	0	22	0
	Total		85	1	1	0	0	0	10	0	96	1
Portsmouth (loan)	2002–03	First Division	2	0	0	0	0	0	—		2	0
Aberdeen	2003–04	Scottish Premiership	38	0	0	0	0	0	—		38	0
	2004–05	Scottish Premiership	30	2	0	0	0	0	—		30	2
	Total		68	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	68	2
Luton	2005–06	Championship	40	2	1	0	0	0	—		41	2
	2006–07	Championship	37	1	0	0	0	0	—		37	1
	Total		77	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	78	3
Rapid Wien	2007–08	Austrian Bundesliga	28	1	0	0	—		8 [lower-alpha 4]	0	6	2
	2008–09	Austrian Bundesliga	32	0	2	0	—		2 [lower-alpha 5]	0	36	0
	2009–10	Austrian Bundesliga	28	1	2	1	—		10 [lower-alpha 3]	0	40	2
	2010–11	Austrian Bundesliga	30	2	0	0	—		9 [lower-alpha 3]	0	39	2
	2011–12	Austrian Bundesliga	29	1	0	0	—		—		29	1
	2012–13	Austrian Bundesliga	26	0	1	0	—		9 [lower-alpha 3]	0	35	1
	Total		173	4	5	1	0	0	38	0	217	5
Start	2013	Tippeligaen	10	2	0	0	—		—		10	2
HJK	2014	Veikkausliiga	21	0	4	0	2 [lower-alpha 6]	0	11 [lower-alpha 7]	0	37	0
	2015	Veikkausliiga	19	0	0	0	3 [lower-alpha 6]	0	6 [lower-alpha 7]	0	37	0
	Total		40	0	4	0	5	0	17	0	68	0
AC Oulu	2016	Ykkönen	18	0	1	0	—		—		19	0
	2017	Ykkönen	18	0	2	0	—		—		20	0
	2018	Ykkönen	21	0	4	0	—		—		25	0
	Total		57	0	7	0	0	0	0	0	64	0
Career total			601	19	18	1	5	0	69	0	693	20

1. Includes Suomen Cup, FA Cup and Austrian Cup
2. Includes UEFA Intertoto Cup
3. Includes UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League
4. Includes UEFA Intertoto Cup and UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League
5. Includes UEFA Champions League
6. Includes Finnish League Cup
7. Includes UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year ^[11]

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Finland	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

References

1. "Yhteystiedot - AC Oulu". 26 February 2022.
2. OPS:N HISTORIA, ops.fi, Retrieved 12 January 2024
3. "Games played by Markus Heikkinen in 2002/2003". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
4. Loyal Luton Supporters Club – Luton Town FC – Player of the Year Archived 8 September 2012 at archive.today
5. HEIKKINEN BLOW FOR HATTERS | Luton Town | News | News | News Archived 3 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine
6. HEIKKINEN UPDATE | Luton Town | News | News | News Archived 3 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine
7. Finsk rutine skal hjelpe Start Archived 15 August 2013 at the Wayback Machine (in Norwegian)
8. Markus "Mako" Heikkinen palaa Ouluun (in Finnish)
9. Heikkinen retires from international duties Archived 20 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine (in Finnish)
10. AC Oulun ur­hei­lu­toi­men­joh­ta­ja Markus Heik­ki­nen myöntää kri­tii­kin olevan an­sait­tua – "Eihän se mennyt putkeen miltään osin", Kaleva, 27 October 2024
11. Markus Heikkinen at National-Football-Teams.com

External links

• Markus Heikkinen – UEFA competition record ( archive )
• Profile at skrapid.at at the Wayback Machine (archived 7 September 2011)
• Profile at FA of Finland's official website at the Wayback Machine (archived 26 October 2011)(in Finnish)
• Markus Heikkinen at ESPN FC