Matias Ritari

Last updated
Matias Ritari
Personal information
Full name Matias Tapio Ritari [1]
Date of birth (2005-07-15) 15 July 2005 (age 20)
Place of birth Finland
Position(s) Midfielder
Team information
Current team
Gnistan (on loan from HJK)
Number 16
Youth career
2011 PPJ
2011–2023 HJK
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
2023– Klubi 04 51 (9)
2023– HJK 3 (0)
2025–Gnistan (loan) 2 (1)
International career
2023 Finland U18 2 (0)
2023 Finland U19 3 (0)
2024– Finland U21 1 (0)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 27 July 2025
‡ National team caps and goals as of 30 August 2024

Matias Tapio Ritari (born 15 July 2005) is a Finnish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Gnistan, on loan from HJK Helsinki.

Contents

Early career

Ritari started football in a youth team of PPJ in 2011 when aged five, but after a few training sessions he joined a newly established district youth team of HJK Helsinki in Töölö neighbourhood. [2] [3]

Ritari captained the HJK U17 team in 2022, and helped the team to win the league of their age group. He signed his first contract with HJK organisation on 7 November 2022. [4]

Club career

Ritari made his senior debut for HJK in a Finnish League Cup match against Inter Turku in February 2023. In the 2023 season, he played for the club's reserve team Klubi 04 in third-tier Kakkonen. He represented HJK in the 2023–24 UEFA Youth League in all four games, [5] where the team advanced by winning Malmö FF, but was eventually knocked out by Nantes in the 2nd round on penalties, after a 1–1 aggregate draw.

In 2024, Ritari captained Klubi 04 in the new third-tier Ykkönen. He also made two appearances scoring a goal in Finnish League Cup, and two appearances in Finnish Cup for HJK first team. On 30 August 2024, he signed a professional contract with the club, on a deal until the end of 2026 with a one-year option. [6] At the end of the season, Klubi 04 won the Ykkönen title and earned a promotion to Ykkösliiga. On 19 December 2024, in a UEFA Conference League match against Real Betis, Ritari came on from the bench as a late substitute to Georgios Kanellopoulos, in a 1–0 away loss at the Estadio Benito Villamarín. He made his league debut on 11 May 2025, in a 3–0 away win over Jaro.

On 9 July 2025, he was loaned to Gnistan. [7]

Career statistics

As of 20 May 2025
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
ClubSeasonLeagueCup [a] League cup [b] EuropeTotal
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Klubi 04 2023 Kakkonen 23300233
2024 Ykkönen 256256
2025 Ykkösliiga 3030
Total519000000519
HJK 2023 Veikkausliiga 0000100010
2024 Veikkausliiga0020211 [c] 051
2025 Veikkausliiga30305100111
Total30508210172
Gnistan 2025 Veikkausliiga0000
Career total5495082106811

Honours

HJK

Klubi 04

References