Teemu Tainio

Teemu Tainio

Tainio playing for the New York Red Bulls in 2011
Personal information
Full name	Teemu Mikael Tainio [1]
Date of birth	(1979-11-27) 27 November 1979 (age 44) [2]
Place of birth	Tornio, Finland
Height	1.76 m (5 ft 9 in) [3]
Position(s)	Defensive midfielder [4]
Team information
Current team	Tallinna Kalev (assistant coach)
Youth career
1994–1995	TP-47
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1996–1997	Haka	46	(14)
1997–2005	Auxerre	150	(14)
2005–2008	Tottenham Hotspur	61	(3)
2008–2010	Sunderland	21	(0)
2009–2010	→ Birmingham City (loan)	6	(0)
2010–2011	Ajax	2	(0)
2011–2012	New York Red Bulls	42	(0)
2013–2014	HJK	36	(3)
Total		364	(34)
International career
1998–2014	Finland	64	(6)
Managerial career
2017	Klubi 04 (assistant)
2018	Haka (assistant)
2019–2023	Haka
2023–2024	AEL Limassol (assistant)
2024–	Tallinna Kalev (assistant)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Teemu Mikael Tainio (born 27 November 1979) is a Finnish football coach and former player. He is the assistant coach of Tallinna Kalev.

Tainio began his career with his local club, TP-47, before moving to FC Haka in 1996. A year later, he moved to France to play for Auxerre. After eight years there, he joined English club Tottenham Hotspur, where he spent three years before joining Sunderland. After a loan spell with Birmingham City during the 2009–10 season, he moved to Dutch club Ajax, before joining the New York Red Bulls in 2011. After two seasons in the United States, he returned to Finland to finish his career with HJK.

He mostly played in a variety of midfield positions during his career, and also at right-back under Juande Ramos at Tottenham.

Club career

Early life and career

Tainio was born in Tornio. ^[5] He was promoted to the first team of his hometown club TP-47 in Kakkonen, Finland's third tier, at the age of fourteen. He was signed by Veikkausliiga club FC Haka for the 1996 season.

AJ Auxerre

Following a trial at Manchester United in March 1997, Tainio was bought by French top-tier club AJ Auxerre in 1997 for a fee equivalent of €760,000 in current currency, and spent eight years at the club. He won the Coupe de France with Auxerre twice, and also gained UEFA Champions League experience. While with Auxerre, Tainio appeared in 204 official matches and scored 19 goals. ^[6]

Tottenham Hotspur

With Tainio's contract with Auxerre due to expire in 2005, he became available on a free transfer. In January 2005, it was announced that he would move to Tottenham Hotspur on a seven-year deal in the summer of 2005. ^[7] He became a regular for Spurs in his first season, playing in various midfield positions.

He scored his first goal for his new club in December 2005 against Newcastle United during a Premiership match at White Hart Lane. ^[8] Tainio was one of ten Spurs squad members struck down by a virus on the evening of 6 May 2006 before their crucial final game of the season against West Ham. ^[9] He nevertheless played in the match, which Spurs lost, missing out on a place in the Champions League.

He scored his second Spurs goal on 9 December 2006, the third goal in the 5–1 home win against Charlton Athletic. ^[10] His third goal for the club was an equaliser against West Ham United to make the score 2–2 on 4 March 2007. Spurs went on to win the game 4–3. ^[11]

Tainio won the 2008 League Cup when Tottenham took a 2–1 extra-time win over Chelsea at Wembley Stadium in the final played on 24 February 2008. He came on as a substitute in the 75th minute when the score was 1–1. He then was booked with five more minutes left in the game for time wasting on a throw in. ^[12]

Sunderland

Tainio playing for Birmingham City in 2009

He joined Sunderland on 23 July 2008 for an undisclosed fee, reported to be €3 million. He became their first summer signing and the first Finnish player ever for Sunderland. ^{[13] [14]} He scored his first goal for Sunderland in a second round League Cup game at Norwich on 24 August 2009. ^[15] He left Sunderland on 31 August 2010, when the club terminated his contract by mutual consent.

Tainio joined Birmingham City on 1 September 2009, on loan for the remainder of the 2009–10 season. ^[16] Having recovered from a calf injury sustained on international duty, ^[17] he made his debut for the club on 13 September in a 1–0 home defeat in the Birmingham derby against Aston Villa, in which he produced a good performance in a less-familiar role at right-back. ^[18]

Ajax

Tainio signed a one-year contract with AFC Ajax on the very same day after he was released by Sunderland. At Ajax, he rejoined his former Tottenham coach, Martin Jol. ^[19] He made his Ajax debut on 11 September 2010, playing the last five minutes as a substitute for Demy de Zeeuw in a 2–0 victory over Willem II. He also made appearance in the 2010–11 Champions League, playing the last 21 minutes against Real Madrid in the 2–0 away loss match in the group stage. ^[20] After making only five official appearances while with Ajax, Tainio accepted an offer from Major League Soccer side New York Red Bulls. ^[21]

New York Red Bulls

Tainio joined New York Red Bulls during their pre-season training for the 2011 Major League Soccer season. He became the first Finn to sign for the team formerly known as the New York/New Jersey Metrostars when the club officially signed him on 9 March 2011. ^[22] He made his official debut for New York on 19 March 2011, in the Red Bulls' 2011 MLS season opener, a 1–0 victory over Seattle Sounders FC, assisting on Juan Agudelo's game-winning goal. He has quickly become a fan favorite early in the season with multiple assists and good play to his name. ^[23] On 15 November 2012, Tainio, along with teammates Jan Gunnar Solli, Bill Gaudette, and José Angulo were all denied contract extensions, thus ending their tenure at New York.

HJK Helsinki

On 2 January 2013, it was announced that the 33-year-old Tainio had signed a two-year contract with the reigning Finnish champions, HJK Helsinki. ^[24] On 19 June 2013, he scored his first goal for HJK, in a 4−2 away win over MYPA. This was his first goal since 24 August 2009. On 14 February 2015, Tainio announced his retirement as a player. ^[25]

International career

Tainio playing for Finland in 2009

Tainio made his debut for the Finland national team on 5 February 1998 against Cyprus, and was a regular for the team through most of the 2000s. After signing with New York Red Bulls in 2011, Tainio announced that he might retire at the international level, citing the long-distance flights and time difference between the States and Finland. ^[26] After a two-year hiatus, Tainio made his comeback to the international team, immediately after his contract with the Red Bulls expired.

Managerial career

After Tainio ended his playing career, he worked for his former club Tottenham as a scout, before returning to Finland and starting as an assistant coach of Klubi 04, the reserve team of HJK Helsinki.

FC Haka

On 1 November 2018, Tainio was appointed as manager of Ykkönen side FC Haka, having previously worked as an assistant coach for the side. ^[27] In his first season as manager, FC Haka overwhelmingly won the Ykkönen title, earning the club promotion to top tier Veikkausliiga. ^[28]

In the 2022 Veikkausliiga season, Tainio led Haka to finish 4th in the league with a limited budget and gained place in the 2023–24 UEFA Europa Conference League qualifiers, club's first appearance in Europe since 2008–09 UEFA Cup.

AEL Limassol (assistant)

On 28 October 2023, it was reported that Tainio starts working as the assistant coach of AEL Limassol in Cypriot First Division. ^[29] On 22 January 2024, the club announced the termination of the contract of head coach Toni Koskela by mutual agreement, and simultaneously Tainio's contract was terminated as well. ^{[30] [31]}

Tallinna Kalev (assistant)

On 7 March 2024, Tainio was named the assistant coach of Tallinna Kalev in Estonian Meistriliiga. ^{[32] [33]}

Personal life

His son Maximus Tainio is a Finnish professional footballer for Ykkösliiga club Salon Palloilijat (SalPa).

Career statistics

Club

As of 7 March 2024 ^{[34] [35]}

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
Haka	1996	Veikkausliiga	20	4	0	0	0	0	4 [lower-alpha 2]	0	24	4
Auxerre	1997–98	Division 1	1	0	0	0	0	0	—		1	0
	1998–99	Division 1	13	1	0	0	0	0	—		13	1
	1999–00	Division 1	25	3	1	0	1 [lower-alpha 3]	0	—		27	3
	2000–01	Division 1	10	1	0	0	1 [lower-alpha 3]	0	5 [lower-alpha 4]	0	16	1
	2001–02	Division 1	28	3	1	0	2 [lower-alpha 3]	0	—		31	3
	2002–03	Ligue 1	25	1	3	0	0	0	11 [lower-alpha 5]	1	39	2
	2003–04	Ligue 1	22	3	3	1	5 [lower-alpha 6]	0	7 [lower-alpha 2]	1	37	5
	2004–05	Ligue 1	26	2	4	1	3 [lower-alpha 3]	0	7 [lower-alpha 2]	0	40	3
	Total		150	14	12	2	12	0	30	2	204	18
Tottenham Hotspur	2005–06	Premier League	24	1	1	0	0	0	—		25	1
	2006–07	Premier League	21	2	4	0	1 [lower-alpha 7]	0	6 [lower-alpha 2]	0	32	2
	2007–08	Premier League	16	0	2	0	5 [lower-alpha 7]	0	3 [lower-alpha 2]	0	26	0
	Total		61	3	7	0	6	0	9	0	83	3
Sunderland	2008–09	Premier League	21	0	1	0	0	0	—		22	0
	2009–10	Premier League	0	0	0	0	1	1	—		1	1
	Total		21	0	1	0	1	1	0	0	23	1
Birmingham City (loan)	2009–10	Premier League	6	0	0	0	0	0	—		6	0
Ajax	2010–11	Eredivisie	2	0	1	0	—		2 [lower-alpha 8]	0	5	0
New York Red Bulls	2011	MLS	28	0	0	0	3 [lower-alpha 9]	0	—		31	0
	2012	MLS	14	0	0	0	2 [lower-alpha 9]	0	—		16	0
	Total		42	0	0	0	5	0	0	0	47	0
HJK	2013	Veikkausliiga	20	2	2	0	3 [lower-alpha 10]	0	1 [lower-alpha 8]	0	26	2
	2014	Veikkausliiga	16	1	3	0	1 [lower-alpha 10]	0	9 [lower-alpha 11]	0	29	1
	Total		36	3	5	0	4	0	10	0	55	3
Career total			338	24	26	2	28	1	55	2	447	29

1. Includes Coupe de France, FA Cup, KNVB Beker and Suomen Cup
2. Includes UEFA Cup
3. Includes Coupe de la Ligue
4. Includes UEFA Intertoto Cup
5. Includes seven appearances in UEFA Champions League and four appearances and one goal in UEFA Cup
6. Includes four appearances in Coupe de la Ligue and one appearance in Trophée des Champions
7. Includes EFL League Cup
8. Includes UEFA Champions League
9. Includes MLS Cup Playoffs
10. Includes Finnish League Cup
11. Includes four appearances in UEFA Champions League and five appearances in UEFA Europa League

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year ^[36]

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Finland	1998	3	0
	1999	1	0
	2000	3	0
	2001	4	1
	2002	6	0
	2003	6	3
	2004	2	1
	2005	8	0
	2006	2	0
	2007	6	1
	2008	5	0
	2009	4	0
	2010	2	0
	2011	0	0
	2012	0	0
	2013	9	0
	2014	3	0
Total		64	6

Scores and results list Finland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Tainio goal.

List of international goals scored by Teemu Tainio

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	1 September 2001	Tirana, Albania	Albania		2–0	2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
2	6 September 2003	Baku, Azerbaijan	Azerbaijan		2–1	UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying
3	11 October 2003	Tampere, Finland	Canada		3–2	Friendly
4	16 November 2003	Houston, United States	Honduras		2–1	Friendly
5	13 October 2004	Amsterdam, Netherlands	Netherlands		1–3	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
6	22 August 2007	Tampere, Finland	Kazakhstan		2–1	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying

Managerial

As of 10 March 2024

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W%
FC Haka		1 January 2019	31 October 2023	165	75	38	52	268	225	+43	045.5
Total				165	75	38	52	268	225	+43

Honours

As a player

FC Haka ^[37]

• Finnish Cup: 1997

Auxerre

• Coupe de France: 2002–03, 2004–05
• Trophée des Champions runner-up: 2003

Tottenham Hotspur

• Football League Cup: 2007–08 ^[38]

Ajax

• Eredivisie: 2010–11

HJK

• Veikkausliiga: 2013, 2014
• Finnish Cup: 2014

As a manager

FC Haka

• Ykkönen: 2019

References

1. "WK 2006 Kwalificatie" [2006 World Cup Qualification] (in Dutch). Royal Dutch Football Association. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
2. "Teemu Tainio: Overview". ESPN. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
3. "Teemu Tainio: Overview". Premier League. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
4. "Teemu Tainio". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
5. "Teemu Tainio: Profile". worldfootball.net. HEIM:SPIEL. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
6. Profile at Auxerre's histoaja.free.fr Tainio with Auxerre Archived 19 November 2010 at the Wayback Machine (in French)
7. "Spurs sign Tainio". SkySports. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
8. "Tottenham 2–0 Newcastle". BBC. 31 December 2005. Retrieved 3 November 2009.
9. "Tests clear hotel in Spurs food poisoning incident". RTÉ News. 16 May 2006. Archived from the original on 4 May 2007.
10. Lyon, Sam (9 December 2006). "Tottenham 5–1 Charlton". BBC . Retrieved 3 November 2009.
11. Fletcher, Paul (4 March 2007). "West Ham 3–4 Tottenham". BBC . Retrieved 3 November 2009.
12. Helsingin Sanomat – International Edition – Sport
13. Martin Walker (22 July 2008). "Sunderland complete Tainio signing". SAFC.com. Retrieved 24 August 2008.
14. www.safc.com (22 July 2008). "Tainio Completes Sunderland Move". Premierleague.com. Retrieved 24 August 2008.
15. "Norwich 1 – 4 Sunderland". BBC. 24 August 2009. Retrieved 24 August 2009.
16. "It's Teemu Time". Birmingham City F.C. 1 September 2009. Archived from the original on 21 July 2012. Retrieved 1 September 2009.
17. Tattum, Colin (9 September 2009). "Birmingham City midfielder Teemu Tainio's calf injury 'not serious'". Birmingham Mail . Retrieved 14 September 2009.
18. Tattum, Colin (14 September 2009). "Birmingham City v Aston Villa: Colin Tattum's Blues player ratings and match stats". Birmingham Mail . Retrieved 14 September 2009.
19. Ajax contracteert Teemu Tainio Archived 3 September 2010 at the Wayback Machine (in Dutch)
20. Real Madrid - Ajax 2-0 (in English)
21. "MLS Ticker: FC Dallas lands Castillo, Portland signs Perlaza and Red Bulls add Tainio". 7 March 2011.
22. "Tainio signs with New York".
23. Tainio's assist helps NY in victory Archived 22 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine
24. Teme Tainio Klubin keskikentälle (in Finnish)
25. "Finland's Teemu Tainio calls time on playing career". UEFA.com. 14 February 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
26. (in Finnish) Archived 20 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
27. "Teemu Tainio valmis uusiin haasteisiin" (in Finnish). FC Haka. 1 November 2018. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
28. "Perinneseuran odotus vihdoin ohi: FC Haka nousee Veikkausliigaan!".
29. Hakasta lähtenyt Teemu Tainio siirtyy Kyprokselle Toni Koskelan perässä, Helsingin Sanomat, Ari Virtanen, 28 October 2023
30. Ανακοίνωση, ael-fc.com, 22 January 2024
31. Toni Koskela sai potkut – teki MTV Urheilulle karun paljastuksen seuran kulisseista, mtvuutiset.fi, 22 January 2024
32. Teemu Tainio siirtyy valmentamaan Viroon, Yle, 7 March 2024
33. Teemu Tainio töihin ulkomaille – uusi valmennuspesti selvisi, MTV Oy/ mtvuutiset.fi, 7 March 2024
34. Teemu Tainio, worldfootball
35. Teemu Tainio, Finnish FA
36. Teemu Tainio at National-Football-Teams.com
37. t tainio
38. Stevenson, Jonathan (24 February 2008). "Tottenham 2–1 Chelsea". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 December 2020.

External links

• Profile at [http://www.newyorkredbulls.com/ newyorkredbulls.com ] at the Wayback Machine (archived 6 October 2011)
• Teemu Tainio at Soccerbase
• Teemu Tainio – FIFA competition record (archived)
• Teemu Tainio – UEFA competition record ( archive ) 
• Profile at FA of Finland's official website at the Wayback Machine (archived 25 May 2011)
• Profile at ESPNsoccernet.com at the Wayback Machine (archived 24 December 2007)
• Teemu Tainio at L'Équipe Football (in French)
• Teemu Tainio at National-Football-Teams.com