Toni Koskela

Toni Koskela

Koskela with RoPS in 2018.
Personal information
Full name	Toni Koskela
Date of birth	(1983-02-16) 16 February 1983 (age 41)
Place of birth	Helsinki, Finland
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Kalmar (manager)
Youth career
	Puotinkylän Valtti
	Jokerit
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2001–2003	Jokerit	9	(1)
2003	→ Hämeenlinna (loan)	9	(0)
2004	KooTeePee	25	(4)
2005–2006	Cardiff City	2	(0)
2006	Ilisiakos	2	(0)
2006	KooTeePee	11	(2)
2007–2008	Molde	52	(4)
2009	JJK	17	(1)
International career‡
2004	Finland U21	3	(0)
Managerial career
2013–2017	HJK (assistant)
2015–2017	Klubi 04
2018–2019	RoPS
2019–2023	HJK
2023–2024	AEL Limassol
2025–	Kalmar
*Club domestic league appearances and goals ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 6 January 2009

Toni Koskela (born 16 February 1983) is a Finnish football manager and former player. He is currently the manager of Kalmar FF.

After a short professional career, he has managed three Finnish teams, including HJK. ^[1] He had to retire from his footballing career in 2009, aged 26, due to numerous knee injuries. ^[2]

Playing career

After starting his career in Finland, Koskela was snapped up by Championship side Cardiff City but he failed to impress at the club making just three appearances in all competitions, including an FA Cup game against Arsenal. ^[3] In November 2005 he was close of signing a contract with Bristol City but Cardiff did not want to let him go, so the transfer failed. Eventually he was released by the club and quickly transferred to Greek club Ilisiakos.

He has also played for FC Jokerit, FC Hämeenlinna, ^[4] FC KooTeePee and JJK Jyväskylä ^[5] in the Finnish Veikkausliiga, and Norwegian club Molde FK.

International career

A former Finnish youth international, Koskela also represented Finland under-21 youth national team in 2004. ^[6] In April 2005, Koskela and Njazi Kuqi were both temporarily suspended from the international duties by the Finnish FA, due to leaving the U21 team's hotel in Prague without permission from the head coach Markku Kanerva. ^[7]

Managerial career

Koskela started coaching in youth teams of PK-35 and HJK. ^[8] In 2013, he started as an assistant coach of HJK first team, and since 2015 managed the club's reserve team Klubi 04 in third-tier Kakkonen. ^[9] Koskela led Klubi 04 to win the Kakkonen Southern Group, but the team eventually lost in the promotion play-offs to GrIFK. ^[10] At the end of the 2017 season, Koskela led Klubi 04 to win a promotion to second-tier Ykkönen. ^[11]

RoPS

Koskela was named the head coach of Rovaniemen Palloseura (RoPS) ahead of the 2018 Veikkausliiga season. In his first year as a head coach in the Finnish premier division, Koskela led RoPS to win a silver medal with one of the smallest budget in the league. ^[12] At the end of the season, he was awarded the Coach of the Year. ^[13]

HJK Helsinki

In May 2019, he was named the new manager of HJK Helsinki following the sacking of Mika Lehkosuo. He stated that it was good to "return back home" to HJK, after signing a two-and-a-half-year deal. ^[14] HJK reportedly paid RoPS a fee of €150,000 for Koskela's contract. ^[15] During his first three full seasons as the head coach of HJK, Koskela led the club to three straight Veikkausliiga titles in 2020, 2021 and 2022. In addition, he managed the club to two visits in the group stages of European competitions, qualifying for the 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League and for the 2022–23 UEFA Europa League. He was named the Manager of the Year in the 2022 Veikkausliiga season, for the second time in his career.

HJK parted ways with Koskela on 13 July 2023, after a 1–0 win over Larne FC in the UEFA Champions League qualifiers, following a relatively poor run of overall form in domestic results.

AEL Limassol

On 15 October 2023, Koskela was named the manager of AEL Limassol in Cypriot First Division. ^{[16] [17]} After winning two of his three first games in charge, he received a massive amount of positive support from the fans on social media. On 22 January 2024, the club announced the termination of Koskela's contract on mutual agreement. ^[18] Later Koskela revealed in Finnish media, that prior to his departure, the club had extensive financial problems to pay salaries for the players and the staff. ^[19]

Kalmar FF

On 20 December 2024, Koskela was named the manager of Swedish side Kalmar on a three-year contract until the end of 2027. ^[20]

Personal life

His mother is a former basketball and handball player Kristiina Koskela, and his maternal grandfather was the former referee Fjalar Åsten, who refereed in football, bandy, handball and rinkball. ^[21]

Career statistics

As of 23 May 2024 ^[22]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			Cup [a]		Europe		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Jokerit II	2000	Ykkönen	7	0	–		–		7	0
Jokerit	2001	Veikkausliiga	24	2	0	0	1 [b]	0	25	2
	2002	Ykkönen	1	0	0	0	–		1	0
	2003	Veikkausliiga	9	1	0	0	–		9	1
	Total		34	3	0	0	1	0	35	3
Hämeenlinna (loan)	2003	Veikkausliiga	9	0	–		–		9	0
KooTeePee	2004	Veikkausliiga	25	4	0	0	–		25	4
Cardiff City	2004–05	Championship	2	0	0	0	–		2	0
	2005–06	Championship	0	0	1	0	–		1	0
	Total		2	0	1	0	–	–	3	0
Ilisiakos	2005–06	Football League Greece	2	0	–		–		2	0
KooTeePee	2006	Veikkausliiga	11	2	–		–		11	2
Molde	2007	1. divisjon	28	3	–		–		28	3
	2008	Tippeligaen	24	1	1	0	–		25	1
	Total		52	4	1	0	–	–	53	4
JJK	2009	Veikkausliiga	17	0	–		–		17	0
Career total			159	13	2	0	1	0	162	13

1. Includes Suomen Cup, FA Cup and Norwegian Cup
2. Includes UEFA Cup

Managerial statistics

As of 22 January 2024 ^[23]

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				P	W	D	L	W%
Klubi 04		1 January 2015	31 December 2017	75	39	20	16	052.00
RoPS		1 January 2018	22 May 2019	54	26	11	17	048.15
HJK Helsinki		23 May 2019	13 July 2023	174	99	36	39	056.90
AEL Limassol		15 October 2023	22 January 2024	13	4	1	8	030.77
Kalmar		20 December 2024	present
Total				316	168	68	80

Managerial honours

HJK

• Veikkausliiga: 2020, 2021, 2022
• Finnish Cup: 2020
• Finnish Cup runners-up: 2021
• Finnish League Cup: 2015, 2023

RoPS

• Veikkausliiga runners-up: 2018

Individual

• Veikkausliiga Coach of the Year: 2018, ^[13] 2022 ^[24]

References

1. "HJK UEFA Youth League 2015-16 squad". UEFA . Retrieved 22 October 2015.
2. "Polvivamma pakotti Toni Koskelan katsomon puolelle" (in Finnish). veikkausliiga. Archived from the original on 24 December 2013. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
3. "Flop Koskela finished at Cardiff" BBC Sport Retrieved 14 November 2007
4. FC Hämeenlinna vuokrasi Toni Koskelan, Kaleva, 9 July 2003
5. Toni Koskela vahvistaa JJK:ta kesäkuun loppuun, Ilta-Sanomat, 14 April 2009
6. Toni Koskela » U21 EURO Qualifiers 2004/2005, worldfootball
7. Kuqi ja Koskela väliaikaiseen pelikieltoon, Kaleva, 7 April 2005
8. Polvivamma pakotti Toni Koskelan katsomon puolelle, veikkausliiga.com, 11 March 2013
9. Toni Koskela aloittaa Klubi 04:n päävalmentajana, hjk.fi, 15 September 2014
10. Klubi 04-GrIFK 0-3 (0-2) yht. 1-8, hjk.fi, 17 October 2015
11. Klubi 04:n nousun arkkitehti Toni Koskela siirtyy RoPSin päävalmentajaksi, Etelä-Suomen Sanomat, 10 November 2017
12. HS: Toni Koskela sopi RoPS:n profiiliin täydellisesti - ”Rajamäet ja muut vapaat nimet on jo nähty”, suomifutis.com
13. Happonen, Jesse (3 November 2018). "Tässä Veikkausliiga-kauden 2018 kaikki palkitut – HJK-tähti putsasi palkintopöydän". Arvokisat (in Finnish). Retrieved 2 January 2023.
14. "HJK on nimittänyt uudeksi päävalmentajakseen Toni Koskelan" (in Finnish). HJK Helsinki. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
15. HJK maksoin hurjan summan RoPSin luotsista, MTV Oy, 25 July 2019
16. "Νέος προπονητής ο Toni Koskela | Αθλητική Ένωση Λεμεσού".
17. Kyproslaisseura tiedotti palkanneensa Toni Koskelan - valmentaja kommentoi uutista Yle Urheilulle: ”Sopimus on viimeistelyä vaille valmis”, Yle, 15 October 2023
18. Ανακοίνωση, ael-fc.com, 22 January 2024
19. Toni Koskela sai potkut – teki MTV Urheilulle karun paljastuksen seuran kulisseista, mtvuutiset.fi, 22 January 2024
20. VÄLKOMMEN TILL KALMAR FF, TONI KOSKELA!, kalmarff.se, 20 December 2024
21. Fjalar Åsten on poissa, Ilta-Sanomat, 26 January 2016
22. "Toni Koskela". worldfootball.net.
23. "Toni Koskela Manager profile" (in Bosnian). 8 November 2023.
24. Liimatta, Ville (1 December 2023). "Vuoden 2022 Captain's Ball: Kaikki voittajat ja palkitut kootusti". SuomiFutis (in Finnish). Retrieved 1 February 2023.

• Guardian Football

External links

• Toni Koskela at Soccerbase