Markus Halsti
 |
|||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Markus Halsti | ||
| Date of birth | 19 March 1984 | ||
| Place of birth | Helsinki, Finland | ||
| Height | 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in) | ||
| Playing position | Defender / Wingback Midfielder |
||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Malmö FF | ||
| Number | 6 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| –2007 | FC Viikingit | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2003–2007 | HJK | 77 | (3) |
| 2008 | GAIS | 0 | (0) |
| 2008– | Malmö FF | 70 | (3) |
| National team‡ | |||
| ? | Finland U21 | 15 | (0) |
| 2008– | Finland | 14 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17 May 2013. † Appearances (Goals). |
|||
Markus Halsti (born 19 March 1984 in Helsinki) is a Finnish football defender and midfielder who plays for Malmö FF and the Finland national team
Club career
In Finland
Starting his career in FC Viikingit before moving to HJK in the Finnish top league in 2003, he debuted in 2003, his 2005 season ended badly with a serious injury in the middle of the season. Same injury came later in the beginning of 2007 when he again missed half of the season due to this fracture in his right leg, this was also his last year in HJK as he signed to a Swedish club GAIS after a tip off from former Finnish national team coach Roy Hodgson as a bosman.[1] However before he ever had a chance to make a debut for GAIS he moved to Allsvenska rivals Malmö FF.[2][3] Before signing with GAIS he was on trial with Italian Atalanta and Leeds United, the Norwegian clubs Start and Molde IF and also a few unknown Danish clubs have also been interested but found him too expensive to buy.[1]
Malmö FF
Following a disappointing couple of years with Malmö FF, with a knee injury, Halsti reinvigorated his club career by heading in the 3-2 goal against Kalmar FF away from home in April 2010, which ultimately won Malmö the match. In the same game he also got injured and because of that he missed most of the 2010 season due to this injury problem, in 2010 Malmö FF won the league just before their rivals Helsinborg IF. Halsti played as a central defender and right defender positions during the 2011 season. He scored his second goal for the club in the away derby match against Helsingborgs IF, which eventually ended in a 2-2 draw.
In 2011 Malmö FF was close of qualification to the Champions League, first winning Rangers FC away 1-0 where Halsti played as a right back and then getting a home tie 1-1 in which game Halsti was injured. In the end GNK Dinamo Zagreb went to the Group Stage of the tournament by only one goal marginal as they first won home 4-1 but then lost in Malmö 2-0. Halsti played in both of those games making a goal pass to 1-1 goal in Zagreb. Malmö still qualified to the Europa League in the same group as AZ Alkmaar, FC Metalist Kharkiv and FK Austria Wien. In the group Malmö didn`t had a lot of chance as they got only 1 point in 6 games. AZ Alkmaar and FC Metalist Kharkiv went in to Quarter- finals of the tournament but were both beaten at there. Halsti played 3 games totally in the competition. For the 2012 season Halsti found himself in tough competition for a starting spot and only received limited time on the pitch for the first part of the season. After the summer break manager Rikard Norling decided that he wanted to play Halsti as a central midfielder, a position where the team needed reinforcement. In total Halsti played 13 matches for Malmö FF during the 2012 season, the majority as a midfielder. After the end of the season Halsti was offered a new contract lasting until the end of the 2014 season. Halsti extended his contract on 3 December 2012.[4]
International career
He made his debut for the Finnish national team on 6 February 2008 in a friendly match against Greece.
Career statistics
Club
- As of 17 May 2013.[5]
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Continental | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| HJK | 2003 | 3 | 0 | — | — | 3 | 0 | ||
| 2004 | 17 | 1 | — | — | 17 | 1 | |||
| 2005 | 17 | 2 | — | — | 17 | 2 | |||
| 2006 | 21 | 0 | — | — | 21 | 0 | |||
| 2007 | 19 | 0 | — | — | 19 | 0 | |||
| Total | 77 | 3 | — | — | 77 | 3 | |||
| Malmö FF | 2008 | 15 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 16 | 0 | |
| 2009 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 10 | 0 | ||
| 2010 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | — | 8 | 1 | ||
| 2011 | 16 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 27 | 1 | |
| 2012 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | 13 | 1 | ||
| 2013 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 | |
| Total | 70 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 85 | 3 | |
| Career total | 147 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 162 | 6 | |
International
- As of 26 March 2013.[5]
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Finland | 2008 | 1 | 0 |
| 2009 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2010 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2011 | 2 | 0 | |
| 2012 | 5 | 0 | |
| 2013 | 4 | 0 | |
| Total | 14 | 0 | |
Footnotes
- ^ a b "Finsk sisu i backlinjen" (in Swedish). Gais.se. 2007-12-14. Retrieved 2009-07-03.
- ^ "MFF värvar finsk landslagsback" (in Swedish). Sydsvenskan.se. 2008-03-30. Retrieved 2009-07-03.
- ^ "Blixtkupp mot Gais - Halsti såld till Malmö FF" (in Swedish). GP.se. 2008-03-30. Retrieved 2009-07-03.[dead link]
- ^ "Halsti stannar!" (in Swedish). mff.se. 3 December 2012. Retrieved 3 December 2012.
- ^ a b "Markus Halsti". soccerway.com (in Swedish). Soccerway. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
External links
- Malmö FF profile (Swedish)
- SvFF profile (Swedish)
- Markus Halsti profile at Soccerway
|
|||||
