Petri Oravainen (born 26 January 1983) is a Finnish former footballer, who represented HJK Helsinki and KuPS in the Veikkausliiga and FC Zwolle in the Netherlands. Oravainen, who is 177 cm tall, played as a winger on both left and right side. He made his debut at the senior level in 2001 at the age of 18.

Petri Oravainen
Personal information
Date of birth (1983-01-26) 26 January 1983 (age 41)
Place of birth Helsinki, Finland
Height 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Winger
Youth career
Puistolan Urheilijat
Käpylän Pallo
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2001–2006 HJK Helsinki 98 (18)
2006–2008 FC Zwolle 24 (4)
2008–2009 HJK Helsinki 35 (4)
2010–2012 KuPS 47 (3)
2012–2013 PK-35 Vantaa 25 (3)
2014–2015 Puistolan Urheilijat (–)
International career
2004 Finland 2 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 21:41, 10 June 2020 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 27 August 2008

Club career edit

Oravainen joined HJK as a thirteen-year-old. Before moving to Finnish top club's youth team, he had played in smaller junior clubs in the capital area. In 2001, he debuted in the first team and was said to be one of the most talented youth players in the league. In 2004, he was called up to the national team for the first time. However, a run of injuries disturbed his development and he could not really live up to the high expectations. He became one of the fans' favourites and especially his pace was a danger for many opponents.

He decided to take a look at playing abroad and signed a contract with FC Zwolle in the Dutch Eerste Divisie in 2006. He had a good start, but after another injury to his ankle he was out for several months and lost his place in the first team. After 16 matches and 4 goals, he moved back to Finland and joined his former club HJK Helsinki.[1] In the 2008 season he played a total of 20 league games for 'Klubi' in which he scored four times.

'Pexi' had a big share in the victory over FC Honka in the Finnish Cup 2008 final. In own Finnair Stadium the home team beat the visitors from Espoo with 2–1 after extra time. Oravainen scored the winning goal after 114 minutes with a magnificent strike from just outside the penalty box. That goal delivered HJK the 10th Finnish Cup victory in its history and the third one for Oravainen himself.[2]

Honours edit

HJK[3]

References edit

  1. ^ "Oravainen verlaat FC Zwolle voor HJK Helsinki". WeblogZwolle (in Dutch). 3 January 2008.
  2. ^ "HJK Helsinki Historia". HJK (in Finnish). Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  3. ^ "Petri Oravainen". National Football Teams. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  4. ^ "Petri Oravainen". Soccerway. Retrieved 10 June 2020.

External links edit