Miika Koppinen
 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Miika Johannes Koppinen | ||
| Height | 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Centre back | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Tromsø | ||
| Number | 7 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| KPV | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| –1998 | KPV | 19 | (2) |
| 1998–2000 | Jaro | 26 | (5) |
| 2000–2004 | Tromsø | 121 | (4) |
| 2005–2007 | Rosenborg | 41 | (5) |
| 2008– | Tromsø | 90 | (7) |
| International career | |||
| Finland U21 | 8 | (0) | |
| 2000– | Finland[1] | 18 | (0) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 16 June 2011 | |||
Miika Johannes Koppinen (born 5 July 1978 in Kokkola) is a Finnish footballer playing as a central defender for Norwegian club Tromsø IL.
Koppinen has formerly played for Norwegian giants, Rosenborg BK and the Finland national football team.
Club career
Early years
He first played youth football for KPV in his home town of Kokkola. He made his debut for KPV in 1998 at 16 years of age, before moving to second division side FF Jaro in 1999. The club managed to reach the final of the Suomen Cup, before losing 2-1 to FC Jokerit.
Move to Norway
He joined Norwegian side Tromsø in 2000. Tromsø got fourth place in his first season, but a disappointing second season saw Tromsø relegated to the Norwegian first division. Tromsø responded quickly though and got back to the top-flight after one season. Two more seasons followed at Tromsø before securing a move to Norwegian giants Rosenborg on a free transfer.
Rosenborg
At his first season at Rosenborg, Koppinen found himself injured for much of the season which limited his Premier Division appearances to only six games. He got himself back at the end of the season, also playing for his side during the group stages of the Champions League. A disappointing season saw Rosenborg in seventh place, the worst league position for decades.
In 2006 Koppinen helped Rosenborg win the Premier League, playing sixteen games. In the penultimate match of the Norwegian Premier League 2006, Koppinen set up Rosenborg's deciding third goal against Viking F.K. by undeliberately grabbing Viking's goalkeeper Mattias Asper's elbow, causing him to drop the ball. After the incident Koppinen politely apologized, showing greats portsmanship in true Rosenborg fashion, even though replays of the incident clearly shows that it was an accident. The game ended 4-1 and it seemed likely that the loss would lead to relegation for Viking. Viking supporters blamed this on Koppinen, but many has since stated that their poor form in the prior 24 games was to blame for their position.
The following season in 2007 was yet another difficult season for his side, which resulted in only a fifth place finish. On 18 September 2007 he scored for Rosenborg in a Champions League game at Stamford Bridge in a shock 1-1 draw against Chelsea F.C.
Return to Tromsø
In 2008, he moved back to Tromsø IL, helping his side to a bronze medal in the league. The following season, they finished sixth.
Career statistics
| Season | Club | Division | League | Cup | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |||
| 2000 | Tromsø | Tippeligaen | 22 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 24 | 0 |
| 2001 | Tippeligaen | 25 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 29 | 2 | |
| 2002 | Adeccoligaen | 25 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 27 | 3 | |
| 2003 | Tippeligaen | 24 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 29 | 0 | |
| 2004 | Tippeligaen | 25 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 29 | 4 | |
| 2005 | Rosenborg | Tippeligaen | 7 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| 2006 | Tippeligaen | 16 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 18 | 1 | |
| 2007 | Tippeligaen | 19 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 4 | |
| 2008 | Tromsø | Tippeligaen | 20 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 23 | 2 |
| 2009 | Tippeligaen | 23 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 26 | 2 | |
| 2010 | Tippeligaen | 27 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 31 | 2 | |
| 2011 | Tippeligaen | 20 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 22 | 1 | |
| Career Total | 253 | 16 | 34 | 5 | 287 | 21 | ||
International career
He has played eight times for the Finnish U21 team. In 2000, he made his debut for the full national side in a game against Norway.
He played a total of twenty games for Finland before stepping down in 2006, citing personal reasons. However four years lates, in October 2010, he returned to national team to play in UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying match against Hungary.
Career statistics
[2] Template:Football player national team statistics |- |2000||2||0 |- |2001||4||0 |- |2002||3||0 |- |2003||4||0 |- |2004||4||0 |- |2005||0||0 |- |2006||1||0 |- !Total||18||0 |}
Personal life
He is married to a woman from Tromsø and has two children. He is fluent in Norwegian. Koppinen has over the years graduated as a coach and will probably be taking his final courses over the next couple of years, as he is interested in becoming a coach once his career is finished.
Honours
- Norwegian Premier League: 2006
- Suomen Cup (runners up): 1999
References
- Mika Koppinen profile at www.til.no Template:No icon