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Sami Hyypiä

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Sami Hyypiä
Personal information
Full name Sami Tuomas Hyypiä
Height 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)[1]
Position(s) Centre Back
Team information
Current team
 Liverpool
Number 4
Youth career
1980–1989 Pallo-Peikot
1990 Kumu
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1992–1995 MyPa
1995–1999 Willem II
1999–2009 Liverpool
International career‡
1992– Finland
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 19:02, 7 March 2009 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 20:58, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

Sami Tuomas Hyypiä (born 7 October 1973) is a Finnish footballer who plays in the centre back position. Currently, he plays for Liverpool in the English Premier League and is the captain of the Finland national football team. He will join German Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen in July.

Hyypiä began his career with Ykkönen side KuMu and soon moved to Veikkausliiga outfit MyPa. He spent four years at the club, helping them win the Finnish Cup in 1992 and 1995. He moved to Willem II Tilburg in 1995 and spent the following four years there. He became the team captain and was nominated their player of the year after helping them qualify for the UEFA Champions League.

Hyypiä moved to Liverpool, the team he supported as a child, in a deal worth £2.6 million. He quickly established himself in the first team, partnering Stéphane Henchoz in defence. By 2001, he regularly captained the team and that season Liverpool won a slew of honours: completing a cup treble of the Football League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup, in addition to winning the UEFA Super Cup and FA Community Shield. He became full-time captain in the 2001–02 season and was part of the Football League Cup winning team in 2003. Steven Gerrard superseded him as captain in 2003 but he occasionally captained the side in his absence. Hyypiä won his highest football honour in 2005 as a part of Liverpool's victorious 2004–05 Champions League campaign.

Hyypiä has been a prominent figure in the Finland national team and has been selected as the Finnish Sports' Journalists and Football Association Player of the Year numerous times. He made his debut in 1992 and since then has captained the team on various occasions, fulfilling the role of second choice captain. He is the third most capped Finnish player after Jari Litmanen and Ari Hjelm.

Early life

Hyypiä was born in Porvoo and raised in Voikkaa, Finland, 100 miles north-east of Helsinki; the son of Irma and Jouko Hyypiä.[1][2][3] Hyypiä's parents were both footballers, his father Jouko playing for Finnish team Pallo Peikot, and his mother an amateur goalkeeper. The young Sami played Ice Hockey, but his parents' influence was important to him choosing a career in football; he has stated "I guess there was only one career option for me."[4]

Club career

Early career

Hyypiä started his career with Pallo-Peikot where he played every position except his final destination defender and KuMu, before joining Veikkausliiga club MyPa for the 1992 season. He won the Finnish Cup with MyPa in 1992 and 1995.[3]

In 1995, he went on trial at Newcastle United for a first taste of English football when he was 22. Hyypiä said "They (Newcastle) certainly helped my career. I had a two-week trial in 1995 under Kevin Keegan and it gave me an insight into English football. I was a young player in Finland and I didn't really expect it to lead to anything. I just went for the experience, but it was good experience and I enjoyed my time there. It helped me a lot at the time to see a big English club at close hand and I always look forward to going back."[5]

Willem II Tilburg

Later that year Hyypiä joined Dutch club Willem II. Hyypiä spent four years with the Eredivisie team and soon became a favourite with the fans winning the fan's player of the year award in his final season.[3] Hyypiä captained the side to qualification for the Champions League, although he was not to stick around to play in their European campaign the following season.

Liverpool

On 19 May 1999 Hyypiä was bought by Liverpool, the team he supported as a boy, for £2.6 million, having been recommended to former chief executive Peter Robinson by a TV cameraman.[6][7] Initially, Hyypiä was derided as an unknown who would not live up to expectations but this preconception was dismissed when he immediately formed a successful central defensive partnership with fellow arrival Stéphane Henchoz.[8] In the 2000–01 season, Hyypiä shared the captaincy of Liverpool with Robbie Fowler while Jamie Redknapp, the full-time captain, was suffering from a long-term injury. During that season, Hyypiä and Fowler led the team to a historic cup treble: the Football League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup. In 2002, Hyypiä became the full-time Liverpool captain after Redknapp, who had been blighted by long-term injuries, and Fowler both left the club. However after such a bright start to his Liverpool career came a relative lull and in 2003 Hyypiä was replaced as Liverpool captain by Steven Gerrard.

In 2003, Hyypiä received a red card against Manchester United, the only red of his career. "Van Nistelrooy was going through and maybe I took his shirt a little bit. The referee thought so. I got a straight red card. They got a penalty. It was an agony to watch the game in the dressing room. The only red card of my career. You remember that sort of thing."[6]

In 2005, Alex ferguson wanted to sign Sami Hyypia for a then world record fee of £51 million pounds, Rafa did not wnat to sell him and Sami did not want to sign for a scottish motherfucker who shags his players up the arss and also likes to take it up the arss from big black cocks. Alex Ferguson is a son of a bitch and nooone would piss on him if h was on fire the moaning old shit eating basterd

In 2004, new Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez moved Jamie Carragher from fullback to partner Hyypiä in central defence. This seemingly reinvigorated Hyypiä and the team went on to have a successful season, winning the UEFA Champions League, on the back of their solid defence. On 10 August 2005, it was reported that Hyypiä had agreed to a new three-year contract after weeks of talks with the Reds which would keep him at Anfield until 2008.

During the 2005–06 season Hyypiä was relegated to third-choice captain after Jamie Carragher's ascent as Gerrard's deputy on the field. In the Sixth Round against Birmingham City he scored the opening goal in the first minute as the Reds thrashed the home team 7-0. He started in the victorious 2006 FA Cup Final against West Ham, though he missed his spot kick in the shootout. During the season he climbed into the top 25 in the club's all-time appearances table after featuring in the Carling Cup against Arsenal in January 2007.

Despite speculation in the summer of 2007 linking him to various other Premier League teams, Hyypiä insisted that he would stay at Liverpool for the remainder of his contract.[9] On 25 August 2007 Hyypiä broke his nose during an away match against Sunderland in the Stadium of Light. He quickly returned on the pitch to play against Toulouse in the Champions League qualifying match on 28 August 2007, in which he scored the second goal for Liverpool while wearing the captain's armband in the absence of Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher.

In April 2008, Hyypiä signed a new deal until Summer 2009 with Benitez stating he is a good role model for young defenders such as Martin Skrtel and Daniel Agger. The 2008/2009 season marked the defender's tenth season at the club. On the 22 August 2008 Premier League newcomers Stoke City F.C. offered £2.5 million for Hyypiä but Liverpool rejected the offer.[10] On 2 March 2008 with his appearance against Bolton Wanderers, Hyypiä made it into the top 20 Liverpool FC player appearances of all time.

Hyypiä was voted in 19th place in Sky Sports' Top 50 Premier League Foreign Players,[11] in 45th place in FourFourTwo magazine's 100 Greatest Foreigner Players,[12] and in 38th position in the Liverpool's "100 Players Who Shook the Kop".[13] Underlining the important role Hyypiä had fulfilled at Liverpool, Ian Rush noted: "He’s got to be up there with the best signings the club has ever made."[14]

On 4 May 2009, it was announced that Sami had signed two-year contract with Bayer Leverkusen. Liverpool had offered him the chance to stay at Anfield in a coaching capacity but Sami decided to carry on playing, though he expressed interest in returning to Liverpool as a coach once his playing career is over.[15] He will move to the Bundesliga side when his contract expires in the summer.[16]

International career

Hyypiä made his debut for the Finnish national football team against Tunisia on 7 November 1992 aged 19. He is the leader of Finland's defence, and is also the second choice captain of the team. As of December 2008, he is third most capped player in the list of all time appearances for Finland with 95 caps.[17]

If Hyypiä plays all of Finland's qualifying game for the 2010 World cup he will reach 100 caps. On his 50th cap in 2003, Hyypiä scored the winning goal in a friendly against Northern Ireland, coincidentally, the same team Hyypiä scored his first international goal against in 1999.[18] Hyypiä has been crowned footballer of the year in Finland seven times.[1][19] [20]

Career statistics

As of 14 January 2009

Template:Football player statistics 1 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |1992||rowspan="4"|MyPa||rowspan="4"|Veikkausliiga||33||0||||||||||0||0||33||0 |- |1993||12||0||||||||||1||0||13||0 |- |1994||25||5||||||||||4||0||29||5 |- |1995||26||3||||||||||4||0||30||3 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |1995-96||rowspan="4"|Willem II Tilburg||rowspan="4"|Eredivisie||14||0||0||0||colspan="2"|-||0||0||14||0 |- |1996-97||30||1||5||1||colspan="2"|-||0||0||35||2 |- |1997-98||30||0||3||0||colspan="2"|-||0||0||33||0 |- |1998-99||26||2||1||0||colspan="2"|-||4||0||31||2 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |1999-00||rowspan="10"|Liverpool||rowspan="10"|Premier League||38||2||2||0||2||0||0||0||42||2 |- |2000-01||35||3||6||0||6||1||11||0||58||4 |- |2001-02||37||3||2||0||1||0||16||2||56||5 |- |2002-03||36||3||3||0||4||0||12||2||55||5 |- |2003-04||38||4||4||0||1||0||8||1||51||5 |- |2004-05||32||2||1||0||1||0||15||1||49||3 |- |2005-06||36||1||6||1||1||0||14||0||57||2 |- |2006-07||23||2||0||0||1||1||5||0||29||3 |- |2007-08||27||1||4||1||0||0||13||2||44||4 |- |2008-09||14||1||1||0||2||1||0||0||15||2 Template:Football player statistics 396||8||||||||||9||0||105||8 Template:Football player statistics 4100||3||9||1||colspan="2"|-||4||0||113||4 Template:Football player statistics 4316||22||29||2||19||3||94||8||460||35 Template:Football player statistics 5512||32||38||3||19||3||107||8||678||47 |}

Career honours

MyPa

Winner

Liverpool

Personal awards

  • Finnish Sports' Journalists Player of the Year: 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006[21]
  • Finnish Football Association Player of the Year: 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008[21]
  • Finnish Sportsperson of the Year: 2001[22]
  • UEFA Team of the Year selection: 2001[23]
  • Premier League Player of the Month: November 1999[24]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Sami Hyypia 1st team squad profile". Liverpool F.C. Retrieved 2008-12-18.
  2. ^ Hyypia, Sami (2003-09-25). "Sami Hyypia: From Voikkaa to the Premiership". Amazon / Mainstream Publishing. Retrieved 2008-08-07. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ a b c Winter, Henry (1999-09-11). "Hyypiä happy to fill the gaps in Liverpool's suspect defence". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2008-08-07. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  4. ^ "Hyypiä fears Beckham threat". BBC Sport. 2001-03-22. Retrieved 2008-08-07.
  5. ^ Hetherington, Paul (2001-09-30). "Football: Sami remembers the Tyne of his life". The Sunday Mirror. Retrieved 2008-12-18. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ a b Walker, Michael (2005-09-17). "Liverpool's centre of culture". The Guardian. Retrieved 2008-12-18. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  7. ^ McNulty, Phil (2002-04-06). "Sami's so unlucky". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2008-12-18.
  8. ^ Walker, Michael (2002-03-23). "Good is not good enough for Anfield's brick wall". The Guardian. Retrieved 2008-12-18. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  9. ^ Rice, Jimmy (2007-05-30). "Hyy[oa has no plans to leave". Liverpool F.C. Retrieved 2008-12-18.
  10. ^ Barrett, Tony (2008-08-22). "Rafa Benitez rejects Stoke bid for Sami Hyypia". The Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 2008-12-18. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  11. ^ "Football: Today's Top 20: The best foreign players in the Premiership". The Independent. 2006-10-06. Retrieved 2008-08-07. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  12. ^ "Four Four Two's 100 Greatest Foreign Players , To Play in the EPL/SPL". 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-07. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  13. ^ "100 Players Who Shook the Kop: The Definitive List". Liverpool F.C. 2006-10-06. Retrieved 2008-08-07.
  14. ^ Rush, Ian (2008-12-09). "Ian Rush: Why bargain buy Sami Hyypia is one of Liverpool's best ever signings". The Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 2008-12-18. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  15. ^ I'd Like to Return to Liverpool as a Coach (in finnish)
  16. ^ "Hyypia agrees German switch". Sky Sports. 2009-05-04. Retrieved 2009-05-04. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  17. ^ Pietarinen, Heikki (2008-12-18). "Finland - International Player Records". RSSSF. Retrieved 2008-12-18.
  18. ^ "Hyypiä gets Finland winner". BBC Sport. 2003-02-14. Retrieved 2008-12-18.
  19. ^ Walden, Timo (2005-07-11). "Hyyp-Hyyp-hooray for super Finn Sami". Liverpool F.C. Retrieved 2008-12-18.
  20. ^ Campbell, Al (2008-12-05). Hyypiä wins award. LFConline. Retrieved on 2008-12-18.
  21. ^ a b Pietarinen, Heikki (2008-01-31). "Finland - Player of the Year Awards". RSSSF. Retrieved 2008-12-18.
  22. ^ "Hyypiä grabs top award". BBC Sport. 2001-12-28. Retrieved 2008-12-18.
  23. ^ "Team of the Year 2001". UEFA. 2002-01-03. Retrieved 2008-12-18.
  24. ^ Hadfield, David (1999-12-05). "Houllier heartened as Hyypia is honoured". The Independent. Retrieved 2008-12-18. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
Sporting positions
Preceded by Liverpool F.C. Captain
2002–2003 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Finland football captain
2008- 		Succeeded by
Incumbent
Awards and achievements
Preceded by Finnish Sportsman of the Year
2001 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Finnish Footballer of the Year
1999–2003 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Finnish Footballer of the Year
2005–2006 		Succeeded by


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