Simo Valakari

Simo Johannes Valakari (born 28 April 1973) is a Finnish football coach and former player.

Simo Valakari
Personal information
Full name Simo Johannes Valakari[1]
Date of birth (1973-04-28) 28 April 1973
Place of birth Helsinki, Finland
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Playing position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
Käpylän Pallo
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1991–1994 FC Kontu 59 (7)
1995–1996 FinnPa 48 (5)
1996–2000 Motherwell 104 (0)
2000–2004 Derby County 46 (3)
2004–2006 FC Dallas 85 (1)
2007–2009 TPS Turku 38 (1)
Total 380 (17)
National team
1996–2003 Finland 32 (0)
Teams managed
2010 Åbo IFK
2011–2012 Käpylän Pallo (youth coach)
2012–2017 SJK
2017–2020 Tromsø
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Career

Valakari began his career with KontU in the Finnish lower divisions, before first moving to FinnPa in 1995 and then to Scottish club Motherwell in 1996. After four seasons in Scotland, he was off to Derby County in the English Premiership. However, Valakari failed to become a first team regular at Pride Park Stadium and decided to join Dallas Burn for the 2004 MLS season and finished the year with a goal and four assists. Following the 2006 season, his contract was not renewed with the team, known by that time as FC Dallas.[2] Valakari decided to return to Finland for the 2007 Veikkausliiga season, where he signed for TPS Turku managed by Mixu Paatelainen.

International career

Valakari was a regular with the Finnish national team during his stay in Europe. He has made a total of 32 caps for his country.

Coaching career

He was named manager of Åbo IFK in January 2010 and subsequently ended his playing career.[3] He however returned "home" as he announced his return to Käpylän Pallo as a youth coach after the 2010 season.[4]

Since 2012 he has been the head coach of SJK. In 2013, he managed the team to gain promotion to the Finnish premier division Veikkausliiga and they went on to win the Finnish championship in 2015. The team also won the Finnish League Cup in 2014.

After working as assistant manager for the Finnish national team after being fired from the SJK job, he was appointed head coach of Norwegian side Tromsø IL in June 2017. In 2018, his contract was extended until 2022, but after a relegation in 2019 was fired from Tromsø. Now has no job.

References
  1. "Simo Valakari". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
  2. Carrick, Buzz. "FCD to Cut Ties with Simo Valakari", 3rd Degree, 15 December 2006, retrieved 15 December 2006.
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 3 September 2011. Retrieved 23 February 2010.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. "Archived copy" (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 6 March 2012. Retrieved 23 October 2010.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

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