Sami Ristilä

Sami Ristilä (born 15 August 1974) is a Finnish football manager and former player.

Sami Ristilä
Ristilä in 2015
Personal information
Full name Sami Ristilä
Date of birth (1974-08-15) 15 August 1974
Place of birth Valkeakoski, Finland
Height 1.79 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1991–1996 Haka 87 (14)
1995–1996 Neukirchen 15 (3)
1996–1999 Zwolle 79 (17)
1999–2000 Jokerit 46 (9)
2001 MyPa 29 (6)
2002–2004 Haka 70 (25)
2005–2008 Drogheda United 54 (8)
2009 Haka 16 (2)
Total 396 (84)
International career
1992 Finland U21 1 (0)
Managerial career
2009–2012 Haka[1]
2013–2016 KTP
2018 Lahti (assistant)
2018–2019 Lahti
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Player career

Ristilä was born in Valkeakoski. Before he joined Drogheda Ristilä played for MyPa, SC Neukirchen, FC Zwolle and FC Haka. He played an important role in the Drogheda midfield and sometimes played up front. He has represented the Finland national side on two occasions. He played three seasons with Zwolle in the Dutch Eerste divisie.[2] In December 2008 he returned to FC Haka and signed a contract to 30 December 2011.

He has played 247 games in the Veikkausliiga.

Manager career

The longest spell of his career as a manager was 2013–2016 with Finnish club KTP. After 2015 season KTP got relegated from Veikkausliiga. Poor results continued the next year and Ristilä was replaced by his assistant coach in middle of the season on 30 June 2016.

On 31 August 2016, he joined the coaching staff of Shamrock Rovers under head coach Stephen Bradley, who he formerly played together with at Drogheda United.[3] Sami would work with the development of the Shamrock Rovers Academy on a deal until the end of 2016.

In 2017, he returned to Finland and at the end of the year, he was appointed assistant coach to Toni Korkeakunnas at FC Lahti for the 2018 season with an option for one further year.[4] He was also going to be responsible for the youth development from the U19s to the first team. On 8 October 2018, he was appointed head coach of Lahti, signing a deal until the end of 2020 with an option for one further year.[5] The club announced in October 2019, that Ristilä would leave his position at the end of the year.[6]

Honours

Haka

Drogheda United

References
  • Vuorinen, Juha (2007). Pelimiehet (Complete record of Finnish league football). The Sports Museum Foundation of Finland. p. 288. ISBN 978-952-99075-9-5.
  • Guardian Football
  1. "Valkeakosken Sanomat". Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 1 July 2010.
  2. "Sami Ristilä" (in Dutch). Voetbal International. Retrieved 23 September 2009.
  3. "Sami Ristilä appointment". Shamrock Rovers. 31 August 2016. Archived from the original on 11 September 2016. Retrieved 1 September 2016.
  4. Sami Ristilä FC Lahden valmennustiimiin, fclahti.fi, 18 October 2017
  5. Sami Ristilä FC Lahden uudeksi päävalmentajaksi, yle.fi, 8 October 2018
  6. Päävalmentaja Sami Ristilä ei jatka FC Lahdessa, fclahti.fi, 10 October 2019
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