Antti Peltonen (born 22 April 1984) is a Finnish football coach and a former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

. He is currently working as a

mental coach Mental may refer to: * of or relating to the mind Films * ''Mental'' (2012 film), an Australian comedy-drama film starring Toni Collette * ''Mental'' (2016 film), a Bangladeshi romantic-action film starring Shakib Khan * ''Mental'', a 2008 docu ...

for Dutch club Heerenveen women, for Norwegian club

Tromsø IL Tromsø Idrettslag () is a Norwegian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Tromsø. They play their home games at the Romssa Arena which has a seating capacity of 6,801. Tromsø play in the Eliteserien. Despi ...

academy and for Finnish club

SJK Seinäjoki SJK may refer to: * Kemi Sámi (ISO 639-3 code) * São José dos Campos Regional Airport (IATA airport code) in Brazil * Seinäjoen Jalkapallokerho, association football club from Seinäjoki, Finland * San Juan Knights, a professional basketball t ...

Playing career

Peltonen played in the youth program of

Ilves Tampereen Ilves, commonly known as Ilves, (; Finnish language, Finnish for "Eurasian lynx, Lynx") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team based in Tampere. They play in the Liiga at the Nokia Arena (Tampere), Nokia Arena. The colors of Ilves, ...

Tampere Tampere is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Pirkanmaa. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Tampere is approximately , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately . It is the most populous mu ...

. During his senior career, he played in top-tier

Veikkausliiga Veikkausliiga () is a professional association football league in Finland and the highest level of the Finnish football league system. The league comprises the top 12 clubs of the country. Its main sponsor is the Finnish national betting agenc ...

for

Atlantis Atlantis () is a fictional island mentioned in Plato's works '' Timaeus'' and ''Critias'' as part of an allegory on the hubris of nations. In the story, Atlantis is described as a naval empire that ruled all Western parts of the known world ...

, Jaro,

Lahti Lahti (; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Päijät-Häme. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Lahti is approximately , while the Lahti sub-region, sub-region has a population of approximately . It is the mo ...

and

Vaasan Palloseura Vaasan Palloseura, commonly referred to as VPS, is a Finnish football club, based in Vaasa. It currently plays in the first tier of Finnish football (''Veikkausliiga''). The club's current manager is Jussi Nuorela. The club plays its home matc ...

(VPS). He has also represented PP-70,

KPV The KPV heavy machine gun (, an initialism for ) is a Soviet designed 14.5×114mm-caliber heavy machine gun, which first entered service as an infantry weapon in 1949. In the 1960s, the infantry version was taken out of production because it was ...

, Viikingit,

Lapuan Virkiä Lapuan Virkiä (abbreviated Virkiä) is a sports club from Lapua, Finland. The club was formed in 1907 and currently operates 11 divisions namely skiing, football, ice hockey, volleyball, wrestling, basketball, slalom, orienteering, swimming, f ...

and TPV in lower divisions. He has also represented Finland at under-17, under-18 and under-21 youth international levels. Peltonen represented Finland at the European Under-16 Championship in England in 2001, the European Championship qualifiers in Latvia in 2002, and the High School World Championship in Italy in 2001.

Coaching career

Peltonen was the first Finnish mental coach in the Veikkausliiga, working for

, where they won the

Finnish Cup The Finnish Cup (; ) is Finland's main national cup competition in football. This yearly competition is open for all member clubs of the FA of Finland and has been played since 1955. The winner qualifies for the UEFA Europa Conference League ...

and the Veikkausliiga bronze medal. In 2018-2019, Peltonen worked as a sports therapist for the Football Players' Association, . From 2020 to 2022, Peltonen worked for Veikkausliiga club

HJK Helsinki Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi (), commonly known as HJK Helsinki (), or simply as HJK (), is a Finnish football club based in Helsinki. The club competes in Veikkausliiga, the top division of the Finnish football league system. Founded in 1907, the ...

, winning three consecutive Finnish championships and the Finnish Cup. In the summer of 2023, Peltonen became the first Finnish mental health professional in a foreign football organization when he started working for

Raufoss IL Raufoss IL is a sports club from Raufoss, Norway. The club was formed in 1918. The football section played in the Norwegian top flight between 1937 and 1948, between 1957 and 1960, in 1964 and between 1973 and 1974. The club currently plays in 1 ...

, which plays in the Norwegian second tier. In the 2023 season, Raufoss reached 9th place in the league and the quarter-finals of the

Norwegian Cup The Norwegian Football Cup () is the main knockout cup competition in Norwegian football. It is run by the Football Association of Norway and has been contested since 1902, making it the oldest football tournament in the country. The tournament ...

, and in the 2024 season, they reached 8th place and the quarter-finals of the cup. In September 2024, Peltonen started also working for the women's team of

Heerenveen Heerenveen (, ) is a town and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Friesland (Fryslân), in the Northern Netherlands. In 2021, the town had a population of 29,790 (1 January) while the m ...

. In addition, he is also working part time with

. In early 2025, Peltonen began working at the academy of

. Peltonen is a

DipHE A Diploma of Higher Education (DipHE) is a higher education qualification in the United Kingdom and Sweden. Overview United Kingdom The Diploma is awarded after two years of full-time study (or equivalent) at a university or other higher educa ...

by education.Jalkapallon suomalainen erityisosaaja teki historiaa – ovia aukeaa nyt tiheään tahtiin: "Se on tärkeä työ"
mtvuutiset.fi,

MTV Oy MTV Osakeyhtiö, Oy (formerly Oy Mainos-TV-Reklam Ab) is a Finnish media company owned by Telia Company through TV4 Media (formerly known as Bonnier Broadcasting). The company owns the largest commercial television channel in Finland, MTV3. On ...

, 21 September 2024

Personal life

Peltonen has previously been part of a Finnish male show dance group . He was also the ''Bachelor'' in the Finnish version of the

Bachelor A bachelor is a man who is not and never has been married.Bachelors are, in Pitt & al.'s phrasing, "men who live independently, outside of their parents' home and other institutional settings, who are neither married nor cohabitating". (). Etymo ...

reality TV-show in 2008.”Unelmien poikamies” kouri rintoja baarissa - sai nyrkistä

Iltalehti ''Iltalehti'' (literally "Evening newspaper") is a tabloid newspaper published in Helsinki, Finland. History and profile ''Iltalehti'' was established in 1980 as the afternoon edition of the newspaper '' Uusi Suomi''. The Helsinki-based Alma ...

, 14 May 2009

References

External links

Antti Peltonen
stats at

Football Association of Finland The Football Association of Finland (, SPL; ) is the governing body of football (soccer), football and futsal in Finland. It was founded in Helsinki on 19 May 1907. The SPL organises the Finland national football team, men's and Finland women's ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peltonen, Antti 1984 births Living people Finnish men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Ykkönen players Kakkonen players Veikkausliiga players Sportspeople from Ylöjärvi Finland men's youth international footballers Finnish football coaches Ilves (football) players FF Jaro players Atlantis FC players Tampereen Pallo-Veikot players FC Lahti players Jakobstads BK players Vaasan Palloseura players FC Kiisto players Kokkolan Palloveikot players FC Viikingit players Lapuan Virkiä players Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Norway Finnish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi non-playing staff Seinäjoen Jalkapallokerho non-playing staff 21st-century Finnish sportsmen Tampereen Peli-Pojat-70 players Reality television participants Finnish male dancers