Ari Nyman (born 7 February 1984) is a retired Finnish

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 ...

. He played both as a

defensive Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indust ...

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. Nyman has also played at

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

Club career

FC Inter Turku

Nyman played his first match with

Inter Turku Football Club International Turku, commonly referred to as Inter Turku () and colloquially known as Inter, is a Finnish professional football club based in Turku that competes in the Veikkausliiga, the top flight of Finnish Football. Founded i ...

in 2000 when he was only 16 years old. In 2002, he was named for the best under-21 player in

. He served as a loyal member of Inter for six seasons, before leaving abroad. He visited

Vålerenga Vålerenga () is a neighbourhood in the city of Oslo, Norway, belonging to the borough of Gamle Oslo. Vålerenga is located between the neighbourhoods of Gamlebyen, Jordal, Ensjø, Etterstad and Lodalen. Vålerenga is in particular known for i ...

on trial, before joining

FC Thun Fussballclub Thun 1898 is a Swiss association football, football team from the Bernese Oberland town of Thun. The club plays in the Swiss Super League from 2025–26, the top tier of the Swiss football league system, following promotion from the ...

Swiss Super League The Super League (also known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a professional association football league in Switzerland and the highest level of the Swiss football league system. It has been played in its current fo ...

FC Thun

Nyman was signed by FC Thun for €600,000 in 2007. He immediately broke into the Thun side and played regularly in the first team. Thun was relegated after scandalous season 2007–2008 and Nyman stated that he wants to leave. He was on trial with

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V. (), commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German professional sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's Association football, football team is currently part of Germany's f ...

, but didn't get an offer.

Back to Turku

It was rumoured for a long time, that unhappy Nyman was moving back to Inter Turku because of Thun's financial problems. Finally in April 2009, Inter announced that Nyman had signed for three years. He was labeled the successor to

Dominic Chatto Dominic Chatto Bashir Jamilu (born 7 December 1985) is a retired Nigerian football midfielder. He has played three times in Nigerian youth teams. Club career Chatto was born in Kaduna, Nigeria. Chatto started playing football in the age of s ...

as a controlling midfielder. Nyman decided to retire, after the 2018 season.Ari Nyman pelaa huomenna viimeisen kotiottelunsa Interissä
, fcinter.fi, 20 October 2018 During his career, he made 406 appearances in

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 ...

, making him the third-most capped player in Finnish top tier, behind

Toni Huttunen Toni Huttunen (born 12 January 1973) is a Finnish retired footballer who played almost his entire career for MyPa. He earned 11 caps for the Finnish national side between 1994 and 2002. Huttunen has made a total of 441 appearances in Veikkausl ...

and Mikko Hauhia.

International career

Nyman made his debut for the

Finland national football team The Finland national football team (, ) represents Finland in men's international football competitions and is controlled by the Football Association of Finland, the governing body for football in Finland, which was founded in 1907. The team ...

against

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

on 1 December 2004. He is a back-up of Finland's defence, usually playing at right-back for Finland as a substitute for

Petri Pasanen Petri Pasanen (born 24 September 1980) is a Finnish football coach, TV studio presenter and a former professional footballer who played as a defender. He was most comfortable as centre-back, but also played right-back and left-back as well. Pas ...

. He played for

on youth levels and in 2002 was voted for the under-21 footballer of the year.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Inter Turku *

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 ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, 2018

References

Guardian Football

External links

* 1984 births Living people Finnish men's footballers 21st-century Finnish sportsmen Finland men's international footballers FC Thun players FC Inter Turku players Men's association football defenders Footballers from Turku Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland {{Finland-footy-midfielder-stub