Juha Reini (born 19 March 1975) is a Finnish marketing director, sports executive and 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 defender.

Playing career

A versatile defender, Reini started his professional career in Finland with

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 ...

club VPS in 1996. In 1998, he moved to

Genk Genk () is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city located in the Belgian Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg near Hasselt. The municipality comprises only the town of Genk itself. It ...

in Belgium. There, he won two Belgian championships – in 1999 and 2002 – and also captained the side. In 2002, Reini moved to Dutch

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

club AZ. He suffered multiple injuries during his stint with the club, which limited his appearances for both club and 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 ...

. After having played eight seasons of professional football abroad, Reini returned to his first club

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 ...

in 2006, and retired after 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 ...

final against

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 ...

. For the Finland national team, he gained 23 caps.

Managerial career

From 2006 to 2010, Reini worked as a scout for AZ, first in Scandinavia and later focusing only on Finland. He was then appointed sporting director of his former club, VPS in autumn 2008, but left the position after one season, where he temporarily managed the first team alongside Petri Vuorinen. In the autumn of 2009, Reini announced his resignation from the VPS on personal grounds.

Later career

From 2010 to 2013, Reini worked as the agent of several Finland national team players together with Tapio Raatikainen. Their clients included

Teemu Pukki Teemu Eino Antero Pukki (born 29 March 1990) is a Finnish professional footballer who plays as a striker for Veikkausliiga club HJK and the Finland national team. Pukki began his career with KTP and made his debut on senior level on 23 June ...

Joona Toivio Joona Marko Aleksi Toivio (born 10 March 1988) is a Finnish professional footballer who plays as a defender for Veikkausliiga club KTP. Toivio was a core defender of the Finland national team during 2011–2021. He has previously played for K ...

Kasper Hämäläinen Kasper Woldemar Hämäläinen (born 8 August 1986) is a Finnish Association football, football executive and former professional Football player, player who played as an attacking midfielder. He is currently the sporting director of Ykkösliiga ...

and Jere Uronen. In the summer of 2013, he took up the position of chairman of

TPS TPS or Tps may refer to: In arts and entertainment *Télévision Par Satellite, a French satellite television company *Third-person shooter, a game genre * Torsonic Polarity Syndrome, in ''South Park'' animation * Trailer Park Sex, a band from ...

, holding office until January 2015. He then moved to the position of TPS's director of sports, from which he resigned in the summer of 2015, citing his desire to continue his career in coaching positions. Apart from management, Reini has been an expert with Yle Sport since 2002. In addition, Reini has been a member of the

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 ...

's ''Top Football Committee'' in 2006–2012. He has also worked as an operative director in brand partnership area. Since 2021, Reini has worked as a marketing director for a Finnish craft brewery RPS Brewing.JUHA REINI ON 46-VUOTIAS ENTINEN MAAJOUKKUEFUTAAJA.
Olutposti, 15 December 2021

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Reini, Juha 1975 births Living people Sportspeople from Kokkola Footballers from Central Ostrobothnia Finnish men's footballers Finnish expatriate men's footballers Vaasan Palloseura players KRC Genk players AZ Alkmaar players Kokkolan Palloveikot players Finland men's international footballers Veikkausliiga players Belgian Pro League players Eredivisie players Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Men's association football defenders Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Finnish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands AZ Alkmaar non-playing staff Vaasan Palloseura managers GBK Kokkola players Finnish sports executives and administrators Finnish sporting directors Turun Palloseura non-playing staff Vaasan Palloseura non-playing staff