Kari Virtanen (born 15 September 1958) is a Finnish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

and former player. He is currently coach of

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

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 ...

Club career

As a player Virtanen spent his career in Finland and Sweden, representing Piikkiön Palloseura,

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 ...

IFK Eskilstuna Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Eskilstuna, commonly known as IFK Eskilstuna, or, especially earlier, Eskilstuna-Kamraterna, is a Swedish Association football, football club located in Eskilstuna, Södermanland County. In their early seasons, IFK ...

, AIK,

Rovaniemen Palloseura Rovaniemen Palloseura (RoPS) is a football club founded in 1950 and based in Rovaniemi, Finland. RoPS played in the Finnish Premier Division, (''Veikkausliiga'') for 32 years, from 1981 to 2021. In 2021, RoPS withdrew from professional football ...

Kemin Palloseura The Palloseura Kemi Kings is a Finnish football team based in the town of Kemi, that competes in the Kolmonen. The club have spent three seasons in the top flight in their history. History The club was established on October 21, 1999. Kemi Kin ...

and

Kuusankosken Kumu Kuusankosken Kumu was a football club established in 1964 from Kuusankoski, Finland. The club played one season in the Finnish premier division Veikkausliiga in 1990. Kumu was dissolved in 1992 due to financial problems and a new club FC Kumu was ...

International career

Virtanen represented Team Finland in the

1980 Summer Olympic Games The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russ ...

in Moscow, Soviet Union. Finland finished 3rd in

Group D Group D may refer to: * FIA Group D - International Formula racing cars: ** Formula Two ** Formula Three ** Formula 3000 * One of six or eight groups of four teams competing at the FIFA World Cup ** 2022 FIFA World Cup Group D ** 2018 FIFA Worl ...

with one win, one draw and one loss. Virtanen was in starting eleven in all three matches.

Managerial career

As a manager Virtanen has been working with teams in different tiers of

Finnish football league system The Finnish football league system is a series of interconnected leagues for club football in Finland. The levels two to nine are managed by the Finnish FA. System As of 2025 Cup competitions Clubs at all levels are eligible for the Finni ...

. His first manager position in Veikkausliiga was in 2003 with Inter Turku. He has been a manager of Rovaniemen Palloseura on two occasions. In 2012 he won

Ykkönen ''Ykkönen'' (Finnish language, Finnish for 'Number One'; , previously I divisioona) is the third highest level of the Finnish football league system (after the Veikkausliiga and Ykkösliiga), managed by the Football Association of Finland. Until ...

with RoPS and promoted to Veikkausliiga. In the following season RoPS also won Finnish Cup for the second time in their history. In 2016 he was named as a co-manager of

IFK Mariehamn IFK Mariehamn is a Finnish football club based in Mariehamn, the capital of the Åland Islands. It plays in the Finnish Premier Division (''Veikkausliiga''), winning their first title in 2016. The club is managed by Gary Williams, and it plays ...

with Peter Lundberg. IFK Mariehamn won Veikkausliiga for the first time in history that season. Virtanen remained in the club as an advisor for one more season.

Honours and achievements

Player

AIK Fotboll *

Svenska Cupen Svenska cupen (, ), also known as the Swedish Cup in English, is a knockout cup competition in Swedish football and the main Swedish football cup. ''Svenska cupen'' usually refers to the men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also ...

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

Rovaniemen Palloseura *

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 ...

: 1986

Manager

Rovaniemen Palloseura *

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

IFK Mariehamn *

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Individual *

Manager of the Month: April 2016, October 2016 (with Peter Lundberg) *

Manager of the Year:

(with Peter Lundberg) *

Finnish Football Manager of the Year Finnish Football Manager of the Year title has been awarded in Finland since 1981. The nomination is made by Finnish Football Managers' Association. Finnish Football Managers of the Year {, class="wikitable" style="margin: 0;" , - ! Year !! Man ...

(with Peter Lundberg)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Virtanen, Kari Living people 1958 births">Living people">(with Peter Lundberg)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Virtanen, Kari Living people 1958 births Finnish men's footballers Turun Palloseura footballers Rovaniemen Palloseura players Finnish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Allsvenskan players AIK Fotboll players Finland men's international footballers Finland men's under-21 international footballers Olympic footballers for Finland Footballers at the 1980 Summer Olympics Finnish football managers FC Inter Turku managers Rovaniemen Palloseura managers IFK Mariehamn managers Men's association football midfielders Finnish expatriate sportspeople in Sweden VG-62 players FC Inter Turku non-playing staff Turun Palloseura non-playing staff 20th-century Finnish sportsmen Kuusankosken Kumu players